Every meal is part of a bheeksha. Be humble. 14 February 2009

Every meal is part of a bheeksha. Be humble. Be happy that you got some food at least.
Bharat Bhushan - 14 February 2009

We get angry when we do not get food on time. We get angry when we do not get food to our liking. We get upset and irritated when the taste is just not right, the food is not warm, the colours are not correct or the arrangements are not up to our liking. What we do not realise is that at least, we ARE getting food, brought to us, and all we need to do is to eat it. I am not referring to the millions of poor starving people around the world who do not get food to eat. That is the obvious fact.

I am referring to the time that is to come in our own lives, when we cannot eat the food we would like to eat. We would not be allowed to eat sugar. Not allowed to eat deep fried food. Not allowed to eat sour, sweet, hot, tangy, spicy, salty, oily or gluten food. We will not be allowed to eat white bread, because it is bad for you, or not allowed to eat brown bread, because all wheat is bad for you. We cannot eat rice, because it is just not right, and we cannot eat fermented food because it is simply not the correct food for us.

So, be happy when you do get food, and someone has cooked it for you, even if it is cooked yesterday, or in the morning, and it comprises of just leftovers. Be happy and stuff your anger and cook in inside of you, and dump it somewhere. Forget your ego. You are nobody. You are of no value in this world, and getting angry about it all is of no worth at all. Who cares about your anger or your ego and if you did get food or did not get food in time? Who is upset in this world if the food that you got is tasty or not. You are an absolutely good for nothing human being in this world, and you should be grateful to the gods that you are at least being given some food to eat.

Sai Baba of Shirdi on his bheeksha rounds

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The best of humans have been bheekshus. They have become famous and have been followed for their values because they achieved victory over their temptation for food and became humble with the food that they received. Shirdi Sai Baba is certainly one of them. He went about from house to house with a bheekshu's bowl and gladly accepted whatever was given to him. In his earlier years at Shirdi, he was not given much, but later, most Shirdi dwellers were counting their blessings that they had been allowed to give bheeksha to Sai Baba.

He was a simple fakir and he was accepted by one and all because of his minimalist values and his ethics. He lived in a simple manner and yet, brought about a simple revolution by creating the langar at Shirdi. This common kitchen brought everyone together. Recently, an innovative forest officer told me of how he had established a successful common kitchen, only for his successor to have closed it upon his transfer. Imagine, what if Sai Baba's langar would have been closed down by his chosen disciples.

Sai Baba of Shirdi on his bheeksha route.

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We live by our ego and we live by our inability to fight over our hunger. Would we accept what would be given to us in a bheekshu's bowl? Would we gladly have eaten up the unknown food? We cannot. Because, we think we have arrived. We think we have achieved so many good levels in life and that we deserve to eat good food, all our lives. There may come a time, when we would be drip-fed with liquid medicines and food juices. What would be the usefulness of all our achievements at that time in life? It would be best for us to conquer hunger and anger at this time, in our lives, than to lose all that we have at that moment when we think that we have become victorious.

There are several tales of inspiration in this regard. There is one famous tale of the Most Enlightened One explaining that he would not hesitate to eat non-vegetarian food, including stale meat, if it were to be part of the mixed food that he would get as bheeksha, for that is what was meant to come to him in his Circle of Life, and so be it. And, it is said that it was thus that he moved on to the greater temples above, for it was stale and contaminated food that brought him to that pass. Should I hesitate or refuse if I am given stale food? Do I have that right? Is it not biological matter that comprised of life at some earlier moment and that it was part of the living universe? Do I have the right to refuse to eat the food, even if it were to be stale or contaminated?

Lord Shiva receiving bheeksha from Goddess Annapurna

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It is said that the very act of having any amount of cooked or uncooked food is to be able to count your own blessings. The gods above are happy that I could purchase food items, and the gods are glad with us, that our family could cook our food and be able to eat. This is the very aspect of Goddess Annapurna in Hindu thought, that to be able to have food in one's house, is to be blessed by the deity. Even Lord Shiva had to go to her, with his bheekshu's bowl and seek food as alms from Goddess Annapurna. There is that famous mythological tale of Lord Krishna walking in to a distraught Draupadi's cottage during their exile in the forests, when she did not have any food items or cooked food to satisfy the hunger of Sage Durvasa and his hundreds of disciples.

Let us be humble with the food that we get. We are but only bheekshus in our lives. We should accept the food that we get and say a prayer, and say thanks, and eat our share.

Can hunger lead you to anger? - 14 June 2008

Can hunger lead you to anger? Is the anticipation towards a good meal a stimuli to anger when disappointed? 
Bharat Bhushan - 14 June 2008

Yes. It can. I know from experience and very good experience. My stimuli usually are - not able to get a good cup of coffee, not able to get a decent wholesome meal, and when confronted with badly planned or leftover pushed-out food. That, and much more. There are several other stimuli. I get angry when faced with thick gooey gravy, but I think, who would not? In fact, who would not get angry when presented with badly cooked food, ill-choices, leftovers presented as pretend newly cooked dinner.

And, like a perfect cliche, and I know that this would be absolute manna for psychiatrists and psychologists, I look at my mother as an absolute example. She was in bad health for most of her life, and had her tummy opened up thrice - 2 times for caesarian and once for a badly diagnosed hernia. As a result, she was packed up with all the illnesses possible. Hypertension, bad heart, blood pressure, too much water in her legs, hernia, diabetes, glaucoma, poor aerobic strength and what not. On top of it all, she was a school teacher, and in her later years, a supervisor and much later, a headmistress or a principal. She would consider her work as religion, and would leave the house by 7 am and return by 8 pm or thereabouts.

We were only four of us, parents, me and my sister. And later, when my sister got married, my brother-in-law came to live with us, and when I got married and we had a daughter in Chennai, we moved and thus, there were 7 and sometimes 9 persons living in a 320 square feet house in Wadala, Mumbai. In all my life, I do not remember that I slept with a straight posture, or in a cushioned mattress. But, we did the best we could. My mother was simply the best. And that, is not a cliche.

She would wake up much before 7 am, and get through her preparations while cooking breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner. All the foodstuff, mind you, separate dishes for separate meals, would be cooked and kept separately on the dining table. She would be very sanitary - that is, she would boil milk in a dedicated vessel, boil in a different vessel and deep fry in a different one and all that. You get the point. But, before she would get going to the school, there would be all the food that we needed, on the table. Without help from her daughter or her daughter-in-law during the day, who would go through the day, biting and carping at each other and destroying the peace of the family.

And now, after my mother has moved on to the higher temple in 1996, and since then, I see a miserably managed kitchen, without any fresh food, and sometimes, without food. I remember the enormous metabolism that I had before 1996, and when along with my brother-in-law and his father, the three of us could eat out a restaurant. But, my mother planned for it, and there would be enough quantities of food for the three of us, and the others. Now, my distress is that there is not enough food or properly cooked food for my metabolism when it is at 1/20th of what it was prior to 1996.

And I get angry. I see a dirty kitchen, and I clean it up, and WHAM!, its back to being disgustingly dirty. Once, a helper boy, who lived in the really bad slums near Pune, who was helping clean up the refrigerator, got shocked and invited me to visit his slum hut and see how some people cook clean and decent food and how they take care of their health. That was a real shameful moment in my life. And, I get angry because of that.

I am beginning to recognise the stimuli. Hunger pangs, and faced with no food at home - Yes - leads to anger. Needing a cup of coffee in the morning - Yes - leads to anger. Anticipating nicely cooked dinner, and heading home from office, and awaiting some hot meals - and faced with leftover food that was previously badly cooked and now, disguised as fresh dinner - Yes - leads to anger.

What can you do about it? What can I do about it? Nothing. So, if one cannot do anything about it, how can one manage the anger? No good way to do it. So, one should not get angry. Go away, and do something else. Go and get a good meal. Enjoy your life and go and get something really good to eat. But, do not get angry. THAT, is the moral of the story.