Dear srEvaishNavites,
varu-virundhai aLithirukkum-siRappudaiya
maRaivar
What is normal and is expected from every soul,
has become commercial, corporate and an industry. Yes, Hospitality industry
generates crores and crores in India and elsewhere. This is supposed to clock
exponential growth in the current fiscal.
Our tradition of course expects us to treat the
gusts with highest reverence. "athithi dhEvO
bhavA!"
sri periAzhwAr talks high of the srEvaishNavites
who offer their obesience and respects to the guests.
"maRaip perum thE
valarthiruppAr, varu-virundhai
aLithiruppAr
siRappudaiya maRaiyavar vAzh,
thiruvarangam enbadhuvEa" periyAzhwAr thiru-mozhi
;4-8-2;
Those who support the
srEvaishNavites who reach sri-rangam thiru-mALigaigaL.
These hosts perform -vEdic
homam-s regulrly. Alongwith that they also support the srEvaishNavites in their
homes. They do this without expecting anything in return. That is why they
are termed as special persons-siRappudaiya
maRaiyavar.
"adhAvadhu, than-thAm
thiru-mAligaiyilEa ezhundharuLIna srEvaishNavargaLai swarUpAnurUpamAga
Adharithu, amudhu-seiyap paNnugai. ippadi, vaidhiga anushtaNathaiyum , bhagavath
samArAdhanathaiyum , ananya-prayOjanamAgach seigiRavargaLai-
siRappudai
maRaiayvar.
The main point here to be
underlined is they do not expect anything quid-pro-quo
(to be continued)
vanamamalai padmanabhan
Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, August 04, 2004 12:21
PM
Subject: [ramanuja] Hospitality according
to Vishnu Purana
Dear bhagavattotamas, please accept my humble obeisance
- for your edification I would like to submit another offering from the
Vishnu Purana on hospitality. No where else in the dharma shastras is it so
elaborately explained as in the V.P.
Hospitality
The
householder is then (after sandhya and vaisvadeva bali) to remain
in his courtyard to await a stranger (atithi), for as long as it takes to
milk a cow (about 12 minutes) or longer if he chooses. If a stranger
comes he must be worshiped and welcomed with all due hospitality. He
must be offered a seat, and his feet are to be washed. Food should be
respectfully served and he should be engaged in pleasant
conversation. When he departs, he should be lovingly farewelled ‹ the
host accompanying him (for a short distance). The householder should always
welcome and venerate with great care as a guest that stranger who
comes from another country and whose name and family are not known. A
fellow villager is never considered a guest (atithi). He who
eats, neglecting an unknown stranger, who is poor and friendless, and who
is desirous of eating, goes to hell. VP 3:11:56 - 60
The
stranger, who being disappointed, leaves a house and goes
elsewhere, transfers his own demerit to the owner of the house and takes
away the house-holder's merit. Brahma, Prajapati, Indra, Agni, the Vasus
and Aryama are ever present in the person of a stranger/guest share the
food that is offered to him. Therefore O best of men! One should
assiduously discharge the duties of hospitality; for one, who eats
without giving any to a stranger/guest, feeds upon sin. Thereupon the
householder must satisfy with well-prepared meals the young married woman
(suvasini), the unwell (duhkhi), the pregnant woman (garbhini), the aged
(vrddha) and the children (balaka) of the house and then only he himself
should eat. The householder, who eats without first feeding these, feeds
upon his own iniquity and after his death is condemned to hell to feed upon
phlegm. He, who eats, without performing ablutions, feeds upon filth; he,
who eats without doing japa, feeds upon pus and blood; one who eats
unblessed food, drinks urine; and he, who eats before the infants and the
others (mentioned previously) is doomed in hell to live on excrement.
(V.P. 3:11:67 71)
In the evening, the householder, should again,
according to his means show hospitality to any stranger/guest who may come,
receiving him with the salutation of evening and offering him water to
wash his feet, a seat, supper and a bed. The sin, consequent upon not
receiving hospitably the stranger who comes after sunset, is eight times
greater than that of neglecting one who comes during the day, A person
should therefore show particular respect to one who seeks refuge after
sunset, for by venerating him all the gods are venerated. The householder
should therefore according to his means, give a stranger/guest rice,
vegetables, water, a bed, a mat, or if he cannot give any thing more, a
space on the ground upon which to lie. (V.P. 3:11:103 -
107)
Dasanudasan
Sri Rama
azhwAr
emberumAnAr jeeyAr thiruvadigalE saranam
Yahoo! Groups Sponsor |
ADVERTISEMENT
![click here]() | |
![]() |
Yahoo! Groups Links
|