Alchemy of Satva

 

Ramana Maharshi

Harilal Poonja      Sri Nisargadatta

The Alchemy of Satva  

Transforming Matter into Spirit 

"Swallowing food is easy; swallowing the consequences is hard." This stark reality serves as the starting point for any serious inquiry into the nature of consciousness. In our modern world, the joy of swallowing is universal, yet it is a joy tragically confined to the tongue. We have elevated taste to the highest measure of satisfaction, obsessing over recipes and culinary sensations designed to make food easier to swallow, while remaining willfully blind to the metabolic journey that begins the moment the throat closes. After taste, we treat the body as a waste disposal unit rather than a sacred laboratory, and when the inevitable consequences of toxic intake arise, we seek the intervention of allopathy to suppress the symptoms. Yet the symptoms are merely the body's protest against a lack of harmony. To fully understand Sri Nisargadatta’s "I Am," one must first understand the "I Eat" - the energetics in food which generate either harmony or mind attachment. 

In the ancient wisdom of the Upanishads, this relationship is expressed with uncompromising clarity: Annam Brahma - Food is Brahman. This is not a poetic metaphor but a biological fact. The Taittirīya Upaniṣad reminds us that from food, beings are born; by food, they live; and into food, they finally return. However, food is not just about material; it is also about Satva. Spiritual life begins by honoring the fuel that sustains the vehicle of consciousness. When we view eating as a sacred internal sacrifice - an offering of oblation to Satva residing within the digestive fire - the act of consumption is transformed from a mundane necessity into spiritual awareness. 

The Vital Force: Satva and the Pure Mind 

The Chandogya Upanishad states: "If one eats pure food, one’s mind becomes pure. If the mind is pure, one’s memory becomes strong and steady. If the memory is good, one becomes free from all bondages." Here, the "purity" of food is not a moralistic label but a description of its energetic quality, or its Satva. Evolution of consciousness rests on Satva, the vital force. Satva is the hub of the wheel, and the spokes are the Satvic foods that lead to the center. 

Everything rests on Satva. It works through its Satvic feed; it is the means as well as the end. However, Satva requires a medium through which to work, and that medium is the "food-body." When we consume whole organic rice, for example, Satva is the inherent intelligence within the grain. When you consume it, your digestive fire (Agni) performs a literal alchemy: it strips away the physical fiber and nutrients and extracts the "Satvic essence." As this essence is absorbed, it ceases to be a passive quality and becomes the energetic love force, the pure Satva which rises to overwhelm the heart. This is the alchemy of Satva: the transformation of gross physical matter into the subtle energy of awareness. 

Automation and the Ending of Karma 

One of the great dualistic traps of the human experience is the idea that spiritual growth requires constant, conscious struggle. In reality, the most profound aspects of our existence - breathing, the beating of the heart, and the digestion of food - are automated. Action always causes reaction, and in the realm of the mind, this is the cycle of Karma. However, by structuring regularity into the automation of our diet, we perform an act that is not karmically binding. 

When we place our food on "automatic" by eating the same Satvic ingredients at the same times every day, we remove the mind's involvement from the process. The mind thrives on choice, variety, and the stimulation of the new; it uses food as a tool for distraction and sensory indulgence. By removing choice through regularity, we render the mind inoperable in the theater of the kitchen. We are not "acting" in a way that generates new mental impressions; we are simply maintaining the machine. In this state of metabolic equilibrium, the body recognizes the regularity and responds with efficient metabolism, producing the "Satvic elixir" that stills the nervous system. 

The Body as an Island in a Sea of Satva 

The body is an island in a sea of Satva held together by the mind. By gradually flooding the body with Satva, that body-mind link is eventually broken; and when the mind collapses, all that remains is Satva, the great emptiness. The mind cannot break the mind’s attachment to phenomena - the mind is ephemeral, promising one thing but delivering something else, appearing in the wakeful state and disappearing in deep sleep, continually fueled by the extremes of food energetics. 

The mind is the only obstacle to liberation from attachment, yet it is a friend at the beginning of awareness by transferring the Buddha teaching; however, it becomes a foe at final liberation by generating attachment. While the Upanishads understood the effects of food on the mind, our modern understanding of the "lower cauldron" allows us to see how this transition occurs. When Satvic food is processed in a body accustomed to regularity, it does not produce the "thermal pressure" (Yin) of inflammation or the "compressive chaos" (Yang) of toxins. Instead, it produces a refined energy - a love flow - that rises to the heart. 

When this refined energy overwhelms the heart, the mind’s chatter is silenced. The mind cannot survive in an environment of Satvic tranquility. In the absence of stimulants, the mind dissolves. What remains is the "I-I" - the state of being aware of being aware. This is the penultimate step of evolution where there is nothing else to happen. 

The Awareness of Food as Brahman 

To be aware of food as Brahman is to recognize that the quality of our tissue is the quality of our consciousness. Ramana Maharshi said "awareness of satvic food is essential". Respect for what one hears from the Buddha leads to deep thought; this steadiness of thought comes from genuine awareness. Without a body stabilized by Satva, the "Infinite" remains a mere concept, a finite thought in a mortal mind. But when the body is in harmony - when the Yang of compressive order is balanced by the Yin of expansive peace - the Infinite is realized as the ultimate reality. 

Satva is the substratum from which everything emerges. Phenomena only appear as objects because they are lacking in Satva - when objects as perceived by the mind are flooded by Satva, they will dissolve and return to the substratum. In truth, Satva and Brahman are the same. It is not merely a label for an ingredient; it is a measure of a food's ability to promote liberation of consciousness without causing physical or energetic "noise." 

The Infinite is that in which emptiness is absolutely empty. But the finite is that in which the universe is full. Freedom is the direct recognition of the unborn, non-dual reality. This recognition is only possible when the "instrument" of the mind has been rendered quiescent by the "vehicle" of Satvic food. By honoring the regularity of the food-body, we align ourselves with the universal rhythm of equilibrium. We swallow the food with awareness, and the consequence we swallow is the nectar of silence. 

Satva is the universal elixir upon which phenomena float. It is the silent, immanent, and immutable support of all existence, present everywhere, yet entirely untouched by the drama of life. Satva is the destroyer of worlds. When realized, it will empty the universe, and its weapon of destruction is love. All names point to Satva - Brahman, Tao, Satori, Atman, Self, Prāṇa, Chi - all are Satva. Let Satva flow, let it blossom, let it grow. Harilal Pooja said "do not do anything or undo anything" - just eat Satva and be aware. All will come that will come. 

You can read more in the book  Sacred Holistic Health