Story from Mahabharat
Sadhu (Saint) who is invited by the king to stay overnight, Sadhu does not stay in anybody’s house, but the king pleaded Sadhu to come & stay. Sadhu came to Palace and ate the food, slept in the palace and there was a necklace which was hung in the room, and Sadhu being the monk felts robing the necklace, now the monk was confused, I never robbed in my life, why I am getting thoughts to rob the necklace ? But he was justifying his thoughts by saying, the king is so rich, by taking one necklace will not affect the king, anyway he may give more than the necklace, finally he took the necklace and next day went away justifying the king is not going to become poorer if he take the necklace.
He went to his Ashram and did is prayers etc, something is haunting him, “why did I robed ?” Even though I justified, no this is wrong, he came back to the king, touched his feet, said – sorry this happened I am returning back this necklace. And the king was saying ‘you are joking, What a necklace, I would have given you boxes of Rubies and diamonds. Sadhu says, I have done by job and gave the necklace and go away.
Now the king realise why does he done that? He called the cook and asked what type of food have you served that night to Sadhu ? he said ‘the best of food I served, Basmati Rice, where did you get the rice ? He said I have not robed the rice, I went to a shop to buy the rice, as I went to shop there was robber carrying rice bag in the back, the solders attacked him, the robber dropped the rice bag and disappeared. I took the rice bag because anything is of our Kingdom’s only, and cooked the food out of the rice. Now the king realised ‘ why did the Sadu get thoughts of robing . because the vibration of the robing was filled in that rice.
If we keep on eating hotel foods, we also become very commercial/money minded, because hotel people give you the food to make money out of that.
Then what should we do before eating ? Chant the following mantra :
ब्रह्मार्पणंब्रह्महविर्ब्रह्माग्नौब्रह्मणाहुतम्।
ब्रह्मैवतेनगन्तव्यंब्रह्मकर्मसमाधिना।।
अहंवैश्वानरोभूत्वाप्राणिनांदेहमाश्रितः।
प्राणापानसमायुक्तःपचाम्यन्नंचतुर्विधं।।
We should partake food with a sathvic mind. Our ancestors recommended the offering of food to God before partaking. Food so partaken becomes prasad. Prayer cleanses the food of the three impurities,
1) caused by the absence of cleanliness of the vessel
2) cleanliness of the food stuff, and
3) cleanliness in the process of cooking.
It is necessary to get rid of these three impurities to purify the food, for pure food goes into the making of a pure mind. It is not possible to ensure the purity of the cooking process because we do not know what thoughts rage in the mind of the man who prepares the food. Similarly, we cannot ensure the cleanliness of the food ingredients because we do not know whether it was acquired in a righteous way by the person who sold it to us. Hence, it is essential on our part to offer food to God in the form of prayer so that these three impurities do not afflict our mind.