02 Nov 2008
Hindus are spending lot of money on ritualistic functions like marriage etc., in which the major item is serving expensive varieties of food. The receivers of this food are mainly relatives and friends invited based on your blind passion for relatives and your attitude of business to friends. The donation of food is ‘Annadaanam’ and for any donation, the receiver must be an eligible person, selected not based on relationship or friendship. The eligibility is due to the spiritual knowledge and devotion of the person to God. Otherwise, you are giving food to un-deserving receivers, who may be your relatives and friends. In Mahabharata, the sage Vyasya told that donation to deserving person brings good fruits (Punyam) and donation to undeserving person brings bad results (Papam). In a marriage function, the bride and bridegroom need the blessings of deserving persons, who should be donated with good food. But, today, most of the invited lot contains undeserving people only and therefore, this brings sinful bad fruits to the couple. This is the reason why the couple after marriage, nowadays, is getting lot of problems in married life.
Donation is very dangerous like a double edged knife. Donating to undeserving persons is very big sin and not mere wastage. Today, if you see the feast of a marriage function, you will find most of the plates after feast are full of food items leftover. When you throw this food, it becomes a source for bacteria and virus, which may harm even good people in the society. Thus, the people, who have thrown the food become sinners. The owner of the feast, who gave this expensive food to them is also another sinner and will be punished by the divine law. Both doer and promoter are equally punished (Kartha karaiyitaa chaiva...). Finally the married couple is also affected. The Veda says that even a single particle of the food should not be wasted (Annamna parichakshita...). Once, in a function, people were wasting food and the beggars on the other side were searching for the food in the leaves thrown away after the feast. One devotee asked Bhagavan Shri Satya Sai Baba like this, “O Swami! What is this! In your creation I find people throwing food on one side and people searching for the thrown food on the other side”. Bhagavan Baba replied “Those beggars were also rich in the previous birth and threw the food like these rich people. They are now born as beggars and are searching for the food thrown by them in the past”. Therefore, the minimum eligibility of the receiver of food is: not to throw even an iota of food.
Format of Ceremonies of Ancient Sages
In the ancient time, sages also performed marriages and other rituals. They used to invite the sages related to them. All the sages were best eligible receivers of food etc. But today, all the relatives of the Brahmins, who were descendents of sages, are undeserving by their qualities and actions. Today, you call them since they are your relatives. Their behavior even in the worldly life (Pravrutti) is not correct according to Dharma. The real devotion to God (Nivrutti) is completely absent. When you do Annadanam to such undeserving persons, all the sins fall on you affecting the couple. In the olden days, our ancestors used to invite deserving people only by their Pravrutti and Nivrutti irrespective of relationship. They were very few in number and the feast was given to them for many days and thus, the marriage was for 5 days to 16 days. Instead of feeding 100 undeserving people in single sitting as we do today, our ancestors were feeding 5 deserving people for 20 days. In the first case, egoistic exposition of relatives exists as said by the Gita (Adhyobhijanavanasmi…). In both cases, expenses are one and the same. But, in the first case, all the sin is accumulated and in the second case all good is accumulated. In the first case, the couple is cursed and in the second case, the couple is blessed. If you do not get deserving guests for the feast, you should spend the same amount in feeding hungry beggars in the name of God. Then also, the couple is blessed. Today, the Brahmins suffer due to the heavy expenses in the function, which are not only useless but also harmful to the couple. Most of the Brahmins are poor and spend on functions by borrowing loans or selling the properties to earn the sin! They can invest the money used in the functions in the names of the couple, which will be useful for its future. Even if it is wasted, it does not matter much. But, it brings negative results and therefore, a serious analysis is required.
Aim of Marriage Function
The actual aim of the function is also lost and other unnecessary aims are linked. The real aim of the marriage function is that the priest (Acharya) called as Brahma or Vasishtha explains to the couple through the Vedic hymns, the co-operation between the husband and wife to succeed in the materialistic life, which is the basis for their spiritual effort. The main goal is the co-operation between the husband and wife in the spiritual effort to achieve the grace of God before the end of this human life. The explanation of this concept through the Vedic statements makes the ritual a class of preaching (Jnana Yajna). But, today, neither the priest nor any one there is aware of the meaning of the Vedic hymns. The priest reads the Vedic hymns like a tape recorder and nobody there is bothered about the Vedic meaning.
Since, the main goal is lost, unnecessary goals have taken over the charge of function. The unnecessary goals are: exhibition of egoistic show of the crowd, exhibition of financial status through the level of expenditure, receiving gifts for giving feast as a reciprocating business, finding faults with each other (both the parties of bride and bridegroom) etc. The parents and the couple become interested in the crowd of people surrounding them with praise and greetings, since they never had such opportunity in their life by way of some special achievement. They satisfy their psychological interest for fame by this way! They are unaware of their own weakness due to lack of self-analysis! You must do some great work for the society and the people should surround you with greetings in spontaneous way.
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