Hare Krsna!
Please accept my humble obeisances,
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Here are my questions that I couldn't find answers in ISKCON website.
1) Can I offer bread and pasta to my deities? Although pasta is cooked at home, in the end it is a product that is made by cooking wheat. So is pasta offerable?
Also the bread that we buy is already cooked, is it offerable?( I don't offer but better to ask)
2) The altar in our living room should always stay with the curtains closed or should we close only when we are eating in the living room. Should the wooden doors be closed only while the deities are sleeping?
3) Should we fan the deities always in the arti including in the winter time or should we fan only during the hot season?
Thank you so much,
Your aspiring servant,
Replies
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON VARIOUS TOPICS.
http://www.iskcondesiretree.net/group/krishnaconsciousness/forum/to...
Usually Deities are there at our home in order we always think of Them by seeing Them, acting for them, cooking...
Usually we close altar with curtain when we offer food to Them. And when we honor food ourselves.
Other times better if the curtain remain open. And yes, the wooden door is closed when They go to bed.
But when the curtain is open we can not behave bad like speaking harsh words, wearing not proper cloth....it means we even at home live as if at the Temple. Because it is a Temple.
------------------------------
Usually with chamara They are fanned always no matter of season. But when it is cold winter we do not fan Them with peacock feather but only with chamara. It was the rule in our Temple.
Your servant,
Hare Krsna!
Please accept my humble obeisances.
All Glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Thank you so much for your precious answers. Yes, it's like we are in the temple constantly. It is a wonderful feeling. The deities absorbs you when you are living side to side with Tulasi devi, with deities. It is a wonderful feeling. Well, the pasta that people buy is already cooked industrially in very high temperatures. Actually when we boil them, we don't cook them in reality :-), we simply soften it to be able to eat. That's why I asked if we can offer pasta to the deities.
Dear Bhaktin Maral, please accept this video that I made. The bhajan is from Nader Nimai and I made the movie at home.
Your aspiring servant,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEdcGWgn3U0
Hare Krishna dear Mutlu Inci Mataji, please accept my humble obeisances! All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Bread and Pasta:
Usually for Temple Deities grainy foods cooked by karmis are not offered. Even those Devotees who do not have second initiation are not allowed to cook for Radha Krishna Deities. Srila Prabhupada told that in cooked form from non devotees we can buy or accept only milk products like milk sweets - burfi...but things like cooked rice, chapati...
Because each grain has soul. And when one kills those living entities-grains commits big sin if he or she does it for the sake of earning money or eating. But Brahmana Devotee while killing them stays conscious that these living entities in the form of grains i am killing for the pleasure of Krishna. In this way Krishna takes away all the sins.
Because of that we should try not to buy cooked grains from nondevotees. I know Devotees who even do not eat from the hand of Devotees who do not chant minimum 16 rounds. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu did not accept the food from those who did not chant 64 rounds daily...
Because food influences consciousness very much. What we eat that is our mind and body...
One more thing Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita that the food in the mode of goodness is that which is prepared not three hours before. Which is fresh. Which is not too hot and cold. Which is tasty...
In this way we know for how many hours stay those breads in the market. (of course there might be warm breads but usually, packed and kept for several days).
--------
But when some Devotees used to buy such like bread they used to put it on fire from all sides as like we do it when we cook chapati. Then offer it to Pancha Tattva image then honor it as a Prasadam.
THE MAIN PRINCIPLE IS WE SHOULD NOT EAT ANYTHING OTHER THAN FIRST OFFERED FOOD TO KRISHNA.
Since You have Radha Krishna, better to offer such like breads to Pancha Tattvas separately, with Tulasi on it.
But Pasta, is not cooked so You can cook it Your self and offer it to Radha Krishna.
-----
In India people try not to eat bread cooked yesterday. They daily cook chapatis and after offering they eat them hot.
From the point of view of Ayurveda wheat is heavy product. When it stays for many hours it becomes more heavy loosing fire in it and creates ama - dirt inside. But when it is hot right after the fire it is nutritious and easily digested.
---------------------------------
Your servant,