BG - 9
Recap
BG 15.14 - last session the focus was on the MIRACLE of the DIGESTION PROCESS - how food is converted into BLOOD. Ask a few questions. The first session in this series was about the COMPLEXITy of Digestion. Second about MIRACLE and today's sessions will focus on WHAT HAPPENS WHEN DIGESTION DOES NOT WORK.
Bhajan
Katha (Duryodhana tries to kill Bhima with Poison mixed with Food)
https://vedabase.io/en/library/mbk/1/4/
Teaching Time
What Children Need to Bring
Each child should bring one decomposed piece of food. Please send below message to Parents.
Dear Parents,
We have an exciting hands-on activity coming up this Sunday! Your child will be learning about the concept of Digestion—how Krishna personally digests the food we eat. We would love your help with a simple home preparation.
What to do (with your child):
- On Saturday, cut a banana into slices or an apple into pieces
- Place the fruit in a zip-lock bag, then put that bag inside another zip-lock bag (to contain any smell)
- Leave it at room temperature until Sunday
- Your child should bring this bag to class
A few notes:
- The fruit will look and smell unappetizing by Sunday—that's the point!
- Children will only observe, not touch, the decomposed sample
- Please label the bags with your child's name
This comparison will help illustrate how Krishna digests our food—and what happens when he withdraws.
Thank you for your support in making learning come alive!
Warm regards, BPSS Teaching Team
Opening Hook
Children bring their bagged fruit. Build anticipation:
"Everyone has a special science experiment today. On the count of three, open your bags just a little and take a small sniff..."
Reactions will be immediate! Let them express their disgust freely — this is the hook setting itself.
Key questions:
- "What happened to the fruit? Is it yummy anymore?"
- "Could you eat this? What would happen if you did?" (Tummy ache, sick, poison)
Simple storyline:
"Inside your tummy, there's a special fire — not a burning fire, but a cooking fire. And guess who that fire is? Krishna Himself!"
"When you eat your breakfast, Krishna is right there inside you, cooking your food and turning it into energy so you can run, play, think, and grow."
"But the fruit in the bag? Krishna wasn't inside the bag cooking it. So instead of becoming energy... it became yucky!"
Teach the phrase:
"Aham Vaiśvānaro" — "I am the digesting fire"
Have them repeat it with you 2-3 times. Explain: "This is Krishna saying 'I am the fire in your tummy!'"
Gratitude connection:
"So every time you eat, who should we thank? Not just for giving us food, but for cooking it inside us too!"
Medical Angle (when digestion stops then what?)
Step 1: Connect bag to body
"This fruit rotted in the bag. Now imagine if this happened INSIDE your tummy. What would happen?"
Let them guess. They'll say "sick" or "tummy ache."
Step 2: Escalate with real examples
"Has anyone ever eaten something bad and had to vomit? Or had a really bad tummy ache?"
(Some kids will share experiences — food poisoning, stomach bugs, etc.)
"That's your body trying to push out something it couldn't digest properly. Your body is saying DANGER! GET IT OUT!"
Step 3: Go to the hospital
"Sometimes it's so bad that you have to go to the hospital. Doctors give you medicine through a needle in your arm. Sometimes they have to wash out your stomach with a tube."
(Can show a simple image of a child in hospital with IV if appropriate, or just describe)
Step 4: The most serious cases
"And in some very serious cases... when the poison spreads too much... people can die. Even from just eating bad food."
(Let this land. Pause.)
Step 5: Flip to gratitude
"But most of the time, this DOESN'T happen to us. Why? Because every time you eat, someone is working inside you to cook that food properly, to turn it into strength instead of poison.
Who is that person?"
→ KRISHNA
"Every single meal. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, every snack. Krishna is there, making sure food doesn't become poison inside you. He's not taking a holiday. He's not sleeping. He's always working.
Aham Vaiśvānaraḥ — I am the fire of digestion."
Optional: Real Numbers to Share
If you want to add weight:
"Every year, around the world, about 4 lakh (400,000) people die just from eating bad food. Many of them are children."
This makes it concrete — death is not abstract, it's a real protection Krishna offers daily.
