Tamas Food - energy of maximum attachment

Tamas Food

Satva

Purity, harmony, and well-being. Satvic foods are fresh, organic, wholesome, and nourishing, promoting a calm and clear mind.

Rajas

Action, passion, and stimulation. Rajasic foods are overly spicy, huge on taste and stimulation, leading to restlessness and agitation.

Tamas

Inertia, darkness, and decay. Tamsic foods contain chemical additives, heavily processed, or lacking in prana(chi), resulting in lethargy and mental dullness.

The Energetic Link: Meat Consumption, Aggression, and the Root of War

Of all the foods that humans eat, especially in the West, that of eating meat is the most Tamsic and carries the heaviest karmic burden. War is killing, and the Europeans have historically been masters of this art - Napoleonic wars 5 million dead, First World War 10 million dead, and Second World War 70 million dead. These are not just statistics; these are the actions of individual humans powered by the energetics in their food, making decisions on killing. What do these decision-makers eat? Hands down, meat as the main course. What do the soldiers eat? Meat, albeit in lower quality, processed and packaged in tins, etc. This undeniable link between the violence inherent in the diet and the scale of human conflict forms the basis of a profound philosophical proposition.

The argument that meat consumption, through the cultivation of individual aggression, is an a priori cause of war - is a challenging philosophical argument rooted deeply in the non-dual and yogic understanding of consciousness. It posits that collective systemic violence (war) is merely the macro manifestation of individual psychological states, and that diet serves as a critical, energetic fuel for those states.

The Syllogism: Structure and Context

This argument is logically sound in its structure:

1. Aggression causes war (Major Premise)

2. Meat causes aggression (Minor Premise)

3. Therefore, a-priori Meat causes war (Conclusion)

The term a-priori here is crucial. It does not mean that the moment someone eats meat a war instantly begins. Rather, it means that the psychological and energetic conditions necessary to make war possible are established prior to and independent of the specific political or economic trigger. This preparatory condition is the institutionalization of aggression and the deadening of empathy.

Premise 1: Aggression and the Systemic Nature of War

The first premise, Aggression causes war, is intuitively accepted. War is not an abstract event; it is the physical expression of intense, systematized, and unresolved collective aggression. This premise links the internal state of the individual (psychological aggression) to the external state of the collective (systemic violence).

If a population is psychologically primed for conflict - if its inner life is constantly agitated, fearful, competitive, and lacking in profound empathy - it will readily accept external conflict as a solution. The philosopher’s focus here is on the psychological substrate that must be in place before a political decision for war can take root. A society built on deep-seated, institutionalized violence is fertile ground for external conflict.

Premise 2: Meat Causes Aggression—The Energetic and Ethical Justification

This premise is the analytical core of the argument, requiring support from both yogic philosophy and ethical observation.

A. The Energetic Argument (The Gunas - 3 types of energetics)

From the perspective of Yoga and Ayurveda, meat is classified as intensely Tamsic (heavy, dulling, inert) and sometimes Rajasic (stimulating, fiery, intensely active) due to its dense, difficult-to-digest nature, and the fear/stress hormones present in the animal at the time of slaughter.

The previous essay established that the mind is the main obstacle to liberation, and its functioning is fueled by the Gunas:

• Tamsic Effect: Eating meat introduces dullness and inertia, which paradoxically leads to frustration. The mind loses clarity and flexibility, making it prone to stubborn, reactive, and ultimately aggressive behavior to overcome its own lethargy.

• Rajasic Effect: The sheer density and intense energy required to process and assimilate meat can fuel the emotional agitation (rajas) that Ramana Maharshi cautioned against. This agitation is the raw, internal energy of conflict. When the mind is constantly agitated by its fuel, its natural tendency is towards external expression, which manifests as irritation, judgment, and ultimately, aggression.

The subtle quality of meat therefore does not allow for the deep tranquility and clarity (Satva) required for non-dual awareness (the "automation path"). It sustains the egoic mind's most violent tendencies.

B. The Ethical Argument (Institutionalized Cruelty)

The consumption of meat, even if infrequent (the flexitarian dilemma), necessitates participation in a system of institutionalized cruelty. The philosophical argument here is that the act of consuming meat requires the individual to perform an act of psychological desensitization.

1. Compartmentalization: The person must mentally separate the food on the plate from the violent process required to obtain it. This compartmentalization is a micro-act of violence against one's own natural empathy.

2. Internal Aggression: To maintain the peace and comfort of one's own mind while being aware of the suffering caused by one’s choices (as implied by the "cruelty-free meat does not exist" sticker), one must suppress or kill a part of one's own moral sensibility. This internal deadening of empathy is, in essence, an act of internal aggression.

3. Prerequisite for War: This systematic desensitization is the prerequisite for accepting war. If a society is comfortable with the large-scale, impersonal killing of non-human beings for taste or convenience, it has already established the moral framework necessary to justify the large-scale, impersonal killing of human beings for geopolitical goals. The root of the aggression is the willingness to prioritize self-interest (taste/convenience) over the suffering of others.

The Conclusion: The Primacy of Pure Action

The conclusion, a-priori Meat causes war, is validated by synthesizing these points: Meat feeds the Rajasic/Tamasic agitation that forms the psychological root of aggression, while the act of eating it reinforces the ethical desensitization required to fund and rationalize systemic violence.

The path to peace, therefore, cannot begin with political treaties alone. It must begin with the individual, non-violent choice to withdraw support from the system of cruelty. By adopting the Satvic diet, the individual starves the mind of its aggressive fuel, cultivates deep inner tranquility, and restores empathy. The resulting non-aggressive, detached mind - which performs "automatic action without concern for results" - is incapable of generating karmic violence at the personal level. When this state becomes widespread, the collective psychological substrate necessary for war simply withers away. The choice of diet thus becomes not just a personal health decision, but a foundational, a-priori act of radical peace and liberation.

You can read more in the book Sacred Holistic Health.