Taittiriya Upanishad Lecture 121 Summary on 09 September 2026 Q&A

Discussion on Food Offered to God, Spiritual Struggle, and Discipline

Question 1: How Should We Think About Food Prepared by Others?

Participant: I have a question. How should we think about food that is prepared by others? It seems that although we do – although we do offer it to God – there seems to also be a common exchange when it's something that's prepared by others. So we can't just do Brahma arpanam.

Response (Maharaj): Supposing your mother prepares food for you – that is the purest food available. No mother ever prepares food wishing ill of her children. Normally – forget about some abnormal people; that's a different story.

Secondly, you are a householder, so maybe you prepare, maybe your wife prepares. That is absolutely acceptable. Your mother – sorry – your wife, in fact, becomes a mother when she is feeding you. So that is absolutely fine. But whatever it is, before food goes into our mouths, we have to offer it. And whatever defects, if at all – if they are there, physical or mental or spiritual – they would be purified by offering. That is why we do Brahma arpana.

Eating Outside the Home

Response: OK, then there are occasions. Supposing you are attending – let us say – office; maybe noon you have to eat there. If you carry your own sandwich box, that is OK. But suppose most people – a restaurant is there; maybe you have to eat there certainly. We are helpless in most of the time. Or when you are travelling in a plane, you are helpless. So there is no other option but to eat whatever is suitable to you. But as I said, offer it to Thakur, Ma, Swamiji, and eat.

So this applies: first offer to God. But try to avoid eating food outside, because most of them do not keep our health as their goal, but how to attract by preparing tasty dishes. So the general rule is: even if somebody prepares, do not hate, do not criticize; take whatever suits you, but offer it to God. Same thing – whoever prepares, whether your wife prepares, or whether you eat in a restaurant or office supplier – offer it to God. That is the best we can do.

But we have to avoid eating food outside our home, because no wife will ever prepare unhealthy food for her own children – and a husband is also one of the children only. I think that is the answer.

Participant: Thank you so much, Pallavan.

Response: Yeah.

Question 2: Comparing the Hardworking Labourer and the Struggling Aspirant

Participant: Pranams, Maharaj.

Response: Okay.

Participant: Maharaj, when we compare the life of, say, a hardworking labourer who does not have time to think of God or does not have the background, but he toils from morning till evening, takes care of the family, does all the basic stuff, and is quite disciplined –

Response: Yeah.

Participant: And then there is a struggling aspirant who is wading through the waters, through defects, falls, and everything. It seems as though the spiritual aspirant's life is full of imaginations and pitfalls and everything, and lesser – less disciplined in comparison with the labourer.

The Intensity of the Spiritual Aspirant's Labour

Response: That is not true. A very sincere spiritual aspirant – what is the most important thing in his thinking and behaviour?

Participant: Remembrance of God.

Response: How to become purer and how to overcome obvious defects, isn't it?

Participant: Yes, Swamiji.

Response: So is it less labour or more labour?

Participant: Yeah, it is less labour physically– it is more labour mentally.

Response: Seams like labour – physically also. You see, if I tell you: supposing you have people surrounding you and they all talk rubbish, now you will have to isolate yourself, isn't it? Yeah. Is it physically also more intense? Isn't it? Yeah – mentally, not only mentally, physically.

The Need to Conserve Energy

Response: We don't separate ourselves. That is one of the greatest spiritual obstacles. What we should avoid – at least to the extent that is decently possible. Do we do it sincerely? Even so-called – so many monks, etcetera. How much of gossip, how much of useless talk is going on? If these are the people who are supposed to set examples, isn't it? So what to speak of? I am telling any sannyasin or householder: we have to conserve our energy.

Speaking – speaking also wastes energy. Thinking also wastes even more energy. So don't think that it is to labour – it is very easy. Okay. One gets accustomed to it. If you have to labour like a labourer, you feel bad. But a person who is doing it from his childhood, he never thinks that he is working too hard. Yeah.

The Struggle of Spiritual Practice

Response: So we have to start with physical things, which is easier to control – externally or internally. Externally, it is a struggle. I don't think most of us even understand the extent of the struggle necessary. The teachings of Sri Ramakrishna, etc., appear to be so easy: "Can we live like a maidservant?" How difficult it is to practice – to live like a maidservant! How many of these devotees are thinking, "I am only a passing guest"?

That is why Bhagavan Krishna declared: out of a million – or I would say billion – maybe one or two people would progress in spiritual life. Out of those struggling, advancing people, perhaps one becomes a little bit realised – that too by His grace.

But the problem is – that is what I was emphasising – are we doing our best? And then the tragedy, you know: am I doing it for anybody's benefit, or am I doing it for my own benefit? Yeah, we are not realising how much happier we could be, right?

Anecdote: The Greek Philosopher and the Supermarket

Response: Anyway, a small incident. A Greek philosopher used to visit a supermarket every day. He goes on looking at everything. Somebody asked, "Sir, you never buy anything." Then he replied, "No, I go there to find out how many things can make me happy without having." Yeah, of course, that is also a waste of time. You don't need to go – don't go on visiting the supermarket without buying, because the CCTV's are watching whether you are going to buy or you are looking for stealing. Sometimes they come: "Can I assist you?" like that. Yes. What they mean is: if you don't want to buy, get the hell out of here.

Conclusion: Deeper Practice Reveals More Defects

Response: Anyway, so the deeper we go into spiritual practice, the defects that we have become more and more obvious. We have not even started digging the surface soil.