Hindu Ritual 9 Why do we offer food to the gods before eating?

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9. Why do offer food to the Gods before eating it?

Hindus make an offering of food to the Lord and later partake of it as prasaada - a holy gift from the Lord. In our daily ritualistic worship (pooja) too we offer naivedyam (food) to the Lord.

The Lord is omnipotent and omniscient. Man is a part, while the Lord is the totality. All that we do is by His strength and knowledge alone. Hence what we receive in life as a result of our actions is really His alone. We acknowledge this through the act of offering food to Him. This is exemplified by the Hindi words "tera tujko arpan"– I offer what is Yours to You. Thereafter it is akin to His gift to us, graced by His divine touch.

Knowing this, our entire attitude to food and the act of eating changes. The food offered will naturally be pure and the best. We share what we get with others before consuming it. We do not demand, complain or criticise the quality of the food we get. We eat it with cheerful acceptance (prasaada buddhi).

Before we partake of our daily meals we first sprinkle water around the plate as an act of purification. Five morsels of food are placed on the side of the plate acknowledging the debt owed by us to the Divine forces (devta runa) for their benign grace and protection, our ancestors (pitru runa) for giving us their lineage and a family culture, the sages (rishi runa) as our religion and culture have been "realised", aintained and handed down to us by them, our fellow beings (manushya runa) who constitute society without the support of which we could not live as we do and other living beings (bhuta runa) for serving us selflessly.

Thereafter the Lord, the life force, who is also within us as the five life-giving physiological functions, is offered the food. 

This is done with the chant

praanaaya swaahaa, apaanaaya swaahaa, vyaanaaya swaahaa,
udaanaaya swaahaa, samaanaaya swaahaa, brahmane swaahaa

After offering the food thus, it is eaten as prasaada - blessed food.

Neivedyam

* भगवान को नैवेद्य अर्पित करते समय ध्यान में रखें ये 12 बातें... 

 

देवी-देवताओं के निवेदन के लिए जिस भोज्य द्रव्य का प्रयोग किया जाता है, उसे नैवेद्य कहते है। उसे अन्य नाम जैसे भोग, प्रसाद, प्रसादी आदि भी कहा जाता है। किसी भी देवता/मूर्ति को चढ़ाई हुई या भेंट की गई खाद्य वस्तु को भोग या नैवेद्य कहते है। यहां पाठकों के लिए प्रस्तुत है देवताओं को नैवेद्य अर्पित करने के कुछ नियम, जिन्हें अपना कर आप भगवान की कृपा प्राप्त कर सकते है। 

 

नैवेद्य चढ़ाने के 12 नियम जानिए... 

* नैवेद्य में नमक की जगह मिष्ठान्न रखे जाते हैं।

 

* प्रत्येक पकवान पर तुलसी का एक पत्ता रखा जाता है।

 

* नैवेद्य की थाली तुरंत भगवान के आगे से हटाना नहीं चाहिए।

 

* शिवजी के नैवेद्य में तुलसी की जगह बेल और गणेशजी के नैवेद्य में दूर्वा रखते हैं। 

 

* नैवेद्य देवता के दक्षिण भाग में रखना चाहिए।

 

* कुछ ग्रंथों का मत है कि पक्व नैवेद्य देवता के बाईं तरफ तथा कच्चा दाहिनी तरफ रखना चाहिए। 

 

* भोग लगाने के लिए भोजन एवं जल पहले अग्नि के समक्ष रखें। फिर देवों का आह्वान करने के लिए जल छिड़कें।

 

* तैयार सभी व्यंजनों से थोड़ा-थोड़ा हिस्सा अग्निदेव को मंत्रोच्चार के साथ स्मरण कर समर्पित करें। अंत में देव आचमन के लिए मंत्रोच्चार से पुन: जल छिड़कें और हाथ जोड़कर नमन करें।

 

* भोजन के अंत में

I Think this monotonous series of knowing the Hindu Rituals is getting to be boring.

Here is something which I hope will bring a smile to your lips!!

My wife and I were watching Who Wants To Be A Millionaire while we were in bed.

I turned to her and said, 'Do you want to make lpve?'
'No,' she answered.
I then said, 'Is that your final answer?'

... She didn't even look at me this time, simply saying, 'Yes..'
So I said, "Then I'd like to phone a friend."

And that's when the fight started...

________________________________

I took my wife to a restaurant.

The waiter, for some reason, took my order first.

"I'll have the rump steak, rare, please."
He said, "Aren't you worried about the mad cow?"
"Nah, she can order for herself."
And that's when the fight started.....