The Day when Food found it's Grace

Rice is our regular food that we have been eating through centuries. It represents abundance and prosperity in many traditions. It's cultivation and harvest is often done after performing many rituals.

The process of planting, nurturing and harvesting of rice is considered as a blessing and grace from the divine. The whole cultivation is hard work with great planning and timing. The time for the plantation is perfectly calculated, the perfect crop grain seeds are chosen very carefully and they are all planted together as a community celebration.

The whole process follows great discipline and yet is performed as a fun activity, everyone contributes as one with their wholesome heart. The whole journey from the plantation to harvesting nourishing grains is under the divine guidance, the nature nurtures, the human heart cherishes the crop like a family member paves water ways through which nourishment to the crops flow and when the crop gets the nourishment it grows in silence.

It is just not the human efforts are in play here, there are many helpful insects such as ants, wasps, spiders and even there are some germs and micro organisms that play an important role in the growth of Rice plants. These helpful organisms prey on harmful insects like planthoppers, leafhoppers etc., People plant nectar rich plants like Marigold, Sunflower around the Rice fields to provide food and shelter for these helpful insects to control the pests effectively and naturally.

Not just this, the Soil itself contains microbes and fungi that help converting atmospheric nitrogen into plant usable nitrogen, the soil though rich in mineral phosphorus it cannot be usable to plants, so the soil fungi converts this phosphorus into plant usable phosphorus and there are special fungi that expand near the plant roots that enable the roots to effectively uptake the usable phosphorus and other essential nutrients like Iron, these are subtle acts of nature that are not visible to anyone but they are in motion, they guide the plant to grow effectively with resistance against disease, build stress tolerance and promotes growth and yield.

After the nutrients and water start to look after the dormant seed, the slow germination process starts, there is some amount of incubation and then the metabolic process gets activated and finally the roots and shoots emerge and then it crosses multiple stages of its growth and finally the crop yields, there is flowering and now the crop takes a big breath, dances, smiles and whispers a big "Thank you!!" that makes others smile, this feeling is unexplainable, it is a sense of witnessing the divine blessing in front of the eyes, when this happens there is only gratitude that remains in the heart of the people who were continuously part of this journey.

Though, I was not part of this journey, but the divine grace positioned me in the process naturally and lead me to the shop for buying the Rice for a even more divine cause ....

I was also positioned by the same divine grace to buy Jaggery for the same divine cause .... while I waited, the process of Jaggery making passed through my mind.

The land is prepared and stem cuttings are planted at the appropriate time. The harvest is waited for many months, then fully grown stalks are harvested when the time is right. The stalks are cleansed of dirt and then the sweetness is extracted from the stalks, the impurities are filtered through filters.

However there are still impurities, lime and/or other natural clearing agents are added to the juice which help suspended particles rise as froth to the surface which are then skimmed off, when the sweetness extracted is finally pure of all impurities, it is boiled and stirred.

It finally thickens to a syrup, when the right consistency is attained, the syrup is transferred to shallow molds where they are left to cool off, a more natural process not like refined sugar.

Jaggery even after such filtration process retains nutrients like calcium and iron. The whole process just ran before my mind, the shop keeper handed me the pack of the precious Jaggery that came through the above mentioned rich process.

Now I had the responsibility of carrying that Jaggery and Rice back Home with gratitude for the God who blessed me with this precious daughter. My heart was filled with joy and the thoughts of my little daughter, the divine cause and purpose of my life..., the meaning and miracle of my life.

This was the first time we are going to feed Rice to my little kid.

My mother, the careful grand mother of my daughter carefully cooked the rice, boiled it just right, softened it perfectly... made sure it was soft enough for my little one to eat. She then made a syrup out of Jaggery and then cooled it down so it was Luke warm.

My mother and I prayed to the God to provide good health and prosperity for my little kid and bless her with all the goodness of this world. May she be surrounded and protected by God always. Let God radiate through her as always. Let the food bring in the nature's universal energy into her, nourish her and flourish her. Let God ensure her well-being always, let her positivity and optimism be guided by God and protected by all the good invisible forces of the Universe, let her illuminate the surrounding and carry goodness as always, let the grace from the God to us be preserved and protected by the same divine.

I beg to you God, to protect the precious little child that you have blessed me with, guide me in the right way to preserve this little kid and help her succeed in this world, as I am a novice who has no strength or capacity for this on my own.

Now, my mother takes my child and placed on her lap and then feeds my Child with Rice for the first time.

My mother took the one single grain of rice which was already soft and she further softened it and fed my child after sweetening it with jaggery paste, my little one tasted it and smiled in joy as if she experienced a joy that she never felt before, she wanted to taste that food more, she saw me and smiled with a sound and clapped her hands in joy and my mother slowly fed her with more grains of rice dipped in jaggery paste, my little kid was flapping her little tiny hands and legs in joy as she was enjoying the food, it appeared to me like she was trying to fly high and reach out to me from my mothers lap and also wanted me to taste the food because she felt I am just an extension of her own self.

To me every single thing I see around is my little kid. Spiritual people say it is God everywhere, to me it is my little one everywhere, she illuminates me and God shines through her for me.

I just stood by watching her play in happiness and joy, she almost wanted to stand up and dance as she was drawing dance moves in the air, my mother looked at me and smiled and said see how she is happily laughing and dancing. My mother was happy as my daughter liked the food she made for her.

She asked me to hold her, I was more happy just seeing my little one from a distance, that little tenderness I witness is enough for my entire life, I know my mother is the right person to hold her. Seeing them both smiling, my eyes and heart was filled with pure joy. I saw glitters everywhere as my little kid was joyfully playing. I have never admired stars in the sky as they never glitter like this.

There is no single day that passes by me, wondering, am I really worth this? I pray to God everyday and go begging him please make me worthy of this precious blessing. I know I am not worthy of this precious blessing, it is him who has to raise me to the level worthy enough to receive this blessing.

I am just a road side beggar, who has accidentally stumbled upon this great treasure and does not know how to preserve it. I can only quote a material thing here (.... "great treasure") , but this blessing I have got is way beyond anything that is material, to which there is no analogy in this material world.

I strive everyday to become worthy enough. Whatever I try, I will still have to be trying, this grace is beyond my reach.

But, I can intuitively understand one thing, it is through this little daughter that God has given me, he is planning to raise my standards and it is not me the parent who is going to raise this child but the other way around.

It all happened, on this Day when Food found it's grace through my daughter's joy!!!

If I had been this single grain of Rice or the single drop of Jaggery syrup, even I would have found my grace right? Because, they brought so much joy to my little daughter.

But, what can I do?? How do I serve my little kid, and find my grace? I have no skills, no money, no power, no material possession or nothing worthwhile using which I can be of service to my little kid.

All I have is an overflowing heart that just pours out and lights up when I witness my little kid's smile and joy. Is it of any worth?

Definitely, not worthy as that single grain of Rice or the single drop of Jaggery syrup!!!

I will just keep trying to become worthy enough...!!!

At this moment, I have nothing to offer to this precious child or to the God who granted me this child, all I have is just gratitude, in this material world does it have any value??!!

God, Oh My Lord Vinayaga!!, please Bless my Child and help me find my Grace.