Upanishads · Bhāvanā p39
॥
Devanāgarī
समस्तयातायातवर्ज्यं नैवेद्यम् । अवस्थात्रयाणामेकीकरणं ताम्बूलम्
Transliteration (IAST)
samastayātāyātavarjyaṃ naivedyam | avasthātrayāṇāmekīkaraṇaṃ tāmbūlam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
समस्त-यातायात-वर्ज्यं नैवेद्यम्samasta-yātāyāta-varjyaṃ naivedyamfree of all coming and going — the food
अवस्था-त्रयाणाम् एकी-करणं ताम्बूलम्avasthā-trayāṇām ekī-karaṇaṃ tāmbūlamthe union of the three states — the betel leaf
Translation
Free of all coming and going — the food; the union of the three states — the betel leaf.
Version
f4068065f2f1 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The fourteenth and fifteenth services: naivedya, the offering of food, and tāmbūla, the betel leaf given in India after eating. This order is domestic to the end: the guest has been seated, washed, dressed, adorned, fed — and betel is offered, as one might offer something after tea. Nowhere in this list is there anything that would not be done for a person.
The reinterpretation is again inward: food is that in which there is no yātāyāta, "coming and going"; betel is the union of the three states (waking, dreaming, deep sleep). It is worth saying a separate word about naivedya, however, for in Vaiṣṇava practice it is the center of the whole day, and was already discussed when reading the Kāṭharudra (17). Food that has been offered and returned is called prasāda, "grace"; and this is the very word examined when reading the Devī (21). That is, food eaten after being offered is called not "consecrated food," but grace — the same word used for forgiveness and favor.
In this custom, to my mind, the difference between the two methods is seen most clearly. Here food is explained as a state without motion; there it is given and received back, and a person eats not his own but what was given. The first can be done in the mind; the second requires that someone be there to give it, and to give it back.