Feed the Atithi (guest)

Meaning: As stated on the line of Athervaved  9/6 and 3/7 – O good householder men! You should first feet the ‘atithi’, the guest who comes unannounced and then eat.

Message: Atithi has been considered as the fourth great deity after the mother, the father and the Guru (i.e. the spiritual teacher). As such thieves, cheats and criminals may also pose as ‘atithi’ and ask for food, just as the demon-king Ravan cheated the venerable Sita by coming as a monk. In reality the implied meaning of the word ‘atithi is those generous souls who come to someone’s home, even if they may have to undergo hardship, for doing good and by their cooperation and grace, give benefit to the householder. In the ancient times, generous minded saints similarly used to grace householders by their visits and tried to make them happy and prosperous by their virtuous influence. It is but proper as well as necessary to welcome such excellent human being as one would welcome deities. That is why the scriptures advocate that the ‘atithi’ should be considered as a deity and to honor him properly by the injunction k=- ‘atithi devo bhava’ i.e. consider the atithi as a deity.

 Great importance is attached to five yagyas in the Veds and ‘atithi yagya’ is one of our daily duties. When a man comes to our home, who is learned in the Beds and scriptures and who has dedicated his life to the welfare of the world, then we should be hospitable to him by offering food, clothes etc. In addition if some poor, sorrowful, helpless person or orphan comes at our doorstep or meets us at some place, then we should help him in every way. That too is ‘atithi seva’ or service to the ‘atithi’

In the ancient times, the householders used to take meals only after feeding the ‘atithi’ and used to consider themselves unfortunate when they did not come across any atithi. We too should have such sentiments in our hearts. The meal fed to an atithi never goes waste. If by getting energy from our food someone works for the upliftment of the society or country or someone’s life is protected, that itself is important. An atithi should never be disappointed by us and asked to go, but it is also necessary to be cautious about wicked and bad men.

These days special hospitality is shown only to friends, guests, government servants etc because of the possibility of benefits through them. Under any excuse, whether a child’s birthday, marriage, or if someone has passed an examination people are invited with insistence and lavish arrangements made for food. Not only those but arrangements are also made for liquor and dance. Is this really atithi satkar? Is it not give and take that just because someone had invited us for a feast on his child’s birthday, then we too should go one better? Is it not pure business that by spending something on the guest, the path to earning a much larger amount is cleared? Is it not a means to get one’s work done by bribing the higher executives? We should also remember that the amount spent thus on one person’s food, liquor etc can go towards helping ten-twenty helpless persons who are really needy. This itself is real pious deed.