Prasadam — What is it and why we should not eat anything else.
If you know some Hare Krishna devotees I am sure you have heard them talk about prasadam. But you may not be completely clear what prasadam actually is.
The literal meaning of the Sanskrit word “prasadam” is mercy. So when we say “Krishna prasadam” we are referring to Krishna’s mercy.
To understand what prasadam is we need to clear up a common misconception. Generally we are under the impression that we are the owners of the things that we posses and these things are meant for our enjoyment. And the materialistic persons are always trying to get more and more possessions and enjoy them more and more. That is the materialistic concept of life.
The actual fact is that everything is provided by Krishna therefore everything belongs to Krishna. We can take the things that Krishna provides and and use these raw materials to produce something but we have to admit that we can not make anything unless Krishna provides the raw materials. And we can not transform the raw materials unless Krishna gives us the intelligence how to do this.
It is something like if you employ a carpenter to build a nice bookshelf for you. You supply him the wood, you pay him for his labor, and in the end if the carpenter claims that the bookshelf belongs to him he is mistaken. It is your bookshelf because you have provided the carpenter with the raw materials and paid him for his labor.
So the concept of prasadam is to recognize the fact that everything belongs to Krishna and because these things belong to Krishna they should be used for Krishna’s pleasure. Although most generally when you hear devotees talking about prasadam they are referring to foodstruffs that have been offered to Krishna, prasadam can refer to anything that we offer to Krishna. In the aroti ceremony for example many different items are offered to Krishna including incense, a ghee lame, water, a flower, etc. So all of these things also, once they have been offered to Krishna and enjoyed by Krishna, become Krishna-prasadam. So there is flower-garland prasadam, ghee-lamp prasadam, incense prasadam and of course the food prasadam that we have all probably experienced.
So prasadam means Krishna’s mercy, and prasadam is the remnants of something that has been prepared for the pleasure of Krishna with love and offered to Him for His enjoyment. Because Krishna has tasted it or enjoyed it prasadam is not a material thing. Once Krishna tastes something it becomes transcendental. Krishna and Krishna prasadam is non-different. That means for example you can get the same benefits by honoring Krishna prasadam (eating Krishna prasadam, but devotees don’t say “eating prasadam”–it is honoring prasadam or respecting prasadam) as you could get by being personally present with Krishna face-to-face.
Prasadam is so powerful.
There is something wonderful about prasadam which is illustrated by this experience of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu related in the Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Antya 16.108:
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu said, “These ingredients, such as sugar, camphor, black pepper, cardamom, cloves, butter, spices and licorice, are all material. Everyone has tasted these material substances before. However, in these ingredients there are extraordinary tastes and uncommon fragrances. Just taste them and see the difference in the experience. Apart from the taste, even the fragrance pleases the mind and makes one forget any other sweetness besides its own.”
“Therefore, it is to be understood that the spiritual nectar of Krishna’s lips has touched these ordinary ingredients and transferred to them all their spiritual qualities. A fragrance and taste that are uncommon and greatly enchanting and that make one forget all other experiences are attributes of Krishna’s lips. This prasadam has been made available only as a result of many pious activities. Now taste it with great faith and devotion.” Loudly chanting the holy name of Hari, all of them tasted the prasadam. As they tasted it, their minds became mad in the ecstasy of love.
So there is some amazing transformation that takes place when something which is apparently material is offered to Krishna with love and devotion. I have experienced it also personally. Wondering where these amazing tastes come from and knowing that the prasadam was prepared from quite ordinary ingredients but experiencing truly amazing tastes…
So Krishna prasadam is a wonderful thing.
And why should we only eat Krishna prasadam and nothing else?
Because as I tried to explain before everything belongs to Krishna therefore everything is meant for the service of Krishna, for the pleasure of Krishna, so if we take things for ourselves, for our own pleasure and try to enjoy them without first offering them to Krishna then we become thieves. If we take something that belongs to Krishna and use it for ourselves then we have stolen it from Krishna and we become sinful thieves.
And there is another aspect to this, and that is karma. It is a big subject but simply put everything we do in the material world, good or bad, generates a reaction that we will have to enjoy or suffer in the future. So if we are performing these activities that generate good and bad karma that will force us to continue taking birth in the material world perpetually so that we can experience the good and bad karma we have accumulated in this life. So unless we can stop generating karma there is no escape for us from the material world.
And we can not stop eating, we can not stop performing activities. So what is the answer here? The answer is that if we work for Krishna there will be no karmic reaction generated by that work and if we eat foods that have been prepared with love and devotion and offered to Krishna that eating will not generate any karmic reaction. Rather this service to Krishna and eating Krishna prasadam will stop the karmic reactions that are stored up within our hearts from acting on us. The analogy which is given is that of seeds. When we perform an activity, good or bad, that sows a seed within our heart and when that seed grows and bears fruit then we will suffer or enjoy the reaction. Like with trees some seeds grow very quickly and some take a long time to grow. So the good or bad reactions to our activities do not immediately come. They are stored up in our hearts like seeds. This service to Krishna, chanting Hare Krishna and honoring Krishna prasadam is likened to frying the seeds.
If you take some seeds and fry them in oil over a high heat then even if you plant them and water them, the will not grow.
So the reason that if we are serious about advancing in spiritual life that we must only eat Krishna prasadam and nothing else is that if we eat foodstuffs which are not prepared by devotees and offered to Krishna with love then we will be eating only sin and we will be subject to the karmic reactions involved in that food. It will entangle us more and more in the cycle of birth and death.
So for most of us that means we have to learn how to cook for Krishna, because if we don’t cook for Krishna and offer the food to Krishna then how will we be able to get Krishna prasadam on a regular basis?
Personally I learned to cook for Krishna from a book called “The Hare Krishna Book Of Vegetarian Cooking” by Adiraja dasa. It contains traditional Hare Krishna recipes and my practical experience is that if you simply try to follow the instructions in this book and really try to do it to please Krishna, as an offering to Krishna, after you offer to Krishna the taste is truly amazing. The reason I learned from the book is a long story but I can guarantee that I have had many incredible experiences cooking recipes from this book and offering them to Krishna and then distributing the prasadam.
I hope you are well and happy in Krishna consciousness.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
About the Author
Madhudvisa dasa My first contact with a Hare Krishna was a most merciful Mataji in Oxford Street, London who sold me a "Higher Taste" cook book in 1984 while I was on holidays there. I started seriously reading Srila Prabhupada's books in Australia 1985 and by 1986 Srila Prabhupada had convinced me "Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead" and "we should surrender to Krishna." I joined the Hare Krishnas in Perth, Western Australia in 1986. Since then I have been chanting Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare, reading and distributing Srila Prabhupada's books and preaching as much as I can. That's my life and full-time occupation now really. I like it more than anything I've ever experienced before. Srila Prabhupada's books are so amazing... Even after reading them all many times they're still fresh and new. They are truly transcendental! That's it really. Now I'm just hankering to once again see the world chant Hare Krishna, dance and feast and float away in the ecstasy of Lord Caitanya's Sankirtana movement as it did in Srila Prabhupada's physical presence. Let the whole world drown in the ecstatic flood of love of Krishna!
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How to offer food to Krishna? →
Vegetarian Cooking – The Art of Indian Sweets →
The Hare Krishna Cookbook — 1972 — PDF Download →
Go vegan then you won’t have to be contributing to the unnecessary slaughter of dairy cows and prasadam will be 100% pure.
Devotees are not vegans, vegans are not devotees.
Krishna likes milk. Krishna is Markenchor, means the butter thief, so we cook for Krishna what He likes, not what we like, and Krishna likes butter, milk, curd. So that is what devotees like. Krishna Prasadam which includes lots of dairy products.
So a vegan can never become a devotee.
And prasadam always contains milk products…
Thank you so much Prabhuji. This post and every single words is truly amazing & it’s give me higher intellectual understanding. I hope applying this in my practical life I would be able to develop strong faith & conviction in Prasadam
This explanation of Prasadam, led me to realizations of great love and about devotional services. It was a transcendental idea, difficult to express, but I’m sure the feeling is known!!
On an unrelated note, there has been a lot of inquiry for the pocket Gita’s, with the correction to 18.44 as Prabhupada instructed, when can we expect that printing?
There is no plan to print a pocket gita at this time. If you like to pay for it, abotu $10,000, then we can print it. Otherwise how can we print it? Someone needs to pay for the printing.
Prasadam is Krishna Himself. When we honour Prasadam it’s like Krishna entering and thus purifying our whole body consciousness. I realized this while honouring Prasadam once by Srila Prabhupada and Krishna’s mercy. Earlier I didn’t know that there was no difference between Krishna and Prasadam.
Hare Krishna prabhu, please accept my humble obeisances, all glories to Srila Prabhupada! I am working in a project dedicated fully to His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, called “prasadarians” I am not expert in english as I am from Mexico so was having some complications writting and article on what is prasadam in english, so I came to your article and it is all clear, I mean it covers everything I was thinking to write, so I was wondering if can use your article and link the site “krishna.org” as the source of that section I am gonna put, the site is intended to teach not only recipes but how to offer, what is what, and the Hare Krishna philosophy on prasadam, and most important Who Is Srila Prabhupada, if so please let me know, Haribol! Jay Srila Prabhupada
Hare Krishna Krishn Kishor Prabhu
Yes Prabhu, of course you can use the articles from Krishna.org. If you want to translate to Spanish also feel free to do it.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
I am a student who is still studying in University. I usually buy vegetarian food from cafes and restaurant before my classes. In this case, is there any mantras i can say before eating food which could not be offered to krsna ?
Yes of course. The Hare Krishna Mantra purifies everything. Ideally we should only accept Krishna prasadam but if that is not possible for some reason then we have to maintain the body to preach. So the Hare Krishna mantra, that is the mantra you are looking for:
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
Hare Krishna Prabhu
Please accept my humble obeisances
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
I have offered bhoga to Srila Prabhupada many times but it seems it is not being accepted as there is hardly any indication of it being prassdam when I eat. I have heard that prasadam has a taste which is not like other food but even after offering many times I’m still waiting to get that taste which is not like the taste of other food. Could it be that I have done some offense because of which Srila Prabhupada is not accepting my offerings? Then how to rectify it?
Yes. Prabhu we are always making so many offenses. Actually devotee he does not do anything for his own benefit. He does everything for Krishna. So we have to learn how to live like that from Srila Prabhupada, we have to see how Srila Prabhupada lived his life, and not imitate him, but follow his instructions. We can’t expect that everything will happen overnight. Although it can if we were actually to surrender. But we are not very surrendered, that is the problem. And we are not living in the association of devotees, that is also a big problem. So we have many obstacles to overcome and there are so many offenses and imperfections in our service.
I was fortunate to join ISKCON in 1986, of course at that time it was quite crazy with the 11 bogus ‘zonal acaryas’ all pretending to be the new Prabhupada’s… But still it was less than 10 years after Prabhupada left our material vision and the echoes of Srila Prabhupada’s ISKCON could still be felt within ISKCON back then. But over the years ISKCON has gone so far away from Prabhupada and Krishna that nowadays there is practically nothing there which even vaguely resembles Prabhupada’s ISKCON.
So my luck is I got some good training, I got to live in the association of many great devotees for some years, and I really truly expereiced, and still do experience today, how Krishna prasadam is not ordinary food. There is truly a completely different nature to Krishna prasadam than there is to ordinary rice, dhal, etc. Even these days, sometimes, not always, I cook and make a half-hearted offering to Srila Prabhupada, and then I taste the prasadam and I am amazed. I am living alone so am only making simple things like rice and subji and dhal and kitery, etc, but sometimes I am just so amazed about the nice flavor of the prasadam and am wondering that this is just ordinary rice and dhal and how has this wonderful taste come?
So it works, but it depends on how surrendered I am. Obviously if I am not properly in Krishna consciousness then I can not really cook for Srila Prabhupada.
So anyhow the point is it may not be possible immediately. But we should know for sure that if we keep on chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra every day, following the four regulative principles, reading Prabhupada’s books and serving. Above these things we have to actually serve Prabhupada and Krishna. We spend all this time reading Prabhupada’s books and all the way through Prabhupada is talking about surrendering to Krishna and serving Krishna under the direction of the spiritual master. So we have to do it. We have to be always engaged in serving Srila Prabhupada and Krishna, 24 hours a day.
But it takes time. So do not be too anxious that everything should happen immediately all at once. We have to be very determined and stick to the process of Krishna consciousness very strictly but at the same time we have to be patient, knowing that it may take some time.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Prabhu!
Thank you very much. I will keep trying to serve Srila Prabhupada more and more.
I eat only vegetarian foods. But Prabhu, I have a doubt.
Recently, I came to know that some medicines have a lot of extracts from slaughtered animals. It is also a fact that they use fat from slaughtered animals(especially pigs, cows, etc.) to make certain gelatin capsules of medicines. Of course, whenever I get a cold or fever, I avoid artificial medicines, and instead I consume ayurvedic medicines (like neem, turmeric,etc.), and after that the cold gets automatically cured.
But, in the future, if we have a serious disease and if the doctors insist that we have to take medicines with animal fats in them, what should we do? It is indeed a difficult time in Kali Yuga.
Hare Krishna Kaushal
Yes. Difficult times. You have to use common sense. You are not offering the medicine to Krishna, you are using it for hopefully treating some problem in the body. So ideally we should try, as you suggest, to avoid these things, but sometimes it may be necessary. So common sense is required…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Prabhu
Please accept my humble obeisances
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Do we have to wash the dishes in which bhoga is offered to Srila Prabhupada before we can eat Prasadam?
Yes. Of course we do.
Hare Krishna!
I always eat Prasadam when I am in home.
There’s also no usage of Garlics and Onions in the food we prepare at home.
But when I am travelling, and when there’s no other alternative, unfortunately I have to
go to some hotel to eat. In India there are a lot of vegetarian hotels, but the thing is, obviously they don’t offer it to God, and secondly they use Onions and Garlics.
So how would one eat if he/she is travelling, Prabhu?(I mean to say, in a situation where Prasadam isn’t available)
You can get things, fruit, yogurt, milk products, etc, you can often cook yourself also, portable rice cooker for example, that is what I am doing at the moment, traveling and cooking in portable rice cooker and offering to Srila Prabhupada. That way I can have prasadam wherever I go.
But sometimes you may have to take something that is not offered to Krishna, but that will still have a bad effect on our consciousness. So we should just arrange so we can get prasadam, but if not then sometimes it may be necessary to take some non-offered food, but still that will be bad for us.
Hare Krishna Prabhu
Dandavat pranam
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Prabhu, can one become pure devotee or advance in Krishna Consciousness even if he is not fortunate enough to get Prasadam?
Yes. Of course, but he can cook for Srila Prabhupada and offer to Srila Prabhupada and Prabhupada will accept it and he will have prasadam. So where is the question of not having Prasadam. Cook for Prabhupada and you will have an endless supply of prasadam.
What do you think Prabhupada did when he went to the West, cry and say, “O there is no prasadam…” No. He cooked for Krishna and had an endless supply of prasadam for distributing to the people and for accepting himself.
Middle class families in India are wasting money on so-called education and eat boring food devoid of milk, yogurt, sweets, etc. and when their ‘educated’ sons/daughters get jobs they ignore them and enjoy with wife etc. Instead of spending money on arranging for delicious prasadam they waste their money in this way, their health deteriorates and even eating becomes a burdensome job.
I have to eat same dal, rice, roti, subji everyday and find it very difficult to eat.
Hopefully by Srila Prabhupada and Lord Krishna’s mercy I will also be able to get prasaadam soon.
Yes. Learn how to cook yourself. And cook very nicely for Srila Prabhupada and Krishna, offer it to Srila Prabhupada and Krishna, they will accept your offering if it is made with love and devotion and you will find the ordinary dhal, rice and vegetables have been transformed into something so delicious and so wonderful that it is amazing. God helps those who help themselves.
Hare Krishna Prabhu
Dandavat pranam
Yes Prabhu. All that you say is very true. Prabhu, can neophyte devotees who have just taken up Krishna Consciousness also perceive the divine taste of Krishna Prasadam?
