Onions

[Guest guest]

Dear Prabhujis,

 

I have recently joined the Krishna Conscious movement. What I found here first thing is that Onion is not a recommended item to consume. However, it is found that onion is a very nutritious vegetable.

 

1 medium raw onion contains:

 

· 60 Calories

 

· 1 gram Protein

 

· 14 grams Carbohydrates

 

· 0% Fat

 

· 0% Cholesterol

 

· 10 mg Sodium

 

· 200 mg Potassium

 

· 11.9 mg Vitamin C (20% of USRDA)

 

Did You Know?

 

Onions are high in energy and water content. They are low in calories, and have a generous amount of B6, B1, and Folic acid. Thus, it boosts the immune system

 

Onions contain chemicals, which help fight the free radicals in our bodies. Free radicals cause disease and destruction to cells, which are linked to at least 60 diseases. Thus it is anti-cancerous.

 

When a person eats at least 1/2 a raw onion a day, their good type HDL cholesterol goes up an average of 30%. Onions increase circulation, lower blood pressure, and prevent blood clotting. Thus it is highly recommended for Heart Patients.

 

Source: Dixondale Farms - Horticultural nursery.

 

I have come across a few questions

 

Question 1: What is the necessity for eating onions. There are other vegetables too which are good enough.

 

Answer: Onion is the King of Vegetables. Just as we first look right and then left before crossing the road so as to take care of our external material body, we have to take care of our internal material body and make it more resistant to fight diseases. Thus preventive care is better than palliative care.

 

Question 2: Onion increases passions, so we should avoid it.

 

Answer: Onions lower blood pressure as stated above. Passion is always associated with higher blood pressure. Therefore, Onions lower the passion element.

 

The pungency of onions is due to the presence of folic acid, which is used to treat mouth ulcers.

 

Onion is a very economical vegetable and available in abundance - costs only Rs. 6 or Rs. 7 a KG. A common man on the street can get a wholesome nutrition for a few rupees. Further, today one litre of mineral water costs more than one Kg of Onions.

 

If onions are not to be taken for you have to kill the entire plant, so is the case with potato, radish or carrots.

 

Today when a person gets a Heart Attack, he is immediately advised to stop eating non-veg items as it is now a well known fact that non-veg is bad for health. However, Onions are recommended for him.

 

Alas, I don't know what crime did onions do in our scriptures that it is such a condemned item.

 

Please give me proper guidance in this regard.

 

Yours Truly

 

Madan V. Rao

 

Trying to Practice Krishna Consciousness

 

[theist 1]

Madan prabhu,

 

I have similar questions. I ask this of an Iskcon sannyasi many years ago and he told me to take onions and garlic as a medicine and not as a food.

 

I am sure others would disagree with his advice.

 

I wouldn't offer Krsna some of the nasty tasting herbal concoctions I brew up for my bodies health. I acknowledge them as His gift, hold my nose and drink them down.

 

The point is your spiritual master may give you some different instructions on these things than that given by other gurus.Some teach that carrots are meat. I still can't figure that one out. It doesn't mean one is bonafide and another not. But since you approach Krsna by the grace of your guru why would Krsna accept an offering from us knowing we are going behind the back of our guru, His beloved servant?

 

 

[hare_krishna 0]

Shaastram pramaanam te

shaastra yonitvaat

[theist 1]

Would you please provide English as I wish to understand you but unfortunately cannot.

 

Thanks

[madanvrao 0]

Therefore, Just because it has a nasty taste, it should not be offered to Krishna? What about its other more important qualities?

[theist 1]

 

Therefore, Just because it has a nasty taste, it should not be offered to Krishna? What about its other more important qualities?

 

 

No I didn't say that. Someone may not think it has a nasty taste. I asked this question of one of Prabhupada's sannyasins years ago, Parivrajakacarya Swami, and he said they(garlic and onions) could still be taken for their medicinal value.

