Is Offering the morning food again at night for dinner correct?
A male devotee (Name hidden) asked like this:
“AGTSP PAMHO prabhuji. Dear prabhuji as said in our scriptures that we should not eat food which is not offered to krishna but in my house the food is cooked only one time ( due to my parent’s doing job ) for example in the morning roti,sabji,daal,chawal is cooked and then we offer to krishna in the morning before eating it but in dinner we eat the same food cooked in the morning and my parents say we shouldn’t offer morning meal to krishna because we have eaten it in the morning and also it is baasi khana (this is hindi term sorry prabhuji my English is weak ) . so in my case in the morning we eat food offered to krishna but dinner time we eat food without offering to krishna. So what is the solution prabhuji please give your guidance prabhuji”
REPLY:
Not necessary.
You cook 20 rotis in the morning with some dhaal.
You take 10 rotis and half the dhaal for the breakfast and keep the remaining 10 rotis and dhaal in the refrigerator and take it, heat it and eat for dinner.
(FOODS THAT SHOULD NOT BE OFFERED TO KRISHNA! READ HERE!)
There are two cases:
(i) You have offered all the 20 rotis and all the dhaal in the morning itself.
(ii) You have taken 10 rotis and 50% of the dhaal seperately in a seperate vessel and keep it in the refrigerator without offering to Krishna. You take the remaining 10 rotis and dhaal to Krishna and finish the breakfast. Then, you take the 10 rotis and dhaal from the refrigerator during the night time, heat it and offer it to Krishna and then honour it.
Right?
The first case is ruled out completely. That means, in case you had offered all the rotis in the morning, you should not offer it again. Double offering is not recommended.
So, you can offer all the 20 rotis and all the cooked dhal in the morning itself and then take ten rotis for breakfast and keep 10 rotis for dinner. Need not offer again before taking dinner.
The second case seems to be ok, but not advisable and can be avoided.
(What if doctor recommends Non veg foods for newborn child? READ HERE!)
Because though you have split the 20 rotis before offering itself and offered only 10 roties, the remaining 10 rotis would have become old one.
The food kept inside a refrigerator may look like uncontaminated, but, in reality, it will be contaminating slowly.
The important condition in food offering to Krishna is that we should not offer the food cooked long time ago.
Long time means, more than three hours.
In Bhagavad Gita (17-10), Krishna Himself says that the food cooked three hours ago is a thamo guna food.
So, you should not offer a food to Krishna that was cooked 13-14 hrs ago.
It will be a highly thamo guna food and Old food.
So, follow the first case.
(Is offering food to Krishna during Grievance periods allowed? READ HERE!)
Cook, offer all the food, split it and take in the morning and evening.
Above all, another suggestion:
Though you offer the whole food in the morning itself, it is not good even for our health to eat the food cooked in the morning.
It would have partly contaminated though do not get foul smell yet.
Please avoid this practice. This is my request to all the devotees who keep the food for more than 3 hours, not to do so.
Prepare the food afresh for breakfast, lunch and dinner and take with slightly warm condition.
In case you take lunch while going to the job or studies, that duration of about 5 hrs is unavoidable. However, avoid taking the food rich in nuts/ protein for lunch. It may contaminate soon.
Hope you will advise your parents to change the practice of keeping the morning food for dinner too.
It will take just 30 minutes to prepare. Advise them to prepare fresh food for dinner.
Are you now clear about Offering the morning food again at night for dinner?
(HOW TO OFFER FOOD IN ALL PLACES LIKE HOSTELS, HOTELS, RELATIVE HOUSES, TRAVEL, ETC? READ HERE!)