Namaskaram, I agree with Sriman Murali Sampath that what one eats is matter of personal choice. In the Gita the Lord says, "offer all that you do and eat." He does not put any conditions like no MacDonald french fries etc.. Ours is a religion of upadesa not commandments. Someone those outside sri sampradaya have no reason lecturing us, considering that their original motive in participating in this forum is to learn Sri Vaisnava theology. Soon we will have the likes of the Talibans and Fundamental Baptist instructing us on what to eat and offer God. First, I like to clarify that the term "demigods" was coined by Prabhupada. This word he 'borrowed' from Greek mythology and 'mis-used' it to refer to the devas. The term demigod is only applicable to someone like Arjuna. On the issue of mental offering, there is a story in the Srimad Bhagavatam, where a rishi mentally prepares an offering for the Lord. The rishi puts his finger into maenatlly visualised preparation and gets his fingers burnt. This story is an illustration on the power of an offering done mentally. On the issue of sattvic and non-sattvic etc. Hitler was a vegetarian but he killed millions of Jews, and minorities like homosexuals, gipsies etc. The leaders of a world famous Krishna cult, are/were 'pure vegetarian' who only partook bhagavad prasadam prepared according to 'shastric code'. But did that prevent them from molesting young children and having sexual affairs with their female and male disciples (which are still very rampant in that movement). Did their consciousness change from eating bhagavad prasadam? On the issue of killing silk worms and insects ....blah blah. Our sri vaisnava acaryas have not included insect/worms etc in the category of sentient beings, and for practical reason we do not try and emulate the Jainism concept of ahimsa. Rules and regulations are used by some 'groups' as a means to achieve the end Goal - Sriman Narayana. But for sri vaisnavas the means and the end is one and the same. Acknowledging, that we are not capable of following all these rules and regulations of bhakti yoga, our alvars and acaryas have showed us the easy path, Prappatti, as taught by Lord Krishna Himself in the Gita. Adiyen Manohar Ramanuja dasanudasan
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