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-siRappudaiyamaRaiyavar.
"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 -----
From: purohit@xxxx
To: ramanuja@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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
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