Can non-brahmins offer cooked food to god ?

[sambya]

I am also a brahmin and I do not agree with this. I believe that food that is offered has to be pure, cooked when having showered, in clean pots and pans that are only used for prasada with only pure foods according to the scriptures. I have not read anywhere in the sciptures that only brahmanas can offer cooked food. Above all rules and regulations is bhakti. In the Ramayana shabari put the berries in her own mouth before she gave them to Sri Rama.

thanks for your input sahasranama . even i believe that food cooked with hygine and love is sufficent to qualify as bhoga(offerable) . but at the same time im not too keen on breaking what has been going on as a rule .

not just cooked food , non brahmins arent even allowed to touch naivedyams in temple across india .

can you tell me anything about rules in your part ? (assuming that you r from india )

thanks

[satay]

namaskar,

I didn't know about this rule but now that you mention it it makes sense. Yes, only brahmins are allowed to offer cooked food.

I am not from a brhamin family. I have no problem with this rule.

Now that I think about it, I have noticed that non-brhamin families offer cooked foods to the brhamins instead of god. Perhaps this is done because of this rule?

A few years ago, I was talking to someone in the local temple here in Canada and the person told me to go downstairs and eat the food. I told him that I am waiting for the pundit to offer food to the dieties first. He said, "no, that food from downstairs is not offered here. so let's just go and eat." I thought to myself that's strange. Normallly, in punjab the food is offered to the deities and then everyone eats as parsadam. I thought to myself this canadian temple is making up strange rules but now it makes sense...

Well, in my own case, at home, I have offered cooked food to the deities. They don't seem to mind.

[satay]

namaste sanjay,
No, it's not that brhamins have the monoply on God. It makes sense that offering of sudha food falls under the brahmin dharma. No?

[sambya]

Well, in my own case, at home, I have offered cooked food to the deities. They don't seem to mind.

even i dont think that they would mind . after all how many people in present age takes the pain of doing that much for him ??? bhavagrahi janardana !

and also , speaking from the viewpoint of shastra , the rule is applicable only to installed deities .

[Ganeshprasad]

Pranam all

Can a non Brahmin offer food to gods? Why not as Satay says does Brahmin have a monopoly? Certainly not, here is my take on it, we should all offer what we eat and we should only eat that which is acceptable to Our dear Lord, because he explicitly ask for it.

yat karosi yad asnasi
yaj juhosi dadasi yat
yat tapasyasi kaunteya
tat kurusva mad-arpanam

O son of Kunti, all that you do, all that you eat, all that you offer and give away, as well as all austerities that you may perform, should be done as an offering unto Me. (9.27)

In fact those who do not offer their food verily eats sin

yajna-sistasinah santo
mucyante sarva-kilbisaih
bhunjate te tv agham papa
ye pacanty atma-karanat

So there is no question as to who can offer bhoga it is a must for everyone regardless of status, but there are certain protocol one has to follow because what we offer and eat impact our lives,
therefore when it comes to offering in the temple there are certain rules one follows which may vary from temple to temple, only Brahmins would cook and offer here because the offering to gods should be done in mode of goodness, the Parsad is distributed to masses so the responsibility is higher, where else for an individual to offer at home would only effect the person in what ever mode the food was cooked and offered. But there is no bar in offering and as Krishna says offer him with love a leaf, a flower, fruit, water he would accept it.
　
Bg 9.26
patram puspam phalam toyam
yo me bhaktya prayacchati
tad aham bhakty-upahrtam
asnami prayatatmanah

Jai Shree Krishna

[Eastern Mind]

Vannakkam:

This is another of those practices that varies from region to region, sect top sect, sampradaya to sampradaya, maybe even temple to temple within the same small village.

I remember a day here at our temple where a sincere fellow from the North of India came with his cooked prasadam of sweets, etc. to offer. The priest refused it on the grounds that at our temple doesn't allow it. Only food cooked by the resident priest is allowed as offering to the deity. The man went away offended and complained to me on the way out, unwilling to accept the principle of "when in Rome..."

Sunday lunch downstairs, as with Satay's temple, is never offered to the deities upstairs. It is cooked downstairs and stays downstairs. The temple prasadam is brought down from the temple and small amount are taken by each devotee.

Similarly, we (meaning the priests mostly) are careful about what is used for abhishekam that is given by devotees, mostly yoghurt. If the priest sees a brand name he is unfamiliar with, he takes a good look to see that it does not contain gelatin.

