Vairagya (Non-attachment)


4) The notion of non-attachment to material objects, other people, and even to our own body is another basic precept that is present in nearly all forms of yogic thought.  Likewise,  a simple diet that remains close to nature, without reliance on processed foods, helps us to overcome the nearly universal addiction of taste cravings and sensory indulgence.

 

A human can be healthy without killing animals for food. Therefore if he eats meat he participates in taking animal life merely for the sake of his appetite. --Leo Tolstoy

We do not want not to want, and that is what the problem is. -- Andrew Cohen

 

Many practitioners of yoga would like to play down the connection between yoga and diet, after all, the mental and physical elements in a yoga class, be it the breath, the movement, or the meditation, make us feel great all by themselves. Diet is a separate subject, right? In reality the two subjects are inextricably linked. The concept of non-violence has a direct bearing on both our practice of physical yoga and on the food that we choose to consume. Ahimsa is not only the first obligation of a yogi but also the first concern of a vegan raw-foodist. A vegan diet, consisting only of food that comes directly from the earth is the most important step one can take in order to minimize their effect on the environment. It also prevents us from financing the torture of billions of animals, that are not only raised in cages just to be killed, but must be fed copious amounts of water and food, more than enough to remedy the thirst and starvation among humans worldwide. But as wonderful as the vegan diet can be it also has many pitfalls if practiced without nutrition in mind. The excessive cooking and baking of heavy starches, faux meats, and sugary snacks makes many vegans worse off than when they ate the meat and dairy that they now try to mimic by unnatural means. In addition, the constant use of gas and electric for cooking is a needless waste of resources. To cook our meals means that we are going to great lengths to damage the food being eaten while also putting a strain on the environment that we are aiming to protect by our dietary choices.

At first glance it may seem overly dramatic to be concerned with the fate of a freshly picked apple. How could any sane person consider the baking of this apple to be wrong? But the answer lies in the way that we perceive words such as "wrong" or "sinful". We are taught to believe that these words indicate that we have done something displeasing to the Lord, and that by going against God's law, or even the current government's laws, then we will someday suffer the consequences. But when we think in terms of "natural law" then there is no need for judgment or guilt. Natural law is not affected by imperialism or who sits on the Supreme court, it is an obvious expression of God's many gifts to us as humans, gifts that are given without anything asked for in return. The annual cycle of an apple tree can teach us all we need to know. The tree goes through a rebirth in spring, sprouts buds and grows in all directions around summertime, selflessly offers it's bounty in the fall, and then, after propagating its seeds and feeding complete strangers, it "dies" in the winter. A living example of Ahimsa and yoga. Every last part gets either used, recycled, enjoyed, or reincarnated.

In the western world of yoga, however, I have heard the argument made that the main aim of yoga is non-attachment (vairagya) rather than non-violence (ahimsa). This is an interesting debate, especially in developed countries where attachment to all things is so ingrained in our culture. So the lesson of non-attachment becomes a more compelling test and obstacle, especially as all of us have heard about some form of Ahimsa since we were old enough to understand. Both really go hand in hand, because when a person is truly unattached to objects and desires then they have no reason to become belligerent when something is taken away. As the saying goes "You can't take it with you", this refers not just to money but to everything we see in this play-world of ours. So a self-realized master sees no difference between one physical form and another, they are all just God vibrating at different speeds. The fullest expression of non-attachment lies in overcoming the fear of death, thereby disassociating our higher self from our mortal body and making peace with the cycles of life; easy enough to say but extremely difficult when the moment arrives. So both Vairagya and Ahimsa are very profound teachers and continuously work together to test our resolve in many ways.

