“Shatashloki” of Shri Shankaracharya – XV (Shlokas – 20 & 21)

Offering food to gods, guests, and needy people

Meaning: When one eats food after offering to gods, goddesses, and guests, then the food becomes nectar for the person.  Otherwise the food becomes useless for the person’s spiritual development.  The scriptures say that if a person cooks food only for himself/herself, then that food becomes like death to the person.

One who eats food without offering to gods, goddesses, guests, and the needy people is considered an embodiment of sin in this world. A person who eats food without offering the food as an oblation to the Pranas as prescribed in the scriptures is a dead person, meaning is not spiritually alive.

Meaning:  A person, who gives food to the poor people visiting his/her house, is considered ‘Bhoja’ (the Giver) in the universe. Such a person receives abundance of food for the sacrifices and does not have an enemy. But, one who does not give food to the starving friend or to people who is constantly serving him/her is not one’s own friend (meaning he/she is one’s own enemy).  Even the food, like an enemy, wishes to leave such a selfish person.  

Reflections: 

The importance of food:

There is a well-known mantra of Taittiriya Upanishad (2.1.3) which says,

“Verily, from that Atman (Brahman) was born akasha (space);

from akasha, air was born;

from air, fire was born;

from fire, water was born;

from water, earth was born;

from earth, herbs and vegetation was born;

from herbs and vegetation, food was born; and

from food, human beings were born.”

Thus, the whole creation comes down to the food which is useful to create and nourish human beings.

Further, Taittiriya Upanishad (2.1.4) says, “Verily, from food are produced all creatures – whatsoever dwell on earth. Furthermore, by food alone they live, and in the end, they do return to food; for food alone is the eldest (first born) of all beings, and therefore it is called the panacea for all.”

Why bless the food by prayers and offering to God?

Chhandogya Upanishad (6.6.5) says, “Thus, my dear, the mind consists of food, the prana consists of water, and the speech consists of fire.”

Food nourishes our body and mind. If we don’t eat for a few days, our mind cannot function properly. Moreover, the food affects our thoughts. If we eat food prepared and/or offered by a person with a good character, our mind nourishes good thoughts. But, if we eat food prepared and/or offered by people with bad character then our mind cherishes bad thoughts.

There are people who could feel the subtle vibrations emanating from other people. They feel that a person with a good character spreads positive and spiritually uplifting vibrations and a person with a bad character spreads negative and spiritually harmful vibrations around. Holy company means in whose presence all our holy thoughts come on the surface of our mind.  

Sri Ramakrishna used to feel such vibrations and he would not be able to touch a glass of water or a food-plate which is brought by a person with a bad character. Once, in the presence of Narendra (Swami Vivekananda) a religious-looking person brought a glass of water to Sri Ramakrishna which he could not touch it. Narendra was shocked and had a doubt about the validity of Sri Ramakrishna’s action. Narendra afterwards inquired about the character of that person by talking to other people and found that he was not of a good character.  

Sri Ramakrishna was eating food at Balaram Basu’s house without any reservation. He himself said that, ‘At Balaram’s house there is a worship of Lord Jagannatha and therefore the food is pure’. He also told Balaram to feed young devotees like Narendra, Rakhal, Latu and others because they were embodiment of Lord Narayana and by feeding them lots of good will come to him. The following mantra of the Chhandogya Upanishad tells us why the pure food is important.  

Chhandogya Upanishad (7.26.2) says, “When the food is pure, the mind becomes pure. When the mind is pure, the memory becomes firm. When the memory is firm, all the ties are loosened.” Meaning the awareness of Atman within becomes firm and all the bonds created by the ignorance with the body, mind, and the world become lose and one becomes free.

While eating in the restaurants and other people’s houses, we don’t know who had cooked the food, who had brought the food and what kind of vibrations the food has been carrying. Therefore, it is important to offer the food to God and purify it before eating. Thus, we remove the negative vibrations and create positive ones. Many religions have this food offering ritual before eating. In many Hindu houses the first plate of cooked food has to be offered to the deities in the shrine room before eating. This is they called a ‘naivedya’.

Warning: We should be aware that one has to be very much advanced in the spiritual path in order to feel the positive or negative vibrations emanating from other people. Those who feel it will never condemn people. Thus, we should not start judging people. Therefore, it is best to bless the food by prayers and then eat it. The knowledge and awareness of Brahman destroys all kind of negative vibrations.   

At many places people recite the fifteenth chapter or the following shloka of the Bhagavad Gita before eating:

Gita (4.24): “To the enlightened person, Brahman is the offering and Brahman is the oblation, and it is Brahman who offers the oblation in the fire of Brahman. Brahman alone is attained by the person who thus sees Brahman in action.”

Here eating food is considered as an offering to God residing in the body. The Ultimate Truth is that there is only one Existence (Consciousness, or Brahman according to the Vedanta) which expresses Itself through various names and forms. Repeating this shloka before eating reminds us that we have to realize this Ultimate Truth. Thus, each time we eat, thinking about Brahman becomes an important spiritual practice.

Also, God is considered as the fire in the stomach which digests all kinds of food.

In the Bhagavad Gita (15.14): Shri Krishna said, “As the fire Vaishwanar, I (the Lord), enter into the bodies of all living beings, and mingling with the upward and downward breaths (Pranans) digest the four kinds of food.”