Aum Namasivaya

[satay]

namaskar,

yat karosi yad asnasi
yaj juhosi dadasi yat
yat tapasyasi kaunteya
tat kurusva mad-arpanam

O son of Kunti, all that you do, all that you eat, all that you offer and give away, as well as all austerities that you may perform, should be done as an offering unto Me. (9.27)

Jai Shree Krishna

That's true too. Well...

I was merely thinking in terms of varna dharma. The responsibility of offering sudhha food should rightfully reside in the brhamin dharma. No?

Would we ask a brahmin to pick up astra and protect the non-khatra varnas? But then again there have been brhamins that taugth astra vidya to katra. So...Hmm...I don't know then what's the correct thing to do but I would respect the rules of the temple. However, I can feel the disappointment of the north indian guy who took cooked food to Eastern's temple. I would have been disappointed too but I would have offered the food to the temple priest instead and tell the lord that 'hey lord, I am offering this food to your sevak here since he won't let me offer it to you. Enjoy it through him".

[Ganeshprasad]

Pranam

namaskar,



That's true too. Well...

I was merely thinking in terms of varna dharma. The responsibility of offering sudhha food should rightfully reside in the brhamin dharma. No?

Yes your thoughts are valid in so far as temple offering is concerned, only a Brahmin would cook and offer the food that much is clear, what to speak of Brahmin, only the ones that belong to certain institute would be allowed in that institute, that is the protocol.

Varna dharma, I remember going to another village on sankirtan years ago, the rule was that other village would feed the congregation according to each varna I.e. a Brahmin would eat at Brahmin and so on. I wanted to eat with my friends but I was told it was not appropraite, there was no malice or discrimination but just respecting the age old tradition.

Would we ask a brahmin to pick up astra and protect the non-khatra varnas? But then again there have been brhamins that taugth astra vidya to katra. So...Hmm...I don't know then what's the correct thing to do but I would respect the rules of the temple. However, I can feel the disappointment of the north indian guy who took cooked food to Eastern's temple. I would have been disappointed too but I would have offered the food to the temple priest instead and tell the lord that 'hey lord, I am offering this food to your sevak here since he won't let me offer it to you. Enjoy it through him".

Brahmins are known to have thought the art of astra but taking up arms is kshatriya dharma, that does not mean as an individual we should not protect our self, offering as an individual and offering in the temple they are two different thing.

I can understand the temple reservation of not accepting the food, why should they, who knows in what mode the food was prepared and if the purity was maintained, what are utensils used ,even if sudha food for the deities were cooked but other times the same utensil are used for other things that might not be acceptable.

There are timings to be considered, the lord in the temples are only offered at certain times. This is why I do not understand why there are so many stalls selling all this paraphernalia to offer to Gods at all the time, is god hungry all the time or want to be adorned by flowers isn’t that the job of temple and pujari to offer them at appropriate time?

Can you imagine having abhiseke all day long? These are my pet peeves, all it creates is a big mess around the temple and does not add to peace and tranquillity at the temple (I go to temple for that).

I would much prefer people donate money and the temple to have a real project from the money received to feed all parsad and help the poor. I think that would be a great offering.

Jai Shree Krishna

[satay]

namaskar,

Pranam
Yes your thoughts are valid in so far as temple offering is concerned, only a Brahmin would cook and offer the food that much is clear, what to speak of Brahmin, only the ones that belong to certain institute would be allowed in that institute, that is the protocol.

Yes, you are right. I was confusing the two things.

Brahmins are known to have thought the art of astra but taking up arms is kshatriya dharma, that does not mean as an individual we should not protect our self, offering as an individual and offering in the temple they are two different thing.

I can understand the temple reservation of not accepting the food, why should they, who knows in what mode the food was prepared and if the purity was maintained, what are utensils used ,even if sudha food for the deities were cooked but other times the same utensil are used for other things that might not be acceptable.

There are timings to be considered, the lord in the temples are only offered at certain times. This is why I do not understand why there are so many stalls selling all this paraphernalia to offer to Gods at all the time, is god hungry all the time or want to be adorned by flowers isn’t that the job of temple and pujari to offer them at appropriate time?

Can you imagine having abhiseke all day long? These are my pet peeves, all it creates is a big mess around the temple and does not add to peace and tranquillity at the temple (I go to temple for that).

I would much prefer people donate money and the temple to have a real project from the money received to feed all parsad and help the poor. I think that would be a great offering.

Jai Shree Krishna

Amen to that!