The controversy, however, often begins when the leader of a yoga center, school, or Ashram uses the idea of non-attachment to explain why they have created new rules of conduct, or discarded old ones, that obviously break with all yogic traditions. The message being that we as yogis need to be less attached; not just to the usual things like money, sex, and material objects but also to the idea that yogic philosophy will stand the test of time. I have heard this argument over and over again when leaders want to attract a different segment of the population to their flock. So these days you will have no trouble finding places that claim to teach the essence of yoga, where the words of Patanjali and Krishna are emblazoned across every wall, but where you can also eat meat, buy gold watches, and have worker bees cater to your every desire. It is nothing more than a rationalization for a community leader to tell his disciples that they should practice non-attachment just so they can bring more money to the community. A retreat that serves dead animals as food and calls itself a Yoga center is similar to a democratic country that allows only wealthy white men to vote. Make no mistake - this is not yoga. No matter how beautiful a place may be, how many celebrity yogis teach there, or how many yoga texts collect dust on the shelves, yoga cannot be taught as a hypothetical model, it must be experienced.

It is true that non-attachment is a major hurdle to deal with, one that most of us spend lifetimes trying to overcome. As children we are attached to every object that we see, so much so that sharing becomes one of the first and most valuable life lessons to be learned. But even as we try to placate our children's fear of loss by insisting that they are overreacting for having such strong desires for a mere toy, we still find ourselves throwing tantrums when faced with the loss of our own toys, be it a car or computer. Coming to terms with this type of childlike attachment is part of our practice as yogis. If we are to lead by example we have to work towards letting go.

But what about other forms of attachment? What about being attached to the well-being of our children, to the state of the environment, or being concerned with fate of other sentient beings besides humans? This is a challenging question for all of us to consider when we put our full faith in a higher power. These type of attachments may be called universal attachments as they are common to all people, they are intrinsic and indelible, not learned through habit or peer pressure, and are not things that we need to get over. At times we may need to put them in perspective to figure out where our priorities lie, but generally speaking these universal attachments are an important part of the human condition. They help to guide us down the right path when difficult decisions must be made and they tend to form unions of like minded people which has been shown to be the greatest catalyst for positive change.

 

The Ayurvedic diet

Yogis of old have always been interested in diet and how it affects their personal practice. Most yoga texts will mention food on one level or another, clearly stating that a yogi must exchew the eating of flesh foods. Since the practice of yoga comes from India and falls under the Ayurvedic system there has also been much written about how each person is different and should eat according to their specific dosha. In its simplest form a dosha is basically a body type that we are born with. We all have a propensity towards being hot or cold, slim or heavy, energetic or slow moving, and based on many questions such as these we are are able to figure out which of the three basic doshas we fall under, namely Vata, Pitta, or Kapha. Vatas are generally slender, with a fast metabolism, lots of nervous energy and prone to run cold. Pittas generally have a solid frame but not overweight, slower starters than vatas, very passionate and run on the warm side. Kaphas on the other hand put on weight quickly even when eating the same way as vatas, tend towards inertia, are very family oriented, and may feel cold even when overweight. Most people, of course, cannot be labeled as entirely one dosha but rather show more tendencies of one and slight elements of a second.

Once an Ayurvedic doctor has figured out your specific dosha they may make recommendations for lifestyle changes and diet based around that diagnosis. The dietary choices in the Ayurvedic system also falls into three categories known as the Gunas, or strands: Sattvic, Rajasic, and Tamasic. Within yogic thought these three Gunas are used to symbolize separate qualities that are present to one degree or another in all physical manifestations; but for our purposes we will stick to their dietary implications. Sattvic foods are generally wholefoods that are considered to be not only healthier for our bodies but also beneficial to any practice of Yoga, be it physical or spiritual. These foods include fruits, vegetables, nuts, grains, and dairy. Rajasic foods are generally spicy, flavorful, or stimulating and bring about the type of increased energy that may lift our spirits for a short time but tend to make us ungrounded and scattered in the long term. Examples of these foods are refined sugar, sharp spices, eggs, garlic, coffee, and chocolate. Tamasic foods are categorized as food that is plainly unhealthy for the body. Eating a tamasic diet regularly weighs heavy on the body, mind, and spirit until our bodies own immune system fails and cannot offset the premature affects of aging or disease. Some of these so called "foods" are meat, tobacco, alcohol, and vinegar. Overeating is also extremely Tamasic. When we take a close look at the standard American diet and see that it is replete with Tamasic food there is little wonder why our levels of fitness and education have been rapidly declining.