Thus, blessing the food that we eat is very important. That is why in many religions there are prayers to recite before eating.

The following are a few more prayers for blessing food:

Children’s Prayer:

God is great, God is good.
Let us thank him for our food.
By his hands, we are fed.
Let us thank him for our bread.

A Few more Christian Prayers:

“Without Thy sunshine and Thy rain
We could not have the golden grain;
Without Thy love we’d not be fed;
We thank Thee for our daily bread. Amen.”

“Bless, O Lord, this food to our use and us to thy service, and keep us ever mindful of the needs of others. Amen.”

“Our Dear Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for this food. Feed our souls on the bread of life and help us to do our part in kind words and loving deeds. We ask in Jesus’s name.”

“Heavenly Father, bless this food and bless our friends and family who’ve come to dine with us today.”

“God, many hands made this meal possible. Farmers grew it. Truckers drove it. Grocers sold it. We prepared it. Bless all those hands, and help us always remember our dependence on you. Amen.”

Humorous Prayers:

“Good food, good sweets, good Lord, let’s eat.”

“Lord, bless this bunch as they munch their lunch.”

Why offering to Prana?

Prana is the energy by which all our senses function and we are alive. By offering food to the Prana we become aware of the its important function. There is a story in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (6.1.7-13).

There was a dispute among the sense-organs. Each one thought that it is superior to all other organs. They could not come to a conclusion. Then, they all went to Prajapati (the Creator) and asked him, “Which one amongst us is the most superior?”

The Prajapati said that each sense-organ can leave the body and go on a vacation for a year. In that process you will find the answer.

Then, one by one, the organ of speech, the eyes, the ears, the mind, and the organ of generation went on vacation for a year. But, the body continued to live without that sense-organ. Finally, the vital breath (Prana) was about to depart, it uprooted all the sense-organs from their respective places just as a great, noble horse of the Sindhu country tears up the pegs to which his feet are tried. All the sense-organs said to the Prana, “Venerable Sir, please do not leave the body. We shall not be able to live without you.”

This story tells that the vital force (Prana or the energy) is very important in our life. We take it for granted the energy which keeps us alive and which is the fundamental cause of our activities. To make us aware of the importance of the vital force (the Prana), the Hindu scriptures instruct us to offer the food to the Pranas before eating. Those who know the scriptures offer food to the five pranas by saying, (i) Om Pranaya Swaha, (ii) Om Apanaya Swaha, (iii) Om Vyanaya Swaha, (iv) Om Udanaya Swaha, (v) Om Samanaya Swaha and (vi) Om Brahmane Swaha.

(i) Prana takes care of the breathing through the nose and the mouth and also maintains the pressures of the eyes and ears. (ii) Apana takes cares of the lower parts of the body and helps to push out things from the organs of generation and evacuation including the baby from the mother’s womb. (iii) Vyana works in the several thousands of arteries to circulate the blood. (iv) Udana helps the soul to exit the body. (v) Samana distributes properly the nourishing essence of the food digested in the stomach to all the sense-organs.  

Offering food to the needy people and the guests:

By thinking about ‘Me’, ‘Me’, and ‘Me” for twenty-four hours, we make our self very limited and confined to a small frame of body and mind. The goal of spirituality is to expand our little self to the whole universe and see all beings in our Atman and our Atman in all beings. A very simple and tangential spiritual practice is to offer food to the needy people, to the people who are dependent on us, who are around us and are hungry. More we share, more we expand from selfishness to unselfishness. The Bhagavad Gita condemns in strong words the attitude of enjoying things without thinking of others or sharing with others.   

Bhagavad Gita (3.12) says that a person is verily a thief who enjoys what has been given by gods and goddesses without offering anything in return.

Bhagavad Gita (3.13): Shri Krishna said, “Good people, who eat the remnant of the sacrifice, are freed from all sins; but wicked people, who cook food only for themselves, verily eat sin.”

One of the important teachings of these Shatashloki shlokas is to be unselfish and to give. To reflect upon Swami Vivekananda’s teachings on unselfishness is very helpful for our spiritual development.

Swami Vivekananda says:

“Unselfishness is God.”

“Are you unselfish? This is the question. If you are, you will be perfect without reading a single religious book, without going into a single church or temple.”

“The life is short, the vanities of the world are transient, but they alone live who live for others, the rest are more dead than alive.”

Simple Practices:

Thinking about the teachings of the shlokas 20 and 21 of the Shatashloki, I remember a simple practice that Vandana Aunty had taught to the Vivekananda Vidyapith students. She said that whenever we go to buy groceries, we must buy a can or a box of non-perishable food for the needy and hungry people and then we have to donate them in the nearby soup kitchen. We can also regularly give in charity and support soup kitchens or other institutions who feed hungry people.

I will conclude with another important teaching of Swami Vivekananda:

Swami Vivekananda says, “There is no higher virtue than charity. The lowest person is one whose hand draws in, in receiving; and the highest person is one whose hand goes out in giving. The hand was made to give always. Give the last bit of bread you have even if you are starving. You will be free in a moment if you starve yourself to death by giving to another. Immediately you will be perfect, you will become God.”