Life Without Conflict Life Without Conflict | Page 31

14 Life Without Conflict what you can but do not insult me.” Should you not honor the food? Someone may bring a food item that I do not like, but I honor it. Ordinarily it will not come to you but when it does, you have to respect it. This food is your own (earned in your past life) and so when you find faults with whatever is served on your plate, will that increase or decrease your happiness? Questioner : It decreases. Dadashri : Why deal with things in a manner that decreases your happiness? You should not conduct yourself or deal with situations in a manner that will cause your happiness to decrease. I am often served vegetables I do not like, but I eat them and I say that the vegetables were very good. Questioner : Is that not being deceitful? When you say you like something when you actually do not, is that not pacifying the mind unnecessarily? Dadashri : It is not unnecessarily pacifying the mind. The food will go down your throat easier if you say you like it. When you say you do not like it, you will upset the vegetables, as well as the one who cooked them and your children too, will pick up on your behavior; even your children will assess your worthiness. Even in my own home no one knows of my likes and dislikes. Is cooking really under the control of the one cooking? The food that ends up on the plate is in accordance with the laws of vyavasthit of the one who is going to eat. Therefore, one should not meddle with it. So Much Luxury and Yet No Enjoyment Eating in hotels and restaurants can lead to dysentery. When you eat in hotels and restaurants, its effects gradually accumulate inside your body and when the time comes, it will