Food Indriyas

This meditation practice aims to understand the relationship between our sense organs (Indriya) and our thoughts, as taught in the yogic path of Pratyahara. Participants are instructed to have a favorite food in front of them during the practice.
Pratyahara, Thoughts and Senses

So the interesting thing is that according to the yogic path of Pratyahara thoughts in the mind originate in the sense organs and so what we’re gonna do now is use meditation as a tool to understand that relationship.

Participants are asked to focus on the food and notice the thoughts, feelings, and desires that arise. They may experience salivation or a growling stomach in addition to mental reactions.
Thought Awareness, Bodily Sensations

Whatever sort of thoughts that come up, hopefully you’ve practiced thought, awareness, meditation, so you’re just kind of aware of the thoughts. And there may be particular kinds of desires that come up, maybe you want to eat it, maybe you can’t wait to eat it. You will also notice that the effect of the injury is on your body is not just in your mind that you may be salivating a little bit or your stomach is growling a little bit.

Instead of eating the food, participants are instructed to throw it away. This often triggers thoughts of rebellion, justification, or attempts to outsmart the instruction. The mind seeks ways to satisfy the Indriyas, even through clever arguments.
Mental Rebellion, Desire Satisfaction

Suddenly you have some kinds of thoughts starting to form No, but that will be a waste. Right? Oh, like that’s such a waste of food and like wasting food is bad and so we shouldn’t waste food and we should eat this thing because wasting food is is bad. There are starving children in developing countries. And so throwing this piece of food away will make them feel fuller. It’s not really how it works, right?

When the restriction is extended to never eating the food again, the mind’s rebellion intensifies. The longer the time frame of restraint, the more the mind resists and seeks ways to justify indulgence. However, each moment of resisting the food is essentially the same, regardless of the overall time frame.
Long-Term Restraint, Mental Justification, Present Moment Focus

And the other interesting thing that we can sort of learn about the mind and this is really important to understand is that if I tell you not to eat this particular thing, you can do that, right? Like you can not eat this particular food that you’ve picked. But when I add time is a dimension. What changes in your mind? Suddenly time is a dimension makes things way, way harder. Once I incorporate the future.

Ultimately, participants must decide for themselves whether to eat the food or not. The purpose is to become aware of how the mind twists and turns to justify satisfying the Indriyas. Mastering the Indriyas requires personal choice and commitment.
Self-Control, Indriya Mastery, Personal Choice

The key thing about this practice is just to understand this relationship. And if you’re still kind of struggling to understand, okay, is he going to tell me to eat or not eat if you decide, right like who am I to tell you what you should do? If you want to master your Indriyas, then don’t eat the food. And this is the kind of thing where at the end of the day, you have to decide like what’s right for you.

Giving up a favorite food, even for an extended period, is unlikely to significantly impact overall happiness and fulfillment in life. The instructor shares his own experience of abstaining from a favorite food for 10 years to demonstrate the feasibility and relative insignificance of such a choice.
Happiness and Fulfillment, Personal Experience, Letting Go

And by the way, for those of you that are wondering, I have actually done this right. So this is not something that I would ask you to do unless I had done it myself. And for a period of about 10 years. I arbitrarily gave up one of my favorite foods. It didn’t touch it and you’ll be amazed at what actually happens. Because really think about it like what are we talking about here? Are you not going to be happy for the rest of your life if you give up this food? Like what is that like? Does that mean you’re going to be filled with despair like of course not. Are you not gonna have pride and joy and love and accomplishment? Of course not. That’s ridiculous.

This meditation practice reveals the deep-seated relationship between our senses and our thoughts, highlighting the mind’s tendencies to justify and rebel against sensory restraint. By becoming aware of these mental patterns and deciding to master our Indriyas, we can cultivate greater self-control and perspective on what truly matters in life.