Food for the Soul

This revealing compilation of essays by prominent practitioners and well-informed scholars lays to bear one simple truth: One must be a vegetarian to properly practice Yoga. Bringing together the work of nine distinguished scholars and practitioners of Yoga and Eastern thought, Food for the Soul: Vegetarianism and Yoga Traditions is organized around the fact that, although vegetarianism is a natural and inescapable part of the Yogic tradition, many Yogis and Yoginis today remain blissfully unaware of that fact. The essays gathered here explore the important and much-debated subject of vegetarianism in the major Yoga traditions, looking at what diet has to do with the practice of Yoga and whether ahimsa (harmlessness) is a prerequisite for achieving Yoga's goals. The contributors draw on history, philosophy, ancient Yoga texts, Hindu scriptures, comparative religion, contemporary practitioners, the words of sages, and the teachings of Yogic masters to forge illuminating insights into the subject. Readers, whether students of Hinduism, practitioners of Yoga, vegetarian or animal rights advocates, or simply people with an interest, will find both the questions and the answers provocative-and edifying.

Steven J. Rosen is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Vaishnava Studies and Associate Editor of Back to Godhead, the magazine of the Hare Krishna movement. His recent books include Holy Cow: The Hare Krishna Contribution to Vegetarianism and Animal Rights, Essential Hinduism (Greenwood, 2006), and Krishna's Song: A New look at the Bhagavad Gita (Praeger, 2007).

Introduction
Steven J. Rosen
1 The Yoga of Eating: Food Wars and Their Attendant Ideologies
E. H. Jarow
2 Burgers or Buns: A Brief Look at Whether a Yogi Should Be a Vegetarian
Steven J. Rosen
3 Ahimsa in the Patanjali Yoga Tradition
Edwin Bryant
4 Ashtanga Yoga Body: Feel Your Way to Enlightened Eating
Kino MacGregor
5 We Are What We Eat: Sri Swami Satchidananda on Vegetarianism
Rev. Sandra Kumari de Sachy
6 From Darkness to Light: Vegetarianism and the Yogi's Emergence into Clear Perception
Natalie J. Ullmann
7 Maharishi's Message: Vegetarianism as Natural Evolution
David P. Carter and Marguerite Regan
8 Roots, Shoots, and Ahimsa: The Jain Yoga of Vegetarianism
Christopher Key Chapple
9 Bhakti-Yoga: Reflections on the Spirituality of Eating
Joshua M. Greene
10 Krishna-Yoga and the Spiritualization of Vegetarianism
Steven J. Rosen
Afterword
Steven J. Rosen
Index
About the Editor and Contributors