Monday, May 05, 2008
GITA 108 DAYS - Day 84
84. Appetite for food is the Lord Himself
The Lord, as appetite (the fire of hunger, jatharaagni), digests the four kinds of food we consume with the help of four airstreams (pranan, vyanan, apanan and samanan). Food can be consumed in four ways- by biting, chewing, drinking and licking. Food is of four kinds – in the form of smell, effulgent, air and water. Prana facilitate intake of food while apanan facilitates excretion.
Upanishad is telling us to stop putting the food stuff in external fire and to start putting it in the internal fire, jatharaagni. Feed the hungry as we have an obligation to all living beings. Our ancestors have started certain rituals to enable feeding the needy creatures. The ritual of giving rice balls given to ancestors on their death anniversary is to feed the birds and other creatures. We make the floral motifs (kolam) with rice powder every morning in our front yard to feed ants. Without knowing the essence of the ritual, nowadays people use insecticides along with the rice powder to make kolams.
It is the Lord’s effulgence that gives brightness to Sun and the moon. Sun intern brightens the whole world. We should realize the Lord’s presence in their company. It is the same energy that makes us move. Without realizing this, we keep searching for the Lord who is telling us, stretching His four hands “my dear son, open your eyes and ask what you want”. The Lord sustains everything in the world with His energy. He doles out all the nourishments we need in the form of fruits. Without knowing this magnanimity, in the epitome of ignorance, we lament and weep in front of temples “you did this to me; you never gave me anything, etc.”
Men of wisdom see the life force (jeeva, the self) as the in dweller of the body, that which leaves the body, that which is enjoying the sense objects. Those who are impure at heart will not be able to see the self within, however much they toil. The self enjoys the sense objects with the help of the mind and sense organs. All sense organs work in accordance with the innate tendencies accumulated and the culture imbibed by the mind. If one looks at anything with an eye of fault-finding, everything will be understood as faulty. Now our eyes are incapable of seeing the process of blooming of a bud to a flower. When the mind gets stronger, it can direct the sense organs to subtler and virtuous realms. We should hear only the virtuous and see only the pious in anything and everything.
The Lord, as appetite (the fire of hunger, jatharaagni), digests the four kinds of food we consume with the help of four airstreams (pranan, vyanan, apanan and samanan). Food can be consumed in four ways- by biting, chewing, drinking and licking. Food is of four kinds – in the form of smell, effulgent, air and water. Prana facilitate intake of food while apanan facilitates excretion.
Upanishad is telling us to stop putting the food stuff in external fire and to start putting it in the internal fire, jatharaagni. Feed the hungry as we have an obligation to all living beings. Our ancestors have started certain rituals to enable feeding the needy creatures. The ritual of giving rice balls given to ancestors on their death anniversary is to feed the birds and other creatures. We make the floral motifs (kolam) with rice powder every morning in our front yard to feed ants. Without knowing the essence of the ritual, nowadays people use insecticides along with the rice powder to make kolams.
It is the Lord’s effulgence that gives brightness to Sun and the moon. Sun intern brightens the whole world. We should realize the Lord’s presence in their company. It is the same energy that makes us move. Without realizing this, we keep searching for the Lord who is telling us, stretching His four hands “my dear son, open your eyes and ask what you want”. The Lord sustains everything in the world with His energy. He doles out all the nourishments we need in the form of fruits. Without knowing this magnanimity, in the epitome of ignorance, we lament and weep in front of temples “you did this to me; you never gave me anything, etc.”
Men of wisdom see the life force (jeeva, the self) as the in dweller of the body, that which leaves the body, that which is enjoying the sense objects. Those who are impure at heart will not be able to see the self within, however much they toil. The self enjoys the sense objects with the help of the mind and sense organs. All sense organs work in accordance with the innate tendencies accumulated and the culture imbibed by the mind. If one looks at anything with an eye of fault-finding, everything will be understood as faulty. Now our eyes are incapable of seeing the process of blooming of a bud to a flower. When the mind gets stronger, it can direct the sense organs to subtler and virtuous realms. We should hear only the virtuous and see only the pious in anything and everything.
# posted by Sukumar Canada @ 8:56 PM 
