Reflections on Thirukkural 943, 945, and 946: Eating for Health, Longevity, and Joy

“943. Eating with moderation after digestion

Is a way to live for long duration.”

“945. No disease will ever afflict the life of those

Who moderately eat agreeable meals.”

”946. As joy stays with the moderate eater

Sickness stays with the overeater.” (Thiruvalluvar)

These three couplets are from Chapter 95 of the Thirukkural, titled 'Medicine'. Intriguingly, out of the ten couplets in this chapter, six focus specifically on the principles of eating. Thiruvalluvar, the sage-poet of the Thirukkural, highlights that diet is a foundation for both physical health and mental well-being. In a few simple lines, he shares profound wisdom on the importance of eating agreeable meals in moderation and waiting until the previous meal is fully digested. He warns that overindulgence invites illness, while restraint cultivates good health and joy. These verses remind us that self-discipline in our daily habits, particularly in diet, is essential for a healthy, long life.

In this article, I will explore various perspectives on what constitutes a proper diet, drawing from the principles of Yoga and Ayurveda. My aim is to raise awareness about the significance of mindful nutrition while highlighting the diverse views surrounding dietary practices. By presenting these perspectives, I hope to inspire you to delve deeper into the topic and discover an approach that aligns best with your unique needs and lifestyle.

Ayurveda

Ayurveda, the science of life, is an ancient holistic system of medicine from India focused on achieving balance within the body, mind, and spirit through personalized diet, lifestyle, and natural therapies. It centers on the belief that health is sustained by understanding and aligning with one’s unique constitution (Prakriti)—the inherent proportion of Vata, Pitta, and Kapha doshas specific to each person—and living in harmony with nature’s rhythms. Emphasizing prevention and wellness, Ayurveda promotes mindful eating, optimal digestion, and daily practices to cultivate long-term health.

In Ayurveda, nutrition is foundational to overall health and well-being, with food regarded as both sustenance and medicine. Ayurveda emphasizes that diet should be the first consideration in healthcare, as other healing practices may be less effective without a balanced nutritional foundation. Ayurvedic nutrition encourages eating in alignment with one’s unique constitution (Prakriti), seasonal changes, and natural bodily rhythms. Instead of focusing on calorie counting or isolated nutrients, Ayurveda adopts a holistic approach, viewing food’s impact on the body, mind, and spirit as an interconnected whole.

Some of the key principles of Ayurvedic nutrition:

1. Personalized diet. Ayurvedic nutrition is tailored to each individual’s unique Doshic constitution. Those with Vata dominance benefit from warm, moist, and grounding foods to counteract their tendencies toward coldness and dryness. Pitta-dominant individuals thrive on cooling foods that balance their inherent heat. Kapha-dominant types require light, warming, and mildly spicy foods to counteract their predisposition toward heaviness and sluggishness.

2. Mindful eating. To promote proper digestion, it is essential to eat in a calm environment, chew food thoroughly, and practice moderation by avoiding both overeating and undereating.

3. Balancing the six tastes. A balanced meal should include all six tastes—sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent, and astringent— as each one supports different aspects of health and balances the doshas.

4. Seasonal and daily rhythms. Ayurveda promotes a diet that adapts to seasonal changes, such as consuming warm foods in colder months and cooling foods in summer. It also recommends eating two to three meals per day, synchronized with the body’s natural digestive rhythms and dosha cycles. Breakfast should be light and easy to digest, ideally taken during the Kapha period, between 6:00 and 10:00 AM. The main meal is best enjoyed around noon when the digestive fire is at its peak. Dinner should be consumed in the early evening, ideally before 7:00 PM, and kept light and small—or it can be skipped altogether. Ayurveda advises against snacking between meals to facilitate complete digestion; however, small snacks or herbal teas may be recommended in certain situations or to address specific doshic imbalances.

5. Quality of food. Ayurveda emphasizes the importance of consuming fresh, locally sourced, and seasonal foods that are naturally grown and rich in energy (Prana). It advocates primarily for freshly home-cooked meals that are easy to digest, suggesting that only 10-20% of the diet should consist of raw foods. A predominantly raw food diet is recommended only for short-term detoxification and purification, preparing the body for rejuvenation. Processed foods, leftovers, reheating food, and items devoid of Prana are discouraged. In this context, David Frawley notes, “Raw vegetables and greens do carry large amounts of Prana, but for this to be truly rejuvenating we need Ojas increasing foods like dairy, nuts, grains and root vegetables to ground and hold that Prana.”

6. Herbs and spices. In Ayurveda, herbs and spices are important not only for flavor but also for their roles in aiding digestion, enhancing immunity, and balancing the doshas.

