Significance Of Vegetarian Diet In Spiritual Journey | Sattvic, Rajasic & Tamasic Diet

Updated On: 1-May-2022
Why are we talking about food in 1st place ? Why do we need to be Vegetarian ?
"Jaisa ann vaisa ann" is a hindi saying in satvic way of life as per ayurveda, which means, "What we eat is what we become".

Vegetarian diet has gained popularity recently because of its health benefits. Vegetarian diet mainly concentrates on plant based diet, milk and its byproducts. As a vegetarian, you can't eat meat, fish, egg, etc.If you are a Vegan then you will also be excluding milk and its byproducts.

Lets see what our scriptures say about the food we eat.

Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 3, Verse 13
yajna-shishtashinah santo muchyante sarva-kilbishaih
bhunjate te tvagham papa ye pachantyatma-karanat
Meaning of the above sloka:

The spiritual people who first offer food to god and eat the prasadha are released from all sins. People who eat only for their sense pleasure and enjoyment are eating only sin.

Chandogya Upanishad 7.26.2
Ahara suddhau sattva-suddhih
Sattva-suddhau dhruva smrtihi dhruva
mrti-lambhe sarva-granthinam vipra-moksah
Meaning of the above sloka:

"From purity of food comes purity of mind; from purity of mind comes thinking of Lord all the time, and from consistent thinking of Lord one becomes free from all bonds and hence get liberated."

Although a lot of people are practicing a vegetarian diet, they don't know the real advantages of it. Ayurveda is a medical system with its roots in India.

There are 3 major categories according to ayurveda

  1. Sattvic - Food that keeps the energy balanced
  2. Rajasic - Food that increases body energy
  3. Tamasic - Food that decreases body energy

We will be discussing about how food will change our overall behaviour and body conciousness. This discusssion will be more helpfull for the people who are looking for spiritual advancement.

If you see people who eat satvic diet, they will look more pleasant, joyful and they have glow on their face. If you compare satvic with the other 2 groups, then satvic qualities will be missing in them. They can be arrogant, mind will be cluttered and so on. We will discuss about these qualities soon.


For a Sattvic person all attachment towards the fish and meat will disappear and pure sattav is developed. A perfect non attachment towards everything is developed. This is one of the necessary step for our spiritual advancement.

  • Satvic, Rajasic, Tamasic depends on 3 factors: Kapha, Pitta and Vata as per Ayurvedic scripture Ashtanga hriyidium.

    • Kapha(Sputum): When the earth element in the body, mainly solid food that we consume combines with water element in our body, then both these elements interact to form kapha.
    • Pitta(Bile): Water element with fire element forms pitta
    • Vata(Air): Air element in the body combines with space element(sky) then vata is formed.
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    "Talk to yourself once in a day, otherwise you may miss meeting an intelligent person in this world."
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    Dominance of any one element in our body will set us imbalanced.

    • Optimal quantity of khapha is called Ojas
    • Optimal quantity of pitta is called Thejas
    • Optimal quantity of vata is called Prana

Sattvic Diet: What you can eat and its benefits

  1. Positive pranic food
  2. It is always fresh food
  3. Light for stomach to digest
  4. Less processing of food is done
  5. Whole grain food like wheat, unpolished rice, oats, sprouts, dal, jaggery, honey, ginger etc
  6. Fresh and organic . seasonal food
  7. Kapha, Pitta and Vatta in optimal quantity
  8. Possitive attitude towards everything.and happy life. they are fit.
  9. Control over emotion

Rajasic Diet: Food that you need to be in control

  1. High on vatta and pitta.
  2. Spicy,bitter,salty..taste enhansement,stimulants.
  3. Tempting food. include more oil
  4. Include fish,meat,spices,ginger,onion,garlic,coffee,tea,cool drinks
  5. Exteremely strong, conrtol others, aggressive,competitive and proud of themselves.
  6. Try to control others. dont like to loose

Tamasic Diet: Food that you need to avoid

  1. High on kapha and pitta
  2. Low IQ, less cross connection, stubborn, selfless, greedy, ego.
  3. Physically strong, stonned face, extermistics.
  4. Depression, excessive eating, self centered, ignore others, mood changes, craving for food, health conditions
  5. Over processed food - Canned food, bottle drinks, chips, burger, ice creame , maida, puddings, pickles. No fresh food preserved, liquor, alchol

Sattvic diet daily routine

  1. Wake up at brahmamuhurta. sleeping late increases tamas.
  2. Drink warm warter and bath with oil massage.
  3. Do daily yoga or exercise
  4. Spiritual practices
  5. Maintain good hygiene
  6. Food to eat 1-2 times
  7. Eat light food
  8. Sleep by 10pm

Wrong food combinations as per ayurveda

Milk should not be taken with other food at the same time. Milk is a completely different kind of protein. Liquids and solids at the same time won't match. The liquid will take away all the digestive enzymes when you drink it. Liquid should be taken 20-30min before the meal and 1hr after meal.

Banana and milk as its very heavy food it is not recommended to have this combination. Cold drinks should be avoided after meal. Cold stops or lessens the heat in the body and can cause digestive issues, cold, allergies. Some of the similar kind of food which you need to avoid is ice cream, frozen yogurt.

Tea and Milk - Protein in milk called casein interacts with the tea to reduce the concentration. Curd/Yogurt should not to be consumed at night. Curd is acidic in nature and produces pitta and kapha. It produce lots of heat in our body.

Olive oil and nuts not good. Olive oil is fat and nuts contain protein which is not a good combination.