Message of HH Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji in Bhakti TV Program telecast on April 25, 2020 – Mysore
Compiled by: Jaya Akkanapragada
Śrī Mahāgańapatayé namaha
Śrī Sarasvatyé namaha
Śrī pādavallabha nrsimha Sarasvati
Śri Guru Dattātréyāya namaha
Jaya Guru Datta. Today I will tell you about nivédanam. Once a person asked “Does God really eat naivédyam if it is prepared? Why is a morsel of food placed in the balipeetham (a stone structure) around the temple?” it is only to answer such questions and clarify your doubts that I have taken this topic today.
In the Hindu tradition, temples and rituals performed in temples are very important. Amongst these rituals, offering naivédyam has a very important place. It can be seen by the eyes. When abhiśekam is performed, you will be able to collect the mik and curd which has been used, but the water flows away. A lot of alankārana – decorating the deity with flowers is done. This is also not of any use to us. Kumkuma archana is also performed. We can take a little and apply on our forehead. All the other things used in the puja such as turmeric etc do not reach us, and even if they do, it is not of much use.
Naivédyam is the only thing that comes to us. That is why naivédya is given so much importance. Puja organizers decide beforehand about what naivédya should be offered that day to the deity. Sometimes seva kartās who want to participate in a puja will announce “we would like to offer 108 undrāllu (steamed rice balls) as naivédyam after performing abhiśeka and alankārana to Gańapati Swami.” They will eat and distribute the undrāllu to 100 others as well.
In Viśnu temples, pulihōra (tempered tamarind rice) is so delicious. In Ayyappa Swami’s temple, they prepare naivédyam from gōdī or wheat. Not only is it delicious, but stays fresh for ten days. In Guruvayur temple, black rice is used to prepare a sticky lehyam which looks like auśadham. Each temple has its tradition. In Mother Goddess Meenakshi Ammavaru’s temple, they offer curd rice. We also prepare curd rice at home, but it never tastes like that. What do I tell you about the chakkara Pongal in Varadarāja Swami’s temple! We can never eat any other chakkara Pongal after eating that. So many people stand in long queues to receive a small handful of the prasādam.
You may be wondering why is Swamiji talking about food like this instead of telling us about naivédyam? I’m telling about naivédyam only. Even if Paramātma does not eat, it is so useful to so many people. You all know the taste of the Tirupati laddu, and how it stays fresh for 10-15 days till we get back to our homes. I wonder what they put in it to make it so delicious. We can never achieve that taste no matter how much we try.
Naivédyam is also known as nivédana. Nivédana means submitting, reporting, informing, handing over and letting know. There are so many meanings for this word.
ni (prefix) + vidhi (responsibility or duty) + gñānam (knowledge, understanding) = naivédyam or nivédana.
Any work undertaken with understanding and knowledge is naivédyam.
Everyone should observe whether dhūpa (incense) and dīpa offerings are being made properly at the temple every day. Instead of building new temples, it is more important to make sure that dhūpa-dīpa séva is being done at exisiting temples. We are simply building new temples so that someone can become President, secretary, rope in new members and form a committee since they all have no other work. Instead of that if you take care of an existing temple, our dharma will flourish.
We have established 85 ashramas, and built temples in them. In each of these temples we have ensured that dhūpa-dīpa naivédyam is offered without fail every single day. After building a temple, the idols are consecrated – prāńa pratishtha. It is only after this that the temple gets a certain energy – śakti and glory – vaibhavam. Paramātma will definitely be present there.
Someone once asked “why are you establishing so many temples?” I replied “Yes, we are building temples for people who have bhakti towards God. A temple supports so many people and their families. The priests, the caretakers, the cook, the manager, 5-6 cleaning staff and all their families totaling about 25-30 people all have a place to stay and a livelihood. Also, when there is a function in the ashrama, all the people who gather there are spending their in a constructive way instead of wasting time on a bad habit.
If a chain smoker spends 2 hours at the ashram, it is a break for him or her from smoking. Bad habits are automatically given up because when you are there, you are answerable. After naivédyam is offered, so many poor people are fed. Isn’t all this so nice? We have an opportunity feed poor people. That is naivédyam.”
