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Thread: Sharing offerings/Prasad with non-Hindu?

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    Sharing offerings/Prasad with non-Hindu?

    Namaste, good reader,

    I am a currently lone practitioner of our faith which I have adopted and educated myself as best I can since September this year. My question is in regards to sharing the offerings/Prasad.

    Is it incorrect to share these with non-Hindus? If I do share them with non-Hindus, must I disclose their blessed status?

    Currently I share the Prasad with my husband (a Gaelic polytheist who knows it is blessed) or loved ones who do not know the nature of what I give them (such as friends and students). I am unsure if I may be offending the Gods or those with whom I share it. I imagine Lord Ganesha, to whom most of my devotions are given, would be happy that I share gladly with anyone, especially my students and husband, but I'm not sure if this is traditionally considered true. I don't know the morality of giving blessed food without informing the person. I am afraid I would offend them or create an awkward situation if I explained the nature of what otherwise appears as a simple treat.

    With Gratitude,

    Goatess

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    Re: Sharing offerings/Prasad with non-Hindu?

    Namaste Goatess,

    I understand your concern... there is a poem that I think expresses my own feelings on this:
    "Whatever it is that I may offer You,
    is from You already.
    So I offer simply my love
    to You, who are Love already."
    ~Shail Gulhati
    Prasad is an offering we make to God in remeberance, service and bhakti, but anything we offer is already God's. The Gita says the same. (and while I can find the exact quote it is actually quite frustrating that not one person who quotes it gives the actual chapter and verse in my searching, so apologies that I cannot provide. I simply don't know chapter and verse yet):
    Whatever you took, you took from God.
    Whatever you gave, you gave to Him.
    So, why would Bhagavan mind if you share His Prasad with anyone? He shares His Prasad with all, all the time. =)

    That said, it's up to you if you explain it first. Personally speaking, I would. It seems only right. To those to whom it doesn't matter, they won't really mind. But for those to whom it might matter, for whatever reason, they might be glad of it. Do as your conscience tells you.

    Just my own thoughts on the matter.

    ~Pranam
    ~~~~~
    What has Learning profited a man, if it has not led him to worship the good feet of Him who is pure knowledge itself?
    They alone dispel the mind's distress, who take refuge at the feet of the incomparable one.
    ~~Tirukural 2, 7

    Anbe Sivamayam, Satyame Parasivam

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    Re: Sharing offerings/Prasad with non-Hindu?

    Namaste,

    You can share Prasad with anyone if they have respect to Prasad as Prasad. Who is from other religion / faith here ? No one. It is all our delusion to think so. " Vaasudevah sarvam iti" ===> All this is but God alone. "Aham Atman GudAkesha sarvabhUtashaya sthitah" ===> I am the Atman in the Heart of all beings. What is AtmAn ? It is the essence of what we are. We are all essentially AtmAn alone. If that is true then who is the "other one" ? Hindus believe in "Vasudhaiva kutumbkam" ===> The whole earth is just one family !

    Anandini ji has correctly stated in her above post that all things which we offer to God are His alone :

    "Tvadiya vastu Govinda tubhyameva samarpaye" === I offer you things which You yourself gave to us.

    OM
    "Om Namo Bhagvate Vaasudevaye"

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    Re: Sharing offerings/Prasad with non-Hindu?

    Namaste,

    Quote Originally Posted by Aanandinii View Post
    it's up to you if you explain it first. Personally speaking, I would. It seems only right. To those to whom it doesn't matter, they won't really mind. But for those to whom it might matter, for whatever reason, they might be glad of it. Do as your conscience tells you.
    +1

    Pranam.

  5. #5

    Re: Sharing offerings/Prasad with non-Hindu?

    Thanks greatly to you all! Your answers have cleared my mind very much. While I believe and seek to better understand the nature of God, I admit I am still trapped in many of the taboos of the belief system in which I was raised. Within the Christianity of my childhood, the closest parallel to Prasad would be the bread and wine given in sacrament which was forbidden to those who had not performed certain rites and was handled with ponderous care. It is a struggle for me now to dispose of the illusions of my religious upbringing and recognize the truth with my devotional actions now.

    Again, you have my many thanks. Peace onto you all.

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    Re: Sharing offerings/Prasad with non-Hindu?

    Vannakkam: There are quite a few temples that freely share their prasadam with anyone who shows up. A Mahalakshmi Temple in Vancouver, BC feeds around 1000 people every Sunday. I don't think the people who go mind at all, and I personally wouldn't see a problem with it either.

    Aum Namasivaya

  7. #7

    Re: Sharing offerings/Prasad with non-Hindu?

    Namaste,
    At my guru's ashram in Pune, where I visit from the US as often as possible, every night I am always given too much prasad to eat! I carry it back to my flat. On the balcony of the flat I leave some out for the crows. I started doing this spontaneously, as I see crows as sacred animals and sort of spirit animals to me. I felt a little weird about it, and asked some of the devotees of the ashram, and they said it was just fine. All creatures are god's creatures. I also gave some to a homeless begging man on the sidewalk on my way home. The crows of Pune are blessed. Jai Guru! and Namaste, Mahendra

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