sprinkling some water around our food before we eat is not an empty ritual

 

We talk of tamasic food affecting us and draining off our spiritual potential. Ordinary seekers like us might face such depletion of strength.

However, take the case of sage Agastya who ate the demon Vataapi whom his brother Bilva or Bilvala cooked as curry gave the flesh a dish to the sage.

Bilva was expecting the brother to tear off the stomach of the sage Agastya and come back.

Nevertheless, vatapi just burnt to ashes in the agni in the jatara of the sage.

Moreover, the incident did not affect the sage in any way whatsoever.

You know we sprinkle the food we eat with water consecrated by Gayatri and then invoke the Lord Savita, Satyam, and riram in the forenoon, ritam, and Satyam in the evening and give a coat of amrutham to the food as we start eating.

Finally, we give coat of amrutham at the conclusion of consuming food.

In addition, we treat our body as the yajna fire and offer the food as aahuti or oblation to prana, Apana, vyana, udhana, samaana.-the five pranas- and Brahma himself.

Moreover, we treat the food we eat as partaken by the Supreme Being himself and thus granting immortality to us.

This our human body is the seat of God himself.

If we realize that then no soiled or putrid food can ever contaminate us.

Just sprinkling some water around our food before we eat is not an empty ritual