Onions - Do v need to avoid onions?

[oneews]

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Onions are generally cleared up from a house where poojai is being planned. Even in wedding lunches, sastha preethies, shraddhams onions are avoided like plague.

I have also heard about some households where onions and garlic have not been seen or tasted for decades and treated like non-veg food.

I would like members to enlighten me as what is it that onion has got such a bad reputation?

 

[sivasn]

Onions are generally cleared up from a house where poojai is being planned. Even in wedding lunches, sastha preethies, shraddhams onions are avoided like plague.

I have also heard about some households where onions and garlic have not been seen or tasted for decades and treated like non-veg food.

I would like members to enlighten me as what is it that onion has got such a bad reputation?

hi,

To my knowledge, though both onion and garlic have a very good medicinal value, they are not included in food for their strong smell when cooked/consumed/excreted. Moreover, it is not a satvic food and will not help in spiritual sadanas.

Siva

 

[drsundaram]

As I am given to understand that at a time when steadfast devotion, bhakthi ,purity in heart etc are required to prevail the items like onion, garlic, sombu, betel leaves chewing and such stuff are prohibited as they are said to arouse lower instincts and thwart the holiness of activity being planned or carried out. Otherwise as Sri Sivasn had mentioned all have useful and medicinal values taken in limited quantity.

 

[Raghy]

When I was young, onion, garlic, suraikkai and murungai bean were totally avoided. Beetroot was cooked may be only 2 to 3 times a year!
Onion was avoided because it increased the sexual prowess. Garlic smelled bad enough to chase even the vampires! I can’t even go home if I ate garlic pickle from outside unless I chew bettle nut to hide the smell; then I got into trouble for chewing bettle nut, anyway! Azhvar’s did not add murungai bean in their songs; so, out went murungai bean.

 

[pvraman]

Manusmriti.
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.

May be because of this!:yield:. oh that means i am an outcast. I eat everyday as a medicine. (Really!)

 

[Brahmanyan]

Onions - Do we need to avoid onions?

Onions and Garlic are considered non-satwick food. And they are to be avoided by people who lead strictly Satwick Life. But both contain high nutritive and medicinal values and recommended in Ayurveda by scholars like Charaka and Shushrutha. In the present day life most of us do not adhere to Satwick life. For that matter if we are honest in following the rules for Satwick food then we should avoid taking many other modern food items like, Chillies, Granulated Sugars, Pickled or fermented food, Lemon and lime, peanuts, brinjal, tomatoes, all canned foods, cheese etc. which contain chemical preservatives and additives.

Regards,
Brahmanyan.

 

[oneews]

Onions have been singled out as one of the small number of vegetables and fruits that contributed to the significant reduction in heart disease risk seen in a meta-analysis of seven prospective studies. Of the more than 100,000 individuals who participated in these studies, those who diets most frequently included onions, tea, apples and broccoli-the richest sources of flavonoids-gained a 20% reduction in their risk of heart disease.

source: WHFoods: Onions

 

[renuka]

onion and garlic have medicinal properties if taken in moderation.
i read once before that onions and garlic are not eaten because when you pull out these vegetables from the ground the whole plant dies.
in keeping to the lines of vegetarianism, one should not cause even death of plants. that is why realized souls consume only vegetables which can be plucked from trees and plants because the plants still lives(only the fruit is eaten)
so they avoid veg that kills the whole plant eg mushrooms, carrots, potatoes, onion, garlic, ginger etc.
that is what i read once before

 

[[email protected]]

To Renuha ji ,Your reply is good, but as per spiritual law the plants is having one thva that is water so if we pick them no major Karma will added the little karma can wash out by duing meditation. s.r.k.

 

[siva144]

info on why o/g is not used in Brahmins foods/sattvic foods
http://connect.krishna.com/node/612

secondly--those who take NV mostly have a combination with o/g and become desperate if o/g is not available,than with veg cooking

the above said aspects is for mind

-----
for body----o/g is good

yet --for medicinal purpose--o/g is suggested [by Ayruvedic--i have to look for the source for reference..bear with me till then...],onion is for cooling and treating heat related problems,garlic for heat producing[physiological]and in treatment of cold related problems--that is why we use puundu rasam during winter/rainy days

true --this look confused if to use or not

if v r brahmins/veg --occasional use is worth..?
for any body troubles --more onions can be used in summer and garlic in winter/rainy

 

[DURGADASAN]

Respected Renuka ji
If so, we should not consume carrots, beet-roots and also other tubers too...

To avoid onion and garlic is mainly because of moving our life in satvic way only. But in today's culture, we include onion and garlic in our food. As Siva said, O/G gives the taste to non-veg food. Might be that will also be a reason.

Pranams

 

[siva144]

restrictions to underground food produce is chiefly forbidden by Jains

but in Hinduism/ayurveda I do not think there is restrictions on underground good produce

 

[tvvaradan]

onion

All great acharyas have prohibited onion and garlik.
Ramanuja quotes often from padma puranam.
Padma puranam treats garlik and onion on par with non veg. food.

Science advocates onion for so many medical reasons. such as anti germ tendency of onion. Garlik fights gastric trouble.

Spirituality does not bother much about science. There may be other sathvic food items which will tackle germ problem and gastrik problem.
it depends on the person and what weight he gives for acharyas upadesam and scientific advice.

