Intoxicants and meat eating-Sathya Sai Baba-Advice

"To start with the body requires food. This is the food. Food for head. Head for God. So we should have proper food. The one who wants the experience, the vision of the Divine should keep himself away from polluted foods. That which is sathwic, which is pure, which is good, such food should be accepted. That is sathwic ahara – or pious food – vegetables, greens, shoots and all these things are required by the body. We should not take eggs, meat and so on. Because of these all of our life turns polluted. So we have to immediately give up this polluted food. We should not give ourselves to intoxicants. Because of the alcohol the senses turn weak. So for spiritual practice, alcohol will certainly be an obstacle. We reach the state of forgetfulness in a natural way, not by consuming alcohol. So-called intoxication is artificial. The state of forgetfulness is natural. That which is Divine comes to you in a natural way. The same thing is stated by Narada. We should lead our lives in a natural way. We should not follow this artificial path. A human has become a demon because of these intoxicants and meat eating. Not only this, in addition to these intoxicants there are other things also. There are certain intoxicants added to our food. We should not have any of these. In fact they have been mixed in medicines also. Such medicine should not be used. It doesn’t matter even if we were to suffer but we should not accept intoxicants.

Embodiments of Love!

All of you have been following spiritual practices. And in fact many consider the milk and the curd as pious and acceptable. These are also certainly not pious. There also we find certain intoxicants in nature. We have to take those in a limited quantity. Because it is curd you cannot take in an unlimited way. Everything should be under limits. All the food that we take should be under certain limitations. When you are hungry you should not eat to fullness.You should get up in a state when it is possible to eat some more. If we eat neck deep we develop a bestial temperament. We should not resort to this animality."

source: Excerpts from: VALEDICTORY DIVINE DISCOURSE 22nd July 2002

"Any intoxicant or stimulant, because it disturbs nature's even trend, is harmful."
"Drinking is such an evil and pernicious habit that when man puts the bottle in his mouth he himself gets into the bottle and cannot escape from it! First man drinks wine, then the wine drinks more wine, and finally the wine drinks man himself! He is thus sunk and drowned in drink. Liquor destroys the human qualities in man. How then can he get a chance to develop the divinity in him? One should dance in divine bliss; instead, sensual dance is indulged in as a deleterious substitute! Make your heart pure, your activities holy and your feelings beneficial to all."

DRUGS
"There are some who recommend drugs, soothers, and the like, to those eager to do meditation; but, they do not know that drugs are deceptive, debilitating and dangerous, they have deleterious consequences."