Hindu Rituals and Routines… Why do we follow them? 9

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

 

 

 

Indians 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 " , maintained 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.