Mutual help -bhojanam (part -2)

[Guest guest]

SRIMATHE RAMANUJAYA NAMAHA.

 

A definition of Athithi (guest) has been attributed to sage Lomasarma

that runs thus:

 

"yasya na shruyathE naama na cha gothram na chasthithi:/agasmaath

gruham aagachEth sothithi:pujyatheputhai://"

 

(athithi or guest is one whose name or gothram orplace of residence is

not known. He is one who happensto come to the house of a gruhastha

(family man)purely by chance. Such a person needs to be worshippedby

the gruhastha)

 

The term athithi also encompasses the other aashramis too, like the

Brahmachari and the sanyasi. Parasharasmruthi (which is the book on

code of conduct for kaliyuga like Manu smrithi for Krutha yuga)

considers feeding as the highest form of propitiation from sins.

 

Feeding is the only act in which the receiver stops atsome point when

he feels completely satisfied. According to this Smruthi, there are 3

types of daanam(offering) which vary in conferring benefits based on

whether

(1) the giver reaches the place of thereceiver and gives (utthamam or

greatest type) or

(2) the receiver comes to the giver to receive (madhyamam ormedium result) or

(3) the giver gives to the one who happens to be near his place

(athamam or lowest kind).

 

The only exception is offering food to the athithi whocomes to your

doorstep. The only condition here isoffering the best food available

in the best possibleway.

 

This is echoed in Taittriya upanishad (3-10) (nakanchana pradhya

saksheetha….) whereby it is statedthat it is a vratham (penance) to

offer food to theathithi. The one who offers the best kind of food

(available with him) will himself receive the bestkind of food. The

one who offers with some reservations will receive a medium level of

food and the one who offers the worst kind of treatment and food to

the athithi receives the worst kind of food.

 

Athithi bhojanam has been made an obligatory act amongthe other ones

that have been described as tapas bysage Naga, the son of Mudgala (Tai

up 1-9–athithayascha swaadhyaaya pravachanEcha).If the athithi (here a

Brahmin) is not attended to and left to wait, then it results in loss

of wealth and allthose benefits that would otherwise accrue to the

host due to his other good actions.

 

This is being made out in verse 1-8 of katohpanishad. In verses 1-7,

1-8 & 1-9 of this Upanishad, it is being made clear that anathithi

must be offered water and food and if hestays for the night in the

host's house, the host is all the more obliged to attend to his needs.

When the young lad Nachiketas waits at the doorstep of Yama's house

when he was not there for 3 days and nights,Yama felt obliged (on his

return) to atone for the sin (of having made him wait) and offered to

grant him 3 boons.

 

Since the over-night stay qualifies the person to be an athithi (only

a traveller from a far-away land would stay for the night in another's

house),Parasurama was obliged to leave the land he had gifted to sage

Kashyapa, for otherwise he would become anathithi to the sage, who

would then have to pay obeisance to him –which was untenable because

it was Parasurama and not the sage who was obliged to please the

other.

 

Parasurama made it a point not stay for the night in the vast land he

had gifted and moved to Mahendra parvad using the power he had

acquired to move swiftly. When Sri Rama, upon accepting the challenge

from Parashurama to draw the Vishnu dhanus, succeeded in doing so,

Parashurama was humbled. Since the dhanush had been drawn, it had to

hit some target. Rama gave Parasurama only two choices about the

target– either to sacrifice all the benefits of the penance he had

done until then or to lose the power to move swiftly to any

destination of his choice.

 

Parasurama chose to sacrifice the former, for if he loses the latter,

he would not be able to leave the land he had gifted on which he was

then standing.The moment Rama had shot the arrow, Parasurama would

become powerless to move swiftly to his abode before nightfall. In

order not to create a 'crisis' with reference to treatment meted out

to athithi,Parasurama took the most painful decision of foregoing

whatever he had earned through penance. Such was the sanctity attached

to athithi puja.

 

Now about the most important declaration that athithi is to be

worshipped as god (athithi devo bhava –Tai upa). It has been a matter

of debate and discussion why the seers placed athithi on par with god

and in the order after mother, father and teacher. Every available

text on this speaks about the good results that the host gets, but

whether it is the good reason to say that athithi is supreme as god or

on par with the other three is a moot question. There are other

actions too that have been sanctified by scriptures and seers. But do

we treat the sources (actions or perpetrators ofaction) as god in

those cases?

 

While explanations may vary and are many based on one's experience and

knowledge, here is one based on the experience of this writer. It

happened when this writer undertook a 5-day tour to cover 40 divya

desasin Tanjore –Kumbakonam belt (Chozha naattuthirupathigaL) along

with the family. It was the last day of the tour when she landed at

Thirunaangur pradesam. Until then she and her family had been blessed

with quick dharshan, food at all places etc. But once inside the

remote villages of Thirunaangur pradesam, things were not moving as

expected. Added to the difficulty in reaching the temples and finding

the bhattars, was the one on finding food. The available stocks of

food had run out and the kids were looking tired, dehydrated and

pathetic.

 

Steeped in a staunch principle that they must not ask for any help

that would make it obligatory, her family merely looked for ways to

finish the dharshan at the remaining temples soon and leave for home.

When they happened to spot the house of Sri Madhavan Bhattar, the

bhattar serving at Annan Koil, they proceeded to enquire about the

other temples and a guide to show them the way. An unique soul that he

was, the Bhattar noticed the tiredness in their faces and lost no time

in inviting them inside and offered food before they could make any

enquiries. His wife Gayathri maami made them all feel comfortable and

at ease in their home.

 

I must say that till today none of us have forgotten their

hospitality. Even my children who were much younger then remember the

food we had in their house.It was amirtham (nectre) that brought life

to our senses! And we had it in the cosiest atmosphere with no worry

about whether we are a burden to them and whether we are troubling

them etc.

 

What we had was the best food we have ever had and the thought that we

have of the fine couple even after years is something special. It is

the heartfelt good wishes for good fortunes and everything of good for

them. Perhaps this feeling and thinking about them is comparable to

what one's mother, father or teacher would have for that person(s).

 

It is perhaps due to this reason, theathithi has been placed after

these three. It is perhaps in tune with according highest place (as

god) to the three, that the athithi is also treated as god.No mother

or father or teacher would think anything less than the highest good

to the person. So too with the athithi who has been treated well!

 

Apart from this experience-based insight, there does exist a Vedantic

explanation for why the athithi becomes God. This will be discussed in

the subsequent posts.

 

Regards,

Jayasree saranathan

(to be continued)