 

What I was trying to say is that is that your guru is giving you Krsna's service. So why would you approach Krsna in some way that went against the instructions of the guru? That would make no sense. The idea is to approach Krsna by following the instructions of the guru. Krsna knows what your guru has instructed you.

 

Say one's guru says don't offer carrots and another person's guru says make Krsna some carrot juice. My thinking is that if the first disciple trys to offer Krsna carrots against the instructions of his guru then it is unacceptable. Whereas the carrot juice would be accepted by Krsna from the other guru's disciple, on the basis that Krsna honors His devotees wishes.

 

What I am trying to say is that if we whimsically disregard the instructions of guru then we are not pleasing.

 

There is no need to blow these types of things out of proportion.

[madanvrao 0]

Got the essence of it.

[theist 1]

Yeah onions are healthy I think and so is garlic. I don't find my passions inflamed by eating either one. But there is so much I don't understand.

 

Main thing is I am headed for another bodily death and I am not ready.

[Subala 1]

let me ask a question.

 

there is a thread (looong one) on this topic in this forum if you look for it.

 

Let me ask common sense question:

 

How come I know many people who are so addicted to onions and garlic so they cannot stop eating it?

 

Forget about why shastra says why it is not good eat garlic and onions and that Krishna is not accepting this foodstuffs. Question is - why people addicted to onions like to cigarets...?

 

In any case, please understand - I'm not trying to condemn anybody and i'm fully agree that onions and garlic are wonderful medicine (according many doctors) and if you eat it - it is not making your any less dear to Krishna then someone who does not eat it.

 

But there is other medicine as well besides garlic and onions, how come we not think about them?

 

In any case, question about eating onion or not is about how high standart you set for your Krishna Consciousness in you. And becuase somebody does eat it - doesn't mean you can... (like Lord Shiva smokes ganja and garuda eats snakes).

[madanvrao 0]

Dear Prabhuji,

 

From your writings, I gather that you are a very senior devotee at ISKCON, hence please accept my obesiances.

 

These are but natural questions for us who are new to ISKCON. The way Srila Prabhupada has explained why we should not eat non-veg, I think any one who has understood that any living entity is having a soul and we therefore should not kill it, will not take any non-veg stuff.

 

Similarly, we are looking for answers in case of onions, for which explanations given are largely inadequate. That is the main reason for our demoniac doubts. I am sorry if this matter is going to far. I am not trying to blow the issue out of proportion. Just trying to understand as to why Onion despite having such a nutritive value has been condemned in our scriptures.

 

Hare Krishna.

 

[theist 1]

 

How come I know many people who are so addicted to onions and garlic so they cannot stop eating it?

 

 

Not sure Subala. I don't think they are addicted in the clinical sense but people can become habituated to anything. Just try to stop a Bengali from eatting rice. If I could digest it well, I myself would eat rice at every meal. I never get tired of it. Maybe it is more like that

[Guruvani 0]

Everyone knows that onions contains a substance(propanethial S-oxide) that causes the eyes to burn. This is clearly such an irritant that it can cause tears to flow profusely. This same irritant cannot be beneficial in the stomach and intestines and indeed leads to hemorrhoids in many people. Onions are also known to be extremely toxic to dogs and cats and these animals can eat many things that humans can't. The main disease related to eating onions is hemorrhoids. Some people can tolerate them better than others. Onions have some toxic properties and this is more evident by the toxic reaction in dogs and cats.

Modern research has not linked the two yet(onions and hemorrhoids), but this is my own opinion based upon personal experience and also asking others who eat a lot of onions.

 

Afew years ago I got into eating some onions in my stir-fried vegetables and only after a few days I noticed the very early stages of hemorrhoids developing. I stopped eating onions and it immediatly cleared up. Since then I avoid onions totally. I think they are poisonous only most people aren't aware of the diseases and complications that come from eating onions.

 

I have not found garlic to be that bad. I don't cook with garlic but use a little as medicine during cold and flu season.

