Soybean vs soybean oil

[Guest guest]

>>... unless an authoritative recipe states otherwise.

 

1. I would be interested to know about that "authoritative recipe" that

madan Mohan prabhu talks about. ""authoritative" according to whom? As far

as I know Srila Prabhupada has never advocated the use of soybean oil for

any recipe. check the Vedabase and ask Srila Prabhupada direct disciples. I

think you may find that that is the case.

 

Srila Prabhupada's saintly sister Srimati Bhavatarini prabhu, as was the

custom of many Indians and especially Bengalis, used to cook for Srila

Prabhupada in mustard seed oil, which is used primarily because it is

readily available (whereas ghee was not), customary and because of it's

powerful heating properties which thus help with digestion. Srila

Prabhupada's disciples such as Srimati Yamuna prabhu and Srimati Srutirupa

prabhu used to be horrified about this especially because of Srila

Prabupada's ailing health AND because they had always cooked for Srila

Prabhupada - according to his directions - in ghee. Mother Srimati

Bhavatarini prabhu's answer to them was that he (Srila Prabhupada) could

digest stones if he wanted to. And Srila Prabhupada would eat some of his

sister's prasadam to satisfy her. But Srila Prabhupada himself did not

direct his disciples to use the medium of mustard seed oil. check the

Vedabase.

 

2. If the Moscow temple has financial difficulties, perhaps one of the

reasons may be because they use soybean oil INSTEAD of ghee and that

therefore Krsna is not pleased that He is having to consume such an

unofferable (to the deity) product . naturally if ghee is not available in

some area, then perhaps some other lower class cooking medium could be used.

but this idea that for 'financial reasons we are cooking in soybean oil' is

an old excuse from the older days of Iskcon, as I have been told by reliable

persons.

 

3. The prime reason that devotees eat is for Krsna's pleasure. Krsna

advocates the protection of cows because they produce milk which produces

GHEE. Throughout sastra ghee is advocated by Krsna and the sages. Krsna does

not glorify the soy bean plant nor advocate it's use as a cooking medium...

as far as I know. Krsna loves cows and THEIR products.

 

4. "... vegetable oils tend to be much healthier for regular diet that

ghee in the long run..."

 

According to whom? Where does this idea originate from? Could you please

provide some authoritative (spiritual/sastric) references for this idea. As

far as I know vegetable oils are not even close to the idea of being better

for a healthier diet.

 

5. In the old days - again I rely here upon Srila Prabhupada's direct sisyas

as my reliable sources - devotees used to eat inordinate amounts of fried

(in ghee) foods since that was what was being cooked for the deity,

according to Srila Prabhupada's direct directions. Later (some) persons who

were concerned for devotees failing health realized that perhaps they (the

devotees) should not be consuming the rather large amounts of sugar and ghee

that they were indeed used to doing. The gist of the matter is that devotees

- according to their Ayurvedic constitutions - should consume prasadam

according to their specific needs, but that does not mean they should use

soybean oil instead of ghee.

 

IN GENERAL devotees should NOT consume large amounts of fried (in ghee)

foods that are offered to Krsna. But when and if one DOES so, it should be

foods that are fried in ghee and not soybean oil or any other oil; according

to Srila Prabhupada.

 

your servant,

Haridasa vesyadasa

 

 

>This the only reference I found in which Srila Prabhupada said that

>Soybeans ... soybean oil for cooking?

 

Unlike soybeans, soybean oil has close to zero protein in it. So if we are

to oust soybean oil from Krsna kitchens, this should be done for some other

reason than its protein content.

 

Our Moscow temple sometimes uses soybean oil to cook for devotees mainly for

financial reasons. Besides, vegetable oils tend to be much healthier for

regular diet that ghee in the long run. However only cow ghee and butter are

used in cooking for the Deities unless an authoritative recipe states

otherwise.

 

Your servant,

Madana-mohana das