   
   

While not all practitioners strictly adhere to a vegetarian diet within Ayurveda, the sattvic diet is commonly encouraged for promoting balance, physical health, longevity, and a peaceful mind. David Frawley emphasizes that an optimal diet combines a sattvic approach with foods suited to one’s doshic type. The sattvic diet primarily consists of plant-based foods and excludes items that induce inertia and lethargy (tamasic) or are overly stimulating (rajasic). It emphasizes moderation and mindful preparation, focusing on light, easy-to-digest foods that are local and seasonal. The sattvic diet mainly includes vegetables, fruits, pulses, nuts, seeds, healthy cooking oils, dairy products, natural sugars, and salt in moderation. While the diet is primarily mild, it incorporates beneficial herbs and spices such as turmeric, ginger, cumin, fennel, fenugreek, coriander, cardamom, and cinnamon, which aid digestion and enhance the nutritional value of meals. Black pepper and mustard seeds can also be used in moderation.

An important aspect often overlooked in a sattvic diet is that it’s not only about choosing sattvic foods; quantity and timing are equally crucial. Overeating, even of sattvic foods, can lead to tamas and stagnation, while undereating or maintaining an overly light diet may increase rajas. Additionally, consuming heavy or mucus-producing meals in the morning or evening can clog the system during these times. Both morning and evening meals should be light, with the main meal consumed at noon.

Yoga

Like Ayurveda, Yoga emphasizes a sattvic diet that cultivates the development of sattva, which embodies the higher qualities of peace, love, and awareness. Central to this concept is the principle of Ahimsa (non-violence, non-harming), the first of the Yamas outlined by Maharishi Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras. Therefore, a sattvic diet should avoid any products that involve killing or harming animals. In Ayurveda, sattva is viewed as a state of balance essential for healing, whereas in Yoga, it is the higher quality that supports spiritual growth. In Yoga, sattva is first cultivated through the purification of the body and mind, but once established, it is transcended, moving beyond the physical and mental realms to reveal our True Self.

While Ayurveda primarily addresses the needs of the general population by focusing on health and overall well-being, Yoga is fundamentally a discipline of self-transformation, self-realization, and liberation. Ayurveda can provide Yoga practitioners with a strong foundation of health and vitality, essential for sustaining their yogic path. However, the traditional Yogic diet differs from the Ayurvedic diet due to their distinct purposes—self-healing in Ayurveda versus self-realization in Yoga. As David Frawley explains, the Yogic diet is not merely sattvic; it is a 'pranic diet', rich in the vital life force needed to energize the mind and subtle body. Accordingly, it includes more raw foods, such as green leafy vegetables, sprouts, and fruits.

Many traditional yogic disciplines encourage fasting, a light diet, and raw foods. When combined with practices like pranayama, pratyahara, and samyama, these dietary choices may aggravate Vata. However, dedicated Yoga practitioners often have higher internal heat, making them less reliant on the heat in their foods and better able to digest raw foods. For most of us who are 'part-time' yoga practitioners, a more balanced approach may be ideal. This includes incorporating raw foods in alignment with our digestive fire's capacity, choosing Vata-pacifying foods when engaging in practices that may elevate Vata, ensuring we nourish all five pranas, and including the six tastes in our diet, among other considerations.

Let’s explore some dietary recommendations from various Yogic traditions.

In Yoga: Step-By-Step, Swami Gitananda outlines some important diet rules for natural health:

• Consume at least 40% raw, fresh foods, focusing on seasonal fruits and vegetables.

• Include 60% freshly cooked meals, avoiding overcooking, and incorporate whole grain products.

• Eat the skin of fruits and vegetables after thoroughly washing them, as the alkaline content is concentrated there.

• Favor cold-pressed polyunsaturated vegetable oils over animal fats, which can increase the acidity of food.

• If needed, use natural sweeteners like jaggery or honey.

• Avoid unnatural or processed foods entirely.

• Eat to satisfy hunger and meet the body’s natural needs, rather than compensating for appetite, which is often caused by psychological disturbances.

• Recognize that even the best diet can be undermined by smoking and alcohol consumption. Avoid them entirely.

• Emphasize biogenic foods (such as sprouts and germinated seeds) and bioactive foods (like fruits and vegetables) while avoiding biocidic foods (meat, fast food, processed food, and foods grown with chemical fertilizers and pesticides) and biostatic foods (overcooked or long-stored food).

• A balanced diet should be complemented by proper hydration. It’s best to sip water throughout the day instead of gulping large amounts at once. Good blood circulation is essential for transporting nutrients, and proper hydration supports this process.

Based on Swami Gitananda's teachings on the Yogic diet, Korina Kontaxaki (Yogacharini Anandhi) has developed Activated Vegan Food®. In her own words, “We have adapted the principles of this invaluable system [Yogic Diet] to encompass the contemporary need for more conscious and ethical living through vegan choices.” The three main qualities of Activated Vegan Food are:

• Alive: Comprising at least 95% fresh, raw, or freshly cooked vegan food.

• Easily Digestible: Enhanced digestibility through the addition of spices or herbs and proper food combinations.

• Tuned: Featuring at least 80% local, seasonal ingredients, promoting a sustainable and eco-friendly diet for the future of our planet while also benefiting our bodies.