[madanvrao 0]

That was an eye opener. Japanese scientists are trying to create genetically modified onions without propanthial s-oxide, but such onions will be subject to attacks from pests.

[Subala 1]

Sorry prabhu if offended anyone - it was not my intent. And sinior/junior devotee is so relative for we do not know who we were in past lives....

 

Say right now we do not know why we shold not eat onions/garlic - we may have some ideas why we can or cannot eat it.

 

Lets follow the acharya's instruction and do not eat it.

 

It is like car insurance. You do not plan to get an into accident, we do not know when we get into accident, you do not want to be in one, but still we buy car insurance (or u must to have it like in USA).

 

In similar way, we do now know when we gonna die and how, but we know what we will and we know we have a choice where to go after changing this body - to another body or spiritual body. We may not know exactly. But lets take the insurance coverage for now - 16 rounds, 4 reg principles - with no eggs,fish garlic and onions and once we in spiritual world sitting fanning Krishna or his devotee somewhere on a bank of Vrindavana we can ask this question: by the way Krishna why u said no onions? And Krishna may say - well there was a Demon and he passed some urine and onions grew from where - this is why....

 

Or something like that - we will find out later,

 

do like I have done - speak like I have spoken.... - SP

 

 

[aisharya 0]

In regards to onions & garlic. They are of medicinal/ayurvedic value but not Satvic/spiritual properties. Since eliminating onions/garlic from my diet I am no longer able to purchase any items contained in a can or bottle such as sauces, dressings etc. due to the fact that almost no American packaged food is garlic/onion free. I am a massage therapist and I like this body to be free of the strong odor these foods emit. I can smell garlic/onion on people a mile away & it is offensive to my nostrils. To me it is like pouring gasoline on your food. Krishna will show you the beauty of the subtlest flavors if you get rid of the onions/garlic. I have fallen into near rapture over the most delicate of flavors once I quit pouring 'gasoline' on my food. I also believe that galic/onion eating is a way to cover up the heinous practice of meat eating. Few people can eat a piece of meat raw or without some kind of covering such as sauces, salt, pepper, onions & garlic. It simply has no flavor unless you put some mask on it. I believe a person could eat dog excrement if you deep-fried it & slathered it with enough garlic & onions. Also, my friends notice that my body has a nice natural fragrance & I do not ever have B.O. since eliminating garlic/onions from my diet. The bottom line however is that I want to offer to Krishna what is best. This is an easy thing to do, eliminate an ugly food stuff. I have fun in my spiritual practice of avoiding garlic/onions & save on deodorant.

[Tarun 6]

One of Soupy Sales characters. Hard to stand by. All others kept their distance... deferred to, employed clothespins. Everything is beautiful in its own way... y not onions? Srila Bv Narayan Mhrj forbids onion intake as did SP, SSM etc.

[Guest guest]

see my toothache thread posts

[Guest guest]

in my culture they say that onions are good for your heart, also it gives a good taste to your food. is this true?

[theist 1]

Google on heart onions for much information.

[Guest guest]

Manu-samhita:

 

5.5. Garlic, leeks and onions, mushrooms and (all plants), springing from impure (substances), are unfit to be eaten by twice-born men.

 

5.19. A twice-born man who knowingly eats mushrooms, a village-pig, garlic, a village-cock, onions, or leeks, will become an outcast.

 

Onion and Garlic

 

palandu lasunam sigrum alambum grjanam palam

bhunkte yo vai naro brahman vratam candrayanam caret

 

(Padma Purana, Brahma Khanda 19.10, spoken by Suta Gosvami)

 

O sages, one who eats garlic, onions, sigrum (a kind of plant), turnips, bottle gourd and meat, that person should observe a candrayana fast.

 

 

[pranay2 0]

Onions may be healthy but still are Tamasic .The best example they increase anger and lust immediately.ISKON is not about becoming Swaznegger It is about developing Spiritually. It is your choice of becoming a healthy animal or another healthy recourse to onion and garlic.