In describing the natural taste for some particular types of food in good men of spiritual urges (Sattwa), it is said that they like only such diet which increases the vitality (Aayuh), and not sheer bulk; which supplies the energy for meditative purposes (Veerya); which discovers for them a secret strength (Bala) to resist the temptations for the sense-objects; which provide health (Aarogya) so that they may not often fall ill and suffer a break in their regular sadhana. Such people will have a natural inclination to take food which will augment joy (Preeti) and inner cheerfulness (Sukha). In short, such creative men, by their own choice, enjoy only food that is clean and wholesome with no chance for them, when consumed, to putrefy within.
All the different types of food eaten by man in the world have been classified and brought under four types on the basis of their physical properties. They are the savoury, the greasy, the firm and the cordial types of food. Men of purity instinctively like all these types of foods when they have the above-mentioned effects upon the consumers — when they (the consumers) have digested and assimilated them.
No doubt, food has certain effects upon the eater. Generally, an eater is, to some extent, conditioned by the type of diet he eats. Not only is our inner nature built by the type of food consumed, but the inner nature, in its turn, commands our tastes; and we find very often that we have developed an irresistible appetite for certain types of food. In the case of animals it is noticed that sometimes they change their diet, according to their physical need in life; dogs and cats are often seen eating grass, cows licking salt-slabs, etc., children eating sand, and pregnant women manifesting different tastes at different periods of their pregnancy.
EXPLAINING THE RAJASIC TYPE OF MEN AND THEIR TASTE IN FOOD, THE LORD SAYS:
