The Day's Work Begins

We must hurry home, now that devotions are over, and attend to breakfast -- tea and a cereal, either flat wheat cakes or a kind of puffed rice. As a Hindu boy or girl you would not "thank" God for your daily bread; instead you would offer it to Him. The idea is that if food, or anything else we use, is first offered to God (who is the real Enjoyer of everything), then that will be made holy for us. Offered food when eaten is called prasad. Now it is off to school, while Father prepares to open his road-side shop or till his fields, or perhaps ride off on a bicycle to a government office. Whatever the work, he will try to make it an offering to the Universal Spirit, as the Gita tells him.
If yours is a large family, as so many are, chances are that Grandfather or someone else has time to do in the family shrine what the priest does in the temple. This is called puja, ritual worship, and is the second daily duty, after the morning yoga or meditation, of the well-bred Hindu family. There are three more: honouring elders and ancestors; making provision for unexpected guests; offering something to the lower animals (especially to cows, and even to ants!)