The Spice's Spicy Truth

Courtesy:  Mombasa Yuvak Mandal

However, scientifically looking, onion and garlic are not good for health. Onion is very hot and thus causes ulcers, which appears in the inner side of one's mouth and tongue. Onion and garlic do also thin the blood. Onions and garlic make a person's blood veins expand. This is why doctors prescribe onions and garlic to patients with blood pressure. However there is a downside to this. As already mentioned, that these foods make one's veins expand and since most veins in our body are found in our genitals, the expansion of these makes them more active and very difficult to control. Therefore, one should avoid this occurring in the first place by not eating these foods. There are a number of religious reasons as well.

1. Onion and garlic are both hot-tempered food. In Bhagwad Geeta, Lord Shree Krishna has mentioned different kinds of food categories. In verse 106 of the Shikshapatri, Lord Shree Swaminarayan has written that there are three types of Maya: Satva, Rajas and Tamas. Similarly, there are three types of food, as food is also a form of Maya. Out of these three categories, Tamas food such as onions and garlic should not be eaten as they make a person temperamental and unable to control themselves. Satva foods like fresh fruits are full of purity and make a person purer, whereas Rajas foods are full of luxury. If calm people, who are Lord's Devotees, eat hot-tempered kind of food daily, then their nature changes automatically. They will definitely become hot-tempered and have bad nature. Therefore, one shall never eat onion and garlic. After all, you are what you eat. One who eats onion and garlic as part of his meal and doesn't obey this instruction is equal to drinking or inhaling intoxicating substances as these products all come under the Tamas category. Shikshapatri is not the only scripture that prohibits the eating of onion and garlic. All scriptures in Hinduism, Jainism, etc. mention that one should not eat Tamsi foods such as onion and garlic.

2. The origin of onion and garlic as per the Ayurved explains as follows: - when the Lord as Mohini Avatar was giving out nectar to the deities. He was giving ordinary water to demons. One of the Demons, Rahu, found out. He decided to sit in between the Sun and the Moon who were deities to get the nectar. When they found out that Rahu had the nectar, they immediately told the Lord. By this time the nectar had only reached Rahu's mouth and not his body, so Lord cut off his head with His Sudarshan Chakra. When Rahu's neck was chopped off, some flesh from his neck fell on to the earth. From this flesh garlic and onions originated. Therefore if someone is eating onion, then he/she is basically eating meat. And remember, we should all be vegetarians.

Note: One of the professor at University of Texas at Arlington talked about the same effect of garlic on the veins.