This revealing compilation of essays by prominent practitioners and well-informed scholars lays to bear one simple truth: One must be a vegetarian to properly practice Yoga.Bringing together the work of nine distinguished scholars and practitioners of Yoga and Eastern thought, Food for the Soul: Vegetarianism and Yoga Traditions is organized around the fact that, although vegetarianism is a natural and inescapable part of the Yogic tradition, many Yogis and Yoginis today remain blissfully unaware of that fact. The essays gathered here explore the important and much-debated subject of vegetarianism in the major Yoga traditions, looking at what diet has to do with the practice of Yoga and whether ahimsa (harmlessness) is a prerequisite for achieving Yoga's goals. The contributors draw on history, philosophy, ancient Yoga texts, Hindu scriptures, comparative religion, contemporary practitioners, the words of sages, and the teachings of Yogic masters to forge illuminating insights into the subject. Readers, whether students of Hinduism, practitioners of Yoga, vegetarian or animal rights advocates, or simply people with an interest, will find both the questions and the answers provocative-and edifying.

IntroductionSteven J. Rosen1 The Yoga of Eating: Food Wars and Their Attendant IdeologiesE. H. Jarow2 Burgers or Buns: A Brief Look at Whether a Yogi Should Be a VegetarianSteven J. Rosen3 Ahimsa in the Patanjali Yoga TraditionEdwin Bryant4 Ashtanga Yoga Body: Feel Your Way to Enlightened EatingKino MacGregor5 We Are What We Eat: Sri Swami Satchidananda on VegetarianismRev. Sandra Kumari de Sachy6 From Darkness to Light: Vegetarianism and the Yogi's Emergence into Clear PerceptionNatalie J. Ullmann7 Maharishi's Message: Vegetarianism as Natural EvolutionDavid P. Carter and Marguerite Regan8 Roots, Shoots, and Ahimsa: The Jain Yoga of VegetarianismChristopher Key Chapple9 Bhakti-Yoga: Reflections on the Spirituality of EatingJoshua M. Greene10 Krishna-Yoga and the Spiritualization of VegetarianismSteven J. RosenAfterwordSteven J. RosenIndexAbout the Editor and Contributors