अहं वैश्वानरो भूत्वा प्राणिनां देहमाश्रित: |
प्राणापानसमायुक्त: पचाम्यन्नं चतुर्विधम् || 14||
ahaṁ vaiśhvānaro bhūtvā prāṇināṁ deham āśhritaḥ
prāṇāpāna-samāyuktaḥ pachāmy annaṁ chatur-vidham
aham—I; vaiśhvānaraḥ—fire of digestion; bhūtvā—becoming; prāṇinām—of all living beings; deham—the body; āśhritaḥ—situated; prāṇa-apāna—outgoing and incoming breath; samāyuktaḥ—keeping in balance; pachāmi—I digest; annam—foods; chatuḥ-vidham—the four kinds
Translation:
As the fire Vaishvānara I enter into the bodies of all living creatures, and mingling with the upward and downward breaths, I digest the four kinds of food.
Commentary:
In the previous verse, the Lord said that He produces the food by his energy (sakti) and that He is the supporter and nourisher of all beings. Not only does the Lord produce food, He is also the digestive energy in all living beings. The body is built by food, and the food eaten should be properly digested before it turns into blood and vital energy. The digestive Fire (Jatharagni) is the Lord Himself in the form of vaisvanara. So the Lord is the Creator as well as the nourisher of the body. In this way, man is wholly the product of the Lord and all the energy which he possesses comes to him from the Lord. He who eats the food without offering to the Lord is a thief, misappropriating to himself what is not really his (yo bhunkte stena eva saha 3.12). That is why there is the sadachara in the world of offering food to God as naivedyam before eating. What is eaten without such an offering is impure food. So everyone should offer his food first to God, and then a part of it to other hungry beings, and eat only the rest of it with Godly feelings. Then the very act of eating would become a yajna, and the food taken becomes nectar (Amritam).
Praninam deham asritah: The Lord is in the body, very near, nay, nearest to him. Realising His presence with him one should live a pure, blissful and blessed life.
Pachamyannam chaturvidham: The four-fold food (1) Bhakshyam-Food which has been eaten by mastication, (2) Bhojyam -Soft food which has to be sucked in, (3) Lehyam -that which has to be licked. (4) Choshyam -that which has to be swallowed.
One can imagine how cautious he should be when he knows that the Lord is Himself the eater and the digester of food. Regulation of food habits is a necessary prerequisite of spiritual life. The body is the instrument of yoga sadhana, and food builds the body and sustains it. So everyone should practice restraint and moderation in this matter. The following principles should be observed (1) He should not eat too much (2) Sattivic food alone should be taken, Rajasic and Tamasic food should be avoided (vide 17-8, 9, 10 verses for a definition of the Sattvic, rajasic and tamasic, types of food). (3) The food taken should first be offered to the Lord. (4) The food should be earned by righteous means.
It is certainly better to live on roots and leaves obtained by righteous means than on luxurious dishes got by cheating, stealth and other unrighteous (adharmic) ways. The Lord is observing from within every morsel that one eats. The law of moderation has already been enunciated by the Lord (Yuktaharaviharasya 6.17).
As the Chapter deals with food it has become sadachara to recite it collectively or separately at the time of eating. In Asramas, Matts and houses, this practice is followed by most people. Food eaten in this spirit is a real offering to the Lord. He accepts it. Besides, such food permeates every particle of the body with divine purity and energy. Generally after reciting this Discourse, the wise take water in their palm, repeat the 24th verse in the IV Chapter (Brahmarpanam brahmahavir) sprinkle the water on the food, and then start eating. This is Brahma Karma Samadhi.
Sri Ramakrishna Says —
Kedar sang several other songs. After the music the Master again talked to the devotees. Nandalal, Keshab’s nephew, was also present with a few Brahmo friends. They were sitting near the Master.
MASTER (to Vijay and the other devotees): “A man brought a bottle of consecrated wine for me; but I couldn’t even touch it.”
VIJAY: “Ah!”
MASTER: “I become intoxicated at the mere thought of God. I don’t have to take any wine. I feel drunk at the very sight of the charanamrita.5 I feel as if I had drunk five bottles of liquor. When a person attains such a state he cannot help discriminating about food.”
NARENDRA: “As regards food, one should take whatever comes.”