Ever since corona started, we are feeding 4000 people every day. I am not doing this. My devotees are doing it. Whatever money they send for pujas, is being used to feed many people who are stranded and unable to get home. The collector, municipal commissioner, minister, MLA and MP have all called me up. I gave them cheques and said “please use this as you see fit since we cannot prepare food at the ashrama now.”
If all the hungry people eat, that is naivédyam for Me.
Each year during Navaratri, Brahmotsava for Swami and during birthday celebrations, we have a tradition at the Mysuru ashrama of sending buckets and buckets of food to an old age home and a nearby colony where all the people who have some illness have been placed. We have 2000 volunteers hailing from different states who all take care that everyone is fed. Only after we receive a call from the volunteers that everyone has eaten, do we offer naivédyam to Swami. This has been a habit for Me since the beginning.
Bhūta trupti – God is present in each one of them. These people are so hungry that without any embarrassment, they ask for food. They do not ask for anything else. They have been starving for so long, some of them have even died of starvation. I feel so bad when I hear all this. If they do not eat, I do not feel like eating because I can see their suffering.
When I was a young boy, I faced a lot of difficulties. I used to beg for food – bhikšātana. Even now, the children in those homes recognize Me. Of course, they are all very old now. I used to go to their homes, and each home would give me some food. Everything would be placed in a big vessel which was very heavy and difficult for me to carry. All the rice, sambar everything that was offered would be mixed up in it. Don’t think all this food was for me.
There were many blind and lame people sitting outside our temple. Some homes would give me some leaves also. Even though I could not carry the vessel, I would mix all the food and place it in leaves and offer to all the people. At the end, 2 morsels would remain. My aunt would not approve unless I gave those last 2 morsels also away. Then she would prepare jonna rotti (flat bead made from sorghum flour) and give me to eat. This is my life story.
Again in the evenings, in Podattur, I would go to some shops and collect a 4 anna coin. This was not for me. There were some children who used to study well, but since they could not pay fees, they were asked to leave the school. I used to use this money to pay their fees and get them readmitted in school. This was my work every day. Then at night, I would take a lantern, and lead a group of children who wanted to study, for tuitions. Munayya teacher used to take tuitions at 10 PM in the Śiva temple.
I was the leader. All the other kids would follow me to the temple. I would be so tired in class after all the work during the day. Many times, I would doze off sitting in front of the oil lamp. The teacher would come and give me a few lashings and tell me to study. This is how we studied till midnight. Many of us would sleep in the temple itself and wake up in the morning, draw water from the well and take a bath, and return home. This is how I spent my time then.
Along with me there were other children. They are all quite old now. They keep coming to the ashrama. I cannot call them My friends. They are My devotees now, and have a lot of love for Me. Many are in very high positions. Now they call Me Swamiji, but back then they used to call Me Sādhu. I was a Sādhu then, and I am a Sādhu now also. Sādhu means one who with great sādhana has overcome the 6 enemies – kāma, krōdha, lōbha, mada, mōha, mātsaryam.
I know what hunger is, and what food means. After my mother passed away, I was starving. I could not even get a morsel to eat sometimes. When I see beggars, my heart aches for them. My Mother used to do so much satpātra dānam – giving whatever that person needed most at that time of need.
Do not think that Swamiji said He will tell us about naivédam, and instead He is telling His own story. It is not like that. Because of the difficulties I faced, I know the value of food. Let me move ahead.
After a temple is built and the deities consecrated, Paramātma will definitely reside there. If naivédyam is not prepared and offered to the deity there every day, it will be a sin (dōśa) Only if naivédyam is offered, will the world be will. Āgama śāsatrās say that if naivédyam is not offered, then the people who run the temple, the people in that town or city, and the entire city will face difficulties. The God who gives us food does not need naivédyam, but He will be pleased with our bhakti.
Some people needlessly argue and say “why should we feed the one who is feeding us?” By offering naivédyam, there is another meaning as well. “O Swami, by offering this food to you, we are not hiding anything that has been prepared, and we are sharing it with you because You are a family member. We are showing it to You, and then eating.”
This reminds me of an incident which happened during the British era. In the afternoon, delicious smelling food would be prepared and offered as naivédyam to Venkata Ramana Swami. The British collector there was suspicious because all the food was placed in front of Swami, and the curtain was closed.
The head priest there replied “we are offering naivédyam. Swami receives this offering just by smelling the food.” The collector did not believe this. The head priest said “Okay, I will prove it to you. we will have to prepare the food again, and it is alright if we get dōśa for doing this now. We will bring the food prepared as naivédyam today. You taste it and tell us how it tastes.”
