The world is full of information, some of it is useful, some of it is misleading. How can I keep away from superstitions and all kinds of misleading concepts and stay open for new discoveries?
I want to tell you something that was recently discovered. I was talking to one of the judges in the Supreme Court of India during a conference of judges, in Bangalore ashram. He drew my attention to a practise that everyone thought is superstition. What is that? In India, when women are in their menstrual cycle in India, those three days they are not allowed to enter the kitchen, nor are they allowed to touch any food. If that happens, others will not eat it. This appeared completely superstitious and I used to also think, "Why should she not touch the food?"
In Hungary, an experiment was done by a scientist. The scientist had a maid in the house taking care of his garden and watering the plants, Every month, for three days the flowers would wither away but come back on the fourth day. So, he asked her what did she do? She said that she did nothing. He later came to know that she was in her menstrual cycle during those three days. So, for two and half years he did research on this and found out that when women are in their menstrual cycle, their body emits menotoxins. I also heard that in the vineries in France, they do not allow women during their menstrual cycle to work as the wine turns sour. I heard it is a practice. I also read on the web that in bakeries, the dough does not rise when women in their menstrual cycle touch the bread. So flowers wither away, wine turns sour and bread does not rise.
Similarly, even seeds don’t sprout. So, these are the four visible effects of menotoxins.
There is another thing also, when a woman in her cycle holds a baby that is not hers, the child gets a stomach upset! Even the stool of the child goes green. This is amazing! So what I thought to be superstition for some time, now has a validity of its own. So, we cannot discard it unless the phenomenon is studied thoroughly.
So, why they say women in the menstrual cycle should not touch food, the first thing is they need rest, that is necessary. Even Sufis do not allow women in the mosque during their menstrual cycle because they took their customs from Hinduism. The Hindus do not allow. The world is full of information, you take what is needed. It is like a map of a country, but you are only interested in the road you need to go.