SVS 148 [ Bhoktha -145] (16.3)

145. OM BHOKTRE NAMA: ॐ भोक्त्रे नम:
Eagerly accepts the offerings of Devotees.

In Srimad Ramayana, Sabari, a woman born in hunter's family, eagerly awaits the arrival of Sri Rama and keeps ready fruits very carefully collected for Sri Rama to eat. We also should offer whatever we are to eat to the Lord before we consume. The Lord sees our bhava or intention and not on the eatables' quality or quantity. We have to thank Him for providing food for us and eat them as prasad. When we offer the food to Him, Who is in archa form as in temples or in our houses, the Lord is not physically eating but we show the food to Him, which is called nivedanam. That is why He is called bhokta. We should educate our children to practice the habit of offering whatever they eat to the Lord. Once Swami Desika was on tour. On the way, since there was no food with him, he offered mere water to his personal God [சாளக்கிராமம்] and drank the same as dinner for that night. He took rest on the platform [திண்ணை] in one of the houses. It was the house of a grain merchant and he heard the noise of someone handling his grains stock. He found a white horse eating the grains. He thought Swami Desika as the Horse owner and woke up Swami Desika. Realizing that it is the Lord Sri Hayagriva, he requested the merchant to offer milk. The Lord blessed Swami Desika and the merchant. This place is called Pon Vilainda Kalathur [பொன் விளைந்த களத்தூர்] near Chengalpattu.