Hinduism - What is the need of offering food to God while God himself is feeding the
we are taking food after offering (Nadya) the food to God. The Purana's say that God is feeding all in the earth. so, the God feeding us, why and what is the need to offer the food before we take to God ? The God is everywhere. He only give food to all creatures in the world including humans, says Purana's.
i remind this story to you. '' One day, the Hindu God Shiva went around the world to offer food to all the creatures. Parvathi, his wife, wanted to test whether Shiva was actually doing it well. So she captured an ant, put it inside a small box and hid the box in the hem of her sari. No sooner had Shiva come and sat on the throne than Parvathi told him that one creature was still hungry. Shiva replied that he was omniscient and asked her to open the box and look inside. When Parvathi did so,she saw the ant eating some grains.''
We offer the food to God, just to remember and extend our thanks, for able to get food and eat.
Not because God is hungry nor he does not have access to food.
this is ancient belief, people thinks every things given by God, so they present everything to God,
belief is the main deference between animals and man.
Hi good,
yes it is true that the Creator is providing our food,
but according to bhagvath geetha 3.13 -the devotees of the lord are released from all kinds of sins becuse they eat food which is offered first for sacrifice.others who prepare food for personnel sense enjoyment,merily eat only sin.
according to my mother 'because i ask this question from my childhood-she reply same answer till today-i.e-our kula devata[lord venkateshwara]is our matha,pitha,guru,daivam-only protector of this entire universe.it is our humble offer to him that what ever food we prepare is first offered to him,not out of duty but with love and affection towards him because he is elder to our family.
according to me i feel we offer food to our lord ot because he is hungry or any other reason but to show ourgratitudee [he made us eat with our fivefingerss,it is with his grace that we are able to eat 3 times a day]
we to arpanam to god in hinduism because we treat our lord as one of our family member.
bye friend.
Like you mentioned, Ishwara sustains the world and everything in existence and therefore human beings do not qualify to offer food to him. It is only a symbolic ritual practiced since ages. Food offering to God is known as Naivedyam. In true sense it only means 'Offering to God'. Naivedyam is offered to God as a symbol of our ignorance. After the offering, we accept it back as Prasadam, believing that God has cast a benevolent spell on our ignorance and has purified it. We also share it with others as if we are sharing a newly acquired knowledge.
You are right . These rituals were added later on by our so called Pandits to take care of themselves . Hinduism must try to get rid of all useless rituals & go back to teachings of Vedas .
It is customary for the Hindus to place daily food preparations before the deities and offer to God. This is called Naivedyam.
Sutra 41. ?Samastayaataayaata Vietnam naivety?
Overcoming the temptations of the Indira's and offering and renouncing our worldly pleasures and desires is the significance of naivety.
Meaning: Oh Lord Hari, You are the food, You are the enjoyer of the food, You are the giver of food. Therefore, I offer all that I consume at Thy Lotus Feet.
We do this with dedication and thereafter the food is called prasada.The word prasada means mercy, grace, and blessings
This is our Hindu way of saying ? thankyou ?, to the Lord who gives us our daily food.
Learned people recite the following Gita verses while having meals so that this activity may be changed into sacrifice. This reminds us that food is not merely intended to appease our taste. Thinking of God before taking food makes it a spiritual act. This act also purifies the food.
Brahmarpanam brahma havir brahmaagnou brahmanaayutham
Brahmaiva taena gantavyam brahma karma samaadhina ( 4.24)
The ladle is God , the oblation is God, it is offered by God in the fire, which is God.
God shall be attained by him who is absorbed in God as the act of such sacrifice.
Om bhoorbhuvassuvah amrutho(u)pasvaranamasi
Pranaya svaha apanaya svaha vyanaya svaha
Udanaya svaha samanaya svaha brahmane svaha
The three worlds are pervaded by the Lord, the creator.
I offer this to prana (respiratory system)
I offer this to apana (excretory system)
I offer this to vyana (circulatory system)
I offer this to udana (reversal system)
I offer this to samana (digestive system)
So, we offer food to the Lord, the life force who is within us as the five physiological functions.
