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310
THE WAY OF LIFE
please give me some medicine which can control the sugar in my body though I may eat sweets". The doctor wrote out a prescription and gave it to him and then the gentleman ate sweets whenever he wanted and drank the medicine.
Can you guess what the result was? The diabetes increased and he died one day. He was not also an aged man. Sweets did not agree with his constitution, yet impelled by his sense of taste, he ate sweets and he lost his life.
IT IS BETTER TO PLACE A RESTRAINT ON YOUR
VOUD TEMPTATION TO EAT TASTY FOOD
Once a certain gentleman aged about thirty developed an ulcer in his stomach. He consulted a doctor. The doctor said, "I will of course give you some medicine but you must be careful regarding your diet. You should not eat sour things and hot and burning things like chillies. You should not even drink anything which contains hot and burning things like chillies". The doctor said what he had to say. The gentleman did not care for his words. He continued to eat sour and hot things and ultimately, he went away on his long pilgrimage leaving behind in this world, his wife and two young children.
How can a man adore and pursue the path of moksha when ignoring the prescriptions of a doctor, he goes on eating, the food that does not agree with his constitution ? A man who is a slave to the sense of taste cannot think thus, “This food does not agree with my constitution. It may upset my health. Therefore, I should not eat it. People do not give up the food that does not agree with their constitution, even from the point of view of their physical welfare, let alone their mental and spiritual welfare. What is the use of that taste for food which destroys our physical health ?
From the Audience : Is it better to give up the taste for food or to reduce the quantity of food in order to safeguard our physical welfare ? Is this Dharma ?
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