Naivedhya – Food Offered as part of worship
In Hinduism, worship is a ritual of religious devotion directed towards God. Worship is done in different forms or various methods depending upon the groups. It is the essence of loving and being in love with whatever God they adore. One of the steps is to offer Naivedhya to the deity.
Naivedhya, a Sanskrit word meaning supplication, is food offered as part of worship. The Ambrosia is placed before a deity and prayers are offered.
The following is the common Mantra recited while offering Naivedhya to the Deity.
“Om bhur bhuvasuvaha,
tat savithur varenyam,
bhargo devasya dhimahi,
dhiyoyo nah prachodayat.
Deva savitah prasuva,
Satyam tvartena parishinchaami,
Amrutah opatarana masi,
Om Pranaaya swaha,
Om Apaanaya swaha,
Om Vyaanaya swaha,
Om Udaanaya swaha,
Om Samaanaya swaha,
Om brahmaney swaha,
Om(name of the God ) namah,
naivedhyami ”
The Naivedhya is then distributed among the devotees or consumed by the households as Maha Prasadam. The offerings may include cooked food, sugar cane, and fruits.
The Naivedhya depends on the Deity worshipped.
For example,
- Jaggary, Vundrallu (rice laddu) or
- Banana is generally offered to Lord Ganapathi.
- Payasam ( rice with milk) Daddojanam (rice with curd preparation) or Chakra Pongal (rice, sugar and milk preparation) are offered to Lord Vishnu and Goddess Lakshmi.
- Hanuman is offered Vada.
- Santhoshi maa is offered Bengal gram, with jaggary and panakam (jaggary water) to Narasimha, and so forth.
Irrespective of the deity and the method of Puja, Maha Yagnam or Vratam, the most acceptable Naivedya is offering two important fruits, namely, Coconut and Banana as they are perceived as divine or sacred fruits. Some religious stories are attached to these fruits which further signify their importance in offering them to any deity.
A Puja to a deity should normally be done in sixteen steps, called “Shodashopachara Puja”.
Coconut
Sage Viswamitra was the creator of this holy fruit. Trishanku, the Son of Prithu was a king of the Solar Dynasty. His original name was Satyavrat. He served sage Viswamitra with sincere devotion and was pleased with the servitude the sage adored him with a boon. Satyavrat expressed his desire that he should be sent to heaven in the mortal body.
Viswamitra wanted to exhort his ability to defame sage Vasishta and by his extreme powers sent the king to heaven in the physical form of a human being.
No ritual will be complete without breaking a Coconut, symbolising breaking the ego of the person by surrendering completely to the divine. The closely knitted outer fiber represents lust, greed, selfish and jealous nature of human beings and being so, will be immediately peeled out after breaking the same i.e. the ego of the person.
Trishanku Swargam
Indra, Lord of Heaven, bewildered by human beings entering the heaven with mortal bodies, kicked and threw him out of the heaven. Having noticed this with anguish, Viswamitra ordered Satyavrat to hang in between and contrived heaven for him, which is popularly known as Trishanku Swargam (heaven of the Trishanku).
Subsequently, Viswamitra realised that Trishanku falters hanging between Heaven and Earth forever and was supposed to have supported him with a long pole and his head resting on the top of the prop. The pole or prop is termed the Coconut Tree.
Poorna Kalasam
Coconut is known as the “Satwik” fruit and is also termed “Narikela”, “Shrifal” and “Mahafal”. This is a very auspicious fruit as it will adore the vessel for “Poorna Kalasam” (complete vessel) in all functions. Three distinct eyes on the Coconut symbolise the trinity of evolution, Brahma, Vishnu and Maheswara, the Creator, Preservator and the Desolator.
They also represent human eyes, two apparent and the third one being the eye of knowledge (Gnananetra).
BANANA
Kadali was wife of Sage Doorvasa. Once the sage went into a deep sleep and did not get up for his evening Sandhya Vandana (dawn invocation). Unable to decide whether she should wake up the sage to perform the prayer or should not disturb him in deep slumber as it is against the dharma, she preferred the former and woke him up because she was aware that one should not miss the daily invocations.
Having woken up from sleep, Sage in trice cursed Kadali in a daze to become a plant on the earth. She pleaded mercy and requested him to turn her into such a plant, that the leaves, fruits and each part of the plant are useful to serve God. The plant turned out to be Kadali Tree (Banana tree) and the fruit of it is called after her name as Kadaliphal.
Lord Krishna said in Bhagavad Gita, “patram pushpam phalam toyam, yo me bhaktya prayacchatitad aham bhaktyupahrtam, asnami prayatatmanah”
(If one offers Me with Love and Devotion a Leaf, a Flower, a Fruit or Water, I will accept it.)
Here the phalam means the fruits of our success, happiness, love, joy and wealth we derived through the blessings of the Lord in our lifetime.
For More Special Articles, click here
