The ancient Upanishads teach that we are all ‘Food Bodies’

— This has a lot to do with the foods you eat and your state of physical and emotional health

One of the most ancient collections of manuscripts in world history are the Upanishads from India. These teachings make reference to “food bodies,” and it’s a term that was frequently uttered by the sage Nisargadatta Maharaj in the mid 1900s. The philosophy regarding food bodies is simple yet hardly recognized in our modern society. It states that life lives on life, and that is the natural cycle keeping nature in balance, sustaining and perpetuating all of existence as we know it here on our delicate planet. More than this, though, it means that the body is a biological organism, but we are all something else, spiritually speaking.

The body of a plant feeds on animals, and many animals feed on the bodies of other animals. Insects, micro-organisms, and plants feed on the the bodies of all forms of life, keeping everything in balance. In essence, then, each living being feeds off of other living beings, and each being has something else feeding off of it.

Our bodies, as biological organisms, feed off of plants and animals. At the same time, the elements of nature feed off our bodies. Thus, according to the Upanishads, we are food bodies eating other food bodies.This is the intelligence of nature.

Because this system of food bodies is a closed system, it contains all the nutrients needed to heal, sustain, and promote health throughout the food chain and with all life forms, if kept pure.

Specific to the foods we eat and our state of health, here is the most important point in this lesson from the Upanishads: The food body represents the most natural of cycles. But when you add in synthetic nonfoods to the food body cycle, there is a huge and terrible problem that results. And this is what’s being done in our modern era: People are eating something other than real foods, such as ice cream, boxed cereal, pasteurized milk, macaroni and cheese, all sorts of chemicals and artificial ingredients, genetically engineered foods, foods not grown in nature, refined sugars, and on and on. Food bodies such as wheat, grain, rice, and greens are being feed synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and other chemicals, so when you see them in your grocery store you’re not really seeing how they were grown or what’s inside, or even what these foods are deficient in due to the way they were grown and treated.

Your body, which is a food body, is meant only to consume other food bodies. This ancient wisdom from the Upanishads holds the key to all life and health. Our bodies are an integral part of the beautiful intelligence of nature.

Having been in the natural healthcare field for thirty years, practicing mind/body therapy, and formulating products for NutriPlex Formulas, Inc., I have seen tremendous steps in overcoming health problems merely by living and eating naturally. Everything that we eat affects the mind, body, emotions, and spirit; it can be no other way. It is only our ignorance and distraction by corporate food interests that have led us astray.

It is wise to keep in mind that we are food bodies, because it is a humbling idea that puts us in the mix with all other life forms that come and go in one big movement of consciousness. However, at a deeper level we are something that preexists the biological body, and through meditation it is possible to know this beyond logic, belief, or mentation.

Vic Shayne has been a writer for more than 40 years. His latest book is 13 Pillars of Enlightenment and his upcoming books include one on the egoic self and another on consciousness. He is a doctor consultant and formulator for NutriPlex Formulas, Inc, a whole food supplement company that uses only foods in its products. And, Vic is a meditator and author of several courses on Consciousness Studies.