"Sai, you are the Universal Father,You are the Universal Mother,Kindly confer every dependant of you with all the Four aspects or goals of auspiciousness ....
Name:
Nitya Annadan
It is the much stressed principle by our holy scriptures and saints that food is Brahman (i.e. God) and offering food to the hungry is equivalent to give one his very life. Also charity of food is the one which gives contentment and hence treated as the best of all charities. It is the great privilege bestowed upon Dattaguru Bhandara Trust to undertake anna-santharpana or offering of holy prasad from Sadguru Sainath and Sri Nrisimha Saraswathy Swami Maharaj (the fifth and second avatars of Lord Dattatreya) in the form of south Indian food during noon.
The sympathy of Lord Dattatreya to His devotee-children is highlighted by the following consideration:
When a son meets his mother, coming from a far-off place
with great affection and tender care the mother serves
him with his favourite dish. Even though Gangapur is geographically
located within Karnataka, a southern state of India, the
culture prevailing there even now is that of Maharashtra,
a north Indian state. Due to this, south Indians accustomed
to rice based food are supposed to suffer. Anticipating
that south Indians would be coming in large numbers in
future, motherly Dattatreya has engaged Dattaguru Bhandara
Trust into action that without any difficulty they would
cherish tasty, fresh, timely, food of their choice, charged
with His full grace by paying nothing except devotion.
The normal menu consists of rice, vegetable, curry, sambar,
rasam, pickle and buttermilk. Not to waste even small
quantity of food, prepared out of precious contributions
from devotees, an estimate of the partaking devotees is
made. From 8:30 A.M to 10:00 A.M daily prasad coupons
are issued, based on that food is prepared.
The serving of the food for coupons is in
plates and starts by about 1:00 P.M after all the partakers
take their seats. To remind them that it is not just food
but holy prasad from Sadguru Sainath till the first round
of food is completely served, they are made to chant the
Sai tarakanama "OM SAI SRI SAI JAYA JAY SAI". As
the signal to start eating, the jaya goshams "Sacchidananda
Sadguru Sainath Maharaj Ki Jai", "Avadoota
Chintana Shri Gurudeva Datta" and "Swami Maharaj
Ki Jai"are loudly uttered.
An additional form of annadan called "Madhukari", in accordance
with the tradition of Gangapur is also practiced. Sri
Nrisimha Saraswathy Swami had given an assurance to His
devotees that He would visit Gangapur everyday for collecting
biksha. With this belief, in so many places in Gangapur,
after the noon arati at the Dattapaduka mandir is over
single item food will be served which devotees stand in
queue and receive. At Dattaguru Bhandara Trust also this
is done after noon arati. Except on Ekadashi days items
like pongal, masala bath, vegetable bath are being served.
So many sadhus, sadhakas and Lord Dattatreya in disguise
give great value to this Madhukari and satisfy themselves
with that.
See God in all beings is the principle preached by Sadguru
Sainath. As its practical application even other forms
of living beings are satisfied with food. After noon arati
some quantity of food is offered at a particular spot
for birds. Another quantity is mixed in the Bheema Amaraja
river to feed aquatic creatures in it. Even to offer God
immediately after arati a portion is offered to the holy
Dhuni treating fire as His representative.
It is to be noted that this anna-santharpana is common to all irrespective of their caste, creed etc.
On normal days issue of coupons is limited to 100 devotees. On festival days like Gurupoornima, Datta Jayanti, Maga Poornima (five days jathara), Karthik Poornima this is extended to thousands.
