s that are unseen. Food is the origin of all creatures. From food,
comes happiness and delight. O Bharata, know that religion and wealth
both flow from food. The cure of disease or health also flows from food.
In a former Kalpa, the Lord of all creatures said that food is Amrita or
the source of immortality. Food is Earth, food is Heaven, food is the
Firmament. Everything is established on food. In the absence of food, the
five elements that constitute the physical organism cease to exist in a
state of union. From absence of food the strength of even the strongest
man is seen to fail. Invitations and marriages and sacrifices all cease
in the absence of food. The very Vedas disappear when food there is none.
Whatever mobile and immobile creatures exist in the universe are
dependent on food. Religion and wealth, in the three worlds, are all
dependent on food. Hence the wise should make gifts of food. The
strength, energy, fame and achievements of the man who makes gifts of
food, constantly increase in the three worlds, O king. The lord of the
life-breaths, viz., the deity of wind, places above the clouds (the water
sucked up by the Sun). The water thus borne to the clouds is caused by
Sakra to be poured upon the earth, O Bharata. The Sun, by means of his
rays, sucks up the moisture of the earth. The deity of wind causes the
moisture to fall down from the Sun.[333] When the water falls down from
the clouds upon the Earth, the goddess Earth becomes moist, O Bharata.
Then do people sow diverse kinds of crops upon whose outturn the universe
of creatures depends. It is in the food thus produced that the flesh,
fat, bones and vital seed of all beings have their origin. From the vital
seed thus originated, O king, spring diverse kinds of living creatures.
Agni and Soma, the two agents living within the body, create and maintain
the vital seed. Thus from food, the Sun and the deity of wind and the
vital seed spring and act. All these are said to constitute one element
or quantity, and it is from these that all creatures spring. That man who
gives food unto one who comes into his house and solicits it, is said, O
chief of the Bharatas, to contribute both life and energy unto living
creatures.'"

"'Bhishma continued, "Thus addressed by Narada, O king, I have always made
gifts of food. Do thou also, therefore, freed from malice and with a
cheerful heart, make gifts of food. By making gifts of food, O king, unto
deserving Brahmanas wi