KATHOPNISHAD CHAPTER 1 - SHLOKA -8

                                                आशाप्रतीक्षेसंगतँसूनृतां

                                                चेष्टापूर्ते पुत्रपशूँश्च सर्वान् ।

                                            एतद्वृङ्क्ते पुरुषस्याल्पमेधसो

                                             यस्यानश्नन्वसति ब्राह्मणोगृहे॥ 8
                               ASHAPRATIKSHE SANGATAM SUNRUTAM CHA

                                  ISHTA PURTE PUTRA PASHUNCHA SARVAN

                             YETAD VRUKATE PURUSHASYA ALPA MEDHASO

                              YASYA ANASANAM VASATI BRAHMYANO GRUHE -8

ALL THE HOPES AND EXPECTATIONS ABOUT CHILDREN,HAVING CATTLE, AND PIOUS GIFTS ARE DESTROYED IN CASE OF IGNORANT MAN WHEN THE GUEST HAS NOT                                                                     RECEIVED FOOD -8




       In this Shloka we are told about the ancient tradition of treating a guest. The Host or so called Gruhasthi- One who is doing regular married life  and is not Sanyasi, is suppose to behave in certain way. This is true even today. When a guest comes to our house , we ask them about their travel , offer them a seat - ASANA , then offer them water  and may be food . We do have some expectations when we do it . What we expect depends upon who he is. If he is s saint, we expect that he will bless us , or help us in spiritual activity. If he is rich  and influential we expect he will help us in out job, money, success etc.
      In past people considered having children and having more castles as the blessed life. So more cattle one had ,he was rich . So in this Shloka, we are told that when one does not take care of guest, he will have damaged the chances of having children and having more castles .
    The ASHA is hope  and PRATIKSHA is expectation. So we are told that when we do not take care of the guest,we can forget about our hopes  and expectations.
    One more thing that I would like to clear is there are guests that come when invited  and there are some who show up uninvited or expected . But irrespective of the manner in which show we have to treat them well and also welcome them.
  There are couple of stories that I will share .These are from Mahabharata. Karna who was son of SUN, was on the opposite side of Arjuna , who was the son of INDRA, in the epic war of Kurukshetra. The Karna's body was covered with a shield  which he was born with and the Indra knew that Arjuna- his son will have difficulty defeating Karna.as long as he has shield. Karna had reputation that he will not not send any guest without a gift. So when Indra came in as a guest, and asked for his shield, Karna knew that this was not ordinary guest and he was the King of Gods and father of his enemy Arjuna , he still gave him the shield knowing it fully well that that will cause his demise and defeat in war.
    The second story is that of Otter. One day the Pandawas were sitting together after doing a major Yadnya in which they had offered lots of gifts to all the Brahmins  and people. Thew were not only proud of what they had accomplished but also felt that they were the greatest in doing charity. The lord Krishna was sitting with them  and realized that they were thinking too much of them self. An otter appeared out of nowhere  and went straight to the ashes that had accumulated with the Yadnya. His one half of the body was golden color and other half was black. He rolled in the ashes  and looked at his body and stated in disappointment that there is no one greater than KAPOTI. The Pandawas were surprised  and asked him as who was this Kapoti  and how come he is greater than GREAT PANDAWAS . who have done so much charity.So the otter told them the story. There was brahmin called Kapoti and he had a wife  and a son and a daughter in law.There was drought and there was not much food . So one day Kapoti git some grains  and they cooked  and were about to start eating, a guest came in. He was hungry and so the Kapoti offered his share to him and he was still hungry and so the wife  and then the son and then the daughter  -all offered their share  and the guest was happy  and blessed them  and left . The whole family dies of hunger , but went to heaven . The Otter cam in the house  and there were small amount of gran powder lying on floor . He just rolled in it and his body that touched the grains spilled over , became golden in color. So that tiny amount of grain - which was sacrifice by hungry family was  better than any other charity and was worth GOLD.