In Shadow Yoga, Sundernāth (Shandor Remete), an initiate of the Kanpatha Hatha Yogins of Nepal, descendants of Sri Gorakhnath, references the Chandogya Upanishad to discuss some dietary principles in Yoga. In the chapter titled ‘Mitahara: The Controlled Intake of Pure Foods’, he explains that controlling solid foods assists in gaining control over the physical body and mind, while controlling fluids aids in regulating the blood and breath. “By controlling the palate one gains control over the body and the mind, the blood is cleaned, the breath becomes powerful, and one gains good bones, marrow, and gentle speech.”

Sundernāth advocates for a fully vegetarian diet, limited to a select few foods that suit the individual. He emphasizes the importance of personal experimentation, encouraging each practitioner to discover foods that are both easily digestible and pleasing to the palate and body, and to use only those foods. Foods that are salty, sour, or overly bitter should be avoided, while sweet, astringent, and slightly pungent spices like black pepper, cloves, ginger, cinnamon, and cardamom are recommended for regular use.

In Kundalini-Yoga Parampara, Reinhard Gammenthaler emphasizes Mitahara—the Yogic diet—as crucial for achieving success in Yogic practice. Drawing from the Hatha-Yoga Pradipika, Gheranda-Samhita, and other yogic texts, he outlines dietary principles and lifestyle habits suitable for a dedicated Yoga practitioner. Some key recommendations include:

• Prioritize sattvic foods that are high in Prana, light, and pure, while avoiding tamasic foods entirely and minimizing rajasic foods to prevent raga (attachment).

• Eat moderately without overindulgence, filling the stomach with ½ solid food, ¼ liquid (water or milk), and leaving ¼ empty for air.

• Yoga practitioners should eat to nourish, not for sensory pleasure, and keep the stomach empty before practice sessions.

• Advanced Yogic techniques like Viparita-Karani Mudra or Bhastra-Kumbhaka should be practiced only by those who consume milk products, as cow's milk and ghee are said to be essential for these practices.

• Recommended foods are milk products, cereals, vegetables, sweet fruits, dried fruits, nuts, and sweet, simple meals greased with ghee, butter, or coconut oil. Recommended spices are turmeric, haritaki, pippali, black pepper, ginger, liquorice, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, fennel, anise, and cumin.

• The foods to be avoided by Yoga practitioners are meat, fish, eggs, onions, garlic, chili pepper, curry, asafoetida, vinegar, coffee and tea (to be reduced or avoided), and all intoxicants like alcohol, nicotine, and drugs. They should avoid all foods which are very sour, salted, bitter, pungent, or fried in vegetable oils.

Conclusion

The teachings of Thirukkural, along with Ayurveda and Yoga, emphasize the importance of mindful eating for health, longevity, mental well-being, and spiritual evolution. Essential principles include moderation, allowing time for complete digestion, and selecting local and seasonal foods that are appealing to our palate and suitable for our unique constitution. Through experimentation, we should discover which foods are easily digestible for us, the appropriate balance between raw and freshly cooked foods, and how many meals we need each day. Furthermore, our dietary choices should be tailored to support our lifestyle, physical activity, spiritual practices, and work demands.

Prioritizing proper nutrition lays a strong foundation for vibrant health. Swami Gitananda Giri Guru Maharaj used to say that "Health and happiness are your birthright, claim them and develop them to your maximum potential as you evolve towards liberation." This powerful message reminds us that health is an essential, natural state available to everyone—not an end in itself, but a foundation for living fully and joyfully. Health is the fertile soil from which we draw the strength and vitality to sprout, grow, and bring our worldly aspirations and spiritual goals, such as self-realization and moksha, to fruition. By choosing mindful eating, we can begin reclaiming our health and well-being. And the best time to start is...now.

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📚✍️Written over 2000 years ago in Tamil Nadu, the Thirukkural offers timeless wisdom on the art of living through its 133 chapters, each containing profound insights on life. For English translations, I use both Dr. M. Rajaram's 'Thirukkural – Pearls of Inspiration' (Rupa Publications) and Kannan’s translation available at thirukkural133.wordpress.com.

This translation comes from Dr. M. Rajaram. Kannan’s translation of the same verses is as follows: "943. After digestion, eat in right measure. This is the way for the possessor of the body to prolong its being.”, “945. If one eats after refusing incompatible food there is no harm for their existence.”, and “946. Joy resides with one who knows what not and how much to eat. Likewise, disease rests with the glutton.”

Bibliography

M. Rajaram. Thirukkural - Pearls of Inspiration. Rupa Publications, 2023.

Kannan. Thirukkural in English. thirukkural133.wordpress.com

Dr. Swami Gitananda Giri. Yoga: Step-by-Step. Satya Press, India.

Frawley, David. Yoga & Ayurveda. Lotus Press, 2009.

Gammenthaler, Reinhard. Kundalini-Yoga Parampara. Simowa, 2020.

Remete, Shandor. Shadow Yoga. North Atlantic Books, 2010.

Kontaxaki, Korina. Activated® Vegan Food. Available at: https://yogalifewithanandhi.com/p/activated-vegan-food-complete-guide2 [Accessed 2 Nov. 2024]