Colourful Indians
The flower that we offer to the deity stands for the good that has blossomed in us. The fruits offered symbolize our detachment, self-sacrifice and surrender, and the incense we burn collectively stands for the desires we have for various things in life. The lamp we light represents the light in us, that is the soul, which we offer to the Absolute. The vermilion or red powder stands for our emotions. Everything done during worship has its own symbol.
Naivedya or Prasad
'Prasad' is the food that is offered to God in a typical Hindu ritual worship or Puja. It is our ignorance ('avidya') which we offer to the deity in a Puja. The food symbolically stands for our ignorant consciousness, which we place before god for spiritual enlightenment. After he suffuses it with knowledge and light and breathes a new life into our bodies, it makes us divine. When we share the prasad with others, we share the knowledge we thus gained with fellow beings.
Symbolism of Offerings
The Lotus
The holiest of flowers for Hindus, it is symbolic of the true soul of an individual. It represents the being, which lives in turbid waters yet rises up and blossoms to the point of enlightenment. Mythologically speaking, lotus is also a symbol of creation, sinceBrahma, the creator came forth from the lotus that blooms from the navel of Vishnu. It is also famous as the symbol of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) - the Hindu Right-wing political party of India, the familiar lotus position in meditation and yoga, and as the national flower of India and Bangladesh.
The Purnakumbha
An earthen pot or pitcher - called 'Purnakumbha' - full of water, and with fresh mango leaves and a coconut atop it, is generally placed as the chief deity or by the side of the deity before starting a Puja. Purnakumbha literally means a 'full pitcher' (Sanskrit: 'purna' = full, 'kumbha' = pot). The pot symbolizes mother earth, the water life-giver, the leaves life and the coconut divine consciousness. Commonly used during almost all religious rites, ans also called 'kalasha,' the pitcher also stands for goddess Lakshmi.
Fruits & Leaves
The water in the Purnakumbha and the coconut have been objects of worship since the Vedic age. The coconut (Sanskrit: Sriphala = God's fruit) alone is also used to symbolize 'God'. While worshipping any deity, a coconut is almost always offered along with flowers and incense sticks. Other natural objects that symbolize divinity are the betel leaf, the areca-nut or betel-nut, banyan leaf and the leaf of 'bael' or bilva tree.
