Sri Aurobindo
Letters on Himself and the Ashram
The Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo. Volume 35
Life and Death in the Ashram
Food [2]
It is certainly not very Yogic to be so much harassed
by the importunity of the palate. I notice that these petty desires, which
plenty of people who are not Yogis at all nor aspirants for Yoga know how to put
in their proper place, seem to take an inordinate importance in the
consciousness of the sadhaks here not all, certainly, but many. In this as in
many other matters they do not seem to realise that, if you want to do Yoga, you
must take more and more in all matters, small or great, the Yogic attitude. In
our path that attitude is not one of forceful 
suppression,
but of detachment and equality with regard to the objects of desire. Forceful
{{0}}suppression[[{{SA}}Fasting comes under the head; it is of no use for this
purpose. Abandon that idea altogether. Sri Aurobindo]] stands on the
same level as free indulgence; in both cases, the desire remains; in the one it
is fed by indulgence, in the other it lies latent and exasperated by
suppression. It is only when one stands back, separates oneself from the lower
vital, refusing to regard its desires and clamours as ones own, and cultivates
an entire equality and equanimity in the consciousness with respect to them that
the lower vital itself becomes gradually purified and itself also calm and
equal. Each wave of desire as it comes must be observed, as quietly and with as
much unmoved detachment as you would observe something going on outside you, and
must be allowed to pass, rejected from the consciousness, and the true movement,
the true consciousness steadily put in its place.
But for that these things of eating and drinking must
be put in their right place, which is a very small one. You say that many have
left the Asram because they did not like the food. I do not know who are the
many; certainly, those who came here for serious sadhana and left, went for much
more grave reasons than that. But if any did go because of an offended palate,
then certainly they were quite unfit for Yoga and this was not the place for
them. For it means that a mutton chop or a tasty plate of fish was more
important for them than the seeking of the Divine! It is not possible to do Yoga
if values are so topsy-turvy in the consciousness. Apart from such extravagance,
these things which ought to be only among the most minor values even in the
human life, are promoted by many here to a rank they ought not to have.
At the same time it is better, if it is possible, to
have well-cooked rather than badly-cooked food. The idea that the Mother wants
tasteless food to be served because tasty food is bad for Yoga, is one of the
many absurdities that seem so profusely current among the sadhaks in this Asram
about her ways and motives. The Mother is obliged to arrange for neutral (plain
and simple), not tasteless food, for the reason that any other course has
been proved to be impracticable. There are ninety people 
here, from different countries and provinces whose tastes are as the
poles asunder. What is tasty food to the Gujarati is abomination to the Bengali
and vice versa. The European cannot stand an avalanche of tamarind or
chillies; the Andhra accustomed to a fiery diet would find French dishes
tasteless. Experiments have been tried before you came, but they were disastrous
in their results; a few enjoyed, the majority starved, and bad stomachs began to
be the rule. On the other hand, neutral food can be eaten by all and does not
injure the health, that at least is what we have found, even if it does not
give any ecstasy to the palate.
Only, the food, if neutral, should not be tasteless. A
certain amount of fluctuation is inevitable; no one can cook daily for 80 or 90
people and yet do always well. But if it is too much, a remedy is to be desired
and the Mother is willing to consider any practicable and effective suggestion.
If any practicable suggestion is made, it will be considered, keeping always in
view the difficulty I have pointed out of the ninety people and the three
continents and half a dozen provinces that are represented here, apart from
individual idiosyncracies and fancies, which, of course, it is absolutely
impossible even to try to satisfy unless we want to land ourselves in chaos.
But what if people were to remember that they were here
for Yoga, make that the salt and savour of their existence and acquire
samatā of the palate! My experience is that if they did that, all the
trouble would disappear and even the kitchen difficulties and the defects of the
cooking would vanish.
28 August 1930