Human beings, by nature, are in the habit of eating vegetarian foods to live, but after baking with fire, some people also eat non-vegetarian foods. In India, some people eat only vegetarian foods. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
How are the words diet and deity mutually linked in the Indian context?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Diet means the selective habits of food. This article highlights some of the special features of vegetarian food systems. Hence, alcohol or non-vegetarian foods are not described here. In India, people worship idols, and there are fixed codes of conduct for worshipping idols of Gods. Offering the food to God is a routine part of many families in India. It is a regular practice, and done even today, called as Nitya Naivedya. The worshipped divine idol is called as deity. Thus, diet and deity are always mutually linked. <\/p>\n\n\n
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In some houses, after placing the diet before the deity in the Puja room, the conch is blown. The God of Thirupati is referred to as Venkatramana or Venkateshwara. Sweet Laddu is offered as a diet to his deity, and it is called Naivedya. After offering and completion of reciting the relevant \u2018Manthras\u2019, the God, being pleased, gifts it back to human beings; it is called as Prasada and later distributed to all devotees present before him. So, laddu is the diet of the deity. The words of offering and all the codes and conduct of the Indian deity are already there in the Sanskrit language, in Vedic Verses and the team of priests used to sing them musically always. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
What is the Ekadashi diet system?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Some people observe fast during the Ekadashi days. The days are marked in advance in the calendars. Usually, the food system is controlled on such days. Some people do not take cooked rice on Ekadashi days. Instead, they take other healthy vegetarian foods. God Vishnu is pleased by observing the Ekadashi diet system. It is better to do Nama japa also on these days, and regarding the benefits of \u2018japa\u2019, a separate article is available on this website titled Japa Yajna<\/a> <\/em>(name chanting of God).<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n From Mangalore to Trivandrum, in coastal places, and in most of the Assam plain lands, people used to consume boiled rice. In Andhra, Varanasi and Karnataka, people used to consume white rice or raw rice. The reason is the calorific values of food and the living environments in nature. <\/p>\n\n\n\n People also use milk products, which are grouped with vegetarian food systems. In Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, sugarcane products are used more with wheat and its products. Some yogi people across the entire India are in the habit of living by eating the three leaves of the Bilva tree on Shivaratri days. Vishnu devotees do not consume rice products on Ekadashi days. In the Bengal and Assam regions, the diet consisted of many grains offered to the deities.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Details around food are mentioned in the Bhagavadgita Parva<\/a><\/em><\/strong> on this website. In the Bhagavad Gita, more about food classification is available, as told by Krishna. In the Mahabharata book, more about vegetarian food is available, as told by Bhishma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Milk and its products are treated along with vegetarian food in India.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Eggs, fish, chicken, mutton or meat are not generally included as vegetarian food. In addition to these items, some other items are also treated as unfit to offer to the deity on some occasions. Such items are papaya fruit, drumsticks, palm fruits, etc.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some people in India worship fire daily in the morning. They offer four twigs with a little cow ghee. It is done with the recitation of Sanskrit Vedic verses and an offering. There are various items of offerings during the oblations with various types of Vedic recitations, and the priests are experts in such rituals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n All are vegetarian food systems. No books are required during the rituals, but helpers may be required. Some Ayurvedic herbals are offered during special offerings to the fire, desiring some particular results. One article on this website, titled Graha Shanthi Homa and its significance<\/a><\/em><\/strong> about the offerings to the fire can be referred to.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\nHow do different places compromise with nature with respect to diet systems?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
What is said in the Bhagavad Gita about the food system?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Is milk a non-vegetarian food?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Which are not generally considered vegetarian food?\u00a0<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Which are generally offered as vegetarian food to the fire deity?\u00a0<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
How are food and devotion to God correlated<\/strong>?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n