Commensality, the act of eating together with others, is one of the commonest relaxing and rejuvenating activities. While our body gets necessary nourishment through good food, our heart gets comfort amidst our loved ones.

Unfortunately, commensality has nowadays become hostage to the corporate-controlled media, whose relentless propaganda has distorted our definition of good food. Get-togethers aren’t considered cool unless they feature fast foods and other glamorized, but unhealthy, foodstuffs. While we are eating such food, little do we realize that we are setting ourselves up for being eaten by obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. And these are just the toppers in a crowded field of food-induced maladies, which are often life-threatening. Pertinently, the Bhagavad-gita (17.09) cautions that food which hyper-stimulates our senses is in the mode of passion – such food leads to misery.

If we don’t want to be thus deluded, we need to rescue our definition of good food from materialistic captivity. The most holistic way to redefining good food is to redefine the good life. The Gita explains that our present existence is three-dimensional: physical, mental and spiritual. That life is truly good which nourishes all three dimensions of our being.

For such all-round nourishment, Gita wisdom introduces us to a beautiful bhakti culture wherein good food plays a vital part, as does good association. We can prepare healthy vegetarian food and offer it prayerfully to God, Krishna, thereby acknowledging that he is our sustainer. When we honor such sanctified food in the company of loving devotees, we are not just nourished physically and sheltered emotionally. We are also uplifted spiritually, because the food, the association and the whole setting are centered on Krishna, the highest spiritual reality.

Ultimately, spiritual commensality forms the heart of the potent bhakti process that propels us towards the best life – the life of eternal spiritual love.

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