Is it right for devotees to say that they are Krishna-tarians when it conveys the idea that we are consuming Krishna the way vegetarians consume vegetables?

Relevant Prabhupada quote:

Room Conversation — April 23, 1976, Melbourne: “We are neither vegetarian nor nonvegetarian. We are prasad-ian.”

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
question is it right to use the word krishnatarian to describe devotees when actually we don’t consume Krishna which is what is implied by the word play with vegetarian and non-vegetarian answer this is not so much a question of rightness or wrongness of usage as rightness or wrongness of intention of course devotees want to serve Krishna they don’t want to consume Krishna as you consume either vegetarian or non-vegetarian food but at the same time Krishna manifests in various ways and when Krishna manifests his prasad at that time the way we serve that particular manifestation of Krishna is by eating so we use the word honoring for prasad which is appropriate and essential for us to try to cultivate the right consciousness while taking prasad but still what we do is ultimately the same thing that we do with other food vegetarian, non-vegetarian we chew it, we lick it, we crush it we swallow it so we may think is that a is that a respectable way of dealing with Krishna Krishna Krishna manifests in various manifestations and we have to serve Krishna in a way that is appropriate for that manifestation so chewing and swallowing and licking and biting, that’s the way we serve Krishna when he manifests his prasad so in principle the word Krishnatarian is not wrong although for one who does not have that particular understanding of the depth of Krishna’s compassion by which he manifests himself as prasad for all of us to combine our survival with our purification we need to eat for surviving but when Krishna manifests his prasad then that food not only helps us survive it also purifies us so people who do not appreciate the depth of Krishna’s compassion may get the idea that we are consuming Krishna which may be a wrong manifestation and that’s why some devotees may consider it undesirable. This is a matter of personal taste personal aesthetics.
We don’t have to go on a crusade saying that it is right and it is wrong. Some devotees feel it is wrong and they can avoid using it and if you are particularly sensitive around those devotees other devotees can also avoid using it sometimes it is said that Srila Prabhupada used this word Krishnatarian but in the full Veda base there is no reference to it being used by Srila Prabhupada and whatever research devotees have done, they have also not found among those who knew Srila Prabhupada any recorded or even recollected instance of Srila Prabhupada having used this word because the Veda base is not a Veda base is a vast record of Srila Prabhupada’s spoken and written words but it is not exhaustive so there might be something beyond Veda base also but that is we don’t have a solid confirmed recollection from anyone so we use the articles twice by two different Srila Prabhupada disciples, Srila Prabhupada disciples so in that sense there is precedence for it to be used what Srila Prabhupada has used is slightly different the closest he comes Prabhupada says that we are not Vedans or non-Vedans, we are simply Krishnites and we will do what Krishna says and the closest he comes to playing with the word vegetarian, non-vegetarian and directly put it Prabhupada says in his own conversation in 1825-1976 Malcolm that we are neither vegetarian nor non-vegetarian, we are prasadiyan so we are prasadiyan and Srila Prabhupada used and that also is more accurate in terms of we don’t consume Krishna we consume prasad we honor prasad it’s more precise to say that we honor prasad but it is Krishna only where is Krishna manifesting as prasad so if somebody wants to use krishnatarian it is better to use krishnaprasadat prasadatarian or something like that Srila Prabhupada has made it simple prasadiyan so it depends on consciousness, the rightness or wrongness but careful consciousness will also reflect itself in careful word usage and it’s best that we use words that convey the right mental pictures and the right impressions that we want others to get, not that we just play around with words without considering their connotations thank you