THE CULTURE OF HOSPITALITY
 Is there anybody hungry? Please come to my home, my wife has prepared
a meal. We have enough to feed 20 hungry men. She has prepared the finest
rice, curry, and puris (fried bread). I will not take my meal until I
know that every man, woman, and child is fed.
Such selfless gestures of hospitality were common
in the village life of ancient India. The religious householders
of the Vedic times saw themselves
as providers for all living beings, including the animals. No
creature was allowed to go without food during the pinnacle
of Vedic civilization
in India. This is the fertile ground in which the seeds of Food
for Life’s
philosophy were sown.
THE MEANING OF HOSPITALITY
According to the Oxford Dictionary, hospitality
is "a friendly and
generous reception of guests or strangers." To be hospitable, therefore,
means to care and show respect for another being. It is a sincere
expression of appreciation, love, and humility. A person whose
heart is filled with
gratitude, magnanimity, and spirituality is naturally hospitable.
It’s important to note that hospitality is not
the same as entertaining, which is, unfortunately, the more common approach
today. When we entertain,
we put all of our effort into the event—the appearance of the home,
the rich, high-calorie/low-nutrient food and refreshments, and
seating and table settings. We judge the success or failure of the event
by such
unimportant details as whether or not the soufflé fell or the ice
ran out. In contrast, hospitality focuses on the comfort and
well being of our guests, and our desire to freely share our
home, the nutritious,
life-giving food we have prepared, and above all, us.
Some hosts put so much energy into preparations for entertaining that
they have little left for their guests. By the time the guests leave,
the host is exhausted. Hospitality, on the other hand, is physically and
spiritually refreshing and nourishing. Simply put, entertaining comes
from pride; hospitality comes from humility.
Hospitality does not distinguish based on species, race,
caste, creed, or color; these differences are meaningless from
a spiritual perspective. Rather, hospitality welcomes all with
loving warmth. By definition it should embrace the understanding
of spiritual equality of all beings.
There are numerous stories from India's ancient spiritual writings, the
Bhagavat Purana and Mahabharata, as well the more recent Bengali classic,
Sri Caitanya Caritamrita, reputed as the ultimate authority on Vaisnava
etiquette, that clearly illustrate this.
Vidya vinaya sampanne
brahmane gavi hastani
suni ce svapake ca
panditah sama darshinah
"A humble person by virtue of true knowledge sees with equal vision
a priest, a cow, an elephant, a dog, and an outcaste." -Bhagavad
gita Verse - 5.18
The self-realized or spiritually purified person does not make a distinction
between species, race, caste, creed, or color. The priest and the outcaste
may be different from the social point of view, or the dog, cow, and elephant
may be different from the point of view of species, but these bodily differences
are meaningless from the spiritual perspective or purified vision of the
self-realized person.
This spiritual perspective, or purified vision, was the foundation of
India's Vedic culture of hospitality. The first-class householders would
make sure that all hungry people in the village had been adequately fed,
before they themselves took, even if, in the following example of King
Rantideva, they hadn't eaten anything for 48 days!
For an example of profound hospitality,
see the story of King Rantideva.
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