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Comment by amriksohata | Hacker News Reader

Lovely, this concept predates Sikhism and is called Prasad in Hinduism. If you go to many Sikh or Hindu temples they offer free meals.

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What does this thread have to do with Hinduism? Always love a shoe-horned hinduism comment. It's my favourite way to spot a hindutva member.

Also, no, it doesn't predate. Or at least, there is no such record of it. What are your sources?

Why the hostility? That’s not what I gathered from their comment. And isn’t it a known fact that quite a few religions stemmed from Hinduism, like Jainism and Buddhism? Just like the other 2 Abrahamic faiths stemming from Judaism.

Upvoted, but please be mindful of the guidelines here: “Be kind. Don't be snarky. Converse curiously; don't cross-examine. Edit out swipes.”

why the hate? this is what the khalsa extremists were like, many religions have free food to offer

As a practicing Hindu, even I feel your original comment is inaccurate.

There's free food, and then there's langar. The scale, quality and motives are just so different.

As non practicing Hindu, you do know know that free food is available in most temples? Example Anna Prasadam in Tirumala serves 70k each day.

thats not true, visit india, or even in the Uk there are many free food hindu outlets like go dharmic etc

It is not the same. The Sikh culture almost mandates langar. In Hinduism it's seen as an optional extra.

where does it say optional in hindu scriptures? this is just fake news

Wow. Hate is unwarranted. Tirumala Anna Prasadam is pretty good. quoting from press release “By the normal standards in the present kitchen 12 huge vessels are steamed to produce rice at the rate of five persons for one kg rice. “But we are geared to cook rice for one to two lakh persons during the Srivari Brahmotsavam at the rate of 400 bags of rice per day”

https://news.tirumala.org/nitya-annadam-free-meals-for-all-2...

more stats here

https://www.tirumala.org/SRIVENKATESWARAANNAPRASADAMTRUST.as...

Anna prasadam is pretty common thing in Hinduism. Read about Akshayapatra foundation which provides free mid day meals to 1000’s of children every single day!

Steve Jobs would walk 7 miles every Sunday to have lunch at Hare Krishna Temple

https://x.com/iskconinc/status/1305841447711563776?s=46

Prasad is very different to langar. Langar is a full meal, served to anyone who turns up, no questions asked. Prasad is often sweet, given in much smaller quantities (hardly enough to be a full meal), and almost never served hot.

Prasad, as far as I've seen my whole life (in India and the US), is a single bite of food, rather than being a full meal.

And it's usually the result of you having attended a prayer, rather than "we'll feed anyone a full meal"

The closest thing Hindus do is the Hare Krishna templates globally that also feed anyone who shows up.

Saying Prasada is similar to and predates Langar is like saying Sony Walkman is similar to and predates iPod.

Also temples are extremely diverse and probably less than the 1% of temples offer wholesome meal Prasada similar to Langar while a Gurudwara most certainly will offer Langar.

Every temple iv been to serve foods

Well, what rotten luck of mine!! I have visited a couple of hundreds and I can count exactly 4 that served full meal that's somewhat comparable to that of what's served at Langar. Rest did serve "food" yes but one or two bites.

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