NANDI
What is Nandi? This is the question that comes to the mind of many people in our Jamat. I will explain you what it is and the significance of Nandi.
The word Nandi comes from an Arabic Word Naadi which means an auctioneer. During the days when Prophet Mohamed (peace be upon him and his family) was alive many families cooked the best food and brought it for the Prophet to consume. The Prophet could not consume all the food that was presented to him. So he would select a certain food for himself and would bless the rest of the food and made it spiritual.
Now part of this food was distributed to poor people and part of it was auctioned out. People used to buy this blessed food which was full of barkah and consumed it at home with their families.
This tradition has been carried on from Imam to Imam till today. When you go to any Jamatkhana you will see people bring nandi from home.
Nandi also means to bring Nazrana for the Imam. Jamatkhana is the house of the Manifest Imam (a.s.) and he invites you to his home. He always says come to Jamatkhana and not go to Jamatkhana and that is his invitation to us. Ordinarily if you are invited by someone at their place you take with you something like chocolate, cake or any other food item which is customary. In the same manner when you go to the house of the Imam of the time you take some edibles with you. Some people take the food they have cooked for that day and take out the first portion for Nandi and then eat the rest themselves. Some people who cannot cook they purchase other edible items and present it to the Imam.
The food that you brought has now been blessed by the Imam which now becomes spiritually blessed food. So when you take this food home and consume it you get the spiritual benefits from that.
There is also other significance in bringing or purchasing the Nandi. In the past the Imam has said that by bringing or purchasing the nandi forgives your unpaid Dasond by mistake. This means that if you have made any mistake in calculating the proper amount for Dasond and your amount was short of the actual amount, it is forgiven by the Imam.
Finally there is a benefit for many people who are single and cannot cook or people who are busy working for livelihood can get home cooked blessed meal from the Nandi they get from the Jamatkhana.
So there is everything positive in it. We are continuing the tradition of Prophet Mohamed (pbuh) and feeding people who can benefit by getting the home cooked meals.
This is a great tradition to uphold.
Amirji