Prasada Queries

[Guest guest]

> 1) "Today was Ekadasi, but we committed the grievous error of eating

> grains. Srila Prabhupada ordered to observe Ekadasi tomorrow and to go on

> preparing grains today." TKG's Diary, May 13

>

> Does this mean that if devotees inadvertantly take grains on Ekadasi, that

> they should continue to eat grains throughout the rest of the day? Compare

> with the following.

 

> "The devotees inadvertently broke the Ekadasi vow because the cook

> accidentally put peas in the vegetable preparations. Srila Prabhupada told

> us we were all nonsense. He angrily rebuked us, "Now you have to fast for

> three days!" This shocked everyone. "Yes, that is the procedure," he

> confirmed. Seeing the stunned look on our faces he relented, but said

> that we should observe Ekadasi for the rest of the day and then again

> tomorrow on Dvadasi." Trans. Diary, 1.258

 

nice point.I'd ask TKG for more details.

>

> 2) Did Srila Prabhupada call Krsna consciousness "the kitchen religion?"

> ANy reference to this?

>

> 3) "While the bhoga is being offered, the pots in the kitchen containing

> the bulk of the cooked items may be left open, so that Krsna can come and

> take more as He likes. This is a traditional practice in some temples in

> India." Which temples?

>

> 4) "Srila Prabhupada said that every gentleman begins his meal with

> something bitter and ends it with something sweet." Reference?

 

I've heard that this is a Bengali tradition. as you know in Gujarat they eat

sweets first, references? refer to Gujarati or Bengali culinary books.

>

> 5) Sometimes it is recommended that cooks maintain silence lest they

> inadvertantly spit in the prparations.

 

I was always taught this when I was a cook on RDTSKP days.

 

Yet sometimes it is recommended

> that they chant the holy names constantly while cooking. What, if

> anything, did Srila Prabhupada say about this?

 

In Vrndavana in 1975 or so, someone complained that Vibhu Caitanya DAs (who

was cooking all the deity offerings all day) had no time to chant his

rounds. Prabhupada commented," how can he be NOT chanting his rounds? He is

constantly singing the bengali bhajanas of Bhaktivinode and Narottama das

Thakura while he is cooking." then he turned to the devotee who complained.

"How do I know that YOU are not chanting your rounds?"

 

What was his personal

> practice when cooking? To chant, speak very littl, or what?

 

If Hari sauri has no comment. I'd say Ask Tamala, I've added Kusha mataji as

a receiver, Her husband Srutikirti may know.

 

> 6) Formerly it was quite widespread in ISKCON that one should offer water

> before drinking by saying "Sri Vishnu, Sri Vishnu, Sri Vishnu." (Some

> devotees extended this to "offer" anything they had bought with a casual,

> "Sri Vishnu, Sri Vishnu, Sri Vishnu.") Jayapataka Maharaja recommended

> this in situations where one has to take food not offered to Deities.

> Where did this "Sri Vishnu" practice come from?

 

I remember Ravindra Svarupa das in Washington D.C. once told me the source

of this story. He should be added as a receiver. he can tell us the details.

 

ys MMDASBR

 

SB 10.12.39

 

sakRd yad-aGga-pratimAntar-AhitA manomayI bhAgavatIM dadau gatim

sa eva nityAtma-sukhAnubhuty-abhi-vyudasta-mAyo 'ntar-gato hi kiM punaH

 

SYNONYMS

 

sakRt-once only; yat-whose; aGga-pratimA-the form of the Supreme Lord

(there are many forms, but KRSNa is the original form); antaH-AhitA-placing

within the core of the heart, somehow or other; manaH-mayI-thinking of Him

even by force; bhAgavatIm-which is competent to offer devotional service to

the Lord; dadau-KRSNa gave; gatim-the best destination; saH-He (the

Supreme Personality of Godhead); eva-indeed; nitya-always; Atma-of all

living entities; sukha-anubhuti-anyone thinking of Him immediately enjoys

transcendental pleasure; abhivyudasta-mAyaH-because all illusion is

completely removed by Him; antaH-gataH-He is always present within

the core of the heart; hi-indeed; kim punaH-what to speak.

 

TRANSLATION

 

If even only once or even by force one brings the form of the Supreme

Personality of Godhead into one's mind, one can attain the supreme

salvation by the mercy of KRSNa, as did AghAsura. What then is to be said

of those whose hearts the Supreme Personality of Godhead enters when He

appears as an incarnation, or those who always think of the lotus feet of

the Lord, who is the source of transcendental bliss for all living entities

and by whom all illusion is completely removed?

 

n€haˆ tu sakhyo bhajato 'pi jant™n

bhaj€my am…€m anuvtti-vttaye

yath€dhano labdha-dhane vina˜e

tac-cintay€nyan nibhto na veda

SYNONYMS

na-do not; aham-I; tu-on the other hand; sakhyaƒ-O friends;

bhajataƒ-worshiping; api-even; jant™n-with living beings;

bhaj€mi-reciprocate; am…€m-their; anuvtti-propensity (for pure love);

vttaye-in order to impel; yath€-just as; adhanaƒ-a poor man; labdha-having

obtained; dhane-wealth; vina˜e-and it being lost; tat-of that; cintay€-with

anxious thought; anyat-anything else; nibhtaƒ-filled; na veda-does not

know.

TRANSLATION

But the reason I do not immediately reciprocate the affection of living

beings even when they worship Me, O gop…s, is that I want to intensify their

loving devotion. They then become like a poor man who has gained some wealth

and then lost it, and who thus becomes so anxious about it that he can think

of nothing else.

 

 

============ REF. SB 10.32.20