Krishna Prasadam

The Srimad Bhagavatam says that if someone eats prasadam unknowingly, sinful reactions of seven lifetimes are counteracted. If someone does that knowingly, sinful reactions of one million lifetimes are counteracted. The Vishnu Purana says that simply by honoring prasadam once, one gets the credits of fasting for 6 months. The Brahma Vaivarta Purana says that when a person is full with prasadam and he walks on the earth, he purifies the earth; when he goes to holy place, he purifies the holy places; when he touches someone, that person is purified. Honoring prasadam is equivalent to performing millions of horse sacrifices.

Once Ramanujacarya, while walking on the banks of the river Kaveri along with his disciples, washed his hands in the river after honoring prasadam. Two fishes after eating the remnants from his hands immediately attained four handed Vishnu forms and went back to the spiritual world. Ramanujacarya then told his surprised disciples why prasadam acted so effectively on the fishes. First of all, the fishes never offended prasadam by making distinctions as to its quality. Secondly the fishes were totally dependent on the prasadam.

In Bhagavad-gita Lord Krishna says:

aham sarvasya prabhavo

mattah sarvam pravartate

iti matva bhajante mam

budha bhava-samanvitah

“I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything comes from Me. The wise who perfectly know this engage in My devotional service and worship Me with all their hearts.” (Bg. 10.8) Thus the devotee, out of a sense of duty, gratitude and love, first offers all his food to Krishna. Although Cod is independent and in no way needs such offerings, our desire to serve Him is natural, like the natural wish of a mature child to serve the parents who have provided for him all his life.

Food prepared for and offered to Krishna with love and devotion becomes completely spiritualized. Such food is called Krishna prasadam, which means “the mercy of Lord Krishna.”

Lord Caitanya said of prasadam…”now that they have been prepared for Krishna and offered to Him with devotion, these foods have acquired extraordinary tastes and uncommon fragrances. Just taste them and see the difference! Apart from the taste, even the fragrance pleases the mind and makes one forget any other fragrance. Therefore, it should be understood that the spiritual nectar of Krishna’s lips must have touched these ordinary foods and imparted to them all their transcendental qualities.”

Eating only food offered to Krishna is the perfection of vegetarianism. In the Bhagavad-gita Lord Krishna says that unless one eats only food that has been offered to Him in sacrifice, one will suffer the reactions of karma. He also states, “If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, a fruit, or water, I will accept it.”

Wwe can offer Krishna foods prepared from milk products, vegetables, fruits, nuts, and grains. Meat, fish and eggs are not offerable. And a few vegetarian items are also forbidden— garlic and onions, for example, which are in the mode of darkness. (Hing, or asafoetida, is a tasty substitute for them in cooking.) Nor can you offer Krishna coffee or tea.

In preparing food, cleanliness is the most important principle. Nothing impure should be offered to God, so keep your kitchen very clean. Always wash your hands thoroughly before entering the kitchen. While preparing food, do not taste it, for you are cooking the meal not for yourself but for the plea¬sure of Krishna. Arrange positions of the food on dinnerware kept especially for this purpose; no one but the Lord should eat from these dishes. The easiest way to offer food is simply to pray, “My dear Lord Krishna, please accept this food,” and to chant each of the following prayers three times while ringing a bell.

namo maha-vadanyaya krsna-prema-pradaya te

krsnaya krsna-caitanya-namne gaura-tvise namah

“I offer my respectful obeisances unto the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna Caitanya, who is more magnanimous than any other incarnation, even Krishna Himself, because He is bestowing freely what no one else has ever given-pure love of Krishna”

Prayer to Lord Krishna

namo brahmanya-devaya go-brahmana-hitaya ca

jagad-dhitaya krsnaya govindaya namo namah

“I offer my respectful obeisances to the Supreme Absolute Truth, Krishna, who is the well-wisher of the cows and brahmanas, as well al the living entities in general. I offer my repeated obeisances to Govinda, who is the pleasure reservoir for all the senses.”

Remember that the real purpose of preparing and offering food to the Lord is to show your devotion and gratitude to Him. Krishna accepts your devotion, not the physical offering itself. God is complete in Himself—He doesn’t need anything— but out of His immense kindness He allows us to offer food to Him so that we can develop our love for Him.

After offering the food to the Lord, wait at least five minutes for Him to partake of the preparations. Then you should transfer the food from the special dinnerware and wash the dishes and utensils you used for the offering. Now you and any guests may eat the prasadam. While you eat, try to appreciate the spiritual value of the food. Remember that because Krishna has accepted it, it is nondifferent from Him, and there¬fore by eating it you will become purified.

Everything you offer on your altar becomes prasadam, the mercy of the Lord. Flowers, incense, the water, the food— everything you offer for the Lord’s pleasure becomes spiritualized. The Lord enters into the offerings, and thus the remnants are nondifferent from Him. So you should not only deeply respect the things you’ve offered, but you should distribute them to others as well. Distribution of prasadam is an essential part of Deity worship and devotee of Krishna