MASTER: “What you say applies only to a particular state of the aspirant’s mind. No food can harm a jnani. According to the Gita, the jnani himself does not eat; his eating is an offering to the Kundalini. But that does not apply to a bhakta. The present state of my mind is such that I cannot eat any food unless it is first offered to God by a brahmin priest. Formerly my state of mind was such that I would enjoy inhaling the smell of burning corpses, carried by the wind from the other side of the Ganges. It tasted very sweet to me. But nowadays I cannot eat food touched by anybody and everybody. No, I cannot. But once in a while I do. One day I was taken to see a performance of a play at Keshab’s house. They gave me luchi and curries to eat. I didn’t know whether the food was handed to me by a washerman or a barber; but I ate quite a little. (All laugh.) Rakhal had asked me to eat. (To Narendra) “With you it is all right. You are in ‘this’ as well as in ‘that’.6 You can eat everything now. (To the devotees) Blessed is he who feels longing for God, though he eats pork. But shame on him whose mind dwells on ‘woman and gold’, though he eats the purest food — boiled vegetables, rice, and ghee. (Source: Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna)
Swami Abhedananda Recalled —
One day Golap-ma said to the Master: “Dr. Durga Charan of Calcutta is a reputable physician. Perhaps he can find some remedy for you.” Immediately the Master agreed to visit him. That night I stayed at Dakshineswar. Latu and Golap-ma were also there. The next morning the Master, Golap-ma, Latu, and I went to Calcutta by boat. After landing there, we rented a horse carriage and went to the doctor’s office at Beadon Square. Out of his mercy the Master asked me to sit next to him, and Golap-ma and Latu sat on the opposite seat.
The doctor examined the Master’s throat and prescribed some medications. Then we went to the Ahiritola ghat and rented a boat for Dakshineswar. It was about 1:30 p.m. and none of us had had any food. The Master was hungry. He asked the boatman to anchor the boat at the Baranagore ghat and then asked me to buy some sweets from a nearby market. Golap-ma had four pice with her which she gave me. I immediately went to the market and bought some chanar murki [small, sweet cheese balls]. The Master took the packet of sweets from my hand and joyfully ate them all. He then threw the empty packet into the Ganges and drank some water from the river with his hands. He showed his satisfaction. The Master knew that the three of us were hungry, but without sharing any sweets he had eaten everything. It was amazing! As soon as his hunger was relieved, our own stomachs felt full. We looked at each other silently. Then the Master smiled and like a boy began to make jokes — which he continued all the way to Dakshineswar. We all got out of the boat, and later the three of us discussed what had happened and realized that it was a miracle.
A similar event occurred when Krishna was alive and enacted his divine play. When the five Pandavas and their wife Draupadi were living in the forest during their exile, the sage Durvasa went to their cottage with his twelve hundred disciples and asked for food. According to the custom guests had to be fed, for otherwise it would be very inauspicious. Durvasa and his disciples went to the river for a bath, and while they were gone, the helpless Draupadi called on Krishna to come to the rescue. Krishna came and asked Draupadi for some food. There was nothing but a few particles of rice and a little spinach at the bottom of a cooking vessel. Krishna ate this and drank a glass of water and by doing so, filled the stomachs of Durvasa and his disciples. So it is said, “If God is pleased the whole world becomes pleased.” That day I realized this truth by observing Sri Ramakrishna’s life. (Source: God Lived with Them)
One day I was extremely hungry, and the Master, as if aware of the fact, quickly took two sweetmeats from the shelf in his room. I thought he knew I was hungry and was going to give them to me, but he did just the opposite. He took them himself. He then asked me to give him a glass of water, which he drank. Then, with evident signs of satiety, he said: “Oh, how relieved I am! I am satisfied.” And strange to say, his satisfaction removed my hunger and thirst. I was reminded of the story in the Mahabharata of how Sri Krishna took a particle of spinach from the cooking pot of Draupadi and appeased the hunger of the sage Durvasa and his party. The same phenomenon revealed itself to me on that day.
— Vaikuntha Nath Sanyal (Source: Ramakrishna as We Saw Him)
Question: How does the Lord dwell in the body?
Answer: In the form of Vaisvarana (Jatharagni).
Question: What does He do in that form?
Answer: He digests the food, associated with the vital forces of Prana and Apana.
Question: What then should men do?
Answer: They should think of the Lord, offer the food to Him, and afterward eat with pure and holy thoughts.
Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 15 
(20 Verses)