The Ayurvedic system has given the world a multitude of philosophical and dietary wisdom. Many long time yoga practitioners hold up the Sattvic method as the definitive diet for the practice of Hatha yoga and meditation. I feel that the Ayurvedic perspective, with its three ways of grouping food and individual body types, is a great starting point for many people who have spent years consuming food without giving any thought to what they are actually swallowing or how this may affect their uniquely engineered body. With this said, however, we must also be honest enough to admit that no matter how ancient, well-intentioned or revered a dietary system may be it still needs to be continuously observed in the modern era to test its efficacy. The diet that was right for a Hindu farmer thousands of years ago may not be the optimal diet for our planet today. Before discussing why I feel that the Ayurvedic method is slightly antiquated I think that it’s important to understand the culture from which this dietary system evolved.

India has always been a country rich in history and religion if not wealth. Traveling around this country you may find thousands of different philisophical viewpoints, possibly within the context of the same religion, but still to this day the foundation of Indian thought comes from its early Hindu beginnings. There are very few written texts that are held up as sacred to a Hindu as the Mahabharata and within this massive compilation that is well over three times a long as the western Bible (dating from about 300 B.C. to 300 A.D.), there are many references to the virtues of vegetarianism and non-injury to other sentient beings, specifically the cow. Quotes such as: "He who desires to augment his own flesh by eating the flesh of other creatures lives in misery in whatever species he may take his birth.", Mahabharata 115.47 and "The very name of cow is Aghnya ["not to be killed"], indicating that they should never be slaughtered. Who, then could slay them? Surely, one who kills a cow or a bull commits a heinous crime.", Mahabharata 262.47, are good examples of how ingrained this code of ethics is. The Mahabharata is packed with rules of conduct and prescribed rituals involving cows; to this day, in fact, you will find these massive creatures strolling casually around the most overcrowded cities of India.

When we observe the Ayurvedic system from the perspective of a religion (one that deifies so many aspects of the universal force, creating the unparalleled Hindu pantheon of thousands upon thousands of Gods, many of which take animal form), and also from the perspective of one of the most ancient agrarian cultures in the world (one that worshiped the cow as a symbol of reincarnation, harvest, wealth, and health), it is easy to see why the non-consumption of meat became the norm, while the consumption of cheese and other dairy products has been an ever present staple in the Indian diet. Even after the influx of the Muslim culture, the domination by the British, and the typical modern day voyerism of all things western, vegetarianism remains a resolute force in the Indian lifestyle. One of the main reasons for this is the Hindu belief in Karma which states that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. In simplistic terms this means that by involving ourselves in the pain and suffering of another creature we will eventually host that same suffering within our own conscious experience, either in this life or the next.

So considering the strong feelings that Hindus, and yogis in general, have regarding the consumption of meat products we must at some point pose the question "Is the consumption of milk and dairy beneficial or even relevant to our yoga practice?". Since dairy is generally viewed as innocuous, when compared to the health and cruelty issues attributed to flesh foods, it is generally the final animal product that most vegetarians give up, if it is given up at all. Before doing the research I remember living under the naive assumption that milk was generously donated to us by relatively happy cows who had boundless freedom, untainted food, and a natural need to produce this milk for their calves anyway. I was familiar with the idea that "cow’s milk was designed for cows and human milk for humans" but this argument alone wasn’t powerful enough to stop me from eating the occasional slice of pizza or cheese sandwich.

