The Indians make an offering of food to the Lord and then take it as prasaada, a sacred gift from the Lord. In our daily ritual service (pooja), we also offer naivedyam (food) to the Lord.
The Lord is omnipotent and omniscient. Man is a part, while the Lord is the whole. All we do is only because of his strength and knowledge. Therefore, what we receive in life as a result of our actions is really only yours. We recognize this by the act of offering food. This is illustrated by the Hindi words “tera tujko arpan”: I offer what is yours for you. From then on, he is like his gift to us, honored by his divine touch.
Knowing this, our attitude towards food and the act of eating changes. The food offered will be naturally pure and the best. We share what we receive with others before consuming it. We do not ask, do not complain and do not criticize the quality of the food we get. We eat it with a happy acceptance (prasaada buddhi).
Before taking our daily meals, we first sprinkle water around the plate as an act of purification. Five bites of food are placed on the side of the plate, recognizing the debt we owe to the divine forces (devuna rune) for their benign grace and protection, our ancestors (pitru rune) for giving us their lineage and their culture family, the sages (rishi runa) since our religion and our culture were “realized”, maintained and transmitted by us, our fellow manushya runa which constitute a society without which we could not live like ourselves and others living beings (Bhuta Rune) to serve altruistic.
From then on, the Lord, the life force, which is also in us as the five physiological functions that give life, is offered food. This is done with chant
praanaaya swaahaa,
apaanaaya swaahaa,
vyaanaaya swaahaa,
udaanaaya swaahaa,
samaanaaya swaahaa,
brahmane swaahaa
After offering food, it is eaten prasada, blessed food.
