Cooking for One … Is Joyful! And a Sadhana!
Recently I was speaking with a fellow sadhaka who lives near me. At some point in the conversation, I happened to mention that I enjoy cooking for myself. He was dismissive and said something along the lines of, “Come on, nobody really enjoys cooking for themselves…”
The idea that someone could enjoy cooking for themselves seemed completely foreign to him. And I have noticed this attitude quite often. Many people feel that cooking for themselves is boring. If there is only one person eating, what is the point? Why put in the effort? May as well make a shortcut, not-so-nice meal.
For that matter, even women cooking for their families sometimes mention that it is a necessary chore and often there is no joy in it. Sometimes they are quite frustrated with the many demands of the individual family members.
Moreover, we live in a world that constantly encourages convenience. Food arrives at our doorstep. Ready-made meals are available everywhere. And if we can afford it, someone else can cook for us. There is nothing wrong with that. Support systems are valuable and we can certainly be grateful for them.
But somewhere along the way, I think we may have forgotten that cooking is not merely a task.
It is an intimate act.
The food we eat becomes us.
Digestion, a Homa?
In traditional Indian understanding, eating is sometimes considered as a sacred homa. Where we offer food to the sacred digestive fire. The food then tranforms and becomes rasa, the fundamental nourishment for our life.
Thus, the act of cooking is akin to spiritual offering. Earlier, I had written about a grandmother who won’t allow anyone else in the kitchen. (Read here: https://inspirituality.in/food-consciousness-from-a-brahmakumari-grandmom/) Everything she cooks is offered to God and made with devotion as an offering to God. This is another way to engage in the mundane act of cooking.
Adding one more perspective to this,
Especially when our health is down… cooking our own food with our own hands is considered a medicine. A way for the body to create the right healing “vibe” through the food we consume.
When you look at it this way, cooking is no longer separate from sadhana.
It is part of it.
Then there is the practical side of things…
When we cook our own food… we know exactly what enters our kitchen. Our mind and body, in a subtle way, also preps for it. We can tweak recipes as per our own unique prakruti and preferences.
Over time, we can plan for healthier and better options. Our cooking, eating, and seeing how the food impacts our system, tweaking next meals for better impact – all these become one cohesive process.
Re-wiring Old Patterns
As sadhakas, we would have experienced re-routing of brain patterns often. Earlier we might have slept late into the morning… but after a point we value the early hours of the day when we can do our sadhana in relative quiet and stillness. Well, with the act of cooking, we have to do the same. Somehow, in society the whole circus of managing our kitchen has become sullied.
Almost everyone around us seems to think it is a weighty chore and a difficult matter. Resistance and negative feelings towards preparing nice, nourishing meals for once-self is common. Well, we must re-route. So many reasons to do so!
Interestingly, I do know a few other women like me who live alone. They are fond of eating varied and delicious foods and they enjoy the act of cooking. In fact, as they grow older, they are heard saying, “I actually prefer only eating my own cooked food…. There is something very nice about it!”
This is a topic I had touched upon in my video on Shani dev & Sade sati… which brings up the topic of menial cleaning activities like sweeping, mopping in our house as a way to align with Shani energies! Watch the video here:
In order to chat with me about sadhana and related life matters, pls check: https://inspirituality.in/sadhana-conversations/
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