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SriRangaSri List Archive: Message 00069 Nov 2006

 
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SRI:
Dearest all,

May I request members to take this thread on such a wonderful thread 
offline...:-)
Thanks for your understanding
Regards
Namo narayana
dAsan madhavakkannan
[on behalf of Moderator Sri Anbil Ramaswamy Swami]
*********************

Dear Sriman Sudarshan,
 
>>Very crisp and nice.<<
 
Thanks
 
 >>It will be great if you can expand on how the food is offered in
YajnA, so that we can partake as PrasAdham. << 
 
  ya-jn^a-shi-SHTa (remnants of a yajn^a, food remaining after performance 
of an yajn^a,remannats of fire offering, food offered in worship).
 
Food was offered to sacred fire in ya-jn^a (of karma khANDa), invoking
different devatAs- the ultimate destination being viSHNu.
The food offered was being of different kinds- ghee, honey, yogurt, herbs,
animal parts (vapha and other parts), grains etc. All these were readied
for the sake of offering (i-dam na ma-ma) in mind, words and deeds. Whatever
 remained after sanctified in the sacred fire (kind of the burnt offering of 
the Old 
Testament, which was consumed by the Levites or the jewish high priests, 
whereas other tribes supplied the bull) as well as what was left behind
is consumed by yAjis. Such people consumed sanctified food. 
 
Obviously food can be consumed without such intentions or attitudes, simply
with the feelings that: I am hungry, I found this (bought it , grabbed it, grew 
it,
hunted it etc.), I prepared it, I will eat it- such people eat only sin. They 
will become eternal consumers as well as the eternally consumed 
(cycle of birth and death). 
 
Remember, what religion is doing is to take our natural/spontaneous 
needs/desires
and make it sacred and orderly. Like when we yawn, many of us say Lord's name 
at 
the conclusion. We want to live for ever-religion promises eternal life. We 
want 
to procreate, have sex etc., religion intorduced the institution of vivAham.
We have to eat- religion asks us to eat it as prasadam-
 
As BG says: 
 
"bra-hmaNi  A-dAya ka-rmA-Ni
sa-N^gam tya-ktvA ka-ro-ti yah |
li-pya-te na sa pA-pe-na
pa-dma-pa-trami-vA-mba-sA ||
 
In conclusion: 
 
There are two parts to a Religion: The eternal part and the contextual 
(culture, tradition).
The eternal truth is what we need to/and can  pay more attention to.
The eternal part here is ATTITUDE (sort of a Software) with which we eat,
the contextual part is to do with ACT (sort of Hardware) (process, kinds of 
food we eat,
kind of foods offered, fire ceremony, dieties invoked and other details of the 
act). The Hardware  
part gets revised in a system and it is harder (if not impossible) to duplicate 
in a different time 
and place. Whereas the eternal part,as the name indicates,  can be (is to be) 
followed by anyone 
anywhere anyhow. It is almost impossible to duplicate an yajn^a detailed in the 
Vedic 
age (trying to duplicate that, we live only in guilt!). However the Attitude 
part
we can readily follow. Meaning, anything you eat, consider it as PRASADAM- 
a blessing from the Lord. 
 
>>Also it will be great if you can explain, how does this apply
to the different VarnAsramas<<
 
This question of difference does not arise. Consuming food
with PRASADA BHAVAM is for all human beings, at all stages
of life (for babies, it is the parents who feed the baby have to 
invoke the Lord, and try to teach the baby as soon as the
 child is able to understand).
 
 >>AdiyEn have a simplistic view that too for Brahmins
only (AdiyEn know that it involves Brahma YajnAm,
VaisvadEvam, ThiruvAradhanam and that too not the
details as AdiyEn is not yet initiated into Brahma
Yajnyam or VAisvadEvam).<<
 
I have a simpler view. Focus primarily on the eternal part
(whatever I eat, eat with prasada bhAvam)  conforming with the context
I am in. This makes life more enjoyable and less problematic- after all
the purpose of religion is not to burden ourselves or others, as well
as to fully appreciate all His vibhUtis. Any place we go to, primary thing
is food (u-da-ra ni-mi-ttam ba-hu kR-ta ve-sham)!
 
dAsan




 
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