For Seniors
The Stark Reality: Digestion Cannot Be Replaced
What Machines CAN Replace
| Organ | Machine Replacement | Can You Survive? |
|---|---|---|
| Kidneys | Dialysis machine | Yes — people live years on dialysis |
| Heart | Artificial heart / pacemaker | Yes — temporary or long-term |
| Lungs | Ventilator / ECMO | Yes — for weeks or months |
| Blood | Transfusions | Yes — regularly done |
| Digestive System | Nothing | No replacement exists |
Key point for kids:
"Doctors have made machines for almost everything. Can't breathe? Machine. Heart not pumping? Machine. Kidneys not cleaning blood? Machine.
But if your digestion stops? There is NO machine. No scientist, no doctor, no hospital in the whole world can digest food for you. Only Krishna can do this."
What Happens When Digestion Fails — Medical Facts
Intestinal Failure / Short Bowel Syndrome:
- If your intestines stop working or are removed, you cannot absorb nutrition from food
- Only option: TPN (Total Parenteral Nutrition) — liquid nutrition directly into bloodstream through IV
- This is NOT digestion — it bypasses the gut entirely
- TPN is not a long-term solution:
- Causes liver failure over time (50% of long-term TPN patients develop liver disease)
- High risk of blood infections (sepsis)
- Blood clots, bone loss, kidney damage
- Most patients eventually need intestinal transplant or die
Intestinal Transplant:
- One of the rarest and most dangerous transplants
- Only about 200 done per year worldwide
- Survival rate: Only 50-60% survive 5 years
- Requires lifelong immunosuppression drugs
- Body often rejects the new intestine
The bottom line:
"If Krishna's fire switches off inside you, doctors can try to keep you alive by putting food directly into your blood through tubes. But your liver starts failing within a few years. Your body gets infection after infection. Even with the best doctors and millions of rupees, most people don't survive long.
There is no Option B for digestion."
Statistics That Hit Home
Food Poisoning Deaths (Digestion Rejected the Food):
- 4,20,000 deaths per year globally from foodborne illness (WHO)
- 1,25,000 of these are children under 5 — their digestion is weaker
- In India alone: estimated 1.5 lakh deaths annually from contaminated food
Intestinal Failure:
- Without intervention: death within weeks from starvation/dehydration
- With TPN: 40-50% die within 5 years from complications
- Intestinal transplant waiting list: many die waiting, organs rarely available
Stomach/Digestive Shutdown (Gastroparesis, Ileus, Obstruction):
- Complete intestinal blockage: death within days if not surgically corrected
- Even after surgery: 15-20% mortality rate for emergency bowel surgery
- Sepsis from gut bacteria entering bloodstream: 30-50% mortality rate
Simple Comparisons for Children
The 3-3-3 Survival Rule:
"You can survive:
- 3 weeks without food
- 3 days without water
- 3 minutes without air
But if your digestion stops working? Even if you eat, the food becomes poison inside you. You might not even survive 3 days."
Money Cannot Buy Digestion:
"The richest person in the world — with 10 lakh crore rupees — cannot buy a machine to digest food. Ambani, Elon Musk, the President of America... if their digestion stops, they will also have to pray to Krishna. There is no shop, no hospital, no country where you can buy digestion.
Only Krishna gives this. Free. Every day. To everyone — rich or poor, good or bad."
The Fire That Never Bills You
This could be a powerful reflection:
"If Krishna sent you a bill for digestion...
'Breakfast digested — ₹500' 'Lunch digested — ₹500' 'Dinner digested — ₹500' 'Snacks — ₹200'
That's ₹1700 per day. ₹50,000 per month. ₹6 lakh per year.
From birth to now — 6 or 7 years — Krishna has done maybe ₹40 lakh worth of work inside your tummy. And He has never asked for payment.
He only asks that we remember Him. That we say thank you."
Summary Points
- No machine exists that can digest food — dialysis for kidneys, ventilators for lungs, but NOTHING for digestion
- TPN is not digestion — it's emergency bypass that destroys your liver over time
- Intestinal transplant — extremely rare, extremely dangerous, most don't survive long
- 4+ lakh people die every year from food-related illness — when digestion fails or is overwhelmed
- The richest humans on earth cannot buy what Krishna gives free to the poorest child
- Krishna's service is 24/7, free, flawless — and we rarely even say thank you