Why do offer food to the Lord before eating it?

[Guest guest]

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 " , 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.

 

Fore More detail about Hindu Rituals and Routines :

http://hindudevotionalpower.blogspot.com

 

Thanks!!!