Remembering Srila Prabhupada - Prabhupada's Prasadam

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Prabhupada's Prasadam

 

 

Palika-devi dasi regularly cooked for Srila Prabhupada

and she recalls his favorite preparations.

 

A first favorite for Prabhupada was always kacauris,

especially urad dal kacauris. In sweets he liked

sandesa and rasagullas. Also, he liked a good, hot

jallebi. With every meal there had to be a bitter

vegetable made with karela (bitter melon) or nim

leaves. He liked nim baigan very much, a preparation

mentioned in the Caitanya-caritamrta. Prabhupada loved

urad dal, and he taught me to make it with fennel,

ginger, and asafetida -- all these must be in the

chaunce. Actually, Srila Prabhupada enjoyed a wide

variety of foods.

 

"Once, for weeks he would have kitchri daily with

vegetables in it and lots of ghee, and hot puris and

baigan bhagi (deep fried eggplant). That and nothing

else. I would put the kitchri in his big rice bowl and

sometimes he would ask for seconds. If Srila

Prabhupada was hungry in the evening, he would take

different things according to his taste -- many times

a ghee vegetable and puris with hot milk. I would

generally use misri (sugar candy or rock candy) rather

than sugar. Sometimes he wanted milk only or a

tangerine. Often he would have muri (puffed rice) with

peanuts and milk. I remember a few times he would

request me to leave a dish or two of sandesa on the

bookshelf in case he became hungry while translating

in the night. But always, except once or twice,

however the sandesa would be there in the morning.

Also, for months Srila Prabhupada had me prepare badas

and coconut chutney for breakfast and dahi-badas for

lunch. He liked these preparations and he remarked on

them often. He had yogurt with his lunch every day. As

time passed, it became a rule that whenever there was

kitchri, there must be kadhi."

 

Madri dasi, who also cooked for Prabhupada, recalls

the time she watched Prabhupada eating in Surat.

 

"One day, he finished his lunch and they gave him a

whole banana. Prabhupada started to peel the banana,

but I never saw anyone peel a banana like he did. He

didn't touch it at all with his left hand. He picked

it up in his right hand and started to peel it with

his teeth, pulling the strips down with his teeth and

then picking out the white part in the center. Then,

pulling the white part away, he let the whole banana

skin drop from his teeth. He did all this without

touching it with his left hand."

 

Anirdesavapur dasa used to cook for Prabhupada in

Mayapur and he noted Prabhupada's particular taste for

golden raisins.

 

"We gave Prabhupada different kinds of dried fruit. He

liked golden raisins from China. Aside from these

golden raisins, of course, there are the regular black

raisins, and also the common golden raisins from the

West. In the West they take black raisins and put

sulphur in them to turn them golden. Once, a devotee

who knew about natural foods would not allow us to get

the golden ones, because he said they had sulphur

dioxide in them and were unnatural and not good. They

gave Prabhupada the black raisins. Prabhupada looked

at them, but he wasn't very happy. He said, 'These

look like little black flies. You don't have the gold

ones?'"

 

Palika-devi dasi, interview; Madri-devi dasi,

interview; Anirdesavapur dasa, interview.

 

 

- From the Prabhupada Nectar by HH Satsvarupa dasa

Goswami Maharaj

 

 

 

 

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