PART - 3

Om Srim Anna Puraneswaryai Namah !!

The type of food consumed by a person also shows the quality of the person.  The three Gunas – Satvic, Rajo and Tamo – are also in the food.  Those foods which we can offer to the God as Boga (generally not containing garlic, onion etc) are considered to be Satvic; those containing all vegetables including the pungent spices, garlic, onion etc. are considered to be Rajasvic and those containing non vegetarian items including eggs are considered Tamasvic.  The consumer of the food is said to posses the qualities of the food they eat, as the food becomes the  part of their body and eventually the mind controller.

There is a story relating to this goes thus:

A good man was on a pilgrimage to Kashi Viswanath temple.  On the way he met a person, who was a corrupt government official.  The corrupt government official somehow like the pilgrim and invited him for a dinner and stay for that night at his house.

The pilgrim accepted it, as he had to take his food and rest for the night and continue the next morning.  The official duly welcomed the pilgrim and did sincere service to him and provided him with the best food that he could offer.  Later the pilgrim was shown his room, where he went to sleep.

The next morning, the official found that many of his household items, golden ornaments and cash were stolen.  He and his wife were worried and sad.  They understood it was taken by the pilgrim.  But they could not believe that such a pious man could steal their belongings.

Later a few hours after, the pilgrim returned to his house and handed over all those items to the official and his wife.  He apologized to them for his action.

The official asked him, why did he steal all these things, as he was such a pious person.  The pilgrim smiled and replied “I never did such things in my life and it is the first time that I ever thought about stealing others items and doing it.  You had served me the food that you bought through your corrupt ways of earning money.  It was that food, that caused such intention in my mind also, provoking me to use the opportunity to take away your wealth”.

The official and his wife were aghast by the pilgrims reply and the wife of the official asked him with remorse “why did you return these items to us, which my husband never does”?

The pilgrim replied “after your food was digested, I was hungry and on my way went to a temple and had my food from the temple, which was the Prasad.  After eating the Prasad, I got back my real thinking and felt that, although these properties are not your earned property, I had no reason to steal them, as it was not my really earned properties.  Thus I realized my mistake and came back here to give it back”.

The official and his wife felt sorry for their past actions and apologized to the pilgrim and to the God for having served a guest with the stolen money.  After apologizing to the pilgrim, they sincerely invited him for lunch and rest in their house.  The pilgrim smiled and replied “now all the items in your house are the result of your corrupt way of working.  If I have it again, I may do wrong things again.  So I am going now.  On my way back, if you had given up all these things and earned enough wealth through good means, I will be your guest and receive your hospitality”.  The pilgrim said good bye to them and proceeded with his pilgrimage.

Thus the above shows, the actions of a man comes due to two reasons – his Vasanas as per his birth and the food he eats.  By having the food that is good the character of a man becomes good.

Hari Om !!

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