"Why do we offer
'only' food/rice-grains to a beggar?"
One out of my long list of
'stupid' questions that I used to ask to elders around when I was a
kid...
The elders parry such
questions usually... The nearest to what might constitute a
'logical' explanation was “If we give them money, they might end up
squandering it at the nearest country-liquor shop”.. and then the
usual suffix would be “Now go and play” (an insurance against the
next-possible-set of complicating queries, related to the
'logical-answer')...!!!
I was not quite satisfied
with it....
A few years later, I came
across a story, where the God of Gods, 'Shiva' took to begging...
and his consort, Parvati, had to reach rushing, at the inaugural
session of that 'begging' (they say it was Kaashi, Benares).. and
offer 'food' after 'assuming' the form of a Godess, which came to be
known as Godess of a 'Complete-planned-food' ...
Anna-Poorna-Eshwari...!
Today, when I happened to
look at a 'sutra' a thread... suggesting that 'being a beggar' is
of great advantage to a 'seeker of spirituality'... it invoked the
early childhood memories...
I did respond to the
thread with a comment: quote: “I
am already a beggar!
This body was 'given' to me.. It grew, and got nourished with materials given to me..
Ideas came forth, and I call it a 'mind' (a processor to incessantly analyse data... Sometimes, the keyboard commands do not reach the processor, and system 'hangs'! )
...
The ancient stories tried to teach me this... (as I try to view it, understand it).. through a very heavy set of symbolisms... Shiva tatwa, says.. 'Bhawathi Bhikshaam Dehi'... and Shakti tatwa rushes to meet this 'humility' in the form of 'Annapoorna Eshwari' to offer the Bhiksha...
This was perhaps sought to be 'traditionalized' in the form of a ritual, when a 7 year old kid, gets initiated into 'shiva-tawa' and the very first experience that he is offered is when he is taught to say, 'Bhavati bhikshaam dehi' .. just thrice, and walk off.. (The woman folk are not to be left behind.. they tie a few fists-full of rice grains at the loose-end of their traditional attire, and reach the 'initiation-venue' to offer alms to this 'tender-young-fresh-initiate' and make intense efforts to pour out the entire love possible within them along with the fist-full of rice grains, thrice... increment-ing the intensity each time! In earlier days, it was an 'occasion' to feel what the 'energy-charge' means.. Now-a-days, it is the photographer who views it through out-sourced-vision, the lens of his camera while his own bottom blocks the view of others around!)
psn”
This body was 'given' to me.. It grew, and got nourished with materials given to me..
Ideas came forth, and I call it a 'mind' (a processor to incessantly analyse data... Sometimes, the keyboard commands do not reach the processor, and system 'hangs'! )
...
The ancient stories tried to teach me this... (as I try to view it, understand it).. through a very heavy set of symbolisms... Shiva tatwa, says.. 'Bhawathi Bhikshaam Dehi'... and Shakti tatwa rushes to meet this 'humility' in the form of 'Annapoorna Eshwari' to offer the Bhiksha...
This was perhaps sought to be 'traditionalized' in the form of a ritual, when a 7 year old kid, gets initiated into 'shiva-tawa' and the very first experience that he is offered is when he is taught to say, 'Bhavati bhikshaam dehi' .. just thrice, and walk off.. (The woman folk are not to be left behind.. they tie a few fists-full of rice grains at the loose-end of their traditional attire, and reach the 'initiation-venue' to offer alms to this 'tender-young-fresh-initiate' and make intense efforts to pour out the entire love possible within them along with the fist-full of rice grains, thrice... increment-ing the intensity each time! In earlier days, it was an 'occasion' to feel what the 'energy-charge' means.. Now-a-days, it is the photographer who views it through out-sourced-vision, the lens of his camera while his own bottom blocks the view of others around!)
psn”
Unquote
And
then I was reminded...
the
earlier question haunted me for a few more years.. “why food?”
I
had to conjure up 'something' to quench my thirst, out of my own
resources (borrowed data bank, begged via perception, plus... my
mind)
Maybe,
(I felt).. maybe, even the richest and most powerful person on
earth, does feel hungry, and as badly as the poorest/deprived
fellow-being-of-him, when it is lunch time.. and it is the same
material that they consume... food coming out of earth! (A rich man
cannot substitute earth-originated food, with any other
'costly-material')..
This
explanation did not seem to suffice! The whole of
everything-and-anything that we can perceive at sensory levels has
been already classified broadly into 5 basic 'elements' by ancient
Masters .. it is earth-ness, fire-ness, water-ness, airy-ness, and
space-ness! And food is the only substance that becomes 'me' at a
gross level/body-level... So, 'food' does serve with adequate
symbolism!
When
an intense seeker decides to transcend (not by-pass) this
symbolic-food... he works on the very same material (his body), and
seeks to 'sophisticate' it further... And very much
in-tune/in-keeping with our modern technology, which reduces
dependence at gross levels, (example, we go wireless, from wired
connectivity.. we go 'on-line' and 'in-real-time'/etc, from
physical-proximity-connectivity/etc..)... this seeker dropped
dependence on gross form of food, and went 'on-line' using his
pituitary glands, which evolve/sophisticate, to directly get plugged
to existance and seek food 'in-real-time' and .... 'direct'... (a
few rigorous spiritual tools and techniques, which goes by the name
'mudra' and 'kriya' constitute the 'software' to activate the
pituitary glands to do this function, when-needed-only, and not as a
'default-process)... The begging is still in-tact!... Only that
the 'acknowledgement' to the 'Anna-poorna-Eashwari' is also now a bit
subtle and more sophisticated!
Yours
a beggar,
psn(11th
June, 2014)
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