People celebrate weddings with pomp, and take pride in the number of dishes served at the feast. But providing food to people in this manner cannot be counted as an act of punya. But food offered to the needy, even it is a simple fare, earns punya for the provider, said Sarala Rajagopalan in a discourse. Giving food to the hungry earns for one merits that accrue through yagas.
In the Mahabharata, there is an incident that stresses the significance of selfless giving. A mongoose, half of whose body is gold in colour, came to Yudishtra’s yaga and told him about a poor man’s generosity. The man and his family ate whatever little other residents of the town were kind enough to spare. One day, when he and his family sat down to eat, a stranger appeared and told them that he was hungry. The head of the family gave his share to the visitor. Not satisfied with this, the man asked for more. Finally, the entire food that the family had was given to the stranger. Only then did he say that he had had enough.
The stranger was none other than Lord Yama, who was impressed by the generosity of the family. The mongoose, who happened to be there, stepped on some of the food spilt by the visitor. The part of its body which touched the food turned golden in colour. The mongoose was told that if it rolled on the ground in a place where such generosity was on display, then the remaining part of its body would turn golden too. That was why it had come to Yudishtra’s yaga.
But rolling on the ground at the venue where the yaga was performed brought about no change in its body. The mongoose reasoned that this was because Yudishtra gave self-consciously. Compared to Yudishtra’s attitude, the humility of the poor family stood out in contrast.
