From Food and Basic Needs to Ultimate Spiritual Food
From Food and Basic Needs to Ultimate Spiritual Food
(Body-Level Awareness in Spiritual Growth)
Human life unfolds across multiple levels. In the beginning, our attention is primarily on the body and its needs—such as food, rest, and safety. In psychological and spiritual development, this is called Level 1.
Some people remain stuck at this level their whole lives, as if existence revolves only around eating, sleeping, and material pleasures. Such a person behaves like an infant, whose entire awareness is bound to taste and hunger.
Taratam Vani describes this state with deep compassion but also a warning:
Human birth is not merely for filling the stomach—this is its smallest purpose.
The Dual Meaning of Food
Food is essential—it is the foundation of the body. But the truth of life is much deeper. Food taken out of necessity sustains life, but food taken out of desire binds the mind.
We have two types of nourishment:
- Physical food: for the growth and health of the body
- Spiritual food: for the balance of mind, intellect, emotions, and soul
Just as the body weakens without food, the mind becomes unsettled and directionless through wrong company, negative thoughts, fear, TV noise, anger, and craving.
🔥 When Food Becomes Desire
When eating is only for taste or habit, ignorance begins. The Vani warns:
Sensory pleasures first feel sweet, but ultimately result in regret.
The thirst of the senses burns like fire—but the soul remains silent and asleep.
⚖️ Principle of Balance
- Too little food hurts the body.
- Too much food hurts the mind.
- Mindless food hurts the soul.
Allergies or overindulgence are signs of imbalance. The rule is simple—eat according to the needs of the body, not the desires of the mind. Taratam Vani says:
Khane ko pet maafak, aur mulla padhavne kalaam.।।47।।
Eat according to necessity, study according to truth—this is true balance.
🌿 Nirguna Food: More Than Eating—A Choice of Consciousness
"Food" is not just what we eat—everything we take inside counts:
| Type of Food | Examples |
| Physical | Food, water |
| Sensory | Sight, sound, smell, touch, taste |
| Mental | Thoughts, news, study |
| Emotional | Company, relationships, communication |
| Spiritual | Satsang, meditation, name-remembrance, truth |
The Nirguna path is more about consciousness than food. Taratam Vani says:
In the Nirguna path, food, conduct, and company are pure, simple, and conscious—balancing mind, heart, and soul.
🌸 When Food Becomes Love
Food is first offered to the Beloved Supreme, then becomes prasada. Food becomes a medium of love.
✨ The Ultimate Stage: When Food Transcends
At higher spiritual levels, the definition of food itself changes.
Khana peena didar, roja nimaz didar.।।43।।
Here, sight (Divine vision) itself becomes food—love becomes worship.
Chhod guman sab milsi… ek khan pan ek gaan.।।24।।
Where love exists, all distinctions disappear.
🔚 Summary
| Level | Form of Food |
| Body | Necessary and healthy nourishment |
| Mind | Disciplined desires and mindful habits |
| Heart | Love, compassion, harmony |
| Soul | Vision, name, truth, remembrance |
🕯 Conclusion: Food sustains the body, but awareness awakens the soul. A true practitioner does not merely refine taste—he sanctifies the consciousness of nourishment within.
Where food is mindful, company pure, and love worship—there begins the Nirguna path.
This article completes the journey from basic needs to the higher stages of consciousness, incorporating Ken Wilber's levels of development with Tartam Vani for a clear spiritual perspective.
✨ Closing: The Full Journey of Development—From Level 1 to Nondual
Human life is not limited to physical needs. It is a long, wondrous, and sacred journey of consciousness, where each level transcends, includes, and illuminates the previous one.
At the Magenta stage of Tribal Belonging, motivation shifts toward family, group identity, and community, though it is often clouded by superstition and tribal superiority; the key awakening here is the realization that "I am not alone; I am connected."
In the Red stage of Power and Control, ego, dominance, and desire take center stage, producing anger, violence, and deep insecurity, until one learns that true mastery comes from self-control rather than controlling others.
The Amber stage brings Order, Religion, and Rules that offer discipline, morality, and tradition, but can also foster rigidity and religious superiority, with God still perceived as an external authority.
Orange introduces Logic and Science, emphasizing reason, education, and progress, while also generating individualism and materialism as shadows; this stage raises the question, "Why should I believe? Where is the evidence?"
Green consciousness opens the heart to compassion, equality, sensitivity, and inclusiveness, yet may fall into over-sensitivity and fear of judgment, resulting in a love that is social but not yet fully integrated.
Teal, or Integral Consciousness, recognizes that all previous levels are necessary components of the whole and that none are wrong or superior; growth now comes by releasing the ego and shifting identity from "I," to "We," to the realization that "All is me."
Turquoise expands this vision into Universal Consciousness, where one experiences themselves as nature, cosmos, love, sound, and even emptiness, moving beyond the limits of verbal understanding.
Ultimately, the Nondual level dissolves all remaining distinctions—pleasure and renunciation, doer and deed, seeker and sought—into the seamless unity of Advaita.
Taratam Vani describes:
Nit let prem sukh ars me, jano aaj liya naya bhog.
Yon hak det jo ham ko, nit naye prem sanjog.।।13।।
Love is always new—this is the realm of Nondual consciousness.
🌸 Final Experience
This journey teaches: it begins with food but is fulfilled in love.
The body is stabilized first, then the soul awakens. The path rises from within, not from outside.
Spiritual practice is not what we eat—it is how we live, love, and perceive.
Where food becomes offering, thoughts become prayer, and love becomes supreme truth—that is the Nirguna path, Advaita, the Divine Abode.
🕯 Final Line:
Level 1 is our beginning, but Level Nondual is our true identity. This is the secret of the human journey.
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