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It is a practice by almost every Indian to
offer food to the Lord and later partake of it
as prasada of the Lord. During the course of
ritualistic worship (pooja) too we offer
naivedyam (food) to the Lord. It is a procedure
of offering all the cooked food varieties to
God before we actually eat. The food cooked
carries the subtle vibrations of the person
who cooks. This is one reason why Hinduism
exercises dietary discipline for the true
seekers. The mental vibrations of the cook
affect the food prepared by him in a subtle way which would be positive (or) negative.
Hence to nullify such negative vibrations,
little portion of all the cooked food is offered
(Naivedya) to Lord. The mental offering
termed as Naivedya is derived from the term
‘Ni + vid’ = to offer. Also we acknowledge that The Lord is the Supreme to whom we all owe our
sustenance,through the act of offering food. Also it infuses a sense of acceptance of the
food as it is, or even reverentially if it is partaken after offering to Lord. We would not
demand, complain or criticise the quality of the food
we get.
Thereafter the Lord, the life force, who is also within us as the five life-giving physiological functions, is offered the food. This is done with the chant
praaNaaya svaahaa,
apaanaaya svaahaa,
vyaanaaya svaahaa,
udaanaaya svaahaa,
samaanaaya svaahaa,
brahmanE svaahaa
After offering the food thus, it is eaten as prasada - blessed food.