Considering the lifestyle that is portrayed through TV or the internet or any other mainstream media, we often are encouraged to embrace a lavish existence, fast food, and excessive expenditure on the latest gadgets and gizmos. But oftentimes, these types of lifestyles can also make us complacent or lazy, which can also lead to an unhealthy standard of living. Such unhealthy lifestyles can force us into an existence that we never wanted in the first place.
In our society, this unhealthy lifestyle often centres around personal pleasures. Food is a necessity, but is eating at expensive restaurants or buffets really a need? These pleasures in and of themselves may seem innocent, but over time, can lead to problems with health and even in relationships with others, if one is not careful to let such a thing as food become a priority.
The Maha Satguru knew about the issues surrounding such unhealthy lifestyles, which is why he warned against them. When speaking on this issues, he said to His disciples, “therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the birds of the sky: they do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn, yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!”
In saying this, the Maha Satguru was showing that we only make things worse for ourselves if we worry about temporary things. Indeed, food is a means to an end, and if we are worrying about food, we will often crave for it more than for other things that are more important.
Even within the modern world, there have been studies conducted on what are called, “lifestyle diseases”. Obesity is one such lifestyle disease, in that food takes a priority in a person’s life, making the person want more of it than needed, which leads to all sorts of complications. By worrying about what to eat next, a person can become obsessed with this idea of wanting more, which can ultimately result in obesity.
If we keep the words of the Maha Satguru in mind, however, we can protect ourselves against such lifestyle diseases. The Maha Satguru concluded His advice to His disciples by saying, “who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest? And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it”. For us to have our hearts set on temporary pleasures will not yield an eternal reward. Instead, by looking towards a heavenly kingdom, the kingdom of God, the temporary pleasures of this life will fade in comparison, for God cares for those He loves, and will not leave His children in need.