Yes. That is how Srila Prabhupada spread Krishna consciousness all over the world. Prasadam. Most of us were captured by the divine taste of Krishna prasadam.
But the trick is to actually get Krishna prasadam which these days is very hard to find. Krishna accepts the love and devotion of the devotees who prepare the prasadam. It is not that Krishna is hungry and needs us to feed Him. No. Krishna is already complete and full in everything, but still Krishna is very happy to see some of his servants surrendering their time and energy to prepare a nice offering for Him.
So to get Krishna prasadam it has to be actually prepared for Krishna by sincere devotees who are actually cooking it for Krishna out of love for Krishna. It is not a mechanical thing that you can get some rice and chant some mantras and that is prasadam…
Of course actually we can not expect to offer anything directly to Krishna, that is not the way. We try to prepare some very nice offering for Srila Prabhupada, we offer to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Prabhupada will offer it to Krishna through the disciplic succession. So that way our offering goes to Krishna through Srila Prabhupada and the disciplic succession.
And for us Srila Prabhupada is much more merciful and much easier to please than Krishna. So we should be trying to make some nice offering to please Srila Prabhupada and if Prabhupada accepts it from us you can be certain that Krishna will accept it from Prabhupada.. Then you will have real prasadam and everyone, no matter how materialistic or impure, will be able to perceive that this is something very special, not ordinary food..
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Prabhu!
This is so good to know. Now I will try my best to have Prasadama and distribute it as well.
Good day, My dear friend of 5 months (I moved into a new apartment and we hit it off) is a devotee and subscribes to Prasadam and brings me delicious food every day. It is a culinary journey and I feel much healthier for it. I do miss garlic and onion which, as a Caucasian German living in Little India (Durban South Africa), I always use when cooking. Given the health benefits of onion and garlic please explain why it is rejected. I have many Hindu friends and they prepare their Curry dishes with garlic and onion. My friend works at the temple in Chatsworth twice a week and brings me the most delicious treats. She gifted me with a Masala Dabba on my birthday. I lost my best friend in 2005 and never thought I would find such a friend again. She is on tour in India for a month and I have sowed two beds of Marigolds for her. I miss her cooking. My favorite meals are on the non-grain days. Simple yet so tasty.
We cook for Krishna and Krishna tells us the types of food He wants us to cook for Him. So He doesn’t want garlic and onions. So we don’t put garlic and onions in the food we cook for Him. Devotee does not care about his own likes and dislikes. He is trying to please Krishna. So he cooks what Krishna likes, not what he likes.
Subject: Purity of Personal Earnings & Its Effect on Spiritual Progress.
Question: A person works in a company and gets his monthly salary, by which he leads his whole family. Generally we see that he earns legally and honestly. If we analyze the company’s whole annual income, we find that it is not free from tax evasion and many other corruptions. That is to say, the income thus generated is not pure in terms of law, ethics and religion. Actually, this is happening most of the cases wherever we may do a job or business. This is the reality. In such a situation, if the very person is a Krishna devotee and offers food stuff, purchased from his company income(salary), to Krishna with devotion ; would this prasadam be beneficial for his spiritual progress/Krishna consciousness? Hare Krishna, Probhuji, Plz Enlighten me.
Of course nothing is pure in the material world. The whole point is that when we engage the material energy in the service of Krishna it becomes purified, it becomes spiritual. So that is the point, if you eat food without cooking it for Krishna and offering it to Krishna then you will be eating only sin. But if you prepare it very nicely and purely with love and devotion and offer it to Krishna then Krishna will accept your offering of love and taste your offering and transform the bhoga into prasadam. And when you respect that prasadam that will be very favorable for your advancement in Krishna consciousness.
Hare Krishna!
I have a question, do we eat prasadam once a day and that is our only meal of the day or we eat from the same during the day? Sorry, I’m really new to this and honestly quite confused. Also, is there a minimum time we have to offer it for before we eat it?
One more thing, what to do if there isn’t any bona fide spiritual master near that I can serve and be guided by?
Thank you and many blessings!
We cook for Krishna, offer to Krishna and Srila Prabhuapda and the remnants are Prasadam. We can offer food to Krishna more than once a day. You can always read Srila Prabhupada’s books. He is a bona fide spiritual master and he is living in his books, just waiting for you to read them so he can give you personal direct instructions.
Is eating
1) ice cream
2) mushroom
3) chocolate ( contains caffeine)
breaking the regulative principles?
Currently unable to follow Srila Prabhupada’s instruction of accepting only Krishna Prasadam. Will at least follow the regulative principles strictly…
We have to only accept Krishna Prasadam. That is the point. Everything else will cause us to not be able to become Krishna conscious. So we just have to organize it, cook for Krishna ourselves, and then we will have Krishna prasadam.
The point is to cook the things that Krishna likes and offer them to Him. So we can simply follow in the footsteps of the great devotees and cook the same things they cooked and offered to Krishna. There are so many descriptions of the prasadam the devotees of Lord Caitanya were cooking and offering to Krishna in the Sri-Caitanya caritamrta for example. So we can cook those same preparations and offer them to Krishna.
Ice cream is a stupid non-digestible food. We do not offer Krishna cold milk. Because cold milk is understandable. What to speak of frozen milk.
Mushrooms, while not actually against the regulative principles, grow in the dark and are fungus which is really not nice and we never see the great devotees in the past offering Krishna mushrooms, so at least I would not offer mushrooms to Krishna.
Chocolate, whether it contains caffeine or not, is certainly addictive and therefor not suitable. It is also not suitable because it is a grain cooked by non devotees.
You know we have to be honest. If we are honest we have to follow the rules. If we are not prepared to follow the rules we have to admit we are not devotees and can not become devotees.
So the thing is if we want to become Krishna conscious we have to only accept Krishna prasadam. There is no alternative to this. It is very easy to cook and offer to Srila Prabhupada and Krishna. You only need to eat once a day and you can cook a nice offering in less than an hour. So where is the problem. Just cook for Krishna, offer the bhoga to Krishna, and you will then have Krishna prasadam to honor. That is what devotees do.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Yes Prabhu, in the long run, I understand that following Srila Prabhupada’s instructions by bits and pieces is definitely not enough. Of course, I to have a very intense desire to dedicate my 24 hours to Krishna consciousness. But I am really not able to do so at the present moment. So now all I am able to do is chant 16 rounds, read 1 hour and follow 4 regulative principles. And i shall give no excuse for this. But there is no doubt that as soon as I get the opportunity I shall engage in Krishna consciousness 24 hours a day….
Very good news. Keep on doing it and try to always increase more and more Krishna consciousness. More and more service… Soon you will be doing it 24 hours a day…
Hare Krishna!
I am uninitiated and have been trying to practice Krishna Consciousness for a couple of months now. The two things I can do with consistency is chant the holy names and hear Krishna Katha. In my desire to relish more I’ve started to prepare myself to become vegetarian, but have found the idea that even eating vegetarian food that is ‘bhoga’ can result in karmic consequences to be seemingly impossible for those of us who don’t live near a temple and/or are not living the monastic life. How can I possibly achieve eating exclusively prasadam with a 40-plus hour per week job while raising 4 children and maintaining a wife? Also, Prabhupada seems to put great emphasis on encouraging people to give up meat eating as a prequisite to an authentic spiritual life, and, at other times says that it doesn’t matter because even eating unoffered vegetarian food can incur sinful karmic consequences. This is discouraging for a neophyte like me. Giving up meat eating I believe I can eventually do, but, I’m not confidant that I will always be in favorable circumstances that will enable me to partake of prasadam. I can think of a myriad of situations where being able to take prasadam can be problematic given how busy and unpredictable my family life can be. It seems like a catch-22. Does complete dependence upon chanting the holy name have the power to negate the karma incurred by eating bhoga or would this be considered an offense to the holy name? Here I’m reminded of the pastime with baby Krishna and the demon Putana, and how in Krishna’s mercy though Putana’s offering of milk was with the intent of killing the Lord He still accepted her offering and granted her liberation. How much more merciful will He be to those of us who are trying to love Him by always being engaged in chanting His holy names! I have no faith in my limited abilities, but, because of this Lila I have faith in Krishna’s causless mercy. Is this the proper way to perceive my inability partake of prasadam consistently? Thank you for your time in hearing this!
Your servant,
– Tony Sova
Hare Krishna Tony
Yes. It is difficult of course. The main point is chanting Hare Krishna at least 16 rounds a day and reading Srila Prabhupada’s books and if you do this gradually all the other points will follow.
It is not difficult to cook something yourself and offer it to Srila Prabhupada and Krishna. So if you do this then you can easily get prasadam wherever you are.
Of course sometimes it is not possible. So in those cases it is obviously better to eat vegetarian food than to eat meat. The regulative principles are no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication. So we have to follow the regulative principles at least. And the regulative principle that we have to vow to follow is ‘no meat eating’ which includes fish, eggs, etc. So we have to follow this and ideally we should only accept Krishna prasadam. But if there are times when prasadam is not available is it not breaking the regulative principles to eat some vegetarian food.
Many things you can offer. Like fruits and milk products. So if you get some yoghurt and dried fruit and nuts for example you can offer them to Krishna and make it prasadam. But we can not offer things that have been cooked by non-devotees. But still if nothing else is available we have to eat something to get strength to preach. So if you have to then eat some vegetarian foods but don’t break the regulative principle ‘no meat eating.’
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Prabhuji!
Please accept my humble obeisances.
Does the whole cooking pot become prasadam if Krishna is first offered bhoga from it and the plate which is offered to Krishna is called mahaprasadam? Or every member of the family has to offer the bhoga separately? I have heard that if one plate is offered to Krishna then the whole pot becomes prasadam and the plate which is offered is called mahaprasadam but I want to be sure.
Hare Krishna!
Hare Krishna Aman
Yes. When you offer the prasadam plate the whole cooking pots are also offered. So after the offering it is all prasadam, on the plate and in the pots. Often the prasadam from the plates is mixed back in the pots, or it can be kept separate and called ‘maha prasadam’ which is done in temples, but really, even in the temples, the ‘maha prasadam’ is very often mixed back in the pots and the whole offering is called ‘maha prasadam’. So distinguishing the prasadam on the offering plates and the prasadam in the cooking pots is really not necessary. It is all prasadam, Krishna tastes it all, that is if it is actually cooked by devotees with love and devotion for Krishna.
Krishna actually accepts the love and devotion of the devotees preparing the bhoga for Him. Krishna does not really care about the food. Krishna is not hungry. But Krishna is very happy when one of His devotees spends his time and energy preparing a nice offering for Him and offering it to Him with love.
So you can have all sorts of grand rituals and ring lots of bells, etc., but if the cooking is not done for Krishna with love by devotees, Krishna will not accept it…
So the main thing is to cook it for Krishna with love and devotion and offer it to Krishna. ..
I am interested to know if unprepared, organic foods of any vegetarian kind may be donated to the Krishna temple or its followers to be given to and or prepared for giving by them under proper guidelines if I do not do anything to the raw food, myself, but just donate it to be prepared and/or given. The reason I would like to do this is that some Krishna consciousness followers have generously given me some food, and so I would like to return the gesture.
Hare Krishna Richard
Yes. That is the system. It is the idea that if we visit a temple or visit a devotee we should not go empty handed. So we should give some gifts that can be offered to Krishna. As far as foodstuffs are concerned we offer Krishna things prepared from fruits, vegetables grains and milk products. So any items in these four groups can be offered to Krishna at a temple or to one of His devotees.
But you do not offer prepared food to a temple… you offer things the devotees can prepare and offer to Krishna.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna
Can you please tell why Krishna didnt come to rescue the girl who was being raped and killed mercilessly in the bus, in mumbai, though He claimed that He will come whenever there is Adharma taking place? In India everyday girls and women are being raped and killed, what is Krishna waiting for to come?
Hare Krishna Prasant
We are all sinners here in the material world. Krishna does not come for saving us like that. We are here to suffer because of the sins we have committed in the past and we are here to enjoy the reactions of the good things we have done in the past in this life and in previous lives. Krishna tells us this world is dukalayam asasvatam, it is a place of miseries and it is temporary. So the miseries are always here in the material world. Do not be surprised that there are so many miseries. This is a miserable world, a place of miseries.
This world is not a nice place. So do not be surprised when bad things happen. In this material world bad things are always happening.
So the point is to realize this material world is a bad place and there is another place, a good place, the spiritual world, the kingdom of God. So we should leave this bad place and go to that good place. And the process to do this is chanting:
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
Hare Krishna Prabhuji!
Can Prasadam be offered to Srila Prabhupada alone even if Krishna or Panch-tatva deity is not present? I have only Radha-Krishna deity and I do not think I will ever be able to worship Radha-Krishna properly in this life….Prabhuji please tell me what should I do? And please also tell what should I do with the Radha-Krishna deity? Should it be thrown into mother Ganges or Yamuna?
Hare Krishna Aman
Yes. You can offer prasadam to Srila Prabhupada without the presence of other deities.
Picture is also deity. So you can get a picture of Panca-Tattva and put that on your alter.
As far as the Radha-Krishna deity I can not say. I am sure you will be able to worship Them properly at some point in time. So seeing they are already there maybe you should just look after them to your best ability.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Prabhuji!
Thank you very much for this reply. There is a mistake in my question…I wanted to ask whether I can offer ‘bhoga’ to Srila Prabhupada alone and not ‘Prasadam’. Please tell me can I offer bhoga to Srila Prabhupada without the presence of other deity until I get the picture of Panca-Tattva? And I I will take care of the Radha-Krishna deity now and not throw it into the Ganges or Yamuna as you have given me assurance that I will be able to worship Radha-Krishna deity in future.
Hare Krishna!
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Yes. We always offer bhoga to Srila Prabhupada.
The idea is that we offer everything to Srila Prabhupada and he offers it to Srila Bhaktsiddhanta Sarasvati, his spritual master, and he offers it to his spiritual master, and in this way the offering goes to Krishna via the disciplic succession.
So actually really we don’t offer anything directly to Krishna. We offer everything to Srila Prabhupada and he offers it to Krishna through the disciplic succession.
Anyhow Krishna is always everywhere even if we don’t have the picture. The picture is to remind us of the presence of Krishna, but Krishna is already everywhere.
But we should have the Panca-Tattva picture and the Prabhupada picture at least.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare krsna Madhudvisa prabhu,Today mostly food prepared all over the world especially in India are not natural-They use more chemicals to preserve,enhance the Freshness of Crops and they raise the Crops which breeds from the ground polluted by Artificial fertilizers like Urea,Pesticides etc..
This bad addiction to artificial chemical sprays almost nulled Vit B12 , many natural Minerals and vitamins .Many Vitamins,Minerals are precipitated by constant spraying of Fertilizers and Insecticides.
Ancient Indian culture was very nice.They used only cowdung instead of Urea and got a very better quality crops.My Grand parents told that ,if we eat even only one handful of Rice ,Body feels energetic.But now even if we eat more Food for 3 times a day,still there is a feeling of fatigueness.Cow’s milk -(Best food for Brain) contains naturally all Vitamins,aminoacids and minerals, is also now scarce in india
Now how can we cope with Vit B12,Lysine and methionine which are not found in Present vegan foods.Their deficiency making vegans weak,dull .
How can we avoid this Vitamin and aminoacid Deficiencies by adhering to Prasadam diet?Can u further clarify me on this matter?
Hare Krishna Sachin
Yes. The foods are becoming more and more contaminated.
But we are not Vegans. Yes. Vegan diet is not good. But our diet, which includes milk products, is very perfect. So we have the best diet. Grains, milk products, vegetables and fruits, and when we prepare nice offerings from these ingredients and offer to Krishna Krishna purifies it.
So we will still get the nutrition and benefits by accepting Krishna prasadam.
But still we have to try and get the purest and natural and uncontaminated things we can for offering to Krishna.
So all we can do is make our best effort to get the best things available and offer to Krishna.
Also eating more food causes fatigue. So we do not want to overeat.
So the point is we just have to manage with what is available. Ideally we should have our own self-sufficient communities where we grow the food and milk the cows and offer Krishna this food and make sure it is very pure and natural.
But if we do not have this situation we just have to make the best use of a bad bargain.
