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Line 102: − + + + − + + + + + + − This is the foundation of the Bharitya Sanatana culture. This is the difference between western culture and our eternal Sanatan culture. The reason for poverty and hunger caused by scarcity can be traced to neglecting our civilizational principles. Culture cannot sustain on a hungry stomach. Basic necessities of life and wisdom that shape our life in family life and those who are instrumental in building and sustaining our family, like women, food, and beauty should never be on sale. Anna, Veda and beauty when commodified have dangerous consequences that destroy life and wellbeing. The principles enshrined in our shastras clearly reveal the degradation of ‘modern’ lifestyles due to the disconnect with our traditional systems and kind of life. +
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O Yudhisthira! the one who shuts his door on all comers and indulges in the enjoyment of food for himself alone is certainly ensuring that the doors of heaven shall be shut upon him. And his virtue is indeed great who propitiates with food the ancestors, the gods, the sages, the venerable ones, the destitute and all those who appear at his door. The one who gives food to those who seek, and especially to the brahmana seekers, is rid of all sins, even if his sins were immense. The giver of food is the giver of life, and indeed of everything else. Therefore, one who is desirous of well-being in this world and beyond should specially endeavour to give food.
O Yudhisthira! the one who shuts his door on all comers and indulges in the enjoyment of food for himself alone is certainly ensuring that the doors of heaven shall be shut upon him. And his virtue is indeed great who propitiates with food the ancestors, the gods, the sages, the venerable ones, the destitute and all those who appear at his door. The one who gives food to those who seek, and especially to the brahmana seekers, is rid of all sins, even if his sins were immense. The giver of food is the giver of life, and indeed of everything else. Therefore, one who is desirous of well-being in this world and beyond should specially endeavour to give food.
=== Story of Unchavrittibrahmana ===
=== नकुलाख्यानम् ॥ Nakulakhyana ===
Mahabharata contains a beautiful story called Nakulakhyana , where Yudhishthira learns how all his dana of gold and lands, may not be worth that of a fistful of sattu (सत्तू), given by a starving Brahmin family to an unexpected guest.
At the end of Yudhisthira's asvamedhayajna — the great yajna during which mountains of grains and rivers of ghee were consumed, and kings and people from all over the world were served for days and months together —a mongoose gets up and adopting a human voice says:
At the end of Yudhisthira's asvamedhayajna — the great yajna during which mountains of grains and rivers of ghee were consumed, and kings and people from all over the world were served for days and months together —a mongoose gets up and adopting a human voice says:
"O kings of the earth, this great yajna of yours has not yet equaled the one single measure of roasted grain given away by a generous resident of Kuruksetra, who himself used to live off the left-over grains painstakingly collected from harvested fields and marketplaces."
"O kings of the earth, this great yajna of yours has not yet equaled the one single measure of roasted grain given away by a generous resident of Kuruksetra, who himself used to live off the left-over grains painstakingly collected from harvested fields and marketplaces."
And on being asked the reason for this unbelievable assertion, the mongoose begins to tell the story of the Unchavritti Brahmana (उञ्चवृत्तिब्राह्मणः) austere, but generous, brahmana of Kuruksetra.
And on being asked the reason for this unbelievable assertion, the mongoose begins to tell the story of [[Annadana by Unchavritti Brahmana (उञ्छवृत्तिब्राह्मणः)]] austere, but generous, brahmana of Kuruksetra. (Maha. Asva. 90.7)
=== Kapotadampati ===
The Mahabharata records another touching story of a host giving up his all, in fact his very life, to satisfy the hunger of the guest. The host in this other story is a bird, a pigeon, and the guest a hunter who has earlier encaged the bird-wife of the pigeon. The story is in a way a premonition of the story that the mongoose tells towards the end of Yudhisthira's asvamedhayajna: the story of the brahmana who gathers his food grain by grain, like a pigeon, and gives up what he has gathered for the sake of a guest, putting his own life and the life of his entire family in jeopardy.
The story of the self-sacrificing pigeon is told, in the apaddharma-parvan of santiparvan, to Yudhisthira by Bhisma, who says that in earlier times it was told to Mucukunda by Parasurama, when the former had sought to know the dharma of looking after one who comes to the abode seeking protection.
Such is the foundation of the Bharitya Sanatana culture. This is the difference between western culture and our eternal Sanatan culture. The reason for poverty and hunger caused by scarcity can be traced to neglecting our civilizational principles. Culture cannot sustain on a hungry stomach. Basic necessities of life and wisdom that shape our life in family life and those who are instrumental in building and sustaining our family, like women, food, and beauty should never be on sale. Anna, Veda and beauty when commodified have dangerous consequences that destroy life and wellbeing. The principles enshrined in our shastras clearly reveal the degradation of ‘modern’ lifestyles due to the disconnect with our traditional systems and kind of life.
== Annavitarana Vs Annavikrayana ==
== Annavitarana Vs Annavikrayana ==