Directions for having food

Food should not be taken while standing or lying down. Food should be taken, sitting on the floor with folded legs and with bare hands, not with any utensils.

Sitting direction and its corresponding effects as mentioned in dharmic scriptures:

Facing east: Longevity

Facing west: Prosperity

Facing south: Fame

Facing north: Detrimental and should be avoided at all costs!

It’s been said in Srimad Bhagavatham that this body of ours is a temple and the Lord resides in its altar – the heart. It has also been said that this body is a chariot or a boat entrusted with taking the soul to a higher destination.

 

Just like how sincerely we respect the ingredients that is offered to God for worship, similarly before we consume the food that we eat, we should worship it, and we should only actually consume that can be offered to God for worship.

 

The kind of offerings Lord Shri Krishna accepts is clearly mentioned in Bhagavad Gita 9.26:

 

patram puspam phalam toyam
yo me bhaktya prayacchati
tad aham bhakty-upahrtam
asnami prayatatmanah

“If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit a water, I will accept it.“

The process of consumption of food itself is considered as a yajna (a ritual sacrifice with a specific objective) according to Bhagavad Gita 4.24:

Following these time-tested practices is for our well-being : physically, emotionally, psychologically and spiritually.