[Advaita-l] Naivedya question

[Venkata sriram P]

Namaste,
 
//
 
the pre-tasting of the fruits 
 
//
 
Yes.  I have also seen this in purANa.  
 
The jnAnapeeTa award winner in telugu literature and great poet *kavisAmrAT vishwanAtha satyanArAyaNa* explained this as below:
 
When the bhakta prepares the naivEdya or collects the fruits for His beloved lord, he tries to collect the best of those items by deciding himself / herself that this would be the best for his Lord and Lord would like it.  In the similar way, while preparing the naivEdya, the bhakta takes extreme care in preparation and sees that it comes out delicious for his Lord. 
 
So, in the process of collection of fruits / preparation of naivEdya, the *prathama rasa AswAdana* is done by the bhakta only.  This *prathama-rasAswAdana* has been poetically depicted as *ucchiSTa*.  
 
But Valmiki in rAmAyaNa and vyAsa in AdhyAtma rAmAyaNa never mentioned this as they know that rAmachandra was maryAda purshOttama and would always follow the dharma mArga (rAmO vigrahavAn dharmaH).  Accepting ucchiSTa is a dosha for a person who studied vedas and shAstras.  The avatara of rAmachandra is to re-establish the satya and dharma.  And hence, He would never accept the ucchiSTa phala of shabari.  Even if some purANAs mention about the ucchiSTa phala, then it should be analysed in the above fashion as described.
 
regs,
sriram