▪ What is sattvic?
To be sattvic means to live and act in accordance with the quality of sattva. Just as the three primary colors can be mixed in millions of ways to create every possible tinge and hue, so there are three primordial qualities of nature that combine together to manifest the world as we know it. Sattva is the quality of clarity and peace and is symbolized by the color yellow; rajas is the quality of acute desire and strenuous activity and is symbolized by the color red; tamas is the quality of illusion and inertia and is symbolized by dark blue. A sattvic life leads one to knowledge and happiness, whereas a rajasic or tamasic life leads only to misery.
▪ Why ghee?
Only in recent history have people thought to use other oils for cooking when butter is available. Particularly when they are heated, alternative vegetable and seed oils are largely indigestible to the human body. In spite of this fact, butter has been frowned upon because of its saturated fat content. People are now aware, however, that it is trans fats that are the real culprit behind heart problems, not saturated fats as a group.
Beyond this, it is important to differentiate butter from ghee. Whereas butter is classified as an “astringent” food (according to the tradition of Ayurveda) ghee is something quite different. Through being cooked down and filtered, the butter becomes clarified and is turned into a “sweet” food that is infinitely more digestible and salubrious. This category (which includes wheat and rice) is meant to make up the bulk of one’s diet.
Because it is free from impurities, ghee does not need to be refrigerated and can be used for high-temperature cooking without the worry of smoking. Especially for those who do not consume milk on a regular basis, it is a great way to get the vital nutrition and miraculous health benefits of dairy in a concentrated and convenient form.
▪ Can’t I just get ghee from my local Indian grocery store?
The quality of ghee ultimately depends on the quality of the butter from which it was made. Click on the link below to see a comparison chart of organic butter, Cabot brand butter and most other butters. Organic butter gives the most pure ghee, with Cabot a close second and other butters a distant third.
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▪ What does organic mean?
Organic agriculture means food and fibers that are grown without the use of synthetic pesticides, chemical fertilizers or genetic modification.
▪ What does fair-trade mean?
Fair-trade products are those grown and assembled by adults (not children) working under humane conditions (not sweat shops) and paid a living wage (not a nonviable minimum wage).
▪ Why are water-based inks important?
Inks and dyes are some of the most noxious substances in the modern world. Clothes are usually printed with plastisol ink, a liquefied form of the extremely toxic plastic polyvinyl chloride (PVC). When PVC is produced it harms the environment, when it is used to color garments it harms the people doing the printing, and after it has been applied it harms wearers whenever it is exposed to a radiant heat source such as a household dryer or even sunlight.