DEIVATHIN KURAL # 126 (Vol #3) Dated 18 Sept 2009.

DEIVATHIN KURAL # 126 (Vol #3) Dated 18 Sept 2009.
(These e-mails are translations of talks given by Periyaval of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam, over a period of some 60 years while he was the pontiff in the earlier part of the last century. These have been published by Vanadi Padippagam, Chennai, in seven volumes of a thousand pages each as Deivathin Kural. To day we are proceeding from the middle of page 555 of Vol 3 of the Tamil original. The readers are reminded that herein 'man/he' includes 'woman/she' too, mostly. These e-mails are all available at http://advaitham. blogspot. com constantly updated.)

12. Food contains not only proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals and such things. It also contains the subtle shades of the effects of the environments in which it is grown, matured, stored and sold; and the physical and mental attitudes of the people who handled it in whatever capacity! All these are the inputs in to the system of the person consuming it and he is what he eats; at least at the level of the 'sthula sareera' i.e., gross body level! So the one consuming the food, is affected by the conditioning of all those who handled the food in some capacity. The negative aspects of these are known as 'Anna Dosha'!

13. The King immediately gave orders to the concerned minister to find out all the details about the previous day's lunch. After some passage of time, the minister came back with the following reply. Some days back there had been a dacoity in the bazaar. From a grains merchant, some high quality rice had been stolen. Later the thief had been caught. The stolen article of rice had also been recovered. For some reason the owner shop keeper had not taken back the rice and so, the stolen article had remained in the King's go down. Since it was good quality rice, the store-keeper had made it available for the lunch to be cooked for the Guru the previous day, as a special offering!

14. Both the King and the Guru could immediately identify as to what had gone wrong. Though the stolen property was rightly in the King's possession, it was against the Dharma of the renunciate Guru to be partaking it. That had affected him adversely. However, as he was not aware of the 'Dosha' in the food, and as he had not been responsible for any act of commission or omission, it was but natural for his body to have arranged for it's evacuation through loose motions! So it was God's will through the powers of Nature, for him to be rid of the 'Dosha'! Guru said, "See! As per the rules meant for a renunciate, I was keen that I should not be eating in your household. But you were insisting that I should have food in the palace. Since I agreed to your request, all this happened."

15. "As the infectious diseases spread through air and water, materials involved in unlawful activities do carry some of the traces of criminal intensions and can spread to anyone coming into contact! My own experience of the past few hours is a clear proof of, how true my statement is". The King accepted his culpability and totally absolved the Guru. The Guru also absolved the King of any blame as his action was an earnest expression of his devotion to the Guru. Thus the story ends!

16. The point to note is that, the mental attitudes of all the people who had handled any aspect of the agriculture, irrigation, production and food processing; will all affect the physical and mental being of the eventual consumer of the food! Knowingly or unknowingly, we could all find ourselves in a similar condition as the Guru. Remember that you are running a big risk whenever you accept other's invitation to have food in a hotel or club or any restaurant! All of us cannot be lucky enough as that Guru was. If such a great man as the Guru also temporarily went astray, the risk is greater in our case!

17. Most of the mistakes are committed only unknowingly without any intension on our part only, initially! That is how we go astray, to start with. Then later, it becomes a habit. That is why our ancestors have endowed us with the Saastraa-s. Though many things are not apparent initially, God has given us the Saastraa-s through our ancestors, to enable us to open our eyes. We do many actions, wherein our discretion has to come in to play. As we grow, we do become aware of the rightness and wrongness of our action. Then there is always, the Saastraa-s given to us by our elders as God's directions, for reference! So, where is the excuse for going astray? So, come to think of it, we can never claim that we have unknowingly committed a crime!

18. So, till now, even if you have been making a mistake about 'Aahaara Suddham', since to day I have clarified the issue, you have no more excuse for 'Aahaara Dosham'! (Smilingly Periyaval adds), even if God has been pardoning you for this error, he will not do so, here after!

19. One more argument also. Even when you interact with someone without knowing that he is infectious, the germs do not spare you for your ignorance. That germ may not be seen by the normal eyes, but visible to the microscope. Similarly the subtle effects of good and bad influences of thoughts and actions spread affecting one and all unseen.

20. Clean food is dependent on a number of factors. One is the inherent quality of the very material. The cereals and vegetables should be clean, not dirty or rotten. Secondly, items like onion, radish and garlic have an inherent quality to affect the mind sensually. Thirdly, the person cooking and serving the food should be clean. As this cannot be ensured in public places, food at home is always better in many respects. That is why I told you the story about the King and the Guru.

(To be continued.)

Sambhomahadeva.