When the Mahabharat war ended, Lord Krishna advised the Pandavas, to hold a great sacrificial feast, known as Ashvamedh yajna. Lord Krishna told them that their yajna should be considered successful only if they heard the divine bell sound from the sky at the end of it. The Pandavas invited all the holy men – rishis, munis and brahmins – from every part of the country. But at the end of the feast, the bell sound was not heard. They became very dejected when, even after Lord Krishna's partaking of the food, the bell was not heard. Then they asked Lord Krishna to tell them what had been missed. Krishna said, "Pandavas, there is a low caste holy man named Supach, who lives in the forest and remains there year after year in meditation, eating only leaves as his food when he is hungry. He should be invited to our Yajna, because it will be only after he has eaten here that the Yajna will be successful."
Pandavas thought that perhaps the poor holy man did not know that free food was being offered by them. So they sent for him through an officer. But the sage did not come. Then all the Pandavas themselves went to invite him. Still he refused. On seeing the Pandavas so downcast, Queen Draupadi prepared a number of delicious dishes with her own hands. She then went barefooted to the hermitage of Supach and appealed to him with great humility and meekness to visit her home. The sage could not refuse now and he accompanied Draupadi. When the food was served to Supach, he mixed it all together and began to eat. When Draupadi saw him doing this, she thought to herself, "Well, after all, Supach is a low caste person and cannot appreciate the delicacy of the delicious food I took such pains to prepare for him." But even when Supach had finished eating, the bell did not ring and everybody was again perplexed and dejected with disappointment.
The Pandavas turned to Lord Krishna who made them realise how the consciousness of cook and the person who serves should always be meek. He further said, "The primary reason for Supach mixing together the different dishes was not either lwack of appreciation or an attempt to improve on what Draupadi had prepared. Since the sages are absorbed in Lord's thoughts, no matter whether the food is good or bad, whether it is sweet or sour, or whether it has salt or not, they do not have to relish the taste of it, but they only meditate on how the Lord has tasted the offering." They only follow the Bhagavatam principle as in SB 11.8.2,
graasam su-mrshtam virasam / mahaantam stokam eva vaa
yadrcchayaivaapatitam / grased aajagaro 'kriyah
"Following the example of the python, one should give up material endeavors and accept for one's maintenance food that comes of its own accord, whether such food be delicious or tasteless, ample or meager."
The moment that Draupadi realized her mistake, she humbled her mind and prayed for forgiveness for her pride and egotism. At that moment the bell sound was heard. Crying aloud in her joy, Draupadi exclaimed- "O, Lord Krishna, I thank You for this lesson! Always hereafter will I be humble, for as you have just taught us, humility is the pathway to the Lord." This pastime teaches us that when we prepare the bhoga we should not feel proud that, "I am a very good cook", and thus expect appreciation from others. Also when we honour the prasadam we should respect the food and not comment on it. Srimad Bhagavatam in 11.8.21 warns us
taavaj jitendriyo na syaad / vijitaanyendriyah pumaan
na jayed rasanam yaavaj / jitam sarvam jite rase
"Although one may conquer all of the other senses, as long as the tongue is not conquered it cannot be said that one has controlled his senses. However, if one is able to control the tongue, then one is understood to be in full control of all the senses."
The Upanishad also has a few vital tips about food. For one thing, it tells us never to be critical of or to refuse food, "annam na nindyaat, tat vratam." The next time we say we don't like this item of food or that, we would do well to remember this dictum. This would perhaps include wasting food too; the next time we leave something uneaten on our plate, or force food upon our already satiated guests or children with the mistaken impression that it constitutes hospitality, we should think twice.
