Pariseshanam..........customs & Practice......

Pariseshanam..........customs & Practice......

The meaning and reason of the custom and practice of our performing Pariseshanam (meals-time-custom) before touching the food on the banana leaf before us. The practice is three steps or can be divided into three sections:

1. Aabhojanam.......After sitting for meals, you will be served with rice and ghee, as per your Sampradaya. Now take very small qty of water in your right hand and chant “Om Bhoorbhuvasuva”: and circle the banana(Vazhailai) leaf. Then take small qty of water and chant “Sathyam Thwerthena Parichinchaami” (in day) and “Rutham Dhwasathyena Parichinchaami”(in night). Circulate the Ilai(Platain leave)with this water. Then take small qty of water(Perumal Theertham) and with your left hand, slightly lift the meal-plate and take in the PerumalTheertham. You must chant the manthra Amruthopastharanamasi.

Explanation: First a prayer to the food 'Asmakam nityam astu Etat' : (Let the food be available to me and thus be available to 'The five pranas').

'Sathyam Thwerthena Parichinchaami' ...... Here the food is addressed as 'Satyam'. "Satya" means that which is real or true. I encircle food with 'rutham'. The meaning of 'rutham' as righteousness."Rta" is a notion of the Divine Law or moral principle. 'Satyam' and 'rutham' are often used in Vedas.

In the night the address is reversed as 'Rutham Dhwasathyena Parichinchaami'

'Amruta upastaranam asi' : 'Be a 'lining' to the amrutam (i.e. the food)'.

2. Praanahuthi: the offering to the vital breaths......

Then using your thumb, middle and ring fingers, take ghee-mixed rice and swallow it without hitting over the teeth. This process has to be repeated six times, each time accompanied by a manthra as given below:(Prefix each mantram with Aum and suffix each mantram with Namaha:)

The next step is the part of greater philosophical significance. Recall that in the Vedic tradition, every act eventually becomes an act of worship, an act of recognition of the pervasiveness of the Supreme Brahman and Its power.

When we eat, we nourish our bodies. Food is therefore essential for bodily sustenance. Within our body is the "ana" or vital breath. The "ana" has five activities or 'pranas'.

The five pranas represent the various bodily functions that are critical for survival. They are considered a manifestation of the power of the Supreme in the bodily plane.

The vital breaths or 'pranas' are five in number. The latter four are derived from the first. They are:

prana -- the principal breath.

apana -- responsible for excretory activity.

samana -- responsible for digestive activity.

vyana -- responsible for circulatory activity.

udana -- respiratory activity

This act of thanksgiving to God who through these bodily functions sustains life is done by saying the following mantras, and eating a little bit of rice and ney (ghee) without chewing it (because, after all, the food is an offering, not meant for personal consumption):

Om pranaaya swaha.

Om apanaya swaha.

Om vyanaya swaha.

Om udanaya swaha.

Om samanaya swaha.

Om brahmani ma Atma amrtatvaya

Reason:...... When there was no tiled or cemented floors were in olden days, the parisheshanam prevented ants and other insects to come on to your leaf on which food was served.

The last line means, "May my self be united in Brahman (the Supreme), so that I may attain immortality."

Then catch hold of the meal-plate with your right hand, cleanse up in your left hand with Theertham served by someone else.

3. Utharaabhojanam: After finishing the meals, as before, take small amount of water(either by self or served by others) and chant the manthra Amruthopithanamasi.This concludes the custom of Parisheshanam.

'Amruta abhidanam asi' means Be a 'lid or cover' to the amrutam.

Eating, then, is a profound act of worship which sustains the body so that we may further worship Brahman. There is also an implication that the swallowing of tasty food symbolizes the oblation of the individual self to God, so that God may, in a sense "eat" and "enjoy" us. Dress for food is water (Pramana from Upanishads)

Before and after eating the meal, water is sipped, once again with a mantra. The rishis of yore found this aspect of the ritual so important that they mention it in both of the largest Upanishads, the Brhadaranyaka and the Chhandogya, in virtually identical terms:

J.KANNAN, M.Com, FIATA

"WE DON'T THINK TO BREATHE

 WE BREATHE TO THINK"