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Why Do We Offer Food to the Lord Before Eating It?

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In western tradition, food is partaken after a thanksgiving prayer- grace. Indians make an offering of it to the Lord and later partake of it as a prasaada – a holy gift from the Lord. In temples and in many homes, the cooked food is first offered to the Lord each day. The offered food is mixed with the rest of the food and then served as prasaada. In our daily ritualistic worship ( Pooja ) too we offer naivedyam (food) to the Lord. Why do we do so? Why Do We Offer Naivedyam ? 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 from the arati “Jai Jagadisha Hare”- 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