________________
VEDA
The ancient hymn gocs on:
FOOD is the exhaling breath; FOOD is the inhaling breath
of life; FOOD, they call death; the same FOOD, they call life. FOOD, the Brāhmans call growing old [decaying); FOOD, they also call the begetting of offspring.
Food governs all vital processes. It provides energy for the lifelong breathing process. It produces decay and old age, which end in death and destruction; but it also moves to the begetting of offspring, and it builds up the body of the growing child.
The foolish man obtains useless food. I declare the truth: it will be his death, Because he does not feed either friend or companion. By keeping his food to himself alone, he becomes
guilty when eating it.
I--the FOOD-am the cloud, thundering and raining. They (the beings] feed on ME.-I feed on everything. I am the real essence of the universe, immortal. By my force all the suns in heaven are aglow.
The same divine milk that circulates through creatures here on earth sets aglow the suns-all the suns of the galaxy. It condenses also into the forms of the clouds. It pours down as rain and feeds the earth, the vegetation, and the animals that thrive on the vegetation. The individual initiated into this secret cannot be avaricious for any portion of the abundant food that may come to him. He will share it willingly with his companions. He will not wish to break the circuit by hoarding the substance to himself. And by the same token, anyone keeping food withdraws himself from the animating passage of the life-force which supports the remainder of the universe-all the creatures
347