Devotees are not weak and dull, vegans may be weak and dull, but if you accept proper Krishna prasadam you will get all the nutrition you need.
The main thing is to avoid the chemicals and poisons as far as possible. Simple things like filtering the water to get rid of the fluoride and other chemicals we have to do. And we have to not eat anything cooked by non-devotees.
So if we just accept prasadam that is made from the natural ingredients that will reduce a lot the chemicals and other nasty things that are found in processed food.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
I attend North Sydney temple.Hare Krishna.Enjoy pradadam especially sweet rice
I have tried “prasadam” prepared by “devotees” many times, Denmark, England, Italy. I must say I have never felt/tasted anything devine, delightful or blissful in their food preparations. I guess saying a few words or mantras won’t make the food prasad, even when they are carried out by devotees. How do you even know for sure that they are true devotees nowadays who follow the rules? Honestly, my own vegetarian food brings happiness and joy to all my friends and family when I cook. I simply think of Krishna when I cook. Then offer the food for Krishna first and then let everyone participate afterwards. This works wonders.
Hare Krishna Vinod
Yes. You are very correct unfortunately. Most ISKCON “prasadam” does not taste at all divine. But real prasadam does taste divine.
It is because they have disconnected themselves from Srila Prabhupada and in the process have disconnected themselves from Krishna.
To be part of ISKCON you have to obey the GBC and following many of the GBC orders means you must reject Prabhupada’s orders… That is the problem with ISKCON.
So if you have full faith in Srila Prabhupada’s books and you read his books and follow the instructions you find him giving you when you read his books and if you are chanting Hare Krishna and following the four regulative principles when you cook for Srila Prabhupada and Krishna and offer it they will accept and it will become Krishna prasadam and will taste divine.
Krishna prasadam does not taste like ordinary food. I never go to ISKCON temples but I did go over the weekend because a friend took me and yes, the food they served there was far from divine and obviously was not accepted by Srila Prabhupada and Krishna…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
I eat prasad in Kiev ISCKON temple and it both tastes divine and helps me to control my senses.
Hare Krishna Vinodji,
Krishna consciousness is sreyas . ultimate benefit not immediate benefit .It takes time for you to appreciate the importance of bhakti or spiritual process followed.Its internal process. you take prasadam once and krishna ll make u remember to come in touch with him once more.
Following standards and procedures set by prabhupad is more important either in cooking or offering.
Hare Krishna Prabhuji…
my parents are the worshipper of Krsna as well as demigods. On nav-ratri, a 9 days of Durga, they offer food to her and on janamastami they offer food to Krishna. Are they also considered under non-devotee?
They don’t offer food daily but only on festivals and some occasions. should I honor that pasadam when they offer to Krsna and when offered to demigods?
One more question my neighbor belongs to Sri Sampradaye and they are dikshit but they eat onion n garlic and drink tea outside home, tyhe told me that they took permission from their guru and worship durga ji also.. should I honor the prasad they bring to me??
Hare Krishna Akansha
You can not love many. Krishna says the worshipers of demigods are fools in Bhagavad-gita. So one who is Krishna devotee does not worship demigods.
Better you become pure devotee of Krishna yourself and cook for Krishna yourself and invite your neighbors and parents to your place and feed them with the prasadam you have offered to Krishna yourself…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
“No one can stop the activities of the mind or the senses, but one can purify such activities by changing the account.”
TEACHINGS OF LORD CHAITANYA, 1968, 1st Ed., p. XVII
I am a vegetarian but I eat onion and garlic. After coming in contact with some ISKCON members, attending their programmes and reading Srila Prabhupada’s books I have decided to prepare and offer food (without onion garlic) to Krishna first and then honour it.
But the problem is I can’t cook food with the present utensils. They are contaminated. Moreover I can’t buy a whole new set of utensils now. Please suggest me some purification methods.
Hare Krishna Suchitra
We have to make the best arrangement we can to serve Krishna. It may not be 100% perfect but if we try our best Krishna will appreciate that. So if the utensils are stainless steel they can be purified by washing well, if possible you can wash with cow dung also, but even if not possible you can wash and scrub with the stainless steel pads so it is all nice and clean and shiny and you can use for cooking for Srila Prabhupada and Krishna.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna! All glories to Srila Prabhupada! That photo of the offering is beautiful! Do you sell beautiful silver offering dishes like that? Or do you know where I can find them?
We don’t sell at the moment but we should…
Problem is it is very expensive and shipping can be difficult because couriers do not like to ship lots of silver in one package.
Hello, my name is Michael Overzat and I am a faithful devotee of Swami Prabhupada… My wife is suffering from irritible bowel syndrome and she is also pregnant… She says that eating eggs makes her feel better. In a sense, I believe her since she has a disease… What do you all think?
Hare Krishna Mike
Your wife is not a devotee of Krishna because devotees are not thinking of things that make them happy. They are always thinking of doing the things that make Krishna happy. Devotees do not do anything for themselves. If something that is very painful to the devotee makes Krishna happy then the devotee will gladly do that thing for Krishna but if there is something that the devotee enjoys greatly but Krishna does not like it the devotee will reject that thing and never do it.
So thing is you have to convince your wife to become devotee of Krishna. The thing is we can never be happy by trying to please ourselves. The only way we can be actually happy is if we try to please Krishna.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Thank you Madhudvisa prabhuji.lm very thankful to you the way you have guided me for krsna prasadam.
Thank you for the knowledge that you provide!
I also offer to Krsna the food I give to my rescued guinea pigs and the wild rats that live underground in my lovely orchard garden. Sometimes my guinea pigs pass one of the rats when I let them run free outside, and they are all friendly together. Even the local cats are friendly with them. Perhaps its the effect of the prasadam they eat? Thank you Madhudvisa for the lovely articles you write. Hare krsna
Hi
There is a temple near my house which I regularly visit. They offer prasad everyday. Sometimes the prasadam is so nice, that I stand twice in the queue to get one more round of it. But I always eat it with devotion. My mothet says we should not take prasadam more than once. Is it wrong to do this even if there is plenty of prasadam available for all and the distributor devotee is happy to give it one more time?
Hare Krishna Viji
Your mother is correct in the sense that it is not good to overeat. But in the sense of taking Krishna prasadam also it is good to accept Krishna prasadam until you are satisfied.
The point is that we should only accept Krishna prasadam. So it is better to take more prasadam rather than go away feeling hungry and then eat some rubbish bhoga that is not offered to Krishna.
Young people can eat more and digest it. So you can accept prasadam to your satisfaction but also be aware of your mothers warning not to eat too much. Eating too much, even eating too much prasadam, is not good. But eating too much prasadam is not bad also….
So you need to use your common sense on this. It is not wrong to stand in the queue for a second plate of prasadam. It is wrong to go home and eat some rubbish not offered to Krishna because you did not satisfy your hunger with the Krishna prasadam…
Krishna has very mercifully given us His prasadam so we should take the Krishna prasadam and be totally satisfied. Not that we just take a few grains of prasadam and go home and eat all rubbish. That is not the point. The point is to become satisfied taking Krishna prasadam. But at the same time be mindful of not eating too much.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Is Sri Krishna-consciousness and Lord Vishnu-consciousness one and the same? explain how?
How is Christ-consciousness different?
Ajay
Hare Krishna Gupta
Yes. Visnu is an expansion of Krishna. So Visnu is not different from Krishna. So Visnu consciousness and Krishna consciousness are the same.
The difference is that Krishna only exhibits Himself fully in the Krishna form. Visnu is also Krishna but in the Visnu form He is not fully manifested. So it is only possible to worship Lord Visnu in the mode of awe and reverence. You can not become the friend of Lord Visnu like Arjuna became the friend of Krishna on the same level. You can not become the lover of Visnu like Radharani became the lover of Krishna, etc. So Krishna is not fully manifest in the form of Visnu.
As far as Christ-consciousness Srila Prabhupada accepts Lord Jesus Christ as an empowered incarnation of Krishna. Which means a pure devotee of Krishna. So Lord Jesus Christ is not actually teaching ‘Christ consciousness’, he is teaching God consciousness or Krishna consciousness.
So the God consciousness taught by Lord Jesus Christ in the Bible is the same as the Krishna Consciousness taught by Krishna in the Bhagavad-gita. However it is not so completely described in the Bible. For the complete description we need to read Bhagavad-gita, Srimad-Bhagavatam, etc.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna! Thank you for your enlivening news letters. I really enjoy your articles and your analogies are easy to remember for preaching. This is the first time I have ever clicked to the link and read lets and replies. So some one is asking about Vishnu and Krsna and I appreciate everything you said about how Vishnu is not fully manifested. However, to illustrate the point you said something like “you can’t love Vishnu the way Radharani loves Krsna.” (I can’t look back at the exact quote right now). But I find this misleading because, as far as I know (and please correct me) we can’t love Krsna the way Radha loves Krsna. You could say Radha can’t love Vishnu the way she loves Krsna. Then there’s that story from CC where the gopis ignore Lord Narayan, (and I realize you may not want to go too far in a reply).
Actually you are making up things that I did not say…
So how to answer when the whole thing is your concoction?
Hare Krishna,Dandavat pranama.
All glories to Guru &Gauranga.
Prabhuji its excellent informative article will help to progress in Krishna consciousness.Thank you very much for sending me this article.
Regards
Anand
Hare Krishna Shweta
Yes. Once you have offered the tulsi to Krishna it is Krishna prasadam, Krishna’s mercy and you can take it.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krsna Madhudvisa dasa,
i have a question. kindly help me out please.
If I have been invited to get lunch from my daughter and her family, they are not devotees.
What can I do?
Can I offer that food in m heart before eating?
Thank you, Hare Krishna
Hare Krishna
You should try to convince your daughter to become a devotee of Krishna. That is the duty of the mother, the father, the guru, the teacher. To instruct the dependents in such a way that they become pure devotees of Krishna. So you need to read Prabhupada’s books and understand the science of Krishna so you can teach it to your daughter and her family.
It would be better if you invite them to your house and have kirtan and reading from Prabhupada’s books and then distribute sumptuous Krishna prasadam…
what we do..? according to all, we are here for krishna, we only need to chant hare krishna and hare rama forever, till than we change the our body. bt what we do, we live in this world where we have family, rules, we have to earn for eating for living.
what we do.. ?
No, no, not just chanting Hare Krishna. We have to surrender to and serve a pure devotee of Krishna, a bona fide spiritual master. He will keep us busy 24 hours a day serving Krishna. That is what we need. Constant practical engagement serving Krishna under the direction of a pure devotee of Krishna that is the way.
We have to always remember Krishna and never forget Krishna. The only way that is possible is if we are always engaged in serving Krishna. There will be no problems for eating and sleeping. Krishna will supply everything we need. If the family is also interested in becoming Krishna conscious then we can all become Krishna conscious together and that will be wonderful but if the family is not interested then we are not interested in the family.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna!
I am also very fond of Krishna’s prasadam, especially that are served in Iskcon temples, truly gives you the divine feeling.
Thank-you.
Thanks for the newsletters am very glad. but I am New in Krishna how do I become good devoted one to hary Krishna please show me the way forward.
thank you
Read Srila Prabhupada’s books. That is the way forward in Krishna consciousness.
Hare Krishna
Thank you for your words as I look forward to reading your knowledge about lord Krishna. Why are onions & garlic not apart of food prepared?
Because they are in the mode of passion.
It does not really matter ‘why.’ To become Krishna conscious we have to surrender to Krishna and to surrender to the self-relized spiritual masters in the disciplic succession. We do not have such a great estimation of our intelligence to think that we are capable of understanding why we should do every little thing. No. We simply hear what we should do from the self-realized spiritual master and do it. That is all. They say “only accept Krishna prasadam.” So we will never eat anything that is not prepared by devotees with love and offered to Krishna. And they say “You can only offer food to Krishna that is in the mode of goodness and garlic and onions are in the mode of passion so you can’t offer garlic and onions to Krishna.” So we are surrendered to Krishna, we are surrendered to the pure devotees of Krishna, so we accept their instructions. That is all. That is the way. We hear what to do in the disciplic succession from Krishna and we follow that.’
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Prabhu,
I tried to post this comment before, but I don’t think that it got posted. Anyway, I wanted to tell you, that as a student, I can’t cook my own food, but my mother cooks it for me. Now it is a sin to offer Krishna that food which has been cooked by non-devotees. So please guide me on this, Prabhu. How do I offer food to The Lord ?
Thank you.
Hare Krishna Kaustubh
It is an offense to offer Krishna food that is cooked by a non-devotee.
One answer to this is to get your mother to become a devotee and get her to offer what she cooks to Srila Prabhupada and Krishna. And then your problem is solved. It sounds like you have an Indian mother and this idea of cooking for Krishna and offering the bhoga to Krishna and distributing Krishna prasadam to the family is the Indian culture. Your mother’s mother probably did this or if not her grandmother. So if you just talk to her a bit about Krishna and offering the bhoga to Krishna because Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and Krishna is the owner of everything so Krishna should be the enjoyer of everything also. So we should not cook for our own enjoyment or for the enjoyment of the family, we should cook for the enjoyment of Krishna. So you can try like this and I think there is a good chance you can get your mother to cook for Krishna. It means strict vegetarian and no garlic, onions, etc, and Krishna is the first to taste the offering and after it is offered it is distributed to the family as usual.
And the great benefit is it will then be Krishna prasadam, not bhoga, and the whole family will benefit greatly from this respecting of Krishna prasadam.
If she will not do this then you can cook for Krishna yourself. The cooking is not different. Cooking is the same as your mother and everyone else is cooking now. But instead of cooking for yourself or cooking for the family you cook it for Krishna, offer it to Krishna and then it becomes Krishna prasadam, Krishna’s mercy, then we can respect the Krishna prasadam…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Prabhu,
I’ve tried on several occasions to convert my family to the path of Krishna, but neither my mother, nor father have much interest in it. My elder brother has openly declared his atheism. I barely can even mention the Lord to them, as whenever I do, they foolishly think I will leave everything to later become a sannyasi. I have thus failed miserably. I don’t think she will cook for Krishna.
Me cooking is not possible either as I have high school & tuition classes throughout the day. Even when I come home I have to study as there is a lot to study to get entrance in med school.
I apologize for complaining this much. I shall try to follow your instructions to the best of my ability. Thank you so very much for them.
Hare Krishna.
Hare Krishna Kaustubh
Yes. We live in difficult times. People have become so materialistic. It is to be expected. Most devotees face the same challenges. Very often the family members are against Krishna consciousness. Most people are completely materialistic and can not understand why anyone would want to serve Krishna. They are completely bewildered by maya. So do not worry too much about trying to make your family Krishna conscious. Worry about becoming Krishna conscious yourself. The more Krishna conscious you become yourself the more potency you will have and as you become a pure devotee of Krishna people around you will become automatically devotees simply by associating with you.
So the point is in our current situation we do not have much potency to make anyone else Krishna conscious. So we have to concentrate on becoming Krishna conscious ourselves.
As far as food. Although we can not actually offer food cooked by non-devotees we can pray to Krishna and thank Him for providing it. We can remember that Krishna is the taste of water when we drink water. And really it takes very little time to cook. You can cook yourself a very nice offering for Krishna in 30 minutes. I am sure you can find 30 minutes out of your busy life each day to offer something to Krishna, then you will be able to honor Krishna prasadam.
We have to get our priorities right. If we are not Krishna conscious then our whole life is totally wasted.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Prabhu!
I have got the information from some elder members of my family that, as you mention above, this culture which involved offering bhoga to Krishna first was current until just a few generations back. But now it is completely lost. If I say I will offer food to Krishna people will think I have gone mad. Even cleanliness is degrading steadily. When I have to eat food not offered to Krishna then it is very clear to me that it is very very sinful food and I must stop eating this somehow or other. Because of material affection I do not say anything to them but in my mind I know I have to eat only Krishna Prasadam.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Hare krishna!
I am reading all your letters and stories regularly.
I have 1 question to ask you. That in our religion, we used to talk about10 incarnations of Lord vishnu to save the world. but in srimathbhagavatham, 64 incarnations of Lord vishnu have been mentioned. in that also they have mentioned Buddha as one of the incarnation but not lord krishna. Buddha found the religion Buddhism which is different from our religion. So how come we can accept him as one of the incarnation?
Why two different types of opinion about Incarnations of vishnu? which one is true? Either 10 or 64?
If we accept there are 64 incarnations, why Lord krishna name is not included?
If we accept 10 incarnations please mention about all those incarnations to me. Eventhough this question is not related to discussion I just want to clarify this from people who knows well about our religion.
I will be highly obliged if my doubt will get clarify!
Hare Krishna! Hare Krishna!
Hare Krishna Rajalakshmi
There are unlimited incarnations of Krishna. It is described that the incarnations of Krishna are like the waves on the ocean. Unending and always coming.
So when for example Jayadeva wrote his Das-avatara-strotra, the Ten Incarnations, he has picked out ten of the innumerable incarnations of Krishna and sung about them. Not that he is saying there are only 10 incarnations of Krishna. He is just giving ten of them to give some idea. Similarly with the list of 64 incarnations. It is just a list of 64 prominent incarnations picked out of an unlimited number of incarnations of Krishna. There is also Visnu Sahastra-Nam, which is one thousand names of Lord Visnu. So you can make a list of any number of incarnations of Krishna.
In Jayadeva’s list of ten incarnations although Krishna may not be listed as one of the ten in every verse Jayadeva has mentoned Kesava and Kesava is Krishna, and also Jagadisa, and Jagadisa is also Krishna. So he is mentioning Krishna in every verse.
As far as Lord Buddha being an incarnation and preaching a different ‘religion’.
Firstly we do not follow a ‘religion’. Krishna consciousness is not a ‘religion’ as it is defined in the English language. In English the word religion is defined as a ‘kind of faith’. So in this understanding one can change his religion. One can say at one point that he is a Christian and later on he can change his religion and then say he is a Hindu or a Muslim. But Krishna consciousness, sanatana-dharama, is not at all like this. Krishna consciousness is our eternal occupational position. It is unchangeable. Krishna consciousness is our original consciousness, our original and unchangeable characteristic. Krishna consciousness to us is like wetness is to water. There is no way you can separate the wetness from the water. Water is wet and that can not be changed. So the characteristic that can not be separated from us is that we render service. If you analyze everyone you will find that ultimately everyone is serving someone else. Even the president of the country has to serve the country. Everyone is serving. So the perfection of this serving is to serve Krishna. So this activity of serving Krishna is the sanatana dharama, or the eternal occupation, of everyone.
So this is not ‘religion’ because you can change your religion. But you can not change the fact that our eternal occupation is to serve Krishna. Everyone’s eternal occupation is to serve Krishna. It does not matter what ‘religion’ the profess to be. The Hindus, the Muslims, the Buddhists, the Christians, all of them, there eternal occupation is to serve Krishna. This can not be changed. This eternal occupation of all living entities of serving Krishna is like the wetness is to water. It is the eternal characteristic of the living entities that can not be separated or changed.
But anyhow as far as the ‘religion’ of Buddhism is concerned, the incarnations of Krishna often appear at times when the religious principles are not being followed properly with a mission of reestablishing the proper religious principles. So at the time of Lord Buddha’s appearance the whole of India had become very demonic and everyone had turned into meat eaters. So for the meat-eaters there is no question of being able to understand the subtle spiritual concepts. That is not possible for a meat-eater. So it is a big problem. India, which is supposed to be punya-bhumi, the land of pious activities, had turned into a land of meat-eating demons… So Lord Buddha appeared in this situation. Now you can not really preach about God to a demon. If you tell a full on demon to surrender to God and serve Him that will make the demon very angry. Angry at you and angry at God. So that is no good. So instead of trying to preach to the people “Surrender to God…” Lord Buddha preached “There is no God…” and the demons were very, very happy to hear this and so they worshiped Lord Buddha, who is God. So you see in this way Krishna in his incarnation of Lord Buddha tricked the demons into worshiping Him, and because He is God the demons where tricked into worshiping God…
The real fundamental teaching of Lord Buddha is ‘ahimsa parama dharma’. He says the only religious principle is non-violence. So the purpose of Lord Buddha’s appearance was actually to stop the animal-killing in India. As a result of Lord Buddha’s preaching the whole of India gave up so-called Hinduism, because the Vedic scriptures allow animal-killing in sacrifices, and accepted Buddhism worshiping the incarnation of Krishna as Lord Buddha and following his preaching of “ahimsa parama dharma” they all stopped killing animals and became vegetarians.
So the appearance of Lord Buddha was for this purpose: to trick the demons into worshiping God and to get them to stop killing animals and eating meat.
This set the stage for the appearance of Sankacharya some hundreds of years later who reestablished the authority of the Vedas in India. But he was not able to establish it using a very correct philosophy. Because the people were still athiestic Buddhists, even though they were now vegetarians and worshiping Lord Buddha, still they were not ready to surrender to Krishna. So Sankacharaya misrepresented the Vedas, made it appear impersonal and very similar to the Buddhist philosophy so it could be easily accepted by the Buddhists. So Sankacharaya’s preaching was extremely successful and practically everyone in India accepted it and switched from Buddhism to followers of the Vedas, or followers of Sankacharaya’s misrepresentations of the Vedas.
So India then was following the Vedas, but a misrepresentation of the Vedas. Then a little more than 500 years ago, Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu completely defeated this impersonal philosophy of Sankacharaya and established the correct personal conception of Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Lord Caitanya makes it very easy for us fallen demons to take to Krishna consciousness.
So you see it is a grand plan and to achieve this grand plan it may happen that some incarnations of Krishna may not very directly preach but the purpose is always to ultimately establish the religious principles that will create an atmosphere that is conducive to the development of Krishna consciousness.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
You explain things so nicely and pleasantly, I am so happy to finally be able to fully understand. Thank you for giving us this invaluable knowledge so that we may use our senses to serve Krishna. Haribol!
Hare Krishna!
Is it sinful to throw sinful food? I mean can we throw food prepared by my mother? So is it sinful to eat it as well as throw it? Even the dog is not ready to eat it. So the only option left is- either we throw it or eat it. My mother does not let me enter the kitchen since she knows I want to prepare prasadam. Thus is it sinful to throw food that is not prasadam?
Eagerly waiting for your reply.
Thank You.
AGTSP
Hare Krishna Divine
It is not sinful to throw food that is not prasadam.
You can also offer Krishna things like water, fruit, milk, yhogurt, nuts, etc. Things that do not need cooking.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Jay shri krishna,
Ive been told that Garlic and onions should not be eaten or offered to Shri Krishna.
Do we know the reason for this please?
Many thanks and kind regards
Rekha
Hare Krishna Rekha
It is not that we have to ask for the reason for everything. The reason is that Srila Prabhupada, our spiritual master, has taught us this, so we have to surrender to and accept the teachings of our spiritual master. Not that we are always asking ‘why this, why that?’
What can we understand in our conditioned material condition? Krishna consciousness is unlimited. It is beyond the ability of us to comprehend all the points intellectually. So we simply have to surrender to a bona fide spiritual master and have faith in and follow his instructions.
Of course the reason we can not offer garlic and onions to Krishna is that garlic and onions are in the mode of passion and we can only offer foods that are in the mode of goodness to Krishna. And as devotees will only accept Krishna prasadam, food that has been offered to Krishna, they will never touch onions and garlic.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
por favor enviar material en español
We only have English…
Very good article,hare krishna
Hare Krishna Madhudvisa ji,
Thanku for telling us the exact and real meaning of prashadam ……….
but as i found it is not feasible for student like us to prepare prashadam for krishna is there any other way
to offer our service to krishna…i mean can we offer fruits ..is this will be accepted by krishna……
with sincre regards
Priyanka
Fruits will be accepted by Krishna but if you actually want to become a devotee then you can not eat anything which is not cooked by devotees and offered to Krishna. So I do not think you can live on just fruits. So you will need to cook some grains and other things as well and offer them to Krishna and this way you can make nice offerings to Krishna and there will be no need then for you to eat anything that is not Krishna prasadam. If we eat anything that is not offered to Krishna, not Krishna prasadam, that will be very detrimental to our advancement in Krishna consciousness.
So if we are at all serious about Krishna consciousness we have to make some arrangement to cook for Krishna so that we do not have to eat anything that is not prasadam…
So instead of saying that it is not feasible for you to cook for Krishna because you are a student just cook for Srila Prabhuapda and Krishna, just do it, just arrange it. You have to, otherwise you will not be able to become a devotee…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna,Prabhu.
A woman from the temple where I used to go said that soya,fake meat and mushrooms cannot be offered to Krishna because it resembles meat. I have always abstained from these three things in addition to onions,garlic,chives and the rest of things.
Is this true? Or can one offer these items of food to Krishna? I should think one can,soya is a nice source of protein.
We offer Krishna the things He likes to eat. There is no record of any devotee ever offering Krishna fake meat. I think you do not understand that we are supposed to be purchasing things for the purpose of cooking them and offering them to Krishna. We are not interested in ourselves. We are not cooking for ourselves. So it does not matter what we think. The best way is to see what the acharyas have offered to Krishna and what Mother Yasoda was offering to Krishna. And they never offered Krishna fake meat.
You can not please Krishna by offering Him fake meat. Why do you ask such silly questions?
We have to get the idea that we are cooking for Krishna and Krishna does not accept meat. And fake meat? This is crazy…
Yes,I realise how stupid it sounds,believe me, but there is a such thing as fake meat which is basically soy products shaped to look like chicken legs etc.There are people who cook this and want to offer it but it seems nonsensical to me. I don’t eat it and I do try to cook for Krishna and not for myself but my real query was: There was a Mataji who would add onions or garlic or sometimes both of them to prasadam after offering it to Krishna.Said it’s good for indigestion or something. Surely this must be wrong. Onions and garlic are supposed to be tamasic aren’t they?
I haven’t eaten onions,garlic,mushrooms,chives or any of those “pungent’ foods for a long time and I feel the spiritually clean feeling that comes with only honouring prasadam.
Hare Krishna Ambika
Yes. Adding onions and garlic to prasadam after it has been offered is wrong. These foods are unofferable and a devotee only takes Krishna prasadam. A devotee will not accept anything that is not offered to Krishna. So the onions and garlic are unofferable and unacceptable for any devotee to eat.
It doesn’t matter what they are. They are not offerable to Krishna and a devotee only works for Krishna. He does not do anything for himself. Devotees just accept Krishna prasadam, that is all.
So such a thing is completely unacceptable and completely in maya. We have to be prepared to accept these small austerities like only accepting Krishna prasadam, following the four regulative principles [no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication] and chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily. As devotees we are servants of Krishna and Srila Prabhupada. All our actions have to be in the service of Krishna. We simply accept Krishna prasadam and are very satisfied with that.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
hare krishna madhudvisa ji…
OM TAT SAT represent supreme lord krishna this what i have understood reading bhagavat gita. I generally offer food or water, flower to krishna by chanting hare krishna maha mantra and say some line in general sentence (esp. when alone as it takes time) and i also include OM TAT SAT. in public place , when there are many people around me i just chant maha mantra and say om tat sat (does not take much time). Is it correct way? will krishna take my offerings? please clear it to me.. have i really understood the word OM TAT SAT and its usage.
hare krishna
Hare Krishna Sonika
“OM TAT SAT” is an invocation of the Supreme and it is mentioned in the Bhagavad-gita also:
From the beginning of creation, the three syllables-om tat sat-have been used to indicate the Supreme Absolute Truth [Brahman]. They were uttered by brāhmaṇas while chanting Vedic hymns and during sacrifices, for the satisfaction of the Supreme.
PURPORT
It has been explained that penance, sacrifice, charity and foods are divided into three categories: the modes of goodness, passion and ignorance. But whether first class, second class or third class, they are all conditioned, contaminated by the material modes of nature. When they are aimed at the Supreme-om tat sat, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the eternal-they become means for spiritual elevation. In the scriptural injunctions such an objective is indicated. These three words, om tat sat, particularly indicate the Absolute Truth, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In the Vedic hymns, the word om is always found.
One who acts without following the regulations of the scriptures will not attain the Absolute Truth. He will get some temporary result, but not the ultimate end of life. The conclusion is that the performance of charities, sacrifice and penance must be done in the mode of goodness. Performed in the modes of passion or ignorance, they are certainly inferior in quality. The three words om tat sat are uttered in conjunction with the holy name of the Supreme Lord, e.g., om tad viṣṇoḥ. Whenever a Vedic hymn or the holy name of the Supreme Lord is uttered, om is added. This is the indication of Vedic literature. These three words are taken from Vedic hymns. Om ity etad brahmaṇo nediṣṭaṁ nāma indicates the first goal. Then tattvamasi indicates the second goal. And sad eva saumya indicates the third goal. Combined they become om tat sat. Formerly when Brahmā, the first created living entity, performed sacrifices, he spoke these three names of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The same principle holds by disciplic succession. So this hymn has great significance. Bhagavad-gītā recommends, therefore, that any work done should be done for om tat sat, or for the Supreme Personality of Godhead. When one performs penance, charity, and sacrifice with these three words, he is acting in Krṣna consciousness. Kṛṣṇa consciousness is a scientific execution of transcendental activities which enables one to return home, back to Godhead. There is no loss of energy in acting in such a transcendental way.
Still we do not offer Prasadam like this with OM TAT SAT. If you need a very short prasadam offering mantra like we use before drinking water, etc, it is sri visnu, sri visnu, sri visnu.
We offer to Srila Prabhupada, and he offers to Krishna through the disciplic succession. So to offer Prasadam we have to chant at least Srila Prabhupada’s pranam mantras, then the Panca-tattva maha-mantra, then the Hare Krishna maha mantra. And the best thing is to chant each matra three times.
The full prasadam offering prayers is five mantras. After Prabhupada’s pranams we chant: “namo maha vadanya krsna prema pradayate krsnaya krishna caitanya namae gaurae tvasi namah” and “namo brahmanya devaya go brahmana hitaya ca jagathitaya krsnaya govandaya namo namaha” So it is five mantras in total and it is best to chant each mantra three times. I know you will think this will take a long time but it doesn’t. Only about 5 minutes or less.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Phabhu..:)
Its my pleasure to indeed consume prasadam…:)
It also makes me so delightful to see the volunteers providing food to many institutions in the name of prasadam..:) its a really well organised job..:)
Hare Krishna
Hare Krishna Prabhuji
thank you for the wonderful teachings! I would like to better understand practically how to make prasadam out of the things in my life other than food. In the article, it is said that everything is owned by Krishna and therefore everything we do should be offered to Krishna. I have difficulty understanding how to apply this to my job and the many other activities i do on a day to day basis. I would also like to understand how to keep my mind fixed on Krishna while doing my usual daily activities.
THank you!
You go to work to get money. The way to make your work spiritual is to use that money in the service of Krishna.
could you tell that in some family its very hard to accept the food as recommended specially non use of onion and garlic because they dont understand that why its is probihited
hare Krishna
thanks u prabhu ji for alert about prasadam …
i have a one doubt related to prasadam .. if any one takes some food and at that time he remember god(lord krishna )and takes food …
hence food from outsider become useful or equal to prasadam
NO. Only food cooked by devotees and offered to Krishna is accepted as prasadam.
We can not offer anything not cooked by a devotee to Krishna, that is an offense.
We need to adjust our lifestyles so we can accept only Krishna prasadam if we really want to become Krishna conscious.
HARE KRISHNA MADHAVA DASA PRABHU,
I AM VERY HAPPY BY GETTING NECTOR WORDS FROM YOU, I WANT TO PROGRESS IN THIS SPRITUAL PATH BECAUSE I FOUND THAT THIS WILL REMOVE MY MISCONCEPTIONS………
THANK YOU PRABHU…..
Hare Krsna Prabhu! I’m only a boy of 17 & hence dependend on my family for food, clothing & shelter! In India garlic & onion are common household materials sed in cooking & also everyone who prepares food tastes if it tastes right! So then how am I able offer it Krsna & Srila Prabhupada? Because I don’t force them to partake my food! But then what do I do as I always want to share whatever I partake as I consider Krsna very dear to me!! Please help me!!
