Baba says, ‘eat in remembrance‘. You are what you eat, food has a significant influence on our spiritual well-being. In addition to the kind of food (vegetarian), it also matters how we consume it.

Do I remember to offer food prepared as bhog (offering of freshly prepared food to God in remembrance )to Baba first before eating? Baba says, ‘I don’t eat anything but I accept the pure feeling from the children’. Baba spiritualizes the offering, which is to say, He adds His purity, His strength into the food. When we consume food that has first been offered to God in remembrance, we remember to be grateful for Him, for His love, for His companionship. We accept that He is responsible for us, that He is our provider. It helps me feel light and protected.

But Baba cautions, ‘it is not enough to simply offer bhog and then eat on your own, eat your entire meal in remembrance’. Often times, we sit down to eat and get busy with catching up on the latest gossip. Even if we may be alone, we eat with our eyes glued to the phone or perhaps, our mind is busy thinking about random things that occurred that day.

Baba says, ‘eat with Me’.

When I eat with Baba, I am speaking with Him. When we are in love, we rush to eat with our Beloved. If we cannot be together, we eat in remembrance so much so that we don’t even know what we are eating, we are lost. I am with my true Beloved, He is ALWAYS with me, can I eat with Him? Can I remember Him with every bite? Can I feed Him as He feeds me? Baba, ‘do you like this new recipe I’ve tried?’, ‘I think may be I got carried away with the salt, what do you think?’ You’ll find, He usually thinks its the greatest thing He’s ever had. 🙂

Baba says, ‘remember Me even when you cook your food’. ‘Baba, do you remember if I put the chilli in yet?’, ‘Baba, can you please taste this and check if it has enough salt?’, ‘Baba, can you chop these Carrots while I take care of the Beans?’

If you’ve made Baba your child, even better! Teach your Child how to help out in the kitchen. He may not know how to cut the Carrots in equal sized chunks but He’ll give it a shot! He’ll always help when you are baking those cakes – mostly by eating all the frosting before its on the cake!

These are little tricks Baba teaches us to remember Him. We think we are so busy, but busy doing what? We have so many opportunities to remember Baba, to experience His companionship, His love. Do I use them?

Life can be hard and overwhelming if we try to live it alone or by being lost in this world. But if I live it with my Companion, my Child, my Beloved, its light, its entertaining, its full of love. Food always brings the family together…let me use it to bring my true eternal family together. Let me enjoy my time.