god can manifest in anyform.. he manifest through deities also.but till date, i m not satisfied with devotional service by pouring milk , fruits over him.. okay i know we r showing him love. but my view is why is it necessary to show love through material goods? morever why is it necessary to pour milk? u can distribute it as prasad to those who neeed it because for all i know krishna is full in himself and morever he ll be happy seeing us serving his children.
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Hare Krsna
The milk or anything that is offered to Lord in the manner as stated like pouring it on them is done only for Abhishek and it is only during special days. At other times, it is offered so that Lord can honor it. Both the charnamrit which is poured on Lord and the offered items become prasad and are either distributed or are consumed by devotees. So it is not wasted at all.
Also, Lot of offered items are distributed to people in general (devotees/non-devotees).
Regarding the reason for offering of milk and other products to Lord by pouring, it is done only during special occasions like Lord's appearance days and that is the way of celebration of Lord's appearance in this world and is done to please Him. When Lord appeared in this world, His Abhishek was done by His parents and other devotees. It is one of the ways of devotional service and is done along with many other formats.
Hope this helps
ys
how about you look at it from a different (spiritual perspective).
give the milk, fruits or whatever to the needy and get pious credits
or
offer the same to the lord through abhisheka, offering etc and then provide the same to the needy. This will not only NOT incur you any karma and you are also not feeling bad about it :)
The relevance of worship is given in the vedas and where did the vedas come from, THE LORD himself. So, its not a made up tradition but lord himself wants us to worship Him with what He has given us. We own or create nothing so to speak. So what you provide to the needy is also provided by the Lord.
Krsna is sarva loka maheshvaram and as you rightly said He is full in himself but we are insignificant and He has made exception to accept our devotion in a simpler forms of flower, fruit, water etc. When used in his service, the same material things become spiritual.
Pouring milk on the dieties become amrith which is not milk anymore, but it is spiritualised that purifies us. same with fruits and other offerings.. hence its called prasad and it becomes prasad ONLY after offering it to the lord and hence it must be done.
Hare krsna
Hare Krsna Mataji,
PAMHO.
While praying to Krsna, when do you pour milk or fruits over Him? We do only on the abhishek days, you do everyday?
Our daily devotional service is arati 2-3 times a day, offering whatever we cook to Him before we eat, putting Them to sleep in night and waking Them up in the morning.
We are in the material world, whatever we have is all material, therefore we are praying with what we have. Regarding feelings, emotions and surrender to the lord, that of course is mandatory, or rather this process of offering is expected to lead us to total surrender, if we do everything with a lot of heart.
It is absolutely necessary to distribute prasad to everyone - needy or not. Abhishek water is offered as mahaprasadam to everyone.
I am a little confused about your question. How does taking care of Krsna's deity in the house interfere with taking care of the needy or feeding them....
Haribol,
Your servant,
Radha Rasamayi DD
hare krishna mataji.. actually my question why waste money on buying fruits and milk just to pour on dieties? we use that money to serve the needy.. :)
Hare Krishna! Dandavat Pranam!
There was this statement in a devotional movie (Tamil) - 'Bakti enbathu pagutharivin uchakattam', meaning 'Bakti is the highest form of knowledge'. Hence the actions can only be understood with complete knowledge. There are many aspects to the question and the story (from the Prabhu above) precisely captures the essence of 'ideal' answer. It is the 'love' with which the offering is made is what it counts and not the offering by itself.
Bg 9.26 — If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, a fruit or water, I will accept it.
Other aspect why 'probably' such questions are raised is, there is a notion that why waste food/fruits, when it can be given to the people who are in need ?
Answer would be 2 fold,
1. Its not waste, its an offering 'back' to the lord from whom everything is received and
2. the needs of the world can not be satisfied by individuals (with these offerings) for only the lord can fulfill the needs of the world - few needy people who the senses recognize around, is not the world.
This discussion is not to be mistaken that the needy people can be ignored but only to insist that the service or love to the lord can not be ignored, in the name of 'needy' people.
thank you so much... hare krishna..