Importance of Parishéchanam

Parishéchanam Mantras are:

To begin with an invocation mantra is chanted, that is Gayathri Mantra with appropriate rituals.

Then, with uttering every mantra mentioned below,  a small portion of food is consumed:

i.                    Prāṇaya Swaha

ii.                   Apānaya Swaha

iii.                 Vyānaya Swaha

iv.                 Udānaya Swaha

v.                   Samānaya Swaha

vi.                 Brahmāneya Swaha

Finally, ending the process with a few more of rituals [sathyam thvarthéna parishinchámi (during the day) ;  rutham thvá sathyéna  parishinchámi  (during the night)].

‘Parishéchanam’  means ‘moistening’ or ‘sprinkling with water’ or ‘encircling or going round 

the food sprinkling water’.  It is considered  an oblation to the Supreme God before 

commencing eating any food. It is not ‘Pariseshanam’  which means ‘special balance of 

something'. The word ‘sesha’ here means balance. So, the difference between these two 

should be understood.

(http://www.ramanuja.org/sv/bhakti/archives/mar2000/0149.html)

The men  of Brahmin community are supposed to perform this ritual every time they 

commence eating their food. A number of them would know the rationale behind 

performing this ritual. A number of them may be doing this ritual without knowing 

its underlying rationale. A number of Brahmins do not perform either as they may 

not have faith in performing such rituals or they may not know the mantras and 

forgotton them all together. 

A number of rituals in any community has some rationale behind them. Here is an attempt 

to understand the rationale of ‘Parishéchanam’, particularly  the importance of the 

above six mantras. 

When we understand the meaning of a term and contextualise it then it will enhance our 
appreciation of doing it. Hope this would  help our understanding of their importance too.

Here, I am taking you to the Upaniśad days and more particularly to Praśna Upaniśad. The Praśna Upaniśad is found in the Atharva Veda. As all we know, the word Praśna means ‘question’. As the word implies, the teachings in this Upaniśad are based on a series of questions. We always have questions in our minds, especially about our identity. We all say ‘I’, but who is this ‘I’? The Indian idea is that you should know yourself first.  So, this Praśna Upaniśad is in the form of question and answer sessions between Shri Pippalāda, the teacher and six of his students and each one of them asking one question.

The question No.2 seeks to know about various sense organs of the body, which of them are revealing and which one is the most important. Shri Pippalāda, the teacher  explains that (according to Great Saint Sankara’s interpretation) this body is composed of five elements viz., ākāśa, space; vāyu, air; agni, fire; apa, water; and pŗthivī, earth. Then, from these elements, we get our organs of action (karmendriyas) and organs of perception (jňānendriyas). The organs of actions are : vāk , the organ of speech; pāni, the hands, pāda, the feet; pāyu, the organ of evacuation; and upastha, the organ of procreation. And the organs of perception are: śrotra or karṇa, the ear; tvak, the organ of touch; cakșuḥ, the eye; jihvā, the tongue; and ghrāṇa or nāsikā, the nose. Besides, there is Prāṇa, the life-force and so it is the principal organ. All organs of the body except Prāṇa boastfully claimed that they made the body strong and upheld it. In response, Prāṇa told these organs not to be boastful about their powers. So, Prāṇa warned them not to be in a state of delusion (Mā moham āpadyatha)  and said that ‘I alone sustain this body by dividing myself into five parts. And these are, Prāṇa, Apāna, Vyāna, Udāna, and Samāna.

Prāṇa is responsible for inhaling and exhaling;

Apāna  is responsible for elimination of food;

Vyāna pervades the nerves of the body;

Udāna maintains the heat in the body;

Samāna helps disgest and assimilate food;

(Brahmaney …is an oblation to Brahma who is believed to be living within each one of us).

Through these five functions, Prāṇa controls all our physical movements and makes our 

physical activities possible. These are interdependent and not independent. 

The other organs were not impressed by this explanation. Then Pippalāda, the teacher gives the example of a queen bee and the worker bees in a beehive.   Just like when a queen bee leaves the beehive all the worker bees also leave and when the queen bee returns to the hive, the worker bees too return to the hive, when the Prāṇa tried to leave the body and all other organs could not stay any further and so they too followed it and  when Prāṇa  returned,  so also all other organs returned to the body. After this experience all other organs accepted the supremacy of Prāṇa.

So, as we take every grain of food, we are made to remember the importance of  critical functions of these organs of our body and their interdependence  and we thank each one of them for keeping us fit and healthy. It is a sort of thanksgiving to each of these organs of the body every time we take our food so that we become humble in our way of living.   

Of course, my weird thought is as to why should this wonderful ritual be performed by only a select men of brahmins (those who have completed the thread ceremony in a formal way). It is necessary for everyone of us to be humble and be thankful to various organs of our body for keeping us healthy. Then why should it not be observed by all men and women? I do not have an answer. But I found that this ritual when performed with full understanding of its rationale would make us realise that interdependence is of greater value than independence.