The well-known adage that we eat to live, and not live to eat, draws sustenance from the biblical truth that man does not live by bread alone but by the word of god.

This is so because when a man lives by the word of god, it gains primacy and all other things become subordinate to it. That is how a good book becomes the “precious life-blood of a master spirit”. This assumes added significance as the verse takes us to colossal heights of glory and we eat only if we must.

Just as we “talk less and work more” which is the slogan for efficiency for carrying out any work at the stipulated time, eat less and think more is the secret of living in grace, keeping off sins since gluttony is one of the seven deadly sins.

Moreover, gluttony leads to disgrace. Unknowingly some people “punish” their offspring by giving too much food, slowly leading them to other vices.

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That is why frequent fasting, as well as preference for a light vegetarian diet is essential to acquire purification of mind and body. At the same time, application of the philosophy of simple living and high thinking makes sense. Self-purification demands that our thought, word and deed ought to be disciplined so as to attain spiritual and intellectual acumen and maintain consistency in both precept and practice.

There are people who make caustic comments on colleagues about whom they say: “I have seldom seen you eating in office”. Whether this is something worthy of admiration or derision becomes a matter of conjecture.

Simplicity is the cardinal principle of enlightened men who are keen on pursuing an austere life as against the drift of ostentatious display of wealth and vulgarity by the nouveau rich.

Everyone would like to strive for true happiness but the miasma of worldly pleasures prevents one from achieving it. The divine secret of it is that those who hear the word of god and obey it shall get it. “From the very beginning, the word was with god… The word was the source of life and this life brought light to mankind.”

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Man is supposed to live in harmony with nature and not to go against its laws by imbibing the spirit of the verse from the scripture, along with carefully chosen morsel, may add glory to lives of many a million.