Normal temples have deities of Krishna and other demigods should prasadam offered in such temple be taken or not?

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Question. Normal temples have deities of Krishna and other demigods.
Prasadam offered in such temples should be taken or not? Answer. Any prasadam that is offered to any sacred personality, whether it is deities, demigods or Krishna, that should be respected. At the same time, whether we should honour it or not, in terms of accepting it, that will vary depending on time, place and circumstance.
Generally, demigod worship is performed in the mode of passion and those who worship it are largely motivated by material desires. Often, the proper standards of devotional purity are not followed while the prasad is being cooked and offered. And that’s why it is not always devotionally healthy for us to accept that prasad.
So, we are not disrespecting the demigods, we are not disrespecting the prasad, but we are concerned about the protection of our own consciousness. So, if we want to avoid taking the prasad, that’s not because we look down upon the prasad, but it’s because we want to protect our consciousness. The attitude is very important.
The attitude is not of superiority or arrogance, but the attitude is of humble selection, humble discrimination and selection. Discrimination is not in terms of discriminating against somebody, but discriminating in terms of what is good for me and what is not good for me. So, generally, if some charanamut has been offered directly from the deity of Krishna or Vishnu, definitely we can accept that.
If some sugar or some prasad is offered from there, which is coming from Krishna’s deity, we can accept that. Generally, each demigod or goddess has his or her own altar and when we go to take their blessings, we may just accept their blessings by offering obeisances and seeking their prayers. And if it is possible without causing too much disturbance to others to avoid taking the prasad, then we can avoid taking the prasad.
But if we find that it will create too much of a controversy, then we can humbly accept the prasad and keep it aside, not take it at that time. And later on, we can respectfully give it to a sacred creature like the cow. And in that way, we don’t offend those people directly.
At the same time, we don’t risk contaminating our consciousness. So, this is something which has to be individually decided based on time, place and circumstance. The broad principle is that we want to protect our consciousness.
And at the same time, we also don’t want to port cultural controversy unnecessarily. And in extreme cases, if at all we have to accept it, we can chant Hare Krishna three times. We can’t offer that prasad to Krishna directly because it has been offered to the demigods.
But we can chant Hare Krishna three times and seek Krishna’s understanding and forgiveness. Krishna is always understanding. And then accept a small morsel if it is required