Annakut Festival at BAPS Swaminarayan Temple

We all have just celebrated the Deepawali Festival. In last article we have seen the significance of days in Deepawali Festival. One big day in the festival is Annakut. We offer thousands of veg. dishes to The God. Today I would like to share the Annakut Festival celebrated in Dhule BAPS Swaminarayan Temple. There were more than thousand veg. dishes, all cooked there in the temple. Devotees including women too, (in Bharateeya culture, we call women as Mother or Sister so not just women.) started cooking from midnight. 

The devotees work so hard to cook, decorate just for the sake of devotion, the love for Lord Swaminarayana. I can't explain the feeling of bliss, when we offer something to The God. The God accepts it with love. I have heard stories in today's world, that Lord Swaminarayana really accepts this Naivedya - The offering food to The God.

We have heard thousands of such stories, of saints in Bharat (India). The stories of Sant Meerajee, Goswami Tulsidasji, Bhagwan Ramkrishna Paramahans, Surdas...and many many more. This is not at all superstition. This is the purest and highest love, the highest devotion. 

Whenever we offer something to The God and then take it, it becomes Prasadam. Prasadam is divine. If it is the case of food, many of you must have experienced that the taste of food which is Prasadam of a temple or spiritual Ashram is very different. The simple food of Prasadam has a taste which can't be compared with any other food. I think this is the sign of existence of The God. This is not  the idol worship but the worship of The God. 

The reason behind this must be that The God is the purest or The God means The Purity. The God is beyond the conflicting mind. So whatever we offer to The God becomes the Purest, that's why the Prasadam must have this special taste. The God is Trigunateet, means beyond the Three Gunas as Satva, Raja and Tama. So The Prasadam also becomes Trigunateet. The follower of path of devotion means the path of Bhaktiyoga, offers everything to The God or the form of The God he or she loves most, may it be Lord Shrirama or Lord Shrikrishna or Lord Swaminarayana. And then accepts as Prasadam.

In Bharat (India) still people offers the food i.e. Naivedhya to The God daily. If you follow this tradition for some days, I am sure, you will find a beautiful and peaceful change in your life with a deep bliss beyond the material limits.

And now the time for the two videos from BAPS Swaminarayan Temple at Dhule, first is by my brother Dnyanesh and second is closely near Lord Swaminarayana by our friend and devotee Balaji. You will love to watch the awesome Sanskarbharati Rangolis and the Prasadam dishes.

To learn Indian veg. recipes, please refer my friend Vaidehi's blog, Chakli.

Please share your thoughts, nowadays I can't thank and reply you personally, but I can't tell you the value of your thoughts and presence here for me.