This is not a commonly discussed topic . We Hindus do offer the God some PRASAD and then we eat it as if it is blessed by the God. There are famous stories about the Prasad. The story of Satyanarayana , where the KALAVATI in which she does the POOJA and then goes to see her husband who had gone out on business trip. In the hurry to go there she forgets to eat the PRADAS and so the God gets mad and her husband disappears in storm . Then when she goes back home and then she ate the Prasad, then her Husband appears out of storm. Then there is story of Namadeo . His father did the Pooja daily . But when he had some work to do ,he asked his son, Namadeo to do the POOJA. The mother made the food and Namadeo took it to the temple and offered the prayers and the at the end of the Pooja , he offered the PRASAD the plate prepared by his mother. He waited for the God to come and eat it. He closed his eyes and then the God did come and ate the food and then disappeared. He went home with empty plate. The father came home and asked the son if he did do the Pooja and Namdeo said Yes . The father wanted to have the Prasad that was offered ,as usually when he offered the food , he brought the whole plate at home. The son, Namdeo answered that there in none left as the God ate it. The father was not happy . He thought that the son ate it and ow blaming it on the God. But Namdeo insisted that the God actually came and ate it.
So the next day father asked Namadeo to do the same thing . The son did the Pooja and closed his eyes and offered the Prasad and the God came and ate it. The father was hiding and actually saw that and could nt believe. He said to the God that for last several years he has offered the Prasad and the God never ate it and how lucky is his son that the God himself came and ate it.
The question or the answer is devotion . The son BELIEVED that there was God in those statues and the God will come and eat it and so HE DID . The father had devotion , but did not BELIEVE that the God is in statues and so the God did not come and eat it .
My interesting observation is that we almost always offer sweet FOOD as Prasad . We do not offer spicy food as Prasad , if there is only one item. Yes when we offer the plate full of different items, we do include things that are what WE will eat for lunch - dinner and that includes all sorts of food items.
The people that are vegetarians offer food that is not only vegetarian , but also does not have onion or garlic. But people who eat meat will and sometimes do offer meat and onion and garlic. This is due to WE HUMANISING THE GOD.
Kalawati was punished as she did not do Pooja with full devotion and attention. She did the rituals mechanically and not devotion. The rituals are meant to to be steps for unconditional surrender. So she was punished. One may say what kind of God is this who punishes devotee. The answer is -the same God which gives you heath- wealth and fulfills your worLdly desires . When we humanize the God , it ACTS AS HUMAN BEING.
THE UNCONDIONAL DEVOTION LEADS TO GOD EATING PRASAD LIKE NAMADEO and just rituals lead to PUNISHMENT as happened to Kalawati.
