Talk:Anecdotes on Serving Guests

By Vishal Agarwal

Below are some instructive episodes that illustrate the principle of serving our guests from the Hindu Dharm.

Respecting Everyone and Helping Out King Yudhiṣṭhira organized a ceremony to crown himself as the Emperor of India. Invitations were sent to all the kings of India to attend the ceremony and they were asked to come with presents for Yudhiṣṭhira. Lord Kṛṣṇa, who was the king of faraway Dvārakā in western India, also came. Everyone wanted to help in organizing the grand function. Lord Kṛṣṇa also requested that he too should be given some tasks to complete. However, as He had come from a long distance and was the last one to arrive, the only duty that He could get was cleaning the kitchen after the feast was over. Everyone requested Lord Kṛṣṇa not to worry about doing this “dirty job.” They said that servants could take care of cleaning the kitchen. However, Lord Kṛṣṇa insisted that He too wanted to help and would be pleased to do this job.

All the guests had to select a chief guest among them. Everyone thought that Lord Kṛṣṇa was the greatest of all those who were in the function. Therefore, he was appointed as the chief guest for the entire ceremony. The ṛṣis decided that the yajña would be deemed completed successfully if the Pāñcajanya conch shell belonging to Arjuna would sound on its own at the conclusion of the ceremonies. When that did not happen, the Pāṇḍava brothers were disappointed. They started investigating the cause of why the yajña was unsuccessful. They learned that a śūdra citizen of their kingdom had not attended the yajña, and had stayed in his home because he had not been invited respectfully.

Kṛṣṇa addressed the Pāṇḍavas and said, “All human beings deserve to be treated with respect. No one should be insulted due to his social status.” Therefore, the Pāṇḍava brothers and Draupadī went personally to the śūdra’s home and invited him with great respect to attend the venue of the yajña. As soon as the śūdra entered the yajña venue, the conch shell started blaring loudly, indicating that the yajña had concluded successfully.

After the program was over and Yudhiṣṭhira had been crowned as the Indian emperor, everyone decided to take some rest. However, Lord Kṛṣṇa, the chief guest, was nowhere to be found. When people went out to look for him, they found Him in the main hall, where He was picking up dirty dishes and carrying them to the kitchen for cleaning. Everyone was very moved to see how Lord Kṛṣṇa kept His word. Even though Kṛṣṇa was the chief guest and is the greatest of all, He performed His duty very humbly. Most people would have thought that picking dirty dishes and cleaning them was a lowly task that only humble servants should perform. But Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa clearly thought the opposite. He showed the way to be an ideal host as well as an ideal guest.

Vidura’s Humble Food Offering to the Lord In the Mahābhārata, Kṛṣṇa takes a peace proposal from the Pāṇḍavas to the Kauravas and tries to convince the latter to be fair to the Pāṇḍavas. When the Kauravas heard that Kṛṣṇa was coming to Hastināpura, they sent a message to Him requesting Him to stay in their palace. They also invited Him to eat his lunch and dinner cooked in their royal kitchen. The Kauravas thought that since they were powerful and rich, Kṛṣṇa might get impressed by their royalty and power. He might then agree to a deal that benefitted only the Kauravas and gave nothing to the Pāṇḍavas.

But Kṛṣṇa told the Kauravas: “We should eat food at someone else’s place only when we are in trouble or when they call us with love or respect. I am not in trouble, and you do not love me or respect me. So I cannot come.”

When Kṛṣṇa arrived at Hastināpura, He first went to see His aunt and the mother of the Pāṇḍavas, Queen Kuntī, who loved and respected Kṛṣṇa a lot. Then, He went to the home of Vidura, the step-uncle of both the Kauravas and Pāṇḍavas. Vidura was the son of a maidservant and lived humbly, eating very simple food comprised of fruit and vegetables. But he was famous for being wise and knowledgeable, and was very fair and honest. Kṛṣṇa requested Vidura for food and ate whatever simple meal—gourd and spinach—that he was offered.

This story shows that we ought to choose our hosts not on the basis of their fame or opulence but depending on whether they have love and respect for us or not.

Guru Nānak Serves his own Disciple Towards the last years of his life, Guru Nānak settled down in a place called Kartāpur (today in Pakistan, across the Ravi river from the border of the Gurdaspur district in India), where a devotee gave him and his disciples some land. Guru Nānak tilled and cultivated his own plot because he believed in earning his bread through his own labor, even though he headed a religious community.

Lehnā from Khādur, a small village close to the city of Amritsar, had once heard some verses of Guru Nānak being recited. He was very impressed and moved by the profundity of the hymns. Desiring to have a darśana of Guru Nānak, he arrived at Kartāpur. While searching for Guru Nānak, he encountered an elderly man working in a field. Approaching the latter, Lehnā asked him if he knew the whereabouts of Guru Nānak. The farmer replied, “Let me finish my work in this mustard field, and I will take you there myself.”

Lehnā asked the farmer, “Do you know if he meets visitors who are strangers? What does he look like? Does he live quite far from here?” The farmer smiled and responded to all the questions. When the farmer finished his work, he asked Lehnā to mount his horse as he must have been tired walking a long distance from Khādur. Then, the farmer pulled the horse gently by its reins and walked them to the house of Guru Nānak.

Lehnā entered the house and was ushered into the room of Guru Nānak by his disciples gathered outside. When he entered the room, he was shocked to see that the farmer who had led him to the house now sat on the Guru’s seat! Lehnā felt very bad and he apologized to the Guru: “Gurudev, I did not realize that it was you doing the farming work in the field. I should not have let you walk while I myself came here on your horse.”

Guru Nānak smiled and said, “You do not have to feel sorry for anything. You are my guest, and it was my duty to take care of you.”

Lehnā had tears in his eyes and asked for forgiveness multiple times. He asked the Guru for permission to stay with him, so that he could serve him. Guru Nānak could see that Lehnā had the spark of spirituality in him, and so he obliged. After a few years, Lehnā succeeded Guru Nānak as Guru Angad, the second spiritual head of the nascent Sikh community.