Madhur Jaffrey's Beet and Tomato Soup

As served at Kentucky Street on June 24.

Bunch of fresh beets
Equal weight of fresh tomatoes
1 tsp ghee
1/2-1 tsp whole cumin seeds (I used a full tsp)
1 tsp whole black peppercorns
4-6 whole cloves
1/2 piece stick cinnamon
1/2-1 tsp salt

Wash the beets and leave about 2 inches of tops on the beets. Not necessary to peel them. Cook the whole beets in water until you can pierce them with a fork.  Remove from water and let cool.
In the beet water, scald the tomatoes and remove from the water. Save the water.  Let the tomatoes cool enough to peel them.
Slip off the beet skins and tops and put the whole beets and the peeled tomatoes in a food processor or blender. Add enough water so that you thoroughly blend them to a soupy consistency.

In a heavy sauce pan or soup pot, heat the ghee until sizzling, but don't scorch it. Add all the spices and lightly saute until fragrant.  Add the beet/tomato mix.  Bring to a boil, then simmer for 10 minutes on low heat. Add salt to taste.  You can add a bit of cream, but I didn't do that.

Strain. Enjoy!

The original recipe can be found in Madhur Jaffrey's World of the East Vegetarian Cooking, Alfred A. Knopf, 1981. I made some changes which I think makes it faster and easier to prepare.

Heart of Yoga June 1, 2018

Today we discussed notes I had taken from the first Yoga and Sound I attended at Arsha Vidya Gurukulum in Saylorsburg, PA, with Ramanand Patel, Mukesh Desai, and Pujiya Swami Dayananda Saraswathi. This was September 4, 2002 - September 11, 2002.

Swami D. began by defining terms from the Vedanta tradition. Nishta or sthairya = to abide. Bhava, Bhavana = to have a command of abiding attitudes. Laya = absorption.

Niyama (first limb of Patanjali's Ashtanga Yoga) is a lifestyle conducive to accomplishing yoga, living a committed life, a life which leads to a desirable end.

Things to be done - niyama: purity, contentment, austerity, self-study, surrender to Isvara.
Things not to be done- yama: non-harming, non-lying, non-stealing, non-greediness, non-excessivness.

A yogic life is regulated and disciplined.
Tapah, svadhyaya, and isvara-pranidhanah constitute niyama.

Tapah - being totally committed, involved, dedicated. he remarked that in India, waiting is considered tapas. People say, "I've been doing tapas for you for 10 minutes."

Svadhyaya - he recommended studying the Vedas by studying one Upanishad.

Isvara- Pranidhanah - "God" is an abused word. "Isvara" is better. How does one worship Isvara? Pranidhana means "placing oneself".  This is not a matter of "belief" in God; it is a matter of understanding.

There are two ways of knowing: (1) direct perception, (2) indirect perception. Direct perception is seeing with your own eyes. Indirect perception is like reading an x-ray, knowing you have a flat tire by the way the car drives, inferring that you have gasoline from the gas gauge.

Belief: if you have a green light, the cars on the cross street have a red light and they will stop.

Only these two kinds of knowledge - there is no such thing as theoretical knowledge. (for a good discussion of theory, see this short discussion from the American Museum of Natural History).

All that exists is Brahman (Brahman is a word of neutral gender representing the ultimate reality underlying all phenomena).  All that is known or unknown is Brahman.  Isvara is to be understood and known. All knowledge, all karma, all dharma is Isvara. Isvara is the maker and material cause of everything.