The Meal Krishna Chose
The Udyoga Parva of the Mahabharata, the book of the preparations for war, tells of a meal Krishna refused and a meal he chose.
The envoy in the king's house
Before the great war, Krishna came to Hastinapura as the envoy of the Pandavas. Duryodhana, the Kaurava prince, received him in his palace and invited him to eat. Food, water, garments and a bed had all been prepared for him.
Krishna did not accept.
Duryodhana asked him why. Why would he not take the food, the water, the garments and the bed that had been made ready for him?
Krishna's answer
Krishna gave him reasons.
The first was a matter of duty. An envoy, he said, accepts food and honour only after his mission is fulfilled.
The second went deeper. Food is eaten in another's house, he said, for one of two reasons: out of love, or in distress.
samprīti-bhojyāny annāni āpad-bhojyāni vā punaḥ
"Food is to be eaten out of love, or else in distress." Duryodhana showed him no love, Krishna said, and he was in no distress.
The third was the plainest of all. Duryodhana had hated the Pandavas without cause since the day they were born, and Krishna regarded the Pandavas as his own life. The food of one who hates is tainted by that hatred, he said, and should not be eaten. Only Vidura's food was fit for him.
The house of Vidura
Krishna left Duryodhana's palace and went to stay at the house of Vidura. The great men of the Kuru court followed him: Drona, Kripa, Bhishma, Bahlika and others, each offering him his own rich house. Krishna declined them all. They had honoured him enough, he said.
At Vidura's house he was given whatever he wished. Vidura brought him pure and wholesome food and drink. Krishna first fed the brahmanas, gave wealth to scholars of the Vedas, and then sat down with his companions and ate Vidura's food.
The meal offered at midday
A temple's food offering rests on the principle Krishna stated in Duryodhana's palace: what the Lord accepts is food offered with love. Araginpu is such a meal, offered to the Lord at the middle of the day.
At Yadagirigutta it is offered to Lord Lakshmi Narasimha. Krishna and Narasimha are both avatars of Vishnu, and the Narasimha avatar is told in The Narasimha Avatar: A Boon, a Pillar and a Doorway.
Tradition and record
The story is record: it stands in the Udyoga Parva of the Mahabharata, chapter 90 in the edition consulted, and anyone can read it there. The English renderings in this article are paraphrases. The Mahabharata does not mention Araginpu; the link between Krishna's words and the temple's midday offering is ours.