Why should we offer our food to the Lord?

[narayani]

My dear spirit souls,

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

 

What is the need for offering foodstuffs to the Lord? What is the purpose of honoring mahaprasada?

 

Honoring mahaprasada is not only symbolic of the superior life of the vaisnavas, but is part of worship, which ordinary theists cannot fully understand. Ordinary men are much inclined to preserve the superiority of reason over the intuitive feelings on man toward the God of love. We must now proceed to show with healthy arguments that our intuitive feelings want to offer everything we eat to the Lord of our Heart. We must first examine the arguments of the antagonists.

 

The rationalists states that God is infinite and without wants, and consequently it is foolish to offer eatables to such a being. It is sacrilege to offer created things to the Creator and thereby degrade the divinity of God, treating HIm as a human being. These are reasonable arguments indeed, and one who has heard them will certainly be inclined to declare to others, "down with mahaprasada." These conclusions, which may appear reasonable, are dry and destructive. They tend to separate us from all connection in worshiping God. When you say that the Infinite wants nothing, you forbid all contemplation and prayer. The Infinite does not want your grateful expressions or flattery. Utter a word to the unconditional Lord and you are sure to degrade Him into a conditioned being. Hymns, prayers, and sermons are all over! Shut your temple door and church gates because our rationalist has advised you to do so. Belive a creative principle and you have done your duty. Oh! What a shame! What a dreadful fall! Theists, beware of these degrading principles!

 

Now the rationalists appears in another form and allows prayers, sermons, psalms, and church going, saying that these things are wanted for the improvement of the soul, but God does not want them at all. We are glad that the rationalist has come toward us and will make furthur approaches in the course of time.

 

Yes, the progressive rationalist has admitted a very broad principle in theology: whatever we do toward God is for our own benefit, and not for the benefit of God, who is not in want of anything. However, the rationalist is a rationalist still and will continue to be so as long as he seeks self-interest. This view, however, smells of utilitarianism and can never be theism. We must love God for God's sake even if our actions appear unreasonable. Our love must be without any goal concerning our selves. This love must be a natural emotion to the deity, as our well-wisher, without interferance or experiance. Salvation, dear as it is, should be the object of this love. What then about other forms of happiness? Love of God is its own reward. Salvation, as a concominant consequence, must be a servant of love, but we must not look on it as the main goal. If a rationalist is prepared to believe this, he becomes a theists of the vaisnava class, but the mere assuming of a name is of no consequence.

 

Though fully aware of the Lord as completely unconditioned, our holy and sweet principle of love takes a different view of the rationalist. Reason says one thing but love prescribes the opposite. Reason tells me that God has no sorrow, but love sees God in tears for His sons who are misled to evil. Reason tells me that the strict laws of God reward and punish me in a cold manner, but love reveals that God slackens His laws to the repentant soul. Reason tells me that, with all his improvements, the repentant soul will never touch GOd; but love preaches that on the conversion of the soul into a state of spiritual womanhood, God, unconditioned as He is, accepts an eternal marriage with the liberated soul. Reason tells me that God is in infinite space and time, but love describes that the all beautiful Lord is sitting before us like a respected relative and enjoying the pleasures of society, as a fater in his amusements with his young children. God is spreading all sorts of delicious food all over the earth, and expecting His sons to gather them for their own benifit. But the loving children, out of their holy and unmixed love, gather all the scattered blessings and with strong feelings of love, regardless of reason, offer all the blessings to the Father whom they love more than their lives.

 

The Father again, in reply to their kind feelings, gives back the offering to the children and kindly tells them, "O My children! These blessings are intended for you! Out of your natural love, you bring them to Me for My enjoyment, but naturally I have no wants for you to supply. I have however accepted that part of your offering, which is for Me: your unmixed love and unbiased affections, for which I am exceedingly anxious. Take back these sweet things and enjoy them!"

 

This process of unbiased love, which dry reason can never approach, sanctifies the food we take and bring us harmless enjoyment every day of our natural life! This is a system of sincere worship, which theists of a higher class alone can act upon. We cannot express the joy we often felt when we took the mahaprasada in the temple! The holiness we attach to it is its sweetness and often we pray that all men may enjoy it.

~Srila Bhaktivinode Thakura~

Mahaprasadam KI JAI!!