Prasada Queries

[Guest guest]

> 7) According to the Vedic culture that I've seen in practice for years,

> eating utensils of glass or china, once used, should be thrown away, as

> they cannot be purified. Yet according to Pancaratra Pradipa (4.11:

> Purification of Articles), earthernware, if glazed, can be purified by

> water. What is the sastric reference for this?

 

I don't have a shastric reference but I once asked Srila Prabhupada

if glass utensils were muchi, because I had been told that in Australia when

I joined. Srila Prabhupada was surprised to hear this and said no, they were

not, if they get washed then what is the problem?

 

> 13) In Mayapura Srila Prabhupada allowed purchased puffed rice to be

> offered and distributed to devotees. Yet in general he was adamant that

> devotees not eat karmi grain foods, such as when he told devotees in

> Germany not to eat karmi bread. Why, then, is puffed rice acceptable, and

> if so then why not popcorn or various other items? What about karmi

> pickles, jam etc.?

 

I don't know about popcorn but Srila Prabhupada often ate puffed

rice (muri) and once when we were returning to Bombay from Puna by car we

stopped at a village stall and bought some and he ate it straight out of the

paper bag. He had been car sick and his stomach was very upset, but he said

that the muri was so 'innocent' that it could be eaten even if one was sick.

 

As far as jam goes, Bhagavan offered him some jars of it made on the

French farm in 1976 at the Mayapur festival as guru daksina and Srila

Prabhupada would not accept it. I don't know the exact reason why but he

knew what it was and he wouldn't take it.

 

Pickles he liked and as far as I know he accepted pickles made by

karmis, although I don't have a reference.

 

My impression is that grains that are cooked and made into

preparations ready for eating, are not acceptable, but stuff like muri,

which seems to go through some simple process but can later be used in

cooking is classified as a kind of raw or semi-raw ingredient. But that's

only my speculation.

 

Your humble servant,

Hari-sauri dasa