In those days, the British were so scared that we would poison them. They would specially appoint one person to taste the food before eating. They had no freedom to eat till the taster ate and approved of the food. They did not trust the Indian servants. The doctor who accompanied the collector that day was his appointed taster. The collector would wait for a half hour to make sure the doctor was alive and then only eat. He also had a habit of feeding the food to a dog named Preeti.
So that day, a sample from all the delicious food that was prepared was offered to the doctor to taste. In those days, they would make so many varieties of dishes and offer as naivédyam to Swami. They did not prepare large quantities, just enough for everyone present to share and eat. If we are flourishing now, it is because of the good practices which prevailed then.
So anyway, the food was given to the doctor to taste. After the doctor ate, the naivédyam was placed before Swami by the head priest. He prayed “Swami, please forgive us for this sin. For the next 40 days, I will eat only once a day, and not eat rice. I know I have sinned, but please show your mahima (greatness)”
The head priest after placing all the naivédyam in front of Swami, drew the curtain and promptly came out so that the collector and doctor would not accuse him of changing the food. He did all this in full view of the collector and doctor. He came out and chanted aum prāńāya svāha and all the mantrās.
Praying thus, the head priest brought back the vessels after Swami had accepted the offering. The doctor was summoned and asked to sample the food again. The doctor remarked “the taste that was there before, is missing now. It was so delicious before, but now it feels like someone has eaten it.”
The collector fell at Swami’s feet and said “ I was very wrong. I have sinned. From today, I am your devotee. Please forgive me.” He then gave an order to the head priest “From today, we shall prepare more food and offer to more devotees.”
My grandmother told me this story. I do not know if it is true or not, you decide for yourself. But I trust my grandmother. It may not have happened exactly like that, so you enquire for yourself what happened. But always remember that Paramātma accepts whatever is offered.
There is a very famous kannada story – Kōlūru kodagōsu. Koluru is a place in Karnataka and kodagosu means small girl.
There was a Śiva temple in Koluru where a priest served. He had a motherless daughter. The priest would prepare naivédyam each day, with rice, milk and sugar and offer it to Swami. One day, he had to go to the town, so he asked the 8-year-old girl to prepare the naivédyam. He said he would have the prasādam upon returning that evening.
The little girl prepared naivédyam with rice, milk and sugar and offered it to Swami and said “please accept this offering Prabhu.” She was such an innocent child. No matter how much she pleaded, Swami did not come, so she sang all the songs she knew. She was so upset that she started hitting her head against the Śivalinga. Then Śiva and Pārvati both appeared. They ate the rice and drank the milk and left.
That day when the father returned, he did not say anything. The next day, he asked the girl to prepare naivédyam again. She went to the temple and came back with the empty vessel. The priest was silent. He sent the girl again another day, and the same thing happened. Now he caught her and asked her “what are you doing behind the closed temple doors? Are you eating all the naivédyam behind the drawn curtain?” and he beat her very badly. The child protested “No, Amma and Nana (Mother and Father) are coming every day and eating the food.”
The priest remarked “What mother and father are they to you? This is impossible! You are lying to me!” He took the child to the temple and asked her to prove it. The little girl offered naivédyam and calling Swami. But He did not come in spite of her singing songs also. The priest got very angry and beat the little girl and shouted in anger “You have spoilt all the puja I was doing by eating the food.” He was so enraged that not even considering that she was a small child he went to kill her. At that moment both Śiva and Pārvati appeared. The priest was thoroughly shaken. He was not an ordinary devotee. Then both Amma and Nana accepted the naivédyam. As I tell you this, I am getting goosebumps just remembering the incident. This really happened. (As Appaji said this last line, He got very emotional and had tears in His eyes.)
When food is offered with utmost devotion, God will definitely accept the offering. You must not unnecessarily make fun. This thought should not come to your mind. One day I shall talk to you about bhakti. When you see poor people eating, just think Swami has so many mouths and Devi has so many hands. Just thinking this is enough. We must all develop that faith and devotion that it is not a stone idol but Paramātma Himself! It is this faith and devotion which is keeping the world alive. That faith is God. That faith is Truth. That faith is Dharma. We will continue talking about naivédyam.
Jaya Guru Datta.