Amrit - the Food for Divine Mortals

According to Hindu Mythology, on churning of Kshir Sagar (Ocean of Milk), Dhanvantari, the heavenly physician, God of Ayurveda, emerged with a pot containing Amrit, the heavenly nectar of immortality. A fierce fight ensued between Devas and Asuras for the nectar. To protect the nectar from Asuras, Garuda took the pot, and flew away from the battle-scene. The Devas appealed to Vishnu, who then took the form of Mohini and as a beautiful and enchanting damsel, Mohini distracted the Asuras, took the Amrit, and distributed it among the Devas, who drank it.¹

Have you tasted Amrit? Do you have the desire to become one with the Divine?

The Amrit (अमृत) that I am referring to, comes from a very different Manthan (churning). A daily Manthan of Love, Devotion, Selfless Service and above all Grace. A Manthan where everyone can participate and partake in the distribution.

In her book, Bittersweet: Thoughts on Change, Grace, and Learning the Hard Way, Shauna Niequist writes, “I think preparing food and feeding people brings nourishment not only to our bodies but to our spirits. Feeding people is a way of loving them, in the same way that feeding ourselves is a way of honoring our own createdness and fragility.”²

Our post this week is on

"Amrit – the Food for Divine Mortals".

The post below is by Mr. Rajiv Narain. Mr. Narain left his leadership position in the hospitality industry, where he headed operations for the Jaypee Palace Hotel in Agra and earlier headed operations for key hotels of the Taj Group to do “Seva” (selfless service) as the Deputy General Manager at the “Bhandar Ghar” in Dayalbagh, a community kitchen that serves both the residents of Dayalbagh and the pilgrims that make their way to Dayalbagh from far and near.

Eat Healthy,
Anurag
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Mr. Rajiv Narain writes…

Dayal Bhandar or Bhandar Ghar (Dayalbagh Community Kitchen) opened on 16th Feb 1915.

As a child, I remember sitting on the floor of our mother's kitchen at home and eating food served from the Patila (pot) along with hot Phulkas (puffed Indian bread) straight from the Tava (pan) and Sigri (stove). Food which was fresh and tasty accompanied with lots of love and affection.

This is exactly what is happening at the Bhandar Ghar. It is the Rasoi (Kitchen) which prepares lunch and dinner for the residents of the Dayalbagh colonies and for the visitors.

The raw material like wheat, rice, lentils, mustard oil, vegetables including potatoes and onions are grown and produced in the Dayalbagh fields with selfless service of the Dayalbagh Residents and Visitors and in which the Revered Leader also participates hence all the ingredients are blessed with Grace, Love and Affection.

The Bhandar Ghar operations start at 4:30 AM in the morning with a group of lady volunteers cutting vegetables and cooking starts at 6 AM by trained and experienced staff and the food is ready for dispensing at 9:30 AM sharp for about 1,000 diners normally, the number goes up to anywhere between 6,000 to 15,000 during Bhandaras (a gathering of pilgrims). As the lunch finishes the preparations for dinner starts by another group of lady volunteers and the dinner is ready by 6:30 PM sharp. Simultaneously the roti (puffed Indian bread) making happens between 6 AM and 12:30 PM in the morning and between 4:30 PM and 8 PM in the evening by a group of lady volunteers and is made manually on wood/coal fired Bhattis (furnace) and about 10-12,000 rotis are made every day.

The Bhandar Ghar has minimal number of regular staff and the major part of the operation is supported by teams of volunteers in the age group of 18 to 90 yrs. The dedication and punctuality of the elders is unmatched and exemplary.

The biggest challenge for the Bhandar Ghar management is to keep the food cost under control and as per the budget as there is an unbelievable price of Rs. 6/- meal (vegetable, dal, roti, rice) charged to each diner. The monthly expenditure is checked and audited to keep it in line with the budget.

The menu changes every day with a special menu for lunch on Sunday’s followed by khichadi for dinner, so that you are ready for a busy Monday.

The Bhattis (furnace) are lit with wood cut from the dead trees from our fields and the challenge ahead is to find an alternate fuel as dead wood is becoming scarce day by day. We also use solar energy and gasifier and are dependent on sunlight and wood respectively. Efforts are on for induction cooking as an alternate with the help of solar and steam generation.

Bhandar Ghar also boasts of its horticulture in the form of beautiful front lawns with multi-colored seasonal flowers. It also has medicinal and fruit trees like Neem, Jamun, Bel, Guava, Lemon-tree and Drumstick.

There is a continuous effort to maintain and improve hygiene in preparing and serving food by way of training and providing appropriate tools. In order to ensure food safety, water from an R.O. plant is used for all preparations.

In case of any excess food, the same is informed to the rest of the

Agra branches for pick up and leftovers are relished by Cattle at the Gaushala (Cowshed).

The day ends with utmost satisfaction if all diners are satisfied with our Seva in preparing tasty, hygienic and safe food.

Welcome to Bhandar Ghar!

Attribution:

1. Photograph of Samudra Manthan by Ram Samudrala - Own work by the original uploader, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30569352

References:

1. Samudra Manthan - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samudra_manthan
2. Shauna Niequist - Bittersweet: Thoughts on Change, Grace, and Learning the Hard Way