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| Sunday, 24 October 2004 |
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Hunger - the worst affliction Poya Meditation by Sumana Saparamadu Digachcha paramah rogah - hunger is the greatest affliction. This line from the Dhammapada is not well-known like the often quoted "arogya paramah labhah" health is the greatest wealth. Both are from the Sukha Vagga, and are the first lines of two consecutive verses.
It was the Buddha's practice to survey the world early morning with his 'dibba chakku' - the divine eye which is the faculty of seeing mentally what is happening or what exists out of sight. Once, while staying at Savatthi, as he surveyed the world with his dibba chakkhu', he saw a poor farmer in the town of Alavi who was ripe for arahatship. So he made the 30 yojana journey to Alavi with some bhikkhus. The farmer heard that the Buddha had come to Alavi and longed to hear him preach, but his ox had strayed away and he had first to find the animal. It took a long while to find the ox and when he did find him, it was quite late. So he went straight away with out wasting time to get some food, even though he had had nothing all day. Meanwhile, the Buddha and his retinue of bhikkhus had been served a meal by the townsfolk, but the Buddha did not start his 'anumodana' or blessings as is customary. The Buddha was waiting for the farmer. When the farmer come and joined the crowd, the Buddha asked whether there was any food at hand, and requested that the farmer who had just arrived, be given something to eat. The Dhammapada commentary remarks, "with this single exception, there is no other instance on record in the whole Tripitaka of the Thathagatha inquiring in this way about food." It was only after the poor man had eaten that the Buddha began preaching, and at the end of the sermon the farmer became a "Sotapanna", - took the first step to arahatship. After the sermon, the bhikkhus started murmuring. Some were surprised by what had happened, others were disapproving. Over hearing them the Buddha told them," I came 30 yojana through the wilderness, solely for this farmer's sake, because I saw that he had the faculties for arahatship. When he came here he was exhausted through excessive hunger, having wondered looking for his ox. Hungry as he was, he would not have been able to comprehend the Dhamma. That is why I did this. Bhikkhus, hunger is the worse affliction. It has now been proved that the brain cannot function when the stomach is empty. Doctors and nutritionists say breakfast is the most important meal of the day. A doctor M. Vijayarani writing on Exam Fever to the Hindu (13.3.04) says "Good memory depends on a good brain. The brain needs oxygen, glucose, calcium, phosphorous and iron...Don't forget that breakfast is the brain food." How many children in Sri Lanka come to school without breakfast? In her biography Those Phoenix Days, Dr. Wimala de Silva, former Chancellor of the University of Sri Jayawardanapura and founder principal of Devi Balika Vidyalaya, recalls how she became acutely aware of this problem at one of the schools she was principal of. "When I first joined Princess I saw at every morning assembly two or three girls collapsing in a faint. When I inquired into this victorian habit, I was told that many girls came to school without breakfast. Moreover, with free education there were many girls from homes which could not afford to give their children anything more than a "kahata tey (tea without milk) and a little sugar to the palm." So, she started a canteen and this, she says, was the most satisfying thing she did during her short spell at Princess of Wales, Moratuwa. That was in 1967-68. On Universal Children's Day, NGOs and social service clubs of schools, treat children in 'Homes' to tea or lunch. It is the same in Homes for Elders on Elders' Day. At Christmas there are numerous parties for Children in Homes. Big hotels entertain them to cakes and ice-cream and shower gifts. These children and the elders in Homes are not hungry. True their food is bland, insipid and there is a sameness in the menu. But they get three meals a day, so they don't have to go to bed on an empty stomach, or the children to school, gulping a slice of bread dipped in 'kahata tey' and washing it down with the same 'kahata tey'. Children who go to school without breakfast or to bed on an empty stomach are children of broken homes, of homes where the father is unemployed, or when employed comes home drunk and dashes the pot of rice because of some real or imagined grievance. Instead of gorging children in Homes, if the social service clubs in schools, neighbourhood associations and NGOs could organise something on the lines of what the Kirulapone Police did some months ago, as reported in the Silumina, (4.4.04) it would help combat even to a small degree the worst disease plaguing our society. The Police found that the majority of students of Bhadravathy Vidyalaya, located next to the zonal office of the Education department, come from homes of drug addicts, thugs of Kirulapone, of alcoholics and one parent homes. Children fainted at assembly as at Princess in Moratuwa, and it was revealed that these children had only a slice of bread soaked in plain tea for breakfast. The OIC told reporter Keerthi Mendis, "If, we don't give them a helping hand they too would end up in Kirulapone's underworld. Before giving them books and shoes we wanted to give them something for their stomachs. We knew that they cannot develop mentally when their stomachs are empty. So the staff of Kirulapone police station decided to give the children a glass of Kola Kenda on Thursdays, at their expense. The OIC contacted businessmen in the area and persuaded them to contribute something one day of the week, like the glass of milk that Nalaka Tyre Works gives on Mondays. Others in the project are Milinda Foundation (Wednesday) and Plenty Foods Co., (Friday). Rotary's contribution is on Tuesday. The Kirulapone Police saw and responded to a need. If other Police Stations would do the same! It is not surprising that Kirulapone was voted the best Police Station (was it in Colombo city or in the Colombo district?) If the local viharadhipathi, following the example of the Kirulapone Police takes the initiative to ease the problems of hunger and malnutrition in 'deprived areas', (Viharas have mushroomed on canal banks and shanty towns), it would be far more meritorious than building belfries and 'ran vetas' round Bodhi trees. Not children alone are hungry. Many pensioners and the old often do not have enough to eat and go to bed hungry. They live out their old age with no fixed income or charity allowance. |
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The occasion for the Buddha's making this observation, as told in the
Dhammapada Attakatha, the commentary to the Dhamma Pada is as follows:
