 Why No
Onions and Garlic?
By Sankarshan
Das Adhikari
Many of our readers are habituated to eating and onions
and garlic and do not understand why devotees of Lord
Krishna strictly avoid eating them. I have been asked
this question so many times that I decided to devote an
article to it.
Our reason for not taking onions and garlic is very
simple. It is not at all complicated.
According to the instructions very clearly given in the
Bhagavad-gita, devotees of Lord Krishna are meant to eat
only the remnants of food offered with love and devotion
to Lord Sri Krishna.
yajña-śiṣṭāśinaḥ
santo
mucyante
sarva-kilbiṣaiḥ
bhuñjate
te tv
aghaḿ
pāpā
ye pacanty
ātma-kāraṇāt
"The devotees of the Lord
are released from all kinds of sins because they eat
food which is offered first for sacrifice. Others, who
prepare food for personal sense enjoyment, verily eat
only sin."
--Bhagavad-gita 3.13
And since great acharyas such as His Divine Grace A.C.
Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada have confirmed that Lord
Krishna does not accept offerings containing onions and
garlic, the obvious conclusion is that devotees cannot
take garlic and onions because Krishna says that partaking of
foods that are not acceptable is eating only sin.
The above reason is sufficient to convince the devotees
to strictly avoid onions and garlic. The
non-acceptability of onions and garlic is also confirmed
as follows in the Manusmriti 5.5:
laśunaṁ caiva palāṇḍu abhaḳṣyāṇi
SYNONYMS
laśunam—garlic; ca—also; eva—certainly; palāṇḍu—onion;
abhaḳṣyāṇi—are not eatable.
TRANSLATION
Garlic and onions are unworthy of eating.
Also in the
Bhagavad-gita Lord Krishna advises against pungent foods
such as onions and garlic:
kaṭv-amla-lavaṇāty-uṣṇa-
tīkṣṇa-rūkṣa-vidāhinaḥ
āhārā rājasasyeṣṭā
duḥkha-śokāmaya-pradāḥ
"Foods that are too
bitter, too sour, salty, hot, pungent, dry and burning
are dear to those in the mode of passion. Such foods
cause distress, misery and disease."
Further confirmation that onions and garlic are not offerable to Krishna is how bad they smell. A simple
stroll through the produce section of a grocery store
also can help us understand why we should not offer them
to Krishna. As soon as one gets near the onions
and garlic one can easily detect a strong foul aroma.
It the person who is cooking is accustomed to giving
food an extra zing by adding onions and garlic, they
can use hing (asafoetida) instead.
The final conclusion is that when we satisfy Krishna by
offering Him foods according to His satisfaction and
take as our only eatables those offered foods, we will
be fully satisfied in our eating and will advance very
nicely towards spiritual perfection by such sacrificial
eating.
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