Manava Dharmashastra 2.54

2.54

aśyata ityaśanaṃ bhaktasaktupūpādyucyate | tadaśanārthamānītaṃ devatārūpeṇa paśyet | 'eṣā vai paramā devatā yadannam' | tasya sarveṣāṃ bhūtānāṃ sraṣṭṛtvena sthitihetutayā ca yaddarśanaṃ sā'sya 'pūjā' | athavā prāṇāryatvena bhāvanam- 'dhyāyannama tadarthatvaṃ sampūjayati māṃ sadeti' | namaskārādinā vā praṇamya grahaṇaṃ 'pūjā' |
adyāccaitadakutsayan | kadanatayā, duḥsaṃskāropagrahaṇena vā kutsāhetusambhave nānnaṃ kutsayet | 'kimidamaśyate, arucikaraṃ, dhātuvaiṣamyajanakamityevamādinā'bhidhānena nākṣipet | yadi tu tadrūpaṃ bhavati tadā nādyānna kutsayannadyāt |
dṛṣṭvā hṛṣyet | putrasnuṣādisandarśanena cirapravāsapratyāgata iva tuṣyeta prīyeta |
prasīdecca | nimittāntarajamapi kāluṣyamannadarśanena hitvā manaḥprasādamāśrayet |
pratinandecca | samṛddhyā śaṃsanaṃ pratinandam | 'nityayuktā etena syāma' ityādaropadarśanamabhinandanam | sarvaśaḥ sarvadā| 'anyatarasyāmiti' vyavasthitavibhāṣāvijñānātsaptamyarthe śas karttavyaḥ| sarvadeti vā paṭhitavyam |

He should always worship the food and eat it without disparaging it. When he sees it, he should rejoice and peel gratified, and he should always welcome it.—(54)

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
‘Food,’ ‘aśana,’ is that which in eaten (aśyate), i.e., rice and curry, etc. When the food is brought to him, he should look upon it as a ‘deity’; i.e., he should have the notion—‘this food is my highest deity.’ (a) The ‘worshipping’ of the food may consist in regarding it as the source of the birth and sustenance of all living beings; or (b) in regarding it as the means of sustaining his life; as the food is declared to have said—‘he worships me regarding me as sustaining life’; or (c) in receiving it with due obeisance, etc.

‘He should eat it without disparaging it’;—even when there is any such source of disparagement as that the article of food is of bad quality, or it is badly cooked, he should not disparage the food; i.e., he should not make any such disparaging remarks as—‘this is most disagreeable,’ or ‘it is likely to upset the constitution of the body,’ and so forth. If the food happens to be really defective, he should simply not eat it; he should not eat it and yet find fault with it.

‘When he sees it he should rejoice’—he should rejoice just as he does when, on returning from a long journey, he sees his wife and children.

‘He should feel gratified’;—on seeing the food, he should remove from his mind even such displeasure as may have been produced by other causes.

‘He should welcome it’;—‘welcoming’ consists in acclaiming it as a boon; i.e., receiving it with honour, with such words as ‘may we have such food every day.’

‘Always,’—at all times. The affix ‘shas’ has the sense of the locative, according to the option involved in Pāṇini’s Sūtra 5. 4. 42. Or, wo may read ‘sarvadā’ (instead of ‘sarvaśaḥ’).—(54)

Pūjayet—‘worship’ (Govindarāja and Nandana.);—Medhātithi offers three explanations as to what is meant by the ‘worshipping’ of the food;—Nārāyaṇa takes it to mean that the mantra (Ṛgveda, 1. 187.1) should be addressed to it Kullūka explains it as ‘meditate upon it as sustaining life’.

The first half of the verse is quoted in Vīramitrodaya (Saṃskāra, p. 486), which explains the pūjā as standing for saṃskāra, due preparation.

It is quoted again in the Āhnika section of the same work (p. 382), where, on the strength of a statement attributed to Śātātapa, it is said that in the case of food, ‘worship’ can only mean being regarded as a deity.

The verse is quoted in Smṛtitattva (p. 433);—and in Smṛticandrikā (Saṃskāra, p. 114), which explains ‘akutsayan’ as ‘not decrying.’

Comparative notes by various authors
(Verses 54-55)
Yājñavalkya, 1. 31,—‘He should eat the food, paying due regard to it, not disparaging it.’

Baudhāyana-Dharmasūtra, 7.2.6.—‘Seated—he should eat the food, intent upon it, without disparaging the food,—not dropping it on the ground; and after earing, he should touch Fire.’

Viṣṇu-Smṛti, 67.42-43.—‘Worshipping the food, with contented mind, wearing a garland and smeared with sandal-paste.’

Baudhāyana Dhaṛmasūtra, 2.3.17.—‘[Says the Food]—He who eats me, without having made offerings to Pitṛs, Gods, dependents, guests, and to friends, eats, through foolishness, poison; and him I devour; for him I am death. He who eats me after having made the Agnihotra-ofFerings and the Vaiśvadeva-offerings and after having honoured the guests and fed his dependents,—content, clean and reverential,—for him I am nectar; he alone eats me.’

Gautama-Dharmasūtra, 7.59.—‘He should eat the food, morning and evening, after worshipping it, never disparaging it.’

Old Saying (Parāśaramādhava, p. 369).—(See under 52.)

Vṛddha-Manu (Parāśaramādhava, p. 375).—‘One should always welcome the food while eating it, with speech in check, not decrying the food.’

Mahābhārata (Āśvamedhika-Parāśaramādhava, p. 375).—‘Silent or not silent, he shall be happy while eating.’