Interesting. I'd heard it placed as a rajasic food at times as well, alongside onions.
From what I've seen, some sources categorize garlic and onion as rājasic while other sources categorize them as tāmasic.
When it comes to tāmasic foods, I must admit that I sometimes consume onion, and I often eat foods that contain egg. The reason that I avoid garlic is that I personally find it more tāmasic than the others. Finally, when it comes to avoiding tāmasic foods, my current perspective is that avoiding them is not as important as practicing a vegetarian diet. This is because a vegetarian diet is associated with
ahiṃsā or non-injury, arguably the highest facet of dharma, and nothing is greater than dharma.
Sounds like a healthy way of dealing with waste.
Waste management as it is practiced in Korea is great, especially for a really small country.
Something that I forgot to mention is that there are also bins for food waste. There are special bags to put food waste in before tossing it into a food waste bin though people usually don't use the bags.
Does Korea feel like 'home' yet? Do you think you'll stay long term?
I don't know if I can say that Korea feels like 'home,' but I will say that I feel comfortable here, familiar with it, and even attached to it. Some nights (and mornings), I have dreams that I am back in the US and feel incredibly sad that I am not in Korea, and I seek to get back to Korea just before the dreams end. I don't know if I'll stay for the long term, but I am at the beginning of my third year here and I don't want to leave any time soon. If I were to live in any country for the rest of my life, it would ideally be a small one with a large Hindu presence or a majority Hindu population. I could possibly retire in Nepal, as they offer retirement visas, but I should visit that country first.
This interests me. What do you think caused you to set aside this, rather than view it as part of the truth?
The mystic experience that I had back then from meditating on Om was an experience that I was willing to interpret within the context of other paradigms. By setting it aside, I was not prone to emphasizing it, which was helpful to me at the time because I wanted to explore other traditions and find the truth in its entirety. Back then, I did not understand the concept of 'the truth' as I do now.
Truth is a word I see tossed around a lot on the forums. What is your take on 'truth'?
In my opinion, propositional statements, beliefs, dogmas, doctrines, and even sacred texts are not the truth. Just as the word
true means the same thing as
real (among other things), the word
truth means the same thing as
reality (also among other things). If a person says, 'I know the truth' in a spiritual context, it would be unseemly if they mean a propositional statement or a doctrine. If would be better if they meant, 'I know the reality.' What is that reality? It is that of which there is nothing higher. That truth has to be experienced in order to be known. (This reminds me that in the Eastern Orthodox tradition, it is said that a theologian is one who prays. In other words, knowing God, the Truth, is not the result of scholasticism but of mysticism.)
How do you feel you live these goals out, currently?
First, with respect to the pursuit of dharma, there are different aspects of dharma. The aspect that I think is most important is the
sāmānya or common. It is that which pertains to all people who know Hinduism as their way of life. Different texts have different lists of the virtues that are sāmānya dharma. The Yājñavalkya Smṛti, for instance, lists them as
ahiṃsā (non-injury),
satyam (sincerity),
asteya (not stealing),
śauca (cleanliness),
indriyanigraha (restraint of the senses),
dāna (charity/giving),
dama (curbing evil propensities),
dayā (compassion), and
kṣānti (patience/forgiveness). Moreover, the text states that by all of them, dharma is accomplished (
sarveṣām dharma sādhanam). So, I focus mainly on cultivating those virtues in order to pursue dharma in my life.
Next, with respect to the pursuit of
artha or wealth/prosperity, I have a profession that is not contrary to dharma, and I do it in a way that is not contrary to dharma. When it comes to
kāma or sensual/emotional fulfillment, I tend to like the little things. At this time, I am not married and I am not very interested in finding a potential spouse. If I were to get married, it would have to be to a Hindu woman so that we may agree on what is the supreme goal of life and share a common or very similar spirituality. Lastly, concerning
mukti or liberation from the cycle of life, death, and rebirth, I am committed to the practice of the
japa or repetition of the name of Śiva and to being his devotee.
Out of the different branches of yoga, do you consider yourself primarily a Bhakta?
Yes, I count myself a
bhakta or devotee more than anything. I believe that Śiva is the highest truth, the highest reality. Seeing that he is bliss, love, goodness, and sovereign, and that this physical reality is nothing but dissatisfactoriness, how could I not want to be Śiva's devotee? I repeat his name, fast for him every Monday, bow to his image, and think about him. Every day, I ask him for his grace, his
prasāda, that there is
satpreman, genuine love toward him in this heart. Genuine love is
the characteristic of devotion.
The Śiva Purāṇa, by the way, mentions in its Vāyavīya Saṃhitā that there are five aspects to the practice of bhakti toward him:
tapas (austerities),
karma (ritual worship),
japa (repetition of his names or mantras),
dhyāna (meditation on him), and
jñāna (knowledge, but what exactly this is, I am not sure). Elsewhere in the text, it is taught that a devotee should practice one of those five. I take this to mean that one should focus mostly on one of them. As readers can probably tell by now, my main practice is japa.