Srila Swami Maharaja Prabhupada Conversation
June 28, 1974, Melbourne, Australia.
Prabhupäda: You can see God in everywhere. But one must be Krsna conscious, God conscious. Then he’ll see every moment, everywhere God, nothing but God.
Reverend Powell: Is this part of the God consciousness, that in everything is the God?
Prabhupäda: Yes. Everything is made out of energy of God.
Satsvarüpa: Here are some sweetballs made out of milk and butter.
Prabhupäda: You can, you can pick up.
Reverend Powell: Made out of what?
Satsvarüpa: Mostly out of milk and butter.
Prabhupäda: Milk preparation.
Reverend Powell: Thank you. And, um,...
Prabhupäda: Yes, you can eat.
Reverend Powell: Now?
Prabhupäda: Yes.
Reverend Powell: Thank you. (eats)
Satsvarüpa: Very juicy.
Reverend Powell: Hm. Very juicy. Hm.(laughs)
Prabhupäda: All of them, give, each, one. We can prepare hundreds of nice preparations from milk. Therefore cow protection is required. Do you like?
Guest: Very sweet, Prabhupäda. (laughter)
Reverend Powell: Something quite different. Hmm.
Devotee: Here, perhaps you can use this.
Reverend Powell: Thank you. Yes, I think I need it. You, you, you’re completely vegetarian, and not have meat of any kind and not eggs at all?
Prabhupäda: No.
Reverend Powell: Why not eggs? Because...
Prabhupäda: We are not even vegetarian.
Reverend Powell: You’re not.
Prabhupäda: No. We are negative of vegetarian and non-vegetarian. We are not vegetarian, neither non-vegetarian. We eat Krsna prasäda.
Rather, “prasädarian.” We are neither vegetarian, nor non-vegetarian. Because we don’t eat which is not offered to Krsna. Things are prepared according to the order of Krsna, and when Krsna eats, we take the remnants of foodstuff. Therefore we do not fall in the group of vegetarian or non-vegetarian. We are transcendental.
Reverend Powell: Yes.
Prabhupäda: Yes.
Reverend Powell: Well, thank you, Your Grace. If you’ll excuse me, I have another appointment.
Prabhupäda: Thank you. That’s... Hare Krsna. (end)
"Prasadamism" goes a step a further"
Every Town and Village, Volume-19 Number-10, 1984
Back To Godhead Magazine
Article by Visakha Devi Dasi
Whether you look at Lord Krsna's cuisine from the viewpoint of taste, health, economics, morality, or spiritual benefit, it's our firm conviction that it's the best in the world.
In Eating for the Eighties, authors Janie and Neil Hartbarger begin by saying, "Nature provides us with a complete diet. As long as we use it wisely, not playing with food too much, stripping it of nutritional value in our attempts to improve it, that abundance can feed us well and keep us healthy. As we will show, there's no need to include meat. It is variety that balances everything out…. Complex carbohydrates should be the mainstay of your diet." This is like a summary of our Krsna conscious diet. Today's packaged, precooked convenience foods don't find their way to Krsna's offerings. We offer Krsna dishes made from whole grains, nuts, vegetables, fruits, and milk products. And the mainstays of our diet are rice, dal (made from legumes), andcapatis (made from whole wheat flour) the complex carbohydrates that the Hartbargers mentioned.
In early 1983 I read a report from the American Institute for Cancer Research. Eating meat (as well as drinking coffee or alcohol), the report warned, is likely to cause cancer. The Institute recommends eating fresh fruits and vegetables to help reduce the risk. As you may know, in Krsna consciousness we don't eat meat, nor do we drink any alcohol or coffee. Long before these studies of cancer-causing foods were made. Lord Krsna gave us some simple principles to protect our health as: well as to help us advance spiritually.
As for variety, well just look at the photograph and say there's no variety in the vegetarian cuisine! And just think, there are some sixty types of vegetables, eleven types of legumes, fifty types of fruits, forty different spices, as well as a variety of nuts, grains, and dairy products, all of which can be prepared in innumerable ways by varying the combinations of ingredients, the cooking methods, spicing, and so on. If you calculated all the possible varieties mathematically, you'd be flabbergasted.
Now for the economics of it. To get the total amount of the recommended daily allowance of usable protein that the average American male needs (43.1 grams), you'd need to buy thirty-five cents' worth of split peas. To get the same amount of protein from steak would cost you two dollars. But who needs statistics? Anyone who looks at the supermarket prices knows that meat's an expensive source of protein. And it's expensive in terms of world economics as well. Frances Moore Lappe writes, "An acre of cereals can produce five times more protein than an acre devoted to meat production; legumes (beans. peas, lentils) can produce ten times more; and leafy vegetables fifteen times more."
As for morality don't forget about the suffering of the millions upon millions of innocent animals that are slaughtered yearly to fill our stomachs. Unfortunately, we have been forgetting. But the suffering due us as a result of our sins won't be forgotten, and today's animal killers will suffer horribly in future lives. That is the law of nature.
And who are those animal killers'.' "When animals are killed in the slaughterhouse," Srila Prabhupada explains, "six people connected with the killing are responsible for the murder. The person who gives permission for the killing, the person who kills, the person who helps, the person who purchases the meat, the person who cooks the flesh, and the person who eats it, all become entangled in the killing."
Now you might think you'd like to become a vegetarian. But why stop there? We're offering something much better. Lord Krsna's cuisine is much more than vegetarianism. It's prasadamism. You could say, "What is this prasadam? We're eating the same food. Why is it called prasadam? You might think it's just ordinary food, but because it has been offered to Lord Krsna, it is now His mercy (prasadam). It has been spiritualized.
Will you like the way prasadam tastes? Well, we can't guarantee that you'll like every dish; but then again, maybe you will. The best way to find out is to try it. As it's said, the proof of the pudding is in the eating.
Sloka:
ye tvaneva.mvido'santaH stabdhaaH sadabhimaaninaH
pashuun druhyanti vishrabdhaaH pretya khaadanti te cha taan
Bhagavata Purana 11:5:14
Translation:
Those sinful persons who are ignorant of actual religious principles, yet consider themselves to be completely pious, without compunction commit violence against innocent animals who are fully trusting in them. In their next lives, such sinful persons will be eaten by the same creatures they have killed in this world.
This prasadam is not ordinary foodstuff
Lecture on SB 1.16.23 -- Hawaii, January 19, 1974:
Bali-mardana: I believe I've heard you said in other lectures that a person who takes prasādam, even a plant or a..., any kind of living entity who takes prasādam or hears the name, that it will come back at least to human form of life. Is that correct?
Prabhupāda: No, if he's devotee, then he'll come. But this taking of prasādam, or hearing Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra is advancement for becoming a devotee. But if he takes prasādam not as ordinary prasādam, foodstuff, he believes that "This is remnants of foodstuffs given to God," if he understands this philosophy, then guaranteed. If he takes the prasādam as ordinary food, "All right, these people are distributing, prasā... Let me take it. It is very tasteful," that will give him chance to accept prasādam next, next, next... In this way, one day he'll come to the point that "This prasādam is not ordinary foodstuff." Then he'll... There is guarantee. Because only the devotee can appreciate that "This prasādam is not ordinary foodstuff. It is Kṛṣṇa's remnant of..." Therefore, he understands Kṛṣṇa. That is said in the Bhagavad-gītā, janma-karma ca me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ (BG 4.9). In truth, when he understands, then his life is guaranteed. Why guaranteed? He goes back to home next life. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9). If you simply can understand what is Kṛṣṇa and what is your relationship with Kṛṣṇa, that is sufficient to take you back to home, back to Godhead. That is sufficient. It is so nice.
We render service to Maha Prasadam
One of my learned professor Godbrothers was challenged by his younger brother who was perhaps a graduate, “What do you do there in the Math? What we do, you also do there.” The professor replied, „No, no, you do not do what we do in the Math.“ „You do not eat?“ „No, we do not eat.“ „Then what do you do? With my own eyes I have seen you eating.“ „No, we don’t eat. We don’t eat like you; we don’t put solid things into our stomachs like you. We render service to Mahaprasadam. What we do is beyond your understanding. We don’t eat like you. We have no spirit of consumption. We don’t consume anything, but we honour the remnants of the Lord.” Such will be the difference between all the activities of the true Vaisnavas and the worldly men. Apparently the Vaisnavas seem to do the same things as others are doing: walking, sleeping, eating, engaging others in activities, earning money, spending, and so many apparently similar things; but the standpoint is totally different. It is connected with the centre.
Holy Engagement by Srila Sridhar Maharaja
One should take Prasada as soon as it's recieved
“One should take the maha-prasada of Sri Krishna as soon as one receives it, without consideration of time or place, even though it may be dried up, stale, or brought from a distant country.”
“The prasada of Sri Krishna is to be taken by gentleman as soon as it is received, without hesitation. There are no regulative principles concerning time and place. This is the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Golden Volcano by Srila Sridhar Maharaja
Whoever cooks for himself eats only sin
Many different kinds of activities are going on in the Western world and this influence is entering the Indian culture and destroying it. It is destroying the Vedic culture but what can be done? Kali is the master of this age. He is the guardian now. To avoid Kali’s influence is difficult but those who are Krsna conscious must try to proceed under the shelter of Krsna consciousness. Then other influences will not come. An example is everyone takes food, but one who is Krsna conscious does not take food. What do you think? Is he fasting? No. He takes mahå-prasådam. First he offers food to Lord Krsna and then he takes the remnants of that prasådam. Then reactions won’t come to him.
Krsna says in Srimad Bhagavad Gita:
“Whoever cooks for himself eats sin but when one prepares food for the Lord and offers it to Him, those preparations become transcendental because the Lord Himself is transcendental.
The remanants of prasadam give us spiritual strength and life.
This is the Krsna conscious person’s life. Everything is within you but you must be Krsnaa conscious.
Religion of the heart by Srila Sridhar Maharaja
