Pray before you eat

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Pray Before You Eat Sai devotees in particular and many Indians in general are expected and exhorted to recite (either openly or within the mind) two verses from the Gita (4:24 and 15:14) before taking their food — be it breakfast, lunch or dinner. The first verse changes the simple and routine act of eating into a purposeful step towards the union with God and encourages us to dedicate every physical and mental activity to Him as a sure means of attaining Him and His qualities of perfect love, wisdom, peace and happiness. The second verse makes us realise, rather dramatically, the presence of God within ourselves as a matter of daily experience rather than as some rare revelation. Before expanding on them, let us recapitulate the verses and their meanings: Brahmarpanam Brahma havir Brahmagnou Brahmana hutam Brahmaiva tena gantavyam Brahma karma

samadhina (4:24) Meaning: The act of offering is Brahman (God) the offering is itself God, offered by God in the sacred fire which is God who, in all his actions, is fully absorbed in God. Aham Vaishvanaro bhutva. Praninam deham ashritah: Pranapana sama yuktah Pachami annam chatur vidham (15:14) Meaning: I am Vaishvanara, the all pervading cosmic energy lodged in the bodies of living beings. Being united with their vital forces, I consume all the different (four) types of foods. To elaborate: In Lord Krishna’s time (i.e., more than 5000 years ago) it was a widely prevalent custom in India to build up daily the sacred fire in a homa gundam (usually a small box-like brick structure with the top open) with faggots and dry twigs of specified

plants and pour clarified butter etc. into it as an offering to the divine powers in charge of governing the universe. The God of fire (Agni) was perceived as the divine courier who carried the offerings in a suitable form to all the divinities to whom they were intended to satisfy and please. The first verse cited above refers to this custom and says that if such an offering is done with the clear understanding that (i) the person to whom it is offered is God, (ii) the object offered is also basically God-given or God-made, (iii) the fire also is a creation or manifestation of God’s powers and (iv) the soul of the person offering the oblation is also in essence a manifestation of God, the supersoul, the person will definitely attain union with God. In other words, he will palpably realise and enjoy, the essential identity of his self with the Self in all beings. Indeed, one can engage in any activity

with a similar attitude and understanding and achieve the same culmination. For example, consider the act of eating: The God-made stomach is the fire-altar; the God-given hunger is the fire; the eater is the one who offers the oblation (namely the food that is eaten) and is only God in the form of the individual soul. If the purpose of eating is to please God and thereby live in harmony with His will or commands, the routine acts of eating become sacred rituals of worship that will divinise the eater. So, even in the twenty-first century, any person can conduct ritual sacrifices without the mantras in Sanskrit etc. Not only will he be purifying and sanctifying the food often subtly polluted by physical and mental atmospheres but also will be achieving union with his highest self. The fruit of action depends not only on the action per se but also the intention and aim with which it is performed. A man who eats to satisfy the hunger of the

body alone, merely satisfies the hunger; but the man who eats for the sake of God, reaches God Himself in course of time. All activities can be sanctified by sacred motives and attitudes. Such feelings transform a piece of work into worship. Even physical pleasures can be sanctified. When truly, God is the one to which the pleasure is dedicated, the act of lust will be purified and transmuted into love (Vision of the Divine by Dr Funibanda -1976 Edition, 104). That is why Lord Krishna advises in the Gita (9:27) that one can dedicate to Him all of one’s actions and gain his Grace. This He confides as the royal road and the king of secrets for spiritual progress. When we sincerely dedicate all our actions to God, food becomes a gift of God, pleasures become joyous celebrations of divine grace, difficulties of life become penances, work becomes worship and in short all life an

enjoyment of the divine with the divine by the divine! What if a man eats just to satisfy his hunger and taste and nothing else? Lord Krishna says (Gita 3:13) that such a man eats but sin! In the second verse (Gita 15:14) used in the prayer before taking food, the Lord claims that He is the real eater and not you or me! To understand this we must contemplate over what actually constitutes the act of eating. Putting the food in the mouth, tasting it and spitting it out can not be called as eating. Swallowing it without digesting and assimilating it in the least cannot be eating. Indeed it is tacitly assumed that eating includes the whole process of tasting, swallowing, digestion and assimilation of the food. Indeed the last named stages are the most important parts of the process of eating and are not in our conscious control. They are taken over instead by the vital force known as Vaishvanara which creates

hunger, digests and assimilates the different types of food through metabolic forces (prana corresponds to anabolic and Apana corresponds to catabolic forces). When the soul leaves the body along with the vital forces, can there be eating? Hence the claim of the Lord that He is the eater and not you and me. The more we contemplate on this and the other so many involuntary systems and processes operating in the body such as the nervous system, and the circulatory system, we feel deeply humble and begin to perceive the hand of the Lord in our bodies themselves. So this body wherein resides the Lord Himself becomes His temple to keep which clean, neat, beautiful and in excellent condition becomes our sacred duty. How happy too one can become when one realises that this body made of flesh, blood and bones is indeed a marvellous temple for the Lord of the Universe! It is that happiness which is bestowed upon us through this prayer. Om Sai Ram Once upon a time there was 1 GB storage in your inbox. Click here for happy ending.

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