________________
feel everyday is a disease, and for the cure you eat food. Thus, the food that you eat is a medicine for this disease. If you ask who transforms the food into medicine, the answer will be, the water element. Food is the essence of water and everything is there in it. Bhutaanaam prithivee rasah, prithivya aapo rasah, apam oshadhayo rasah, aushadhinaam purusho rasah. Whatever quantity of food you store, it will not last long. The rice that you store decays after three years, but all those who are sitting here are the result of that rice which has been eaten.
So, what is the essence of food? It is purusha. Do not take purusha as meaning some male or female. Purusha means one who sleeps in the city, Puri shayanarte purushah. Puramekadasham dwaram ajsya vaktra chestah. Our body is just like a complete city. One who has acquired the skill of remaining well in this city is a yogi. So the jeeva (soul) that resides in this body is called purusha. The physical body may be masculine or feminine, but the jeeva residing in it is the purusha. This purusha obtained the opportunity from food to express itself fully.
So, the desire to eat food has not come due to our destiny or luck. There are other reasons also. It is I who am present in the form of food. "Eat me and transform me into purusha", is the desire of someone else hidden in us. This is the reason that the greed, sexual desire and anger are all in us. All of them car be neglected in certain conditions, but they are essential for the evolution of the jeevas. We are not living for ourselves only, but for others also. We are not eating only for ourselves but for others also. Eating food is not limited to our life only, but the creation of other lives is initiated through our eating. So what is the essence of food? It is said to be purusha. All energy is the essence of food.
So many people are sitting here and one person is speaking. You are listening through your ears and I feel that you are following each and every word. But if my voice is disturbed and a single word is repeated many times, if one irrelevant word which is incomprehensible to you is spoken many times, you will be annoyed to hear it and just ask me to stop, as you are not interested in listening. But if I present my thoughts in the most systematic and comprehensive manner, then one speaker can communicate his total thoughts and ideas to thousands of listeners. What is the tool of this communication? This tool is speech.
152 Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
