1. Oil lamp or candle wax – which is better?
Depending on the fuel used to light a flame, the vibrations emanating from the flame into the environment are different and affect the spiritual purity of the environment. The vibrations emitted from the flame are closely related to the spiritual subtle basic components of the fuel used to sustain it. Please refer to the article on Sattva, Raja and Tama – the 3 subtle components of the universe.
In the table below, we provide some of the popular types of oils and wax used to give light at home and our environment.
| Fuel |
Predominant subtle vibrations emitted into the environment |
|---|---|
| Ghee lamp (Clarified butter made specifically from the milk of an Indian Cow) | Sattva |
| Sesame (Til) oil lamp | Sattva-Raja |
| Coconut oil lamp | Raja-Sattva |
| Sunflower oil lamp | Raja-Sattva |
| Groundnut oil lamp | Raja-Tama |
| Linseed oil lamp | Raja-Tama |
| Olive oil lamp | Raja-Tama |
| Mustard oil lamp | Tama-Raja |
| Beeswax candle | Tama |
| Paraffin wax candle | Tama |
| Kerosene | Tama |
Please note while we have categorised various oils groups such as Raja-Tama or Sattva-Raja, the proportion of Sattva, Raja and Tama are different in each of them. The above chart is just a general guideline to understand the spiritual vibrations emanating from the flame depending on the fuel used.
2. How come beeswax is considered tamasik, while Honey is considered sattvik as it comes from bees?
Bees are Tama-predominant. Beeswax is formed by worker bees, which secrete it from glands situated in their abdominal region. Accordingly, as beeswax comes from bees, it is also tamasik.
On the other hand, the source material for honey is obtained from the nectar of flowers which is sattvik. Bees use their long, tubelike tongues like straws to suck the nectar out of the flowers and they store it in their “honey stomachs”. Bees actually have two stomachs, their honey stomach which they use like a nectar backpack and their regular stomach. When a honeybee returns to the hive, it passes the nectar to another bee by regurgitating the liquid into the other bee’s mouth. This regurgitation process is repeated until the partially digested nectar is finally deposited into a honeycomb for further evaporation to form the final honey product. The digestive enzymes of the bee that alter the chemical composition of the nectar sugary substance into honey does have much impact on the sattvikta of the nectar/honey.
From this we can also understand that due to the sattvik nature of the Indian cow, clarified butter or ghee that is made from Indian cow’s milk is also sattvik. In contrast beeswax is tamasik; this is because the source material to make beeswax is from a Tama-predominant insect.
