The students & family members of Indian Council of Astrological Sciences, Mysore Chapter sponsored and participated in a Annadaana program at Sri Laxmi Narasimha Temple, Kalidasa Road , Mysore under the guidance of Chapter Chairman H Balakrishna and Sri Yoganarasimahachar M S , Chief organaising Priest and representative of Yadugiri Yathiraj Mutt, Melkote to celebrate the Skanda Jayanthi on 22nd Nov 2009.

Lunch was sponsored for more than 300 people in the Laxmi Narasima Temple. The students of ICAS Mysore Chapter had the opportunity to serve and feed the needy.

Chapter Chairman H Balakrishna later explained that the Daana or charity is considered as the best form of tapas. When Yaksha asks Dharmaraya, “who is the friend of a dying person?” Yudhishtira answers that charity or daana is the friend of a dying person. Of all the daanas, Annadaana is the greatest and best daana. Annadaana is the best daana because it sustains life and helps one to lead a righteous life.

Food is the material cause of the Annamaya kosha or the physical body. It sustains life, which is an indispensable means for attaining Self-Realisation, the highest goal of life. Therefore, without food no self-realisation is possible. Swami Sivananda Saraswati says that “an aspirant should never despise food, but regard it as if it were his own Guru, for it is the sustaining force of all his endeavours”.
Anna is not just the item called cooked rice. It essentially means all that sustains our life. Sri Krishna in the Bhagavadgita says that, He himself in the form of Vaishvanara (Agni), taking shelter in the body of all that has prana (prani) digests food.

Food is made up of three constituents: that which is gross, subtle and most subtle. The gross portion becomes the faecal matter, the subtle portion becomes the flesh and blood and the most subtle portion becomes the mind. That is why one should have calm and peaceful mind while taking and giving and preparing food, explained Shri Balakrishna.