Naivedyam Sharing of what is offered to God without adding anything more.. offer made to subordinate deities etc,

The coconut offered to Ganapathy by way of smashing them in a stone in front of the temple is actually Underaka Bali.. offering to the bhoothaganas or demi god servants to Ganapathi..

So the broken pieces are not prasadams..

No one should pick them up and eat .. It is well known..

But then real life is different.

Recently when I visited the Pazhavangadi Ganapathi temple, one of my relatives offered twenty one coconuts for breaking, and the person in charge was actually returning a few pieces as prasadam..So ignorance of people has reached the worst levels.. No point in considering that issue.

The rules of pooja always insist that no further condiments or any other additions should be made to the prasadam received after naivedyam..

The rules are very clear..

But then we offer aval, pori etc as naivedyam and then add jaggery to make it eatable..

The rice offered as naivedyam in a temple is never eaten by a brahmin who is following the daily yajnas, like pitru, deva, bhoota, brahma, vaisvadeva and so on..The taking of food is itself is a yajna offered to God.. So food offered once should not be offered again

. Of course, food prepared in the same vessel kitchen and partly offered as naivedyam and remaining outside the quantity of naivedyam can be used as havis, food for brahmin etc..

But even the the Kavyam used for pithru yajna should be made separately..

The remnants of any naivedyam can be offered only to bhoothas.. and to animals of birds..

Of course food offered to Cow has to be pure.. cow is treated as a deity and not as an animal..( I would doubt whether it is permissible to offer even a plantain offered as naivedyam to god as offering to a cow.)

..

In fact I have had the occasion to translate almost the entire aahnika kandam of Smrithimukthaphalam of Vaidyanatha Deekshita.. which is the authentic text on the food habits and rules for all Hindus..

But I have my own perceptions as a social creature, which can be at great variance with what is written in Shastras..

We eat the food offered to God, Bhootams Pithrus and what not..

We would add onion and garlic, and may be non vegetarians their own additives to the food after offering to God and before us consuming..

Scriptures do not permit it.. but then it is our social practice.

For me the social habits and the commandments in scriptures are both subject matters for study, research and analysis, but I will never attempt to mix these two..

In my view it is wrong to mix religious ideas and practical social concepts as that can only lead to quarrel.

But I am clear about one thing. Food is the greatest gift to us from God.

We can say food is God itself

So we should never waste even a single speck of food.

If for some reason we cannot eat good thrn we should not prepare food at all.

And the world is not rich. There are billions across the globe who starve..And many starve to death.

So let the food go to them.

And deciding not to waste good is an indirect gift to all starving stomachs