To make a blend of both adiyen would suggest that onion and garlik may be avoided on all holy days and days on which some religious rituals are conducted.

 

[SuryaKasyapa]

I am reminded of a story told by my grandfather(I think it is from ‘Aithihyamala’,not remembering correctly)

One Namboothiri, a staunch Brahmin in practice, had a special ailment. Almost all Vaidyas he consulted could not provide a cure. At last this one Vaidya sreshta, (I am not able to recall the correct name ) told the Brahmin that there is only one cure- that is the fat of a wild snake. He has to intake the snake fat.
The Brahmin could no even imagine this. He reconciled himself to his fate and started “Bhajanam” (meditation in a temple) for about 41 days near a riverside temple.

He found his decease gradually becoming cured gradually, and after 41 days of bahajanam he became fully cured. He went to convey this to the Vaidya,and claimed that he got cured without the offensive medication he prescribed. Vaidya was not ready to accept this. He took the Brahmin with him and both walked in the direction of the river upstream. At a particular place, he saw something , and his eyes sparkled.He showed it to the Brahmin. A huge forest snake was dead and decaying touching the river water, flowing downstream.

Vaidya explained that the snake’s fat slowly flowed downstream and the Brahmin was intaking it everyday in small quantity when doing aachamanam for his sandhyavandanam and other rituals at the riverside all these days…….


I just want to say that let food be one’s own choice. Those who do a particular thing/Or avoid a particular thing need not claim they are right and others are wrong. Those who follow something need not force others who don’t. Let us “Live and Let live”.

Small onions are good medicine for piles and other stomach and intestine ulcers. Big Onions are inhaled or eaten raw in extreme hot weather to tide over the bad situation
to the body. Garlic is believed to be a drop of amrutham fell from sky. I still relish the taste of”vengaya saambhar” in a restaurant at Palani.

But generally pious and conforming Hindus avoid onion and garlic. So Let it be one’s own choice and not a compulsion either way.

One’s food may be another’s poison.

Greetings.

 

[siva144]

onion and garlic have medicinal properties if taken in moderation.
i read once before that onions and garlic are not eaten because when you pull out these vegetables from the ground the whole plant dies.
in keeping to the lines of vegetarianism, one should not cause even death of plants. that is why realized souls consume only vegetables which can be plucked from trees and plants because the plants still lives(only the fruit is eaten)
so they avoid veg that kills the whole plant eg mushrooms, carrots, potatoes, onion, garlic, ginger etc.
that is what i read once before

-------

but last line--underground food produce is forbidden by Jain and not by Hindus,except for o/g is restricted and not forbidden
o/g is restricted in veg diet/sattvic foods by Hindus

Hindu way of life/food can b
1.food for mind --
2.food for body --
as stated earlier--Ayruveda use o/g for medicinal and specific purpose use

 

[vikrama]

-------
underground food produce is forbidden by Jain and not by Hindus,except for o/g is restricted and not forbidden
o/g is restricted in veg diet/sattvic foods by Hindus

I read somewhere - Siddha system of medicine says that all tubers are bad for health except 'Karunai'.
மண் பரவும் கிழங்குகளில் கருணை அன்றிப் புசியோம்.

 

[siva144]

I read somewhere - Siddha system of medicine says that all tubers are bad for health except 'Karunai'.
மண் பரவும் கிழங்குகளில் கருணை அன்றிப் புசியோம்.

true--tubers can give rise to gas so it is bad for digestion--otherwise no harm
tubers can b consumed yet less--keeping in mind --it is gaseous,and these r usually cooked with --ginger,parungayam, .....that can take care of these problems

karunai--elephant yam--is good accd to ayurveda,lot of ginger is used with this

 

[StudentofVihe]

Spiritual Aspirant is generally asked to avoid onions as they stimulate the sexual instinct.

 

[Ravi I]

1. Onion is aphrodisiac from ancient times; so celibate priests, please keep away from it.
2. For those who are sexually active, Onion is OK. Anything should be moderate.
3. Onions when peeled, makes us cry, due to the sulfur content, store in fridge for a while before peeling.
4. There are communities in the north west who do not consume onions, as they have no easy access to it ( Rajastan etc)
5. If we avaoid eating Onion, because we are destroying the plant, then we should not be eating Koorka, Chena, tapioca, sweet potato, potato etc.
6. Mushroom is not a vegetable, but a fungi and strictly, a non-vegetable.
7 Use soap and hotwater to get rid of the smell from hands, after peeling and cutting onions.
8 Without Onion, Sambar is NOT Sambar, period.
9. Tamilnadu produces very good quality of sambar vengayam (Ulli)
10. Onion is available in the south throughout the year, so enjoy...

 

[srinathmkce]

Onion will increase the sexual feelings in men and if you eat onion it will give smell for the long time. so it is avoided at the time of poojas.

At the same time it has the good medicinal value. so it is not the need that we completely sacrifice it. but we can take it on ordinary days..

 

[g_gkumar]

onion/garlic induce tamasic guna. hence it needs to be avoided. if anyone who intends to lead a satvic life, he must avoid eating onion/garlic.

 

[Sri10]

Very Nice explanation