Offering Prasad
Questioner: I want to ask one thing, doing pooja and giving prasadam.
Acharya Prashant: Pooja is a wonderful thing. God too is the highest if God is truth. If by God we mean the highest, then God has to be the absolute truth and not a figure of imagination, not a character in a storybook, right? So holding God as sacred is indeed wonderful, provided God represents the truth to you. Otherwise, mostly we turn God into some fictional character in our fairy tales, and then God means nothing. In fact, the concept of God may become dangerous, divisive, all kinds of things.
Pooja is also the same thing. To really worship, one must know the sacred, and only the sacred must be worshipped.
Do you agree?
Questioner: I agree.
Acharya Prashant: Only the sacred must be worshipped. But if I do not know the sacred, then I'll worship everything and anything in the name of sacredness. Right? So that's the problem. Now, the sacred, by the way, is something that cannot be directly known. Not available to senses and all. We know of that, right?
Has no name. Not available to senses. Can't be touched. Can't be talked about, can't be thought of. But we can at least know that which is mundane, sensual, ordinary. We can know that, and then we can at least stop worshipping that as sacred, and that would suffice, and that would be real pooja. That would mean not surrendering to that which is not absolute.
And in not surrendering to that which is not absolute. Yes, one offers her devotion to the sacred. So pooja is wonderful. God, prasad, all these are wonderful things. See, please understand, what is prasad? You visit the temple, the place of sacredness, and then you get something in return, and then you distribute it to others, right? So the fruits of realization, the radiance of the sun, that you selflessly just distribute to the entire world, that is prasad.
Prasad is not just something that you can eat as some sweet meal or something. So, you read this, for example, there is a certain realization and you want to share it with everybody. That is prasad. Or if you are close to the Bhagavad Gita and there are insights, and you start living those insights, and others look at you and see something special, something luminous, and they feel inspired, that is prasad. Otherwise, it is all about laddu, barfi, peda, That hardly helps. That's fine. That's a mood uplifter; sugar helps dopamine. To that extent, that is fine, but that will not have any spiritual effect. That will not serve any transcendental purpose. Right?
So one has to remember what godliness really is. One has to remember what sacredness is. Then all worship becomes right. Otherwise, it's just a ritual. Rituals help nobody. Even machines can follow rituals. No?
Questioner: Yes.
Acharya Prashant: So those rituals help nobody. Rituals with understanding attain a certain meaning. Rituals without understanding are just mechanical acts. You could even say wastage of time.
Questioner: After offering prasad to God, I'll take it. Is it bad?
Acharya Prashant: You must be the first one to accept the prasad. No? Because if you don't have it, how will you radiate it to others? Right? If you don't understand the Gita, how will you bring it to others? So you must be the first one to receive prasad and be thankful. There must be gratitude, but prasad, I repeat, it is not just something to eat or something to wear.
Prasad is what you get by being in contact with a luminous source. Your own inner illumination is prasad.
Right?
All else is just very literal doesn't help.
Questioner: Thank you.
