“We are what we eat”

Some say that we are what we eat. However, “we are what we eat” also applies to the different types of information we absorb, which form our consciousness.

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“We are what we eat”

Some say that we are what we eat, since our bodies are formed by a combination of different material elements that come from the food we eat. This also makes sense in the context of Kṛṣṇa Consciousness: If we eat only junk food, we can’t expect to have a healthy body that will be favorable to our practice of Kṛṣṇa Consciousness. In the Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa mentions that He is the fire of digestion; therefore, we should see everything we eat as an offering to Kṛṣṇa and avoid eating any kind of impure or unhealthy food.

However, “we are what we eat” also applies to a more subtle level, and this is even more relevant to us. “We are what we eat” also applies to the different types of information we absorb, which form our consciousness. Although our original consciousness is to be an eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa, this original consciousness is now covered. Although we still have it somewhere deep inside, it is currently practically lost for us. The consciousness we have now is a combination of the material mind, intelligence, false ego, and so on.

The false ego is composed of different misconceptions we have, such as “I’m a man”, “I’m a woman”, “I’m black”, “I’m white”, “I’m Indian”, “I’m American” and so on, while the material mind is a storage for all kinds of desires, memories, frustrations, etc. that surface from time to time. This combination of misconceptions and material desires determines how we are going to act.

If I think I’m an American, for example, I will tend to identify with a certain culture, a certain way of life, which will influence my view of other people and other places, will influence the way I see life and see the world, etc. The desires stored in the mind, in turn, will give me the impetus to work in different directions, trying to obtain different things, using the material intelligence as a tool to move things around and obtain what I want. All these different desires, misconceptions, and the different types of work I become involved with make it hard for me to reconnect with my original, eternal identity as a servant of Kṛṣṇa. That’s how we end up imprisoned for so many millions of lives in this material world.

However, how are the misconceptions of the false ego and the desires of the mind formed? All of these come from the information we receive. The concept of “I’m American” doesn’t just come from being born in America, but from all the information we receive that reinforces our “American” identity. One who is born in the United States but grows up in another country may see himself as being part of the country he grew up in, and not from where he was born, and the opposite is also possible. Many Armenians, for example, who grow up in other countries, identify themselves as Armenians and try to follow Armenian culture, due to the education they receive from their parents. In this case, the Armenian identity often predominates over the identity of the country they grew up in. The same applies to many other nationalities.

Similarly, all other types of information we receive influence the way we see the world. It influences our identity, our concept of reality, our desires, and so on. In the same way a person who spends all his time on social networks receiving all kinds of useless information will have his or her mind filled with all sorts of material desires and undesirable false identifications, someone who instead spends time hearing about Kṛṣṇa and associating with pure devotees will gradually start to identify with his original identity, will have his mind gradually filled with desires connected with service to Kṛṣṇa, and will be able to grow into this direction by using his purified intelligence.

We can’t change the information we received as children. Whatever is done is done. However, what we can choose is the information we receive now, and use this choice to counteract whatever undesirable influences we received in the past. Although it’s not possible to become completely disconnected from material sources of information, we should use our intelligence and deliberation to choose what we are getting, reducing our exposure to information that spoils our consciousness to a minimum, and increasing our exposure to valuable information that improves our consciousness.

This is an important choice since our consciousness at the end of our life will be a result of all the information we receive during our time here, and this consciousness will, in turn, determine where we are going next.

When we speak about information, nothing is free. We may think that watching a video on YouTube or Instagram is “free”, but actually it has a huge cost. Although it may not cost anything in financial terms, it takes time, and time is a resource more valuable than money. We can convert time into money (by working or doing business), but it’s not possible to convert money into time. When time is gone, it’s gone, and there is nothing we can do to get it back. Apart from time, watching a video also takes our attention, and creates impressions on our mind that affect us for a long time and cannot be easily erased. The same applies to every text or message we read, every image we see, and so on. When we take all of this into consideration, we may want become more selective with the information we consume.

« Things I Wish Someone Had Taught Me When I Started Krishna Consciousness

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