Yes. It depends where you are in India. In Vrindavan they do not use garlic and onions in cooking because they know Krishna does not like it. Realistically as devotees of Krishna we can only eat food cooked by other devotees of Krishna and a devotee will never cook with onions and garlic because he is cooking to please Krishna and he knows Krishna does not like garlic and onions. So ultimately you will probably have to start cooking your own offerings and offering to Srila Prabhupada and Krishna and in that way you will be able to actually get Krishna prasadam. And everyone will like it even without garlic and onions because it is Krishna prasadam…
Hare krishna
Thanx for the very informative mail regarding prasadam that does not mean only prasad but the love and mercy of krishna. can u plz also tell and enlighten me by telling ”HOW TO PRAY KRISHNA?”because in today’s world we humans r not capable to control our senses and its become difficult to forget the tensions and senses and to pray. and also i want to ask do i offer prasad to krishna that is not made up of onion and garlic. As god told that my devotee if not capable to do many things but if manages to offer every thing that he/she tks it can also make krishna happy? so i’m confused about it.
You can pray to Krishna best by chanting:
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
and no you can not offer foods containing onions and garlic to Krishna…
If you want to become Krishna conscious you have to arrange things in your life so you can chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily and follow the four regulative principles [no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication] but if there is some imperfection Krishna is in your heart and He knows your feelings and desires so if you have a genuine desire to serve Krishna He knows that.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Prabhu. I have some questions. Can I ask you ?
That is what this website is for….
Hare Krishna Prabhuji,
Is it necessary to cook Krishnaprasadam without Onions and Garlics? If yes why?
Shashank.
Yes of course it is. Krishna doesn’t eat onions and garlic and will not accept any offering you make if you put them in. Obviously if you put in onions and garlic you are not cooking for Krishna and He will not accept the offering and it will never become prasadam….
Thank you Prabhuji for your answer. I want to know how does Krishna accept food.
Krishna can eat the food simply by looking at it. Krishna can eat with His eyes.
Thank you Prabhuji.
Hare Krishna.
Your servant,
Shashank.
hare krishna ,
very nice article on krishna parsadam..
kind regards
beena
Hare Krishna Prabhu,
Thank you Guruji,,,
Your Krishna katha articles are really nice….I always prefer to read your
articles..
My Humble Obeisances to you Madhudvisa dasa, i am working as cook and i cook meat can i wear tulsi neck beads (kunti mala)
Hare Krishna Mohan
Krishna’s devotees sometimes get caught in all sorts of strange occupations. And although it would be better if you were not involved in cooking meat, still Krishna explains to Arjuna in the Gita that in every occupation there are some imperfections. Arjuna was a ksatriya, a warrior, and his duty was to fight and due to the strange political situation which caused the battle of Kuruksettra Arjuna was in the difficult position of having to fight with an opposing army which consisted of his friends and family members… So it was a very difficult thing for Arjuna but Krishna told him that in every occupation there are imperfections and just because there are some imperfections it does not mean that one should give up his occupation.
So because you are forced to cook meet as your occupation does not mean you can not be a devotee of Krishna. But you have to be pure yourself and not eat the meat and chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily and follow the four regulative principles and read Srila Prabhupada’s books. And if you do this Krishna can make any arrangement in your life. Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He can do anything. So if you want and He agrees he can reorganize your life so you don’t have to cook meat any more. But in the meantime just keep on practicing Krishna consciousness and do your duty.
I can not really say but I can say if I was in your position I would continue to wear the tulsi neck beads. You know ultimately Krishna and Krishna’s pure devotees know our hearts. And if our heart is pure or at least we are trying to purify our hearts then even if we get caught in some difficult occupation in the material world Krishna knows our desire is to serve Him. So my advice would be to just keep wearing your tulsi neck beads. All devotees put on their tulsi beads and do not take them off. We all go to the bathroom and pass stool and still are wearing our neck beads. Whatever we do we are still wearing our neck beads. So the thing is whatever we do has to be for Krishna. So if you are forced to cook meat then the money you earn from the job if you are using that in the service of Krishna then that will purify things. But if you are using the money for your own sense gratification then that will be a problem.
So my suggestion would be to become very seriously Krishna conscious and keep wearing your tulsi neck beads and see what arrangements Krishna makes in your life…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Is this a form of ritual? After reading Bhagavad-gita 9.20-9.25 , it seems to me that only meditation on Krishna is valid to achieve samadhi. Please help me understand. I am new to all of this.
No. Cooking for Krishna is not a ritual. It is cooking for Krishna. And if you actually make a nice offering with love for Krishna He will come to your house and eat it and His great mercy is that you will find still the remnants are there on the offering plate and that is maha-prasadam and if you honer the maha-prasadam then you will make unlimited spiritual advancement.
It is a truly real thing and if you can get real Krishna prasadam cooked by a real devotee of Krishna for Krishna and really offered to Krishna with real love and devotion you will find the experience to be sublime. Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu in his mood as a pure devotee of Krishna while tasting Krishna prasadam expressed His surprise. He said: “This the same ordinary rice, dhal and vegetables that we are accustomed to, but somehow it has taken on an extraordinary taste. It must be that Krishna has tasted it and that is the extraordinary taste…” So the transformation from ordinary food into Krishna prasadam is a real and tangible thing that one can actually taste and perceive and the improvement in one’s consciousness that occurs after tasting prasadam is also something that one can directly perceive.
Of course now, with the temples flooded with pseudo-devotees [materialists pretending to be devotees for some material benefit] who think that offering food to the Lord is some kind of ritual and whose offerings are never accepted by the Lord, it is becoming very difficult to find real Krishna prasadam. But if you become a very sincere follower of Srila Prabhupada and devotee of Krishna and if you yourself cook for Srila Prabhupada and Krishna you will be able to personally experience the wonders of Krishna Prasadam…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Thank you for clearing that up.
hare krsna madhudvisa dasa guru ji!
namaskaram!
previously we dont have Bhagavadgeetha in our home,we use to have several misunderstanding problems ammong mom dad we three brothers(am the middle one)so to avoid all these n to establish peace in us my mom’s sister brought n gave to mom on somebody saying that where this holy book is present in any house there no problems will occur.but no body in our family were ready to read it,coming to me i use to have really big faith in god especially vishnu(even my family members use to say n make me think about demigods)cause i use to get attracted to his bodily features that which really inspires me in my paintings (by god’s grace i use to paint a lot from my very 8th month of my birth)!
so somewhere i heard that,”any yantra should be installed first n with the great mantras that is to be recharged so that it can work more effectively!”
so many months that geeetha was left as it is with out reading so to avoid all the problems i treated this geetha as the yantra n the recharging is the opening n reading of that great book i got some confidence n interest n took that book n started reading that book n completed for one time,i recently started again n completed 17th n 18th n 1st parts i do want to complete again with the reason that if this book is read for number of times surely the theme in it will be understood clearly!im just trying to get that clarity cause i dont have any spiritual guru n i use to utilize to watch tv where ever the geetha pravachanam is telecasted!
everybody in my family use to critisize me n i’ll try to say that am getting the right knowledge in listening to all these pravachans but they do the same!
my mom use to understand me but sometimes…..!
what should i do guru ji!?
when i started reading all these articles in this krishna.org site n geetha i use to explain all these things to my mom as she is showing some interest towards krsna!
she use to felt very happy about all the stories n glories of krsna!
guru ji! from my childhood onwards in our home my mom use to cook n prepare prasadams to all kinds of demigods n even to that small cute little krsna!
and do that prasadam cooked by my mom that which includes to all demigods can be considered as the prasadam to krsna?
or else what is the duty of my mom? n also what is the duty of mine?
to attain the spiritual advancement in our lives!
please answer to this guru ji!
Just keep reading the Bhagavad-gita and Srila Prabhuapada’s other books, chanting the Hare Krishna mantra at least 16 rounds a day and strictly follow the four regulative principles [no illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication] and everything will be OK. Never neglect these things or you will be lost. Prabhupada will guide you and answer your questions in his books and Krishna will guide you also from within your heart.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna…You have a very nice article on Prasadam…However, there were times when I went to take prasadam, the food didn’t taste good at all…It was quite bland and everything..So, I ate the sweet dissert instead.
Can you please explain why the prasadam didn’t taste nice???
Because it is not prasadam…
So many times so-called devotees cook something and serve it up and claim it is prasadam but Krishna has not accepted it at all. Mostly they do not even cook it for Krishna. And in many cases it is not even cooked by devotees. Very often these days they have paid cooks preparing the ‘prasadam’. So they are not cooking for Krishna, they are just working at a job to get money like any other karmi.
So if the ‘prasadam’ does not taste nice it has obviously not been prepared with love and devotion and it has not been accepted by Krishna. There is a special taste that is added to prasadam when it is accepted by Krishna that makes even ordinary things like ordinary rice and dhal and subji taste extraordinary…
As it is very hard to find real devotees these days, and real gurus, then naturally it is also very hard to find real prasadam. Because only a real devotee can prepare an offering for Krishna that He will actually accept. So only the real devotees actually have access to Krishna prasadam. Krishna will not accept something if it is prepared by someone who is not really making it for Him and who really does not have any love and devotion for Him…
That is why so much prasadam these days tastes bad, or at least just tastes like ordinary food. Because it is just ordinary food…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
lord madhudvisa please answer my humble question that if my mother cooks food for me and if before eating it i oofer it to lord krishna then does i become krsna prasadam or do i have to cook myself?
If your mother is a devotee of Krishna then you can offer the food she cooks to Krishna, but offering food cooked by non-devotees to Krishna is an offense and Krishna will not accept such offerings. It is not that Krishna is hungry and needs the food. What He is really accepting is the love and devotion that went into preparing the food for Him by the cook. So unless the cook has actually cooked the meal for Krishna with love and devotion for Krishna and then you offer it to Krishna there is nothing for Krishna to accept.
Hi Madhudvisa, thanks for explaining this prasadam so clearly. Recently I went to hear one devotee artist speak called symarani, anyway I had to leave as they were about to serve up the prasadam. This devotee, she insited I take some home, so because of her persitance I did. Which of course I enjoyed. My question is this; if I do not eat prasadam even for some genuine reason, is that displeasing to Krishna? Also you mentioned about karma in one reply etc. Surely this must be irrelevent to “loving Krishna”. Love krishna I would have thought, and leave the rest up to Him. Krishna is love? Then surely one should not get entangled with this negative karma theory! I guess from what I understand reading through the Srimad Baghavatam that there seems to be different levels of love. Is this right? A little love for little devotion and obedience and great love for total surrender , love and obedience, is this true? Hari Bol….Steve.
Hare Krishna Steve
The thing is if you eat food that is not prepared by devotees and offered to Krishna with love then you are eating sin. That is described in the Bhagavad-gita. So with every mouth full of non-prasadam you are implicating yourself more and more in so many karmic reactions in the material world and with every mouthful of this non-prasadam it becomes more and more difficult for you to understand Krishna.
So that is why devotees will not eat anything except Krishna prasadam. Because if we eat things that are not prasadam then that will be very detrimental to our advancement in Krishna consciousness.
Hari Bol dear Madhudvisa dasa probhu,
Jay prasadam, it was a wonderful subject. And I share it with all my friends . From my experiences it is just love ,love, love,…. For Krisna that give taste to everything we cook. Any time I make a prasadam and my friend ask me how to make it? I give them the recepi and tell them just pour all your love to Krisna into it and then offer it with your heart. Ask srimati radharani to help you, then it is finished….
So thank you again ,
Jey jey Sri radhe,
Your servant, bhn Noushin
Hari Krsna,
Have a question,my older Son’s are not Devotee’s and they eat dead animals.
I read that a person who offers this to Kali in her most grotesque form it then is not so sinful for them.
There is nothing I can do about their behaviors.
Would this be better for them to offer in this way,since they cant stop what they are doing?
Thank You
Hare Krishna Mataji
If they do not want to offer to Krishna why will they want to offer to Kali? All you can do is become a pure devotee yourself and when your sons are visiting feed them with very nice Krishna prasadam and give them your association. Krishna consciousness is dormant within everyone and can be awakened also within anyone. And Srila Prabhupada has given us the process to do it through distributing his books, prasadam distribution, sankirtan and preaching…
We can only try and if the people take it that is good but if they do not take it that is their independence and we can not force them to be Krishna conscious.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Pr,
Very informative and very well documented article.
Keep sending this mercy in form of such articles.
Your Servant
Vikas Garg
Hare Krishna!
I read each word of your writing about Krishna Prasad. I worry about this everyday because
my husband is a non-veg chef and so I would have to cook every meal for us to eat prasad every time is this correct? Or can he cook and as long as it is how Krishna likes, ( no meat eggs fish mushroom, onion garlic…) then is can be offered. How bad is it to cook with onion garlic and mushrooms? should this food be offered?
Hare Krishna Lissa
Because of our material situation there may be so many imperfections in our duty. But that does not mean we should give up our duty, and it is not actually a disqualification for becoming Krishna conscious. Arjuna faced this perplexity in the battle of Kuruksettra. He did not want to fight because he though that killing his family members in the battle like this would be sinful and therefore he should not do it. But it was his duty as a ksatriya to fight. So in the performance of our duty there may be so many problems but if we are actually devotees of Krishna then the Krishna consciousness will overcome the apparent discrepancies.
So the real question is if your husband is a devotee of Krishna or not and at least when he is at home if he is cooking for Krishna or not. The main thing is his devotion and if he is devoted to Krishna then when he cooks for Krishna he will cook it the way Krishna likes it, which is without onions and garlic at least. You certainly can not offer Krishna food that is cooked with garlic and onions because if you are cooking with garlic and onions you are obviously not cooking it for Krishna. And Krishna will also not accept an offering from a non-devotee. So there has to be at least some feeling of devotion to Krishna, and if there is some feeling for Krishna like this then naturally he will want to cook in such a way that the meal will be pleasing to Krishna….
Try to convince him to read some of Srila Prabhupada’s books. He is your husband and obviously has become somewhat purified by your good association and your Krishna consciousness so I am sure if you can get him to actually read even some small books from Srila Prabhupada he will find the philosophy interesting and that will help him to increase his devotion to Krishna. You don’t have to worry very much what he has to do at work really but at least at home if he has a little devotion to Krishna then he should be happy to cook the way Krishna wants.
Otherwise you can always cook for Krishna and feed him Krishna prasadam when he is at home. Why not? I think he will like that. If he is cooking all day at work really he does not want to cook at home also…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna!
I am always so happy to receive your writings. I have been cooking for my husband every day (since november) as you suggest. It has been a difficult transition, because he has always been “in charge” of the kitchen, but he has reluctantly accepted this change.
Funny story… yesterday he wanted to have a big old fashioned breakfast, so he cooked up pancakes, potatoes and bacon! I was disappointed, but I just kept quiet. So now he sits down to eat his breakfast and I look at the stove and see the bacon still sitting there. So I ask him if he is ashamed to eat in front of me, and he starts laughing because he actually forgot to eat his bacon! We were laughing so hard because it was such a whole thing to cook this, and he was so looking forward, and then he forgot! Do you think his consciousness is changing or is it possible krishna played a trick on him…
Hare Krishna Lisa
It is very good news. I am sure his consciousness is changing. Don’t worry. The more you become Krishna consciousness, the more your consciousness changes, that will effect him also. So keep on chanting Hare Krishna and cooking for Srila Prabhupada and Krishna and offering to them and then feeding the Krishna prasadam to your husband and his consciousness will change…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happY!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna!!!
Dear Madhudvisa Prabhu,
We are really thankful to you that you remind us of Krishna every day even while at office.
Haribol!!!
Dear Madhudvisa dasaji,
Thank you for sending these ‘awareness’ articles which hopefully will change all our behaviour.
Hare Krishna! Dear!
Thankyou a lots n lots to you for you are helping us develop Krishna conciousness., This thread was indeed very nice., can you suggest where can i get the book for Veg. cooking or Cooking for Krishna please.
I will be very grateful to you.
Hare Krishna
Hare Krishna Vishal
You can get it here (hardcover):
http://krishnastore.com/the-hare-krishna-book-of-vegetarian-cooking-h-krishna-467.html
and here for softcover:
http://krishnastore.com/the-hare-krishna-book-of-vegetarian-cooking-soft-cover-h-krishna-1490.html
The soft cover is a bit cheaper and if you are in India we can send it to you from India so the shipping cost will be quite low also.
Hare Krishna Prabhuji,
Please give me some more information regarding installation of deities. If I am into Krishna consiousness and the other family members are not, can I have the deities installed in the house. ( I am sharing the house with my family members). So I can make temple in a corner or a room in the house and take care of the cleanliness and making prasadam. Also can I start doing mangal aarti even if I don’t have deities presently, but I have a photo of Shri Shri Radhi Girdhari in the small temple I made at home? What are the other things that one has to do once deities are installed which I can start doing now so as to get more involved in the process and start practising? For example some prayers in the morning and in the evening etc.
Also would like to know if it is okay to do more than 16 rounds on one day on my day off and may be do less on a busy day when I am working or have a long day. Because sometimes on day off I feel like doing more.
Regards
Hare Krishna.
Hare Krishna Monika
Thank you very much for taking Krishna consciousness seriously. You can have some Deities [I suggest Gaura Nitai in the beginning] in your house and worship them only if you are really seriously going to worship Them on a regular daily basis. And I think you will do this. The idea of the Deity coming into your house is that Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself is coming to your house. So you can not invite Him and when He comes be too busy to serve Him. So you need to make a regular daily program of worshiping and serving the Deities morning and evening as you are suggesting in this message.
You can make a small temple in the corner of a room somewhere and keep that place very clean and worship Krishna very nicely there. We have to make ‘the best use of a bad bargain.’ Things will never be perfect in the material world and if we want to wait until things are perfect before we do something we will probably never do it.
And yes, certainly you can start doing Mangal-Aroti in front of the picture of Sri Sri Radha Girdhari you have there. You can also add the picture of Srila Prabhupada and the picture of the Panca-Tattva.
A very, very important thing to understand about the Deity worship is that we offer everything to Srila Prabhupada first and he will offer it to Srila Bhaktsiddhanta and he will offer it to his guru and so on, in this way the offering goes to Krishna through the disciplic succession. Prabhupada is very close to us an very merciful on us and he will accept our offerings and offer them to Krishna on our behalf. This is the real way to worship the Deities. So when doing the aroti we have to first offer all the items to Srila Prabhupada and then to the Deities.
It is a very good idea to start having Mangal Aroti now and practice with the pictures. Actually the pictures are another form of Krishna. Krishna and His picture are identical. So you can get the full benefit of serving Krishna personally by worshiping His picture.
In the beginning Srila Prabhupada would establish temples with a painting of the Panca-Tattva and the devotees would put the painting of the Panca-Tattva on the alter and worship it for many years sometimes before getting Deities. So certainly you can offer Mangal Aroti to the picture of Krishna and that will be very good for you.
As far as japa we must chant the minimum 16 rounds every day. There is no question of doing less on a busy day. We have to organize our time somehow so that we can chant every day at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra. This must be done. For devotees chanting is like breathing. If someone stops breathing his material body will die, similarly if a devotee stops chanting Hare Krishna he will again become covered over by maya. So the chanting of at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily is essential and we can not reduce this.
But certainly you can always chant more rounds on your off-day or at any other time. 16 is the minimum but it is always good to chant more: kirtaniya sada hari: “Always chant the names of Hari”
The best thing is to follow the standard morning program established by Srila Prabhupada in his temples. He intended that devotees living outside the temples would also follow this morning and evening program in their homes.
At KrishnaStore.com we have ‘Traveling Hare Krishna Temple’ and that has the song book which has all the mantras and prayers you will need in it and also there is a morning program CD that contains Srila Prabhupada and the devotees chanting all the prayers that are part of the morning program and there is also a CD of Srila Prabhupada chanting japa that you can put on while you are chanting japa if you like.
So I think “Traveling Hare Krishna Temple” may be quite helpful for you
http://krishnastore.com.au/travelling-hare-krishna-temple-morning-program-cds-h-krishna-485.html
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Prabhuji,
Is the process of offering food to Gaura Nitai is followed so as to have only Prasadam. Would that save us from reaction of Karmic actions? Can we get Radha Krishan Deities also after installing Gaura-Nitai? when do we know that we are now fixed up to serve Krishna and can get the deities. For example we are chanting 16 rounds and following 4 principles, so are we ready? Are we allowed to visit the sikh temple (Gurudwara) even if we are into Krishna Consciousness?
Regards
Hare Krishna
Hare Krishna Monika
It is better to become fixed up in worshiping Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda for some time. Do not rush it too much. You have to see that your worship of the Deities has come to a nice standard and that you do it punctually and regularly every morning and evening.
Certainly if you cook nice offerings and offer them to Srila Prabhupada and Gaura Nitai they will accept the love and devotion that you put into the offerings and the offering will be transformed into prasadam and by respecting that prasadam you will be saved from so many reactions and the prasadam will purify your heart and help you to advance more and more in Krishna consciousness.
As far as the Sikh temple it is not good to go there because they have no Krishna there. They do not accept the Vedas. It is some concoction by Guru Nanak which has no authority or disciplic succession. For a Sikh for example Deity Worship is forbidden, bathing in rivers [like the Ganges and Yamuna] for spiritual benefit is forbidden, fasting and pilgrimages for spiritual advancement is forbidden. They have many regulations but they are not vegetarians even. So the Sikh religion has come from group of people who specifically reject many fundamental principles of the Vedas. So we should not associate with them at all.
Of course it is not actually forbidden. But I can not see how you could benefit from such a visit and if you accept their ways you would have to reject Krishna, reject Srila Prabhupada, reject so many things that essential elements of Krishna consciousness…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Prabhuji,
I take the oppurtunity to ask another question. What is the difference between being initiated and not being initiated?If a person if following four principles,chanting 16 rounds,offering food to Krishna, then what extra an initiated person is doing? Actually what is the process of being initiated, is it some kind of pooja one has to go through,does it happen in a group like some people getting initiated together by a Guruji?
As Krishna says in Bhagwat Gita that we should follow a disciplic succession, but you mentioned in one of the emails that we should not worship guru,which seems to be a bit contadictory?
Hare Krishna Monika
I did NOT say that one should not worship guru. Initiation means surrendering to a bona fide guru and accepting his orders as your life and soul. That is initiation and without it we can not make any spiritual advancement. The surrender is key to initiation. We have to actually surrender to a real pure devotee of Krishna and he will then guide us and instruct us on how we can elevate our consciousness in this life to such a level that we can remember Krishna at the time of death and go back home back to Godhead…
Following the disciplic succession means surrendering to a bona fide guru.
Initiation is not some religious ritual. Of course traditionally devotees are initiated with a fire sacrifice in a temple in front of the Deities and the devotees and they make their vows to follow the four regulative principles and chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra daily in front of these witnesses. But that ceremony is not the initiation. One can attend that ceremony and still not get initiated. The initiation is the surrender. And of course if the guru is not a pure devotee of Krishna it is useless because he will not be able to guide his disciples back home back to Godhead.
So the guru has to be qualified, a pure devotee of Krishna, and the disciple has to surrender to the guru and accept his instructions as his life and soul. That is initiation. It does not require the ceremony actually and it may not happen even if there is a very grand ceremony…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Prabhuji,
I wanted to ask if there is some purification process that we have to go through before actually installing deities at home and start offerting food to God.
What is the whole process? Does a devotee needs to do something (for example coming to our house, purifying house and install deities) to get us started?
Do we have to change all the utensils of the kitchen and buy new ones before we start making prasadam because we have cooked meat, but stopped eating after coming to Krishna Consciousness.
Hare Krishna Monika
It would be nice if you invite some devotees and have Kirtan. This sankirtan, the chanting of Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare is the most powerful purifying process, particularly in this age of Kali-yuga. Deity worship can only be successful if it is accompanied by the chanting of Hare Krishna, so you should always remember that you must offer the Kirtan, chanting to the Deities also.
The standards for Deity worship can be quite high but we have to do something practical. Yes. For cooking for Krishna we should get new stainless steel pots and implements if you can. If you can not afford them then stainless steel can be purified even if it has been used in the past for other things. But other things like plastic plates and utensals and these china plates, etc, they can not be purified and that sort of thing you should replace with stainless steel.
The saying is ‘cleanliness is next to Godliness’ and that is very important in Krishna consciousness and in Deity worship. So you need to make the whole house very clean and keep it clean. And for Deity worship doing things at regular times is important and doing them every day. So you need to make a time for Mangal-Aroti in the morning for example and set up your program, what you are going to chant, etc, and at what time and do it strictly every day at that time. And in the evening also you will have a program of chanting and offering of prasadam to the Deities.
For the home Deity worship you have to adjust around your routine but once you set up a program you should stick to that like clockwork every day.
You ask for the ‘whole process’ but I can not describe the whole process in such a small space. And you probably can not absorb the whole process all at once. So you have to start somewhere and develop it. It is better if you are going to get Deities to get Gaura-Nitai as They are very merciful and do not consider offenses and are happy simply with the Sankirtan, the chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra. It is not a very good idea to try for worshiping Radha Krishna unless you are quite fixed-up already.
The main thing is of course chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra a day and strictly following the four regulative principles. This is the basis of everything and if you are very strong in chanting your rounds and following the regulative principles then Krishna will give you intelligence from within your heart and give you the ideas how you can serve Him nicely. But if we are not properly chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily and strictly following the four regulative principles whatever we do will fail for sure.
So that is my advice for the beginning. Become very strong in chanting your rounds and following the principles. Make everything very clean in your house. In the kitchen certainly anything that is no stainless steel that you have used for cooking meat can not be used for cooking for Krishna.
Actually Krishna should have His own cooking pots and cooking equipment and they should not have been used for cooking for anyone else and certainly should not have been used for cooking meat. If you know some devotees who can come and have kirtan and help you with this by all means invite them…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna,
With respect,
As someone trying to find there way to Krishna thankyou very much for these e-mail letters.
john.
Hare Krishna
swamiji, the following are my doubts.
(1) Bhagavadgeetha was told by Lord Sri Krishna to the Arjuna during the Kurukshethra war which was said to be occurred in dwapara yuga. According to you “Dwapara yuga’s period was some lakhs of years ago. Then How the “Sacred Bhagavadgetha” is awailable to the present generation?
Hare Krishna Sreenivas
Srila Vyasadeva around 5000 years ago could understand that as the Kali yuga progressed the memories of men would become very much reduced and they would no longer be able to hear and accurately remember the Vedas from their spiritual masters and in turn teach it to their disciples as had been the system before. So Vyasadeva saw the need to write down the Vedas in the form of books.
One of the books which Srila Vyasadeva wrote was Mahabharata and in that book he placed the Bhagavad-gita as one chapter. So that is how we have the Bhagavad-gita now, and all the other Vedic literatures also.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Prabhu JI!!!
Please accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
I love to read your great Articles and its really helping us reach towards krishna’s chanarn seva.
Hare krishna!!!
Thanks for the great articles Prabhu…They are very helpful.
Hara Krishna Prabu
I am a native of Udupi (temple town of krishna) and was visiting Iskon Bangalore but I stopped it as i noticed purple brinjal was offered as prasad we consider brinjal to be in tamo guna vadiraja thirta gave us matti gulla a green brinjal that dosent have nicotine in it .my first q is
1.how can purple brinjal with nicotine in its seeds be offerd to Krishna.
2.can prasd be reheated
is there any list of things that prabupada gave for foods that can be offered to krishna which i can go through or may i know the ritualistic process followed for offering?
Kindly do the needfull
Regards
utsav
Hare Krishna Utsav
I do not know about the flowers in South India. But flowers for offering to Krishna should be having a very nice aroma. A flower that looks very nice but does not have a nice smell is useless for offering to Krishna. So for example rose flowers are very nice for offering to Krishna. In India you have many, many beautiful flowers with a very nice smell that can be offered to Krishna.
Prasadam is not supposed to be reheated.
The foods that can be offered to Krishna are grains, milk products, fruits and vegetables with the exception of onions and garlic. Mushrooms also although there is no actual exception because they are grown in darkness, they are a type of fungus, so they are not offered also.
The ‘ritual’ for offering the bhoga is not as important as the consciousness of the cook and the person doing the offering. The food has to be prepared for the pleasure of Krishna. We have to actually believe that we are cooking for Krishna. Not that we are cooking for ourselves or our family. We have to cook everything for Krishna. And even when we are shopping for the ingredients we have to have the consciousness that we are purchasing things that we will be able to offer to Krishna and that Krishna will be pleased with. Not that we are purchasing things that we will like to eat ourselves.
This consciousness, that we are cooking for Krishna, is the most important aspect of making an offering to Krishna. We have to cook it for Krishna. And the person doing the offering should not be thinking he is doing some ritual and blessing the food but that he is really offering the food to Krishna and he is really believing that Krishna will come and accept the offering.
It is really this consciousness–the love and devotion of the cook and the person making the offering–that Krishna accepts. If that love and devotion is missing of if the bhoga is not really being cooked for Krishna then Krishna will not accept the offering.
As far as the actual process for making the offering there are mantras which you will learn of course as you take to Krishna consciousness more and more but if you simply have the correct consciousness and really believe that Krishna is a person and really go out and purchase the items you need for cooking for Krishna with the idea that they will be very nice for offering to Krishna and if you cook the offering with this consciousness–that you are cooking for Krishna and you do it very nicely and very cleanly and you make up the offering plate nicely and take it to the temple or alter or picture of Krishna and Srila Prabhupada and if you just pray to Srila Prabhupada and Krishna that “I have prepared this offering for you, please accept it.” and chant the Hare Krishna mantra Krishna will accept that sincere offering made with love. But He will not accept a very grand offering with many complicated Sanskrit mantras chanted and many rituals performed if that simple love and devotion is not there in the cooks and the persons doing the offering. It is that love and devotion that is the essential element of the offering.
For offering pradadam basically we chant the Srila Prabhupada pranams: [namo om visnu padaya krsna pradaya…, namaste sarasvati devi gaura vani prchan…] then namo brahmanya devaya go brahmanya devaya ca… then namo maha vadanya krsna prema pradaya te…. then sri caitanya prabhu nityananda…. then the Hare Krishna mantra.
So that is six mantras and each one we chant three times.
Then at the end if one has second initiation [brahmin initiation] he chants the first line of the gayatri matra ten times while holding his brahmin thread.
So the matra chanting is very nice and very auspicious but the real consciousness that we are cooking for Krishna has to be there and the real love and devotion has to be there in the cooking.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Dear Prabhu:
Hare Krishna and Obeisances!
Mushrooms are actually edible for devotees. Here is a letter from Srila Prabhupada stating that it is acceptable.
http://www.vaniquotes.org/wiki/Mushrooms_are_generally_not_offered,…
If A.C Bhakti Vedanta Swami Prabhupada says they are allowed then the are!!!
Surely you don’t consider yourself more learned and a greater authority than him.
Hare Krishna Narada
You are not understanding Krishna consciousness. “Mushrooms are actually edible for devotees…” These are not the words of a devotee. The only thing that is edible for a devotee is Krishna prasadam. A devotee has no personal desire for anything. His desire is to please Krishna and to please Krishna’s pure devotees. When Krishna is pleased he is pleased. Krishna’s pleasure is his pleasure. He has no other concept of pleasure. If something is very painful for him but is pleasing to Krishna then that thing is very pleasurable for the devotee. Even though he is suffering, Krishna is pleased, so he is happy. And similarly something that is very satisfying for the senses of the devotee is displeasing to a devotee if it is not making Krishna happy.
So the point is we do not care if mushrooms are edible for devotees or not. We cook for Krishna, we are interested in what Krishna likes. And we know what Krishna likes and what should be offered to Krishna by hearing through the authoritative disciplic succession. And as far as mushrooms are concerned they are not generally offered to Krishna. So if mushrooms are not generally offered to Krishna then we should not offer them to Krishna.
Letters : 1971 Correspondence : November : Letter to: Himavati — Delhi 17 November, 1971 : 71-11-17 :
Because mushrooms grow in a filthy place, they are not usually offered to Krishna.
So Prabhupada says “Because mushrooms grow in a filthy place, they are not usually offered to Krishna.”
So we should take note of this. The devotees do not usually offer mushrooms to Krishna.
There were plenty of mushrooms growing in Vrindavan, do you find Mother Yasoda offering Krishna mushrooms in the Krishna book? No…
So we follow the disciplic succession. Because the devotees do not generally offer mushrooms to Krishna we do not offer mushrooms to Krishna.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Prabhu Ji
Thankyou so much for sending these mails.My gets a lot of peace after reading ur mails.I even get answers to many of the questions that arise in many mind related to problems faced in life.In this mail also everything that u have have explained about Krishna Prasadam is very true.Even i’ve tasted it.It has divine taste.Thankyou very much for your explanation.
well sir,even i had this doubt as why prasadam is so important.But i really got good answer and i really felt the same feeling of great taste after having krishna prasadam,though the recipes were just normal recipes usually done.and after having krishna prasadam i feel like my stomach is completely full!! though i take less than the requirement.Thus i really agree with the above solution of why krishna prasadam is so important.Thank you so much for your explanation.
Hare Krishna Gurudev,
Please accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
I read your emails. Really get sweeter taste by reading it, because it is about Sri Krishna. Me and my son 9 years old,complete 16 rounds mahamantra early b4 sunrise daily and he visit ISKON for Krishna-Balaram darshan, b4 school. ISKCON and school is just opposite.We love honouring Prasadam daily. We worship deity Krishna with mangal arti at home, offer what we cook, follow the rules mentioned by Srila Prabhupada. Though it was very hard to wake up so early but now its habited and feeling ever-fresh. Our life has realy turned. I feel like Krishna’s energies around me. I am always busy in reading Krishna’s books (now reading pastimes books-KRSNA The Supreme Personality of Godhead Vol II in my office). Its really a very precious gift,Srila Prabhupada has provided for all of us. The thing is to self-realize it.
Regarding Prasadam, if recipe was provided for quick reference with d picture above, i would hav offered today this delicious picture like food. Mouth watering.
Thanks to you gurudev and to Srila Prabhupada.
Haribol.
prabhuji m christian nd hostelite m really attached krishna but my parents dont know this they dont like that m going to temple….i chant 16 rounds also but m scared tat when dey wll come to know ten wat wll happen nd i dont want to leave krishna
Hare Krishna Prici
Don’t worry about your parents. Just keep chanting Hare Krishna. They can not stop you from advancing in Krishna consciousness. Krishna consciousness can not be stopped by any material thing. Krishna will look after you. Just keep chanting Hare Krishna and reading Srila Prabhupada’s books and try to find the practical ways that you can serve Lord Krishna and Srila Prabhupada in your day-to-day life.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna prabhu,
Thank you for all your e-mails. 🙂
Really appreciate it…
i am very comfortable in worshipping lord vishnu and krishna at the same time. chanting names of both, giving same importance to both. is that fine to worship krishna and vishnu at the same time.. i use tulsi mala while chanting mahamantra as well as vishnu mantra. is that ok?
Hare Krishna Arun
Yes. That is OK. Krishna and Visnu are the same Personality of Godhead. But Krishna is the original Supreme Personality of Godhead. And there are many more ways of associating with Krishna than there are with Visnu. You can only worship Vishnu in awe and reverence, like one would worship a king. But we can have much more intimate relationships with Krishna. We can be Krishna’s parents, we can be Krshna’s friends, even we can be Krshna’s lovers. These relationships and the feelings and ecstasies attached to them are not possible in a relationship with Vishnu.
But still worshiping Visnu is good.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
BUT WE STILL ARE NOT ABLE TO REGULARLY EAT PARSADAM IN THIS KALYUGA
DUE TO NUMBER OF REASONS
Of course you can regularly eat prasadam…
You just cook it and offer it to Srila Prabhuapda and Krishna and if you cook it with love and devotion Srila Prabhupada will accept it and then you have prasadam and you can eat it.
What is the problem??? Are you too lazy to cook for Krishna???
Hare krishna Madhudvisa,
I have one question, what are the necessary things that one should perform to become a devotee of Lord Krishna or to please Krishna.
PLEASE REPLY ME.
HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE,
HARE RAM HARE RAM RAM RAM HARE HARE .
Hare Krishna Prabhu
Your question is answered by Srila Prabhupada in over sixty four hundred page books.
But this is all to convince us to simply surrender to Krishna and serve Him instead of serving things on the bodily concept of life like our senses, our family, our nation, etc.
We are so conditioned and so much on the bodily platform and Lord Caitanya and from him Srila Prabhupada have given us such a simple process. But we won’t do it. Prabhupada constantly stresses, for example, chanting at least sixteen rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily and strictly following the four regulative principles (No illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication) and seriously reading all of his books. These are the things one has to do to become a devotee of Krishna. Really the only way one can become a devotee of Krishna is by becoming a disciple of and pleasing one of His pure devotees.
Otherwise it is not possible. So we are suggesting that people take shelter of Srila Prabhuapda, hear from him, follow his instructions, surrender to him. If you can please Srila Prabhupada then Krishna will accept you as His devotee. That is the way.
But basic things generally people are not doing. And there is no question of devotee without at least the basic things: chanting at least 16 rounds a day of the Hare Krishna mantra, strictly following the four regulative principles and reading Srila Prabhupada’s books….
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare krishna Madhudvisa,
I have one question, what are the necessary things a person should perform to become a devotee of Krishna or to please Krishna.
PLEASE REPLY ME.
HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE,
HARE RAM HARE RAM RAM RAM HARE HARE.
Namaste,
That was really a nice thing to read.
But i have a small question.
Consider a person X , he is a very good person, kind hearted, helpful, empathetic,…, but he is an Atheist, he doesn’t scold god, or disturb other’s feelings, but he doesn’t believe in God. So, it is obvious that he will not eat Krishna Prasadam, (but his activities are divine only), will he also be pushed into sin..?
Thank you,
R.Vijayanthi.
Hare Krishna
There is no good atheist. We can only serve two masters. It is our minute indePendence that we can choose to serve either Krishna or Maya. So atheists are obviously not serving Krishna and if they are not serving Krishna they are serving Maya. So they are demons.
There are many demons who believe in the Vedas and follow it’s principles. Even the greatest demon, Hiranyakasipu, when he heard about the news of the death of his brother Hiranyaksa at the hands of Lord Varaha–an incarnation of Visnu–he starrted to preach to his family members the same philosophy Krishna presents in the Bhagavad-Gita. He told them that their brother Hiranyaksa was not the body but an eternal spirit soul and he was not killed when the body was killed… Then when he wanted to become more powerful to avenge the killer of his brother he again followed the Vedic process of tapasya. He went to mandalacha mountain and practiced deep meditation and performed very serious austerities. In other words he is following the Vedic principles to get power so he can kill Vishnu.
So you see many atheists believe in the Vedas and do “good” things. Hiranyakasipu was probably a good riteious king for the most part. He was probably a good and loving father to Prahlada Maharaja and was giving Prahlada all material facilities and the best royal education and was training him up to become the king of the world.
But the only problem was that Hiranyakasipu was an atheist. Otherwise he had many good qualities and he believed in and to a very large extent knew and followed the teachings of the Vedas.
He would have appeared to be a very nice pious king, very learned in the scriptures and a faithful follower of the Vedas and physically he was a very beautiful young man…
So apparently a very good man, only on problem–he was an atheist.
So when Prahlada started showing the signs that he was a devotee of Lord Vishnu and that he believed in some God who was more powerful than Hiranyakasipu his father could not tolerate that and ultimately he tried to murder his devotee son.
So there can be no good ultimately in anyone unless they are devotees of Krishna. If they are not devotees they are demons and there are no good demons…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Thank you ji, for your explanation.
But this doubt still persist in my mind.
Please don’t think i’m arguing unnecessarily, i’m just trying to get clarity.
As far as i know, Bhaghat Singh did not believe in God, but he sincerely worked for the sake of our Motherland, and kissed death for the sake of Bharath Matha and her Children. I’m sure he is not a Demon.
There are many such examples.
To me, Hindu Religion is a way of Living, it teaches us how to live. I’ve read, enjoyed and learnt lot of things from Bhagavad Gita, it also says how to live.
What i believe is Service to people is Service to God. Even a person, who may not believe in God, Serve people, Serve living beings, live the way what Gita teaches (Not necessarily after reading Gita), is God. And, God will stay in his house Permenantly.
Thanks for your help, for me to get clarity.
Service to people is not service to God… It is service to people and it means those people become indebted to you and it causes both them and you to come back into this world for so many thousands and millions of births and suffer repeatability birth, death, old age and disease.
The person you are speaking of is not exactly a demon. But he is serving maya, not Krishna, so he is actually not able to help people at all and is just putting them into more and more darkness. So he is not doing any good for anyone, even though he thinks he is.
That is how maya works.
So service to people is service to maya.
It can be in the mode of goodness, passion and ignorance. So he appears to be serving the people in the mode of goodness which means he gets good karma. So when he is born again it will be in a wealthy family and he will have a “good life” comparatively speaking. But he will not get liberation. Rather liberation is getting far, far away from him. He is stuck in the material world and by his “service” he is getting so many more people stuck in the material world.
Violence is actually arresting another’s spiritual advancement. So he is not helping others advance spiritually. He doesn’t believe in God. So he is probably discouraging the worship of God. That is actually the greatest violence one can inflict on another person…
So as I said an atheist can never be good, no matter what he does.
Saying an atheist can be good is like saying a criminal can be good. By definition a criminal is not good, criminal means he has disobeyed the authority of the state. So by definition, at least from the point of view of the state, he is bad. And atheist is one who rejects the authority of the Supreme Lord. So he can not be good. He is not serving Krishna, he is serving Maya. So he is bad. Even if he is doing so much so-called humanitarian work, he is bad…
You can not understand but this is a fact. I have already explained it and you can not understand it, you will not accept my explanation, so I have to presume you are also an atheist…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Prabhu ji, most humbly i am stating that i am in contact with ISKCON Delhi devotees & i have not found any fault in their spreading of Krishna consciousness.Rather they r doing very wonderful work under the able guidance of senior ISKCON devotees.ISKCON YOUTH FORUM is working there & they have connected hundreds of young people in devotional path.Prabhu it is natural that degradation will also come in ISKCON but i found ur criticism of ISKCON a little bit harsh. Prabhu i am seriously seeking initiation from ISKCON Delhi from H.H.Gopal Krishna Goswami Maharaj & i want to know ur opinion about this. Eagerly waiting for ur reply. Hare Krishna
Hare Krishna Amit Prabhu
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
ISKCON in India is going on nicely as an organization at the moment Prabhu. But the organization is broken. They have changed the basic fundamental teachings of Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad-gita and everywhere in relation to the Guru.
Guru must be a pure devotee of Krishna, Guru must be a liberated soul. Otherwise he can not help you to become a liberated soul. A blind man can not guide another blind man, the leader can not be blind…
So if ISKCON do not accept the authority of Krishna Prabhu, then they can not help you come to Krishna. It is a show only. With no spiritual substance unfortunately. The real spiritual substance of ISKCON is Prabhupada. Prabhupada is the great treasure that ISKCON has and if by coming in contact with ISKCON you can meet Srila Prabhupada and develop a relationship with him then your life will become successful. But really Prabhu ISKCON are not encouraging anyone to take shelter of Srila Prabhuapda. It is a “bait and switch” thing. You read Prabhuapda’s books and get inspired and start making advancement in Krishna consciousness, because of your association with Srila Prabhuapda.
My considered opinion Prabhu, after being a devotee in ISKCON for more than 25 years now, is that there are no qualified gurus in ISKCON except Srila Prabhupada.
Of course any of Prabhupada’s disciples can become qualified and become bona fide gurus and accept disciples. But there is no stress at all on this qualification. The only qualification of a guru in ISKCON is that he is approved by the GBC. And this decision is made on political grounds, not based on any spiritual qualifications.
According to the GBC there are no qualifications for a bona fide guru. They openly say that all the ISKCON devotees should have some disciples. And practically speaking they will approve of anyone at all as a guru as long as he has a few aspiring disciples and is submissive to the GBC.
The whole thing is crazy Prabhu. Insane…
If you reject Krishna’s basic instructions: http://www.asitis.com/4/34.html
Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Inquire from him submissively and render service unto him. The self-realized soul can impart knowledge unto you because he has seen the truth.
ISKCON rejects this basic order from Krishna in Bhagavad-gita 4.34. They know better than Krishna. So as soon as one has this rebellious attitude and is not at all submissive to Krishna then he is not a devotee. Everything is lost. Without accepting the authority of Krishna there is no possibility of becoming Krishna consciousness. And if you listen to the ISKCON devotees they will not teach you to surrender to Krishna. They will tell you that Krishna is wrong and you should surrender to the GBC instead. They may be able to make a nice organization like this but everyone will end up going to Hell because they do not accept the authority of Krishna.
Krishna says clearly here:
Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Inquire from him submissively and render service unto him. The self-realized soul can impart knowledge unto you because he has seen the truth.
So ISKCON agree with the first sentence, “Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master.” But even in this first sentence there is a hint from Krishna that the purpose of approaching a spiritual master is one is to learn the truth. So one can only learn the truth from someone who knows and has realized the truth. ISKCON will also agree with the second sentence, “Inquire from him submissively and render service unto him.” But ISKCON TOTALLY REJECT the information Krishna gives in the third sentence: The self-realized soul can impart knowledge unto you because he has seen the truth. Here Krishna is giving the qualifications of the bona fide spiritual master. He must be a self-realized soul who has seen the truth. Unless one is a self-realized soul who has seen the truth it is totally useless to hear from him, what to speak of accepting him as your spiritual master.
So if you want to take initiation from Gopal Krishna Maharaja then first you have to test him and see if he is “a self-realized soul who has seen the truth,” if he is not then you will be making a very, very great mistake that will frustrate your spiritual advancement for many, many, many lifetimes.
You have not seen what we have seen Prabhu. In more than 25 years in ISKCON traveling all over the world I have seen so many of these ISKCON gurus like Gopal Krishna Goswami, and they all attracted hundreds or thousands of disciples but ultimately most of them fall down and leave the disciples devastated.
ISKCON do not have a guru-tattva. They will not accept Krishna’s definition of a bona fide guru, “a self-realized soul who has seen the truth,” ISKCON says, “NO. Anyone can be guru. Guru does not have to be self-realized, guru does not have to have seen the truth. As long as he is approved by the GBC he is bona fide…”
So Prabhu if you are foolish enough to believe ISKCON then I guess you deserve what you will get from an ISKCON guru. But for me, I have faith in Krishna, I accept Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead and when Krishna says the bona fide guru is “a self-realized soul who has seen the truth,” I believe Krishna Prabhu. And when ISKCON disagrees with this and preaches something completely different I know they are not devotees actually.
It may sound a little hard but it is the truth. One is not a devotee if he doesn’t surrender to Krishna. And if he will not accept Krishna’s clear instructions in the Bhagavad-gita even, and actually all the ISKCON gurus really know this, everyone in ISKCON in Srila Prabhuapda’s presence knew it very clearly that the bona fide spiritual master is a pure devotee of Krishna. And all the ISKCON “gurus” know this. But also in most cases it is so plainly obvious that they are not pure devotees of Krishna, so they have changed the philosophy and preach “bona fide guru does not have to be a pure devotee. Guru is bona fide when approved by the GBC…”
So they are lying Prabhu. And they know they are lying. Why? Because they want the fame, profit, adoration and distinction that one can get with the position of a guru so much that to get it they are even prepared to openly reject the clear instructions of Krishna in the Bhagavad-gita…
And what is more wonderful is there are people like you who are wanting to take initiation from them.
You can ask Gopal Krishna Maharaja what is a the qualification for a bona fide guru and if he replies to you please post his reply on this article and let us see what he says…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Dear Madhudvisa dasaji, I really admire and respect this honesty and daring to speak your mind!I have personally observed some conflicting behaviour in some members of iskcon eg arrogance etc and thus I too feel that if one does not find a ‘live’ guru then the Geeta is my guru.I also really admire all who are able to eat only prasadam.Despite observing the four ,as you say,regulative principles,I find this one of the most difficult to observe in the kind of lives we lead and considering other family members too.
If you want to only eat prasadam in this world you have to learn to cook for Srila Prabhupada and Krishna yourself in most places. I am living in Vrindavan at the moment and here you can get prasadam but when I am in other places I cook myself and offer it to Srila Prabhupada and Krishna. Otherwise if we eat the foods that are prepared by non-devotees then our minds will become wicked… In the family if you can convince the family members to worship Krishna and take part in kirtan and aroti morning and evening and make regular offerings to Krishna in your house then all the problems will be solved. And if you are in an Indian family this is the tradition, of course today many have forgotten this, but it is there, it can be easily awakened….
Hare Krishna Prabhu,
Dandavat Pranam. You gave very good explanation of Krishna Prasadam and its advantages in progressing in the spiritual path.
In social gatherings at times which are a formality in the present circumstances we try to avoid food stuff. But take some fruits or rice with curd and some vegetable curries prepared in Jain style. Shall we avoid eating such type too? If we do not take, people may feel insulted.Please advice.
Where can I get a copy preferably an electronic copy of “The Hare Krishna Book Of Vegetarian Cooking” by Adiraja dasa.
Hari Bol.
YSOS
MAHAVADANYAYA CHAITANYA DAS
Hare Krishna Prabhu
There is no electronic copy of the Adiraja Cookbook but the paperback is very inexpensive. I am sure you can get that:
http://krishnastore.com/the-hare-krishna-book-of-vegetarian-cooking-h-krishna-467.html
Devotees only accept Krishna prasadam. We have to adjust our lives so that we only accept Krishna prasadam.
If we eat food that is not cooked by devotees and offered to Krishna then that is eating only sin and we will suffer the results of that.
Becoming Krishna conscious means we have to change the way we live. It is not that we become Krishna conscious and stay the same.
Most ‘devotees’ are not serious. They are devotees of course, third-class devotees, but such third-class devotees have no potency to preach and can not really experience what Krishna consciousness is. We have to become serious and at least second-class devotees. And we can not become Krishna conscious unless we accept this little austerity of only accepting Krishna prasadam.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Amith Prabhu,
As far as i know ISKCON Bangalore is the only ISKCON which is going in the right path considering Srila Prabhupada as the only guru. Rest everywhere they are having their own guru. It is really wrong to claim oneself as guru and take the honour as Prabhupada when he doesnt have the qualification and the capacity to deliver his disciples from the cycle of birth and death. Only Prabhupada had that capacity. Rest all who are becoming guru nowadays are simply cheating their disciples.
See for instance even in Iskcon Bangalore there is temple president. Madhu Pandit Dasa. But he doesnt claim himself to be guru. He considers himself to be a servant of Srila Prabhupada. He doesnt take the honour from others just like how these nowadays gurus take. Its completely wrong thing what these so called gurus are doing. No doubt they preach well and honour Prabhupada and tell his quotes, but its wrong of them to take honours equal to Prabhupad and considers themselves equal to him. So my humble request is you can take initiation from those guru, but dont worship them as gurus. You should worship only Srila Prabhupada as your whole and sole guru. He is the only one who can grant us liberation.
Your servant
In the service of Srila Prabhupada
Rajesh Kumar
Hare Krishna Prabhuji, u r absolutely correct that Prasadam is nothing but Lord’s mercy & we r very fortunate to receive this mercy in this material world. It is rare to find association of unalloyed devotees like u who r so deeply engaged in spreading the messsage of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Prabhu i am in contact with Iskcon Dehli devotees & i have taken all Srila Prabhupada books, teachings & videos from them on my lap top. Thank u. Hare Krishna
Hare Krishna Amit Prabhu
The main thing is reading Srila Prabhupada’s books seriously and following the four regulative principles: No illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling and no intoxication and chanting at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra daily. There are many superficial devotees who do not do even these basic things. Krishna is not so easily approached or understood. If Krishna sees we are sincere and if Krishna sees we have surrendered to his pure devotee, and if His pure devotee is pleased with us, then there is some chance of our advancing in Krishna consciousness.
Really we can only get the mercy of Krishna if we get through serving and pleasing His pure devotees. So please Prabhu chant at least 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily and follow the principles–that will create the situation so when you read Srila Prabhuapda’s books you will be able to understand. The thing is Srila Prabhupada is living in his books and he is waiting there, ready to personally instruct you. You simply open the books and read them and you are sitting there with Srila Prabhupada by your side, a guaranteed 100% qualified pure devotee of Krishna, personally guiding you. And if you follow Srila Prabhupada’s guidence everything will be very successful because Srila Prabhupada is actually a bona fide spiritual master, he is a self-realized soul who has seen the truth… And unless one is a self-realized soul who has seen the truth he has no capacity to guide you on the right path…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
HARE KRISHNA DEAR MADHUDVISA PRABHU JI,
IM VERY IMPRESSED WITH YOUR MAILS MY HEART GETS MORE CLEARED AND TRIPT [SATISFIED] CAN I GET THIS BOOK OF VEGETARIAN COOKING
SO I CAN LEARN MORE AND OFFER PRASADAM TO LORD KRISHNA.
THANX.
HARIBOL HARIBOL HARIBOL.
hare krishna dandavat. thank u very much pr. for nice post. i want to ask u that we dont have to eat non vegitarian food bec. it is tamesic & killing of animal is not good but can u tell me when we eat vegitables that time also we are killing vegitables. can u explain me what is diffrence.
thank u.
hari bol
The difference is Krishna will accept an offering of vegetables, fruits, grains and milk products but He will not accept meat.
Any food is sinful if not offered to Krishna, even vegetarian food.
The point is we have to cook for Krishna what Krishna wants and offer it to Him and accept Krishna prasadam. And Krishna does not accept meat…
pranam prabhuji
Please accept my humble obeisances, all glories to our spiritual master
HIS DIVINE GRACE A.C BHAKTIBEDANTA SHRILA PRABHUPADA
Father, I would like to know whether honoring prasadam improves health in general and free the person from diseases?? I am underweight, my father wants me to take eggs so as a substitute for protein deficiency ,I don’t want to take them. I want to rely on Krishna for good health ,i desire good health as i am a woman and good health is the greatest gift of god
Hare Krishna Ananya
Yes. Honoring Prasadam improves everything. The point is to make some very first-class offering for Krishna and naturally if everything is prepared with very first-class ingredients, there is nothing artificial used, everything is fresh, then even from the material point of view it is first-class and very good. That is the point, we only offer very pure, very first-class things to Krishna. And then when Krishna tastes the offering it becomes transcendental.
Eggs are very unhealthy. They are very dirty. They are not at all healthy. There is plenty of protein in the grains [rice and dhal] we offer to Krishna, in the milk, in the curd. It is a totally perfect diet.
It is just nonsense. Krishna prasadam is a perfect diet. If you are underweight just make sure that you take sufficient quantity of dhal, rice, vegetables, milk, chaptis, etc. That will provide all the protein and vitamins you need and keep you in perfect good health.
If you want to gain weight then you can eat more prasadam. Eggs are not possible. We can not accept anything that is not offerable to Krishna. And there are plenty of protein rich things that we can offer to Krishna.
Sometimes envious people just want to see you break the regulative principles. They have no concern actually for your health. So do not take any notice of these people. We want to remain simply fit and healthy so we can serve Srila Prabhupada and Krishna nicely. We are not for building big bodies. But we need to keep our bodies healthy. Because they are not our bodies. Our bodies belong to Krishna and we have to keep them fit so we can engage them in the service of Krishna.
So if you are actually unhealthy and do really need to put on some weight then do it with Krishna prasadam. NOT EGGS!!
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Dear Prabhu,
As you said whatever you eat other than krishna prasadam is sinful and it leads us to karmic life. But Iskon is building huge temples, doing charity, and more over it is all doing through funds from many devotees and non-devotees. All the money flowing into Iskon may have sinful money. Since all the people neither sinners nor devotees.
And one more question is that,
Sree Srila prabhupada gone for preaching the West. Without money in hand, finally he ended with crores of funds for Iskon. Now Iskon is in its highest calibre of preaching the whole world. due to the funds it have. The funds coming to iskon is due to the materialistic earnings of the people. Without that materialistic money how can you preach this much effectively. Please kindly reply me.
Hare Krishna Prabhu
You are right and Srila Prabhupada has clearly warned us about this accepting contributions from sinful people. We should avoid this. We should not be depending on contributions from sinful people to “maintain” the preaching.
And you are correct that ISKCON has to a large extent ignored this warning from Srila Prabhupada.
A pure devotee of course can accept a contribution from anywhere and engage it in the service of Krishna, but if we are not so pure then we may well become contaminated by accepting such contributions.
Srila Prabhupada did not depend on such contributions at all. Rather his collection of funds was always based on selling books. So in such a transaction we are giving real spiritual value in the form of the books and they are paying for the books. We are giving them something spiritual with real value and they are paying us for it. So this is the solution to this problem. If we sell books as our source of income rather than begging from rich sinful people then this problem will be avoided.
Srila Prabhupada stresses this point in many places including in Adi 12.50:
“It is very risky to accept money or food from materialistic persons, for such acceptance pollutes the mind of the charity’s recipient. According to the Vedic system, one should give charity to sannyāsīs and brāhmaṇas because one who thus gives charity becomes free from sinful activities. Formerly, therefore, brāhmaṇas would not accept charity from a person unless he were very pious. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu gave this instruction for all spiritual masters. Materialistic persons who are not inclined to give up their sinful activities like illicit sex, intoxication, gambling and meat-eating sometimes want to become our disciples, but, unlike professional spiritual masters who accept disciples regardless of their condition, Vaiṣṇavas do not accept such cheap disciples. One must at least agree to abide by the rules and regulations for a disciple before a Vaiṣṇava ācārya can accept him. In fact, a Vaiṣṇava should not even accept charity or food from persons who do not follow the rules and regulations of the Vaiṣṇava principles.”
hare krishna
thanks for the wonderful explanation about the maha prasadama or krishna prasadana.
Hare KRISHNA Dandavat pranam, Prasadam is something different i am totally agree with ur point it is not a normal food. only the because of prasadam shreel prabhulpada has made lot of pure devotees,thanks for such a lovely mail
Hare Krishna
All glories to Srila Prabhupada. I am practising krishna consciousness from past 3 years. Initially I am casual. But from last one and half years, I am very serious. Chanting & reading of Srimad Bhagwat Gita was doining regularly for almost half year. There after, I have been transferred to Gurgaon near New Delhi. After transfer, I lost my intimacy with krishna devotees which is affecting my krishna consciousness practices.
I am trying my best to remain in touch with krsna devotees at new place.But, till then I am not able to proceed ahead as I would to be. Kindly guide me how to practise krsna consciousness seriously in a place where I am totally new and there is no ISKCON temple in nearby area.
Hare Krsna.
Hare Krishna Prabhu
Listen to Srila Prabhuapda and read his books.
You can listen at krishna.tv and you can read at prabhupadabooks.com and you can purchase the books, dvds, cds, etc at KrishnaStore.com
I do not recommend very much visiting ISKCON temples because nowadays they have so many completely incorrect ideas and you will probably simply become confused by the devotees there. Rather if you seriously hear from Srila Prabhuapda you will get the real information.
It may be Krishna’s mercy that He has taken you away from the association of the ISKCON devotees who may well mislead you on your spiritual path. Better take shelter of Srila Prabhupada. If you study all of his books and hear all of his classes then you will have the real knowledge of Krishna consciousness.
Krishna consciousness is a very subtle thing and it is very easy to completely miss the point…
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
Hare Krishna Prabhuji,
I think association is also required to progress in Bhakti.
Ys,
Shashank.
Yes, but that is association of pure devotees you need. And that association you can get by associating with Srila Prabhupada by reading his books…
Unless you associate with pure devotees of Krishna it is not possible to become Krishna conscious.
hare krishna
mahdudvisa ji
thnxx for all your mails
Hare Krishna Prabhu…
Really a nice article about prasadam…
I forwarded this article to iskcon desire tree. One devotee, she gave some comments on this article. please read and reply on the same..
My Humble Obeisances to you Madhudvisa dasa, may I ask, what if a Christian family (my mother/father) pray over the meal they have prepared and ask God to “purify it and nourish our bodies” and thank God for his provision….before we eat. Is this sinful action to eat this? I am a bit confused on this so I need to know what I can do or can’t do in this situation? Can I say something to Lord Krsna in my own mind before I touch the food…as long as it is not meat/eggs/etc. What can I do that I do not have to tell them why I will no longer eat the food they make for me, my husband and child? Many Thanks to you!
Hare Krsna!
Rebecca
Hare Krishna Rebecca
This “grace,” offering thanks to God for the food He has provided is of course nice, but it is a different thing from the concept of prasadam. Of cooking something and offering it to Krishna for His pleasure. Unless someone is a devotee they can not offer anything to Krishna. If we want to become Krishna conscious actually then we have to take these family ties a little less seriously and if our parents are not devotees then we have to understand that what they cook is not Krishna prasadam and if we eat it then we will be entangled in so much karma. There is no way around this.
You can eat it of course, but you will get entangled in so many karmic reactions from it, and that will be an impediment on your spiritual progress.
But no one is forcing us to do anything, if we decide to eat something that is not prasadam then we have to suffer the consequences. You have to know that non-devotees can not offer anything to Krishna and praying over their meat and saying “thank you God…” does not make it fit to eat for a devotee…
It is one thing to break the principles and know you are breaking the principles and feeling regretful and promising Krishna that you will not do it again, but it is another thing altogether to try and make up some excuse and in your mind think that breaking some principle is actually OK. And that is what you are trying to do here. You do not like the principle of only eating prasadam so you want to change the principle so it suits you and you don’t want to think that you are breaking the principle.
So you should know it clearly that unless your parents are devotees and are cooking for Krishna and offering the food they cook to Krishna it is not prasadam and you should not eat it and if you do eat it then you will be implicated in the karmic reactions connected with this food.
Of course sometimes we may be in some situation where there is no prasadam and we have to make some exception to the rule and eat something which is not offered to Krishna and is at least Vegetarian hopefully. But really if it is not cooked by devotees there is generally no way of knowing if it is vegetarian or not. Everything is mixed up.
Better to just take some fruit, water…. And offer it to Krishna, and eat. Or cook for Krishna yourself and feed your parents with the prasadam.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madudvisa dasa
perfect answer…….
no comments…
jai sri krishna
OH GREAT TO HEAR YOU MADHUDVISA PRABHU AND YOU REALLY ARE AN ARDENT KRSNA DEVOTEE, AN INSPIRATION FOR ALL OF US.
How to prepare Krishna prasadam?
Get the book “The Hare Krishna Book of Vegetarian Cooking”
http://krishnastore.com.au/the-hare-krishna-book-of-vegetarian-cooking-h-krishna-467.html
Everything you need is there.
I would like to know if there is a specific book or DVD which covers the life of Lord Krishna until his last day as a human on earth or his death.I would kike to buy it.
The book you need is Srila Prabhupada’s “Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead.” That describes very nicely Krishna’s birth, and His activities. Krishna did not die. That is a long story. And if we can understand the nature of Krishna’s appearance and activities within this material world then we are liberated. Krishna says this in Bhagavad-gita. So actually understanding Krishna’s birth and activities in this world is not so easy. But you can understand by reading Bhagavad-gita and Krsna Book, you can get it at:
http://krishnastore.com/krsna-the-supreme-personality-of-godhead-1970-ed-single-volume-compact-h-krishna-505.html
Hare krishna Madhudvisa,
I am fully agree with you,i have tested krishna prasadam many times and i found it so delicious. thank you for explaining nicely,why one should eat krishna prasadam.
Thanks for introducing me to your website. I am a long term practising devotee and I do know the basics about prasadam although you made some interesting points. I started deity worship not long ago to my Krishna-Gopal deity and have been consistent with it. I will try and purchase this cookbook when I have some spare money.
JAYA PRASADAM—THANK YOU MADHUVISA—PRABHU—-
I WILL SHARE IT WITH EVERYONE IN FBOOK…..PLEASE KEEP SENDING
KRISHNA KATHA SO I CAN SHARE—-BLEES YOUR SERVICE—VAISHNAVA—