By Sant Kirpal Singh, excerpts from "The Teachings of Kirpal Singh", Vol. II, page 60 - 63

What we eat goes to constitute the body and the mind. "Sound mind in a sound body" is a well known aphorism. We can have neither one nor the other with unwholesome diet. A strictly vegetarian diet consisting of vegetables and fruits, both fresh and dried, cereals, dairy products like milk, cream, butter, cheese, yoghurt, etc., is essential for all aspirants for truth. We must therefore avoid meat, meat juices, fish, fowl, eggs both fertile and infertile, or anything containing any of these ingredients in any form or in any degree. Every action has a reaction and flesh-eating involves contracting fresh karmas and thus helps to keep the inexorable karmic wheel in motion for we have to reap what we sow. We cannot have roses if we sow thistles.

The above prohibitions apply equally to all kinds of alcoholic drinks, intoxicants, opiates and narcotic drugs, as they tend to dull our consciousness and make us morbid.

"The body is the temple of the living God" and it must therefore be kept scrupulously clean. Any prospective candidate for initiation should therefore try the vegetarian diet for at least three to six months, to ensure that he or she can adhere to it when put on the path.

The observance of strict dietary regulations is very essential for steady progress on the holy path and any transgression is liable to affect your progress. These rules should never be violated even for the consideration of guests.

All prohibited foods and drinks should be scrupulously eschewed even in the face of medical advice, as none of these can lengthen the scheduled life-span nor are, in fact, conducive to nourishment. It is certainly a wrong notion that flesh or eggs give extra vigour or strength; on the contrary, these things flare up the carnal appetites which in the long run result in gross dissipation of energy.

These are very small things but they have much effect. So a simple diet, a strict vegetarian diet with no spices, should be adhered to. Eat only as much as you need and leave the table still a little hungry. These are the things to be followed which will make you active in all your affairs, whether in meditation, physical work or anything else.

The soul, as I have said before, is eternal, all wisdom and bliss. If it is all wisdom and full of bliss, then how is it possible for it to have any unhappiness in this world? For how long will it enjoy the outer tastes? We think that we are enjoying the enjoyments, but in fact the enjoyments are enjoying us. The god of food once went to Lord Vishnu (part of the triune Lord of Creation: Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva: the Creator, Sustainer and Destroyer, respectively) and complained, "The people are eating me up brutally, without any sympathy for me!" Lord Vishnu said, "All right, if anyone eats you beyond his needs, then you eat him up."

Just think; what is the cause of all disease? Indigestion. We enjoy, and enjoy, and enjoy until we are no longer capable of enjoying anything. Then the enjoyments start enjoying us.
Let half of the stomach be full with food, one fourth with water and let one fourth remain vacant, so that digestion will not be difficult. The more your stomach is clear, the more concentration you will have. If your stomach is upset, then naturally you cannot sit, you cannot concentrate. So to help you in your meditations, the stomach should be set. No overfeeding should be indulged in. Eat when you really feel hungry, not every time putting in something. Two meals a day are enough, though you may have a little breakfast in the morning. Sometimes the Masters say that those who would like to progress more should have only one meal a day. If your food is regularized you will rise up punctually in the morning. Let the stomach remain partly empty. If you put more food in it than can be digested, naturally the things which are not digested will create disease. Eat as much as you can digest. Give some rest to your poor stomach. It takes at least four to five hours to digest anything. If you eat too much too often your stomach will revolt. Eating habits can be corrected by careful living. You can improve by gradual adaptation and moderation.

It is very necessary to distinguish clearly the ends from the means. To lay too much stress on the means is likely to make us gradually forget our objective and to become fossilized. Once we know, for example, that abstinence from all kinds of meat diet and spirituous liquors helps us on the spiritual path, it is enough that we avoid them. But to take it as an end in itself is to miss the goal.

You should be careful for your health as it is equally important to be fit and healthy for meeting with your mundane and spiritual obligations. Physical body must not be denied adequate nourishment.

If one adheres to a strict vegetarian diet, that will help a good deal in having normal life, but does not necessarily result in better tempers, controlled sex life or detachment from gross thoughts, desires and actions, worldly ambitions, possessiveness, lust or greed. Kabir says, "If you leave hearth and home and retire to a secluded place and live on pure vegetarian diet, even then the mind does not leave off its base habits." Alongside such essential and positive aids, we must religiously devote regular time to the spiritual practices of contacting the Light and Sound so as to cut down the ramifications of mind, which is so very necessary for self-realization and God-realization.