In reality, however, dairy is scary. It is only clever marketing and lack of information that has made vegetarians such as myself believe that the mass production of dairy products is somehow less insidious than factory farmed meat. There is simply no known method for manufacturing large quantities of cow’s milk without adversely affecting the animals themselves. There is no better example of this than the veal industry. According to the beef and veal industries own words: "The veal industry grew right out of the dairy industry. In order for dairy cows to produce milk they must give birth once a year and naturally about half of their offspring will be male. These male calves are of liitle or no use to the dairy farmers and those are the calves that have found a useful purpose in the veal industry We keep the calves in individual pens which provides a safe environment where the calves can lay down and groom themselves". Reading between the lines of this flowery language we get a real understanding of just how heinous the veal and dairy industries really are.

Most dairy cows are fed synthetic hormones to increase their growth and are artificially inseminated regularly in order to keep up their milk production, making them into more of a machine than an animal (U.S. milk production skyrocketed to 170 billion pounds per year in 2003). The male calves are taken from their mothers shortly after birth and look forward to a life that can only be described as torture. They are caged in pens or crates that are so small that they cannot even turn around. They live primarily on a milk-substitute which is purposely low in iron, fiber, and other nutrients in order to create a creature that is borderline anemic with "gourmet style" pale-colored flesh. It shouldn’t be very surprising that veal calves require approximately five times more medication than calves living in more spacious conditions. Veal calves never see the sun or taste the grass, their muscles atrophy to produce a more tender meat, and within their short two week lifespan most of them experience disease, convulsions or insanity. All of this is done for one reason – to find a "useful purpose" for young male calves. In other words, the creation of a creature never before seen in nature must be invented, caged, slaughtered, consumed, and profited from in order to produce every glass of milk or slice of cheese. There are simply too many male calves born each year for any other reasonable alternative. Even the most well intentioned family run dairy farm cannot find a way out of this debacle. Free range, organic dairy cows may have a considerably better life than factory farmed cows but there is still the problem of what to do with all of the baby calves and what to do when the dairy cow itself has outlived its usefullness.

In addition to the unavoidable cruelty issues associated with dairy farming there also remains the health concerns. Dangerous substances such as steroids, anti-biotics, and dioxins are found in most meat and dairy products. Dioxins are formed as a result of the combustion process, such as commercial or municipal waste incineration, and from burning fuels (like wood, coal or oil). Dioxins travel long distances, finally settling in our ground water, soil, and grass (cow’s favorite food). These dioxins break down very slowly as compared to other environmental toxins and can now be found in the fat cells of most humans and animals. The FDA (Food and Drug Association) has stated that "Because dioxins are extremely persistent compounds, levels of dioxins still exist in the environment from both manmade and natural sources. A large part of the current exposures to dioxins in the United States is due to release of manmade dioxins that occurred in the past, even decades ago." The FDA goes on to warn us that "Although dioxin is an environmental contaminant, most dioxin exposure occurs through the diet, with over 95% coming through dietary intake of animal fats (including meat, fish, and dairy)". Why worry about ingesting this particular toxin when there are so many others? Well it seems that in the long run dioxins cause more health problems than any other. The most virulent forms of dioxin have been linked to cancer, reproductive problems, skin rashes, and liver malfunctions. Dioxins are now so prevalent in our society today that tests done on human breast milk (which naturally contains large amounts of fat just like cow’s milk) are coming back with warnings of toxicity levels that may be too high for the safety of the newborn. The unprecedented rise in cancer rates since the early 1900’s is arguably due to the release and ingestion of these manmade substances.

Problems associated with dairy products, however, predate the Industrial revolution. No animal in nature drinks milk beyond their childhood years, but due to false advertising many people now believe that humans are so unique in nature that we must feed our children cow’s milk for proper growth and overall health. This reliance on dairy products was the impetus behind the industries need and subsequent use of recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH). This genetically engineered version of a growth hormone extracted from cows' pituitary glands increases milk output by as much as 20 to 30 percent. The use of this manmade hormone has been controversial enough to elicit massive public outcry until many large dairies and food service companies such as Starbucks have decided to stop investing in rBGH. But even under the best circumstances cow’s milk will still contain growth hormones that have no place in the human diet. These growth hormones are designed for baby cows, an animal that can weigh up to 1,000 pounds by their second year, not for baby or adult humans. Proponents of these naturally occuring hormones claim that they make humans bigger and stronger, similar to an animal, but what we often forget is that growth hormones affect all of the cells that they come into contact with. When they interact with an otherwise benign cancer cell, one that our bodies immune system would normally overwhelm, these hormones cause the cell to grow in the same way that they would any other.

Finally, if animal cruelty and health concerns are not enough to motivate you towards a dairy free diet then please consider the environmental issues. The increased demand for dairy products throughout the world means that there must always be an adequate supply to fulfill the demand. This has led the beef and dairy industries to purchase land in some of the poorest, yet most valuable, parts of the world. Tropical havens that are best left to nature have become prime locations for beef and dairy production where industry can set up their factories with minimal cost and interference. It is no coincidence that the Brazilian rainforest has been disappearing before our eyes while much of our animal products come from that region. According to the Global Dairy Alliance, Brazil’s dairy production has been growing steadily for the past ten years, currently making this vast, fertile country the sixth largest dairy producer in the world. Of the original 8 million square miles of tropical rainforest that once encircled the earth more than half has been burned, bulldozed and obliterated. Now, only 3.4 million square miles remain. It’s important to keep in mind that with every acre of rainforest that is destroyed we lose much than just trees, we forever lose whole species of animals, insects and natures medicinal remedies that we barely understand.

Right here in America, however, environmental problems are of equal concern. The nine million dairy cows that are necessary to keep up the production line here in the U.S. contribute to the destruction of our precious topsoil and ozone layer on a daily basis. Such a large number of huge animals cannot exist in one place for very long without causing permanent environmental damage. It is estimated that eighty-five percent of the topsoil lossed here in America is due to the raising of livestock and the methane gas produced by these cows (free-range or not) destroys our protective ozone layer just as readily as fossil fuels. According to John Robbins (author of "Diet for a new America"), "The 1,600 dairies in California's Central Valley produce more excrement than the entire human population of Texas. About 20 million Californians (65% of the state's population) rely on drinking water that is threatened by contamination from nitrates and other poisons stemming from dairy manure. Nitrates have been linked to cancer and birth defects." As if this weren’t enough, we wind up using half of our total water supply, possibly the most precious natural resource of them all, just to keep up with livestock production. Having said this, I want to make it clear that reciting statistical information or arguing about specific numbers is not what really matters. If we are expected to make sound, honest decisions about our diets and lifestyle then it’s important to be informed about the enormity of the situation, but to a true yogi the suffering of just one animal should be enough to persuade the proper change. So coming back to our original question: "Is the consumption of milk and dairy beneficial or even relevant to our yoga practice?", we must be honest enough with ourselves to state the obvious answer.

Each time we spend money on dairy products we are once again casting a vote. And while we may not see a burnt acre of rainforest, a genetically altered gene, or a suffering baby calf when we purchase a slice of pizza, our votes are still heard and counted. Yogis of old, or even your present day guru, may be advocates of dairy consumption based on either tradition or spurious science but this does not mean that you have to agree. A real teacher should teach their disciples to make their own choices, not follow like blind sheep. Whenever we use tradition as a justification for going against our own values we are doing ourselves and everyone around us a huge disservice. Patanjali’s yoga sutras lists Satya, or truth, as second only to Ahimsa, or non-violence. To practice truthfulness it is not enough to speak the truth, we must also live it. A practicing yogi doesn’t have the luxury of saying "Do as I say, not as I do", but rather we must constantly lead by example and investigate the source and implications of our choices. The karmic affects of certain dietary rules and regulations may be debated or taken with a grain of salt, but by choosing to eat dairy there is no doubt as to the negative impact on the planet, all the creatures living in it, and our own personal evolution.