Chanting the above, we offer food at the feet of the Lord. Since we offer food to god, we know it is pure and best.
To sum up, anything offered to Lord with love becomes naivedyam.
Pathram pushpam phalam thoyam yo mae bhakthyaa prayachchathi
Thadaham bhakthyupahruthamas(h)naami prayathaathmanah (9.26)
Whoever offers me with devotion a leaf, a flower, a fruit or even water, I accept the pious offering offered by him with love.
"The saintly persons get relief from all kinds of sins by partaking the food that has been first offered to gods as sacrifice. But those who prepare food for their selfish ends eat but only sins. (Bhagavad gita 3:13)
"All beings come into existence from food. Food comes from rains. Rains originate from the performance of sacrifices. And sacrifice is born out of doing prescribed duties. (Bhagavad gita 3:14)
I speak the truth, it is indeed his death. He who nourishes neither the god nor a friend, he who eats alone, gathers sin. (Rig Veda X. 117)
From earth herbs, from herbs food, from food seed, from seed man. Man thus consists of the essence of food. (Taittiriya Upanishad)
'From food are produced all creatures which dwell on earth. Then they live by food, and in the end they return to food. For food is the oldest of all beings, and therefore it is called panacea. (Taittiriya Upanishad)
The significance of your story is that the creator is Sustainer and has left nothing incomplete for every living being.
out of our love for Him
Yashoda offered milk to Krishna ..why ? out of motherly affection only ..
Sudhama offered avail to Krishna why ? out of affection only
we offer food to God why ? out of our affection only
he only says in Gita " even if I am offered flower ,fruit or even leave with love I accept it with great joy "
'unnum soru, parugum neer, thinnum vetrilai' - For Nammalwar, the Lord here was life saving, nourishmant and enjoyment!
Nammalwar lived as preached by Sri Krishna in Gita - Tarakam, Poshakam and Bhogyam, sarvam Vasudeva.
Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 18, Verse 56:
'sarva karmany api sada
kurvano mad vyapasrayah
mat prasadad avapnoti
sasvatam padam avyayam'
'Though engaged in all kinds of activities, My devotee, under My protection, reaches the eternal and imperishable abode by My grace'
3) Where We Are:
We are in between these two extremes.
Bhagavas Gita, Chapter 9, Verse 26:
'patram puspam phalam toyam
yo me bhaktya prayacchati
tad aham bhakty upahrtam
asnami prayatatmanah'
'If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit or water, I will accept it.'
This is the first step to go to higher level.
There is a custom in Vaishnaya households. For daily menu for the food the husband tells his wife, "What food are you going to make to the God in the house?" '???????????? ????? ???? ????? (?????????????)?'.
That way one is thinking God has given mouth to sing God's fame. Eye is for to see His beauty in Archavatara swarupam. Ear is for to hear His some of His infinite attributes. Also taking food as his Prasada to live and thus to enjoy His prabhava throughout this life. Nothing separates us from God.
Thus by offering food to God and consuming as prasada after, confirm the food belongs to Him, Food is Him, He who gives food to us and we thank Him for all these actions!!
just an act of remembering and thanking GOD for his blessings on us and to continue being blessed by all 33core Hindu gods!!!!! its our duty to give the first offering to the master who actually gave us this soul, this body and this world to live, apart from the fodder v get
micky GG ki gaand meh rashtriya swayamsevak sangh ka danda
,
this evil christian rascal micky GG needs to to be booted in his naked ass and sent back to vatican italy
and his slutty wife earning cheap money in kamatipura red light area ,also needs to be sent back to vatican italy ,as she is fraudulently pulling innocent hindu men in to seeking her body services for money in kamatipura ,mumbai
If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit or water, I will accept it.
PURPORT
For the intelligent person, it is essential to be in Kr?s?n?a consciousness, engaged in the transcendental loving service of the Lord, in order to achieve a permanent, blissful abode for eternal happiness. The process of achieving such a marvelous result is very easy and can be attempted even by the poorest of the poor, without any kind of qualification. The only qualification required in this connection is to be a pure devotee of the Lord. It does not matter what one is or where one is situated. The process is so easy that even a leaf or a little water or fruit can be offered to the Supreme Lord in genuine love and the Lord will be pleased to accept it. No one, therefore, can be barred from Kr?s?n?a consciousness, because it is so easy and universal. Who is such a fool that he does not want to be Kr?s?n?a conscious by this simple method and thus attain the highest perfections life of eternity, bliss and knowledge? Kr?s?n?a wants only loving service and nothing more. Kr?s?n?a accepts even a little flower from His pure devotee. He does not want any kind of offering from a non devotee. He is not in need of anything from anyone, because He is self-sufficient, and yet He accepts the offering of His devotee in an exchange of love and affection. To develop Kr?s?n?a consciousness is the highest perfection of life. Bhakti is mentioned twice in this verse in order to declare more emphatically that bhaji, or devotional service, is the only means to approach Kr?s?n?a. No other condition, such as becoming a br?hman?a. a learned scholar, a very rich man or a great philosopher, can induce Kr?s?n?a to accept some offering. Without the basic principle of bhakti, nothing can induce the Lord to agree to accept anything from anyone. Bhakti is never causal. The process is eternal. It is direct action in service to the absolute whole.
http://vedabase.net/bg/9/26/en
Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer or give away, and whatever austerities you perform ? do that, O son of Kunt?, as an offering to Me.
PURPORT
Thus, it is the duty of everyone to mold his life in such a way that he will not forget Kr?s?n?a in any circumstance. Everyone has to work for maintenance of his body and soul together, and Kr?s?n?a recommends herein that one should work for Him. Everyone has to eat something to live; therefore he should accept the remnants of foodstuffs offered to Kr?s?n?a. Any civilized man has to perform some religious ritualistic ceremonies; therefore Kr?s?n?a recommends, "Do it for Me," and this is called arcana. Everyone has a tendency to give something in charity; Kr?s?n?a says, "Give it to Me," and this means that all surplus money accumulated should be utilized in furthering the Kr?s?n?a consciousness movement. Nowadays people are very much inclined to the meditational process, which is not practical in this age, but if anyone practices meditating on Kr?s?n?a twenty-four hours a day by chanting the Hare Kr?s?n?a mantra round his beads, he is surely the greatest meditator and the greatest yog?. as substantiated by the Sixth Chapter of Bhagavad-g?t?.
I think following text will do for your answer. Pl. go through as follows.
What is opinion of the GITA about worship ping system normally found in Hindu temples now a days?
The beautiful verse in Gita says--
"PATRAM PUSHPAM PHALAM TOYAM YO MAY BHAKTYA PRAYACHHATY, TAT AHAM UPHRITAM ASNAMY PRAYAT ATMANAH.
It means
"Leaf, Flower, Fruit, Water , whatever is offered to me with devotion, I accept that offered thing" .
We Hindus offer all above things with devotion to Images of God in Temple.
It is like a child trying to feed the mother that feed it . It is as token of gratitude that humans offer to God a portion of what the God offers them ..
In the Vedas and Purana's we find Pancho booths such as land, water, fire, air, aka sh are the creations of God. Out of the five, the land also a creation of God. The land gives us food in the form of grains. so, in gratitude of Him, we are doing offerings say Nyvedya and this is only a thanks in the form of gratitude. we have many examples to this.Sri Pandarinatha accepted the food offered by Namadeva. The God Ganesa took food in person the food offered by Tirunaraiyur Nambiandan Nambi.
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 offer A PART OF what GOD gave us to eat as Naiveydyam .This is a Gesture of GRATITUDE FOR THE UNLIMITED AFFECTION OF HIM.
Then after POOJA we take it as PRASAADAM ( Prakrusta Saadam = Qualified food) and take in small quantity with reverence and Bhati.Then we eat or drink.
This is a Gesture of Gratitude please.
Pease kindly see my answer to the question earlier;
Hinduism - What is the need of offering food to God while God himself is feeding the
