O! Brahmin Priests rise: Part-4

[dattaswami]

O! Brahmin Priests rise: Part-4
The main aim of the marriage function is only to understand the meanings of mantras recited there. The essence of these rituals is to attain the grace of God by praising Him, for mutual help of wife and husband for success in dharma, ardha and kama in Grihastha asharma, followed by attaining Moksha in Vanaprastha ashrama. These praises of God form the mantras recited during the marriage ceremony. But, because the priest does not know the meanings of the mantras, he does not convey the meanings to the couple and the gathering there. So, the main effort to achieve the grace of God has already lost its due importance. Unnecessary other issues have taken its place. These are celebrations, gifts business, criticizing each other, harsh criticisms, which induce fear in the heart of parents of bride etc. By this way, the whole marriage function and its intent is destroyed.

 The root cause of this total collapse is the priest, who does not know the meanings because of simple by-hearting and so does not explain the meanings to couple and the gathering there, to attract their attention towards God. In the case of other religions, the scriptures are in their mother-tongue and so such pathetic state does not arise in their ceremonies. Even in Hinduism, during the time of the ancient sages, they used to understand Sanskrit verses uttered during the ceremonies without any explanation and so this condition did not prevail. But, today, even the priests do not know the Sanskrit and so cannot explain the meanings, which lead to bad traditions. For example, the priest (bhokta) coming, for performing the father’s or fore-father’s (who passed away) annual ceremony, recites Anna Sukta but because he has not understood its meaning, he throws away lot of food in his plate.

 At the start of taking food itself, the host says ‘please keep whatever is liked by you and remove the food, which is not liked by you’ (Yat rochate …). Nobody understands its meaning as it is in Sanskrit language. According to this verse, the bhokta has to keep the unwanted food in a separate plate before the start of tasting the food. After the completion of food by the priest, the host asks the priest ‘what is to be done with this food, which is kept in a separate plate?’ (Anna sheshah kim kriyatam …). Then the bhokta says, since this food is not tasted, you can eat it along with whom you like (Ishtaih saha bhujyatam …). Since the tasted food cannot be taken by others (Yaduchchista mabhojyam …) and since the food cannot be thrown (Annam Na Parichaksheeta …), this type of arrangement is made. Since the meaning of the Veda is not known and it is not discussed, it lead to misinterpretations and twisted meanings.

 When it is said that you remove the unwanted food in a separate plate, the priests misinterpreted it as ‘eat as much as you like and throw the remaining’. Now, the separate plate is also used for throwing the food. It is further misinterpreted that such throwing of food indicates the complete satisfaction of the bhokta. The left over (which is placed in a separate plate) itself is misinterpreted as the food left over in the kitchen. The food left over in the kitchen any way will be served to all including the host. So, this does not require the permission of bhokta to serve it to others. All these misinterpretations are violating the Veda, which strictly says not to waste a single of morsel of food. Any counter argument against the Veda is invalid (Shruti smruti virodhetu …)! Above all, as per yoga shastra, food is to be taken half the capacity of stomach! They do not know the meanings on their own nor do they listen to others because of egoism and so demonic nature resulted. God is always punishing the demons.

 If the ignorant general public does mistake, they may be excused but not the gurus, who have to guide the common people in the right direction. Because of this, the priests are suffering from poverty. Due to their throwing of the food, which represents Goddess Annapurna and Dhanya Lakshmi, these priests have fallen to a stage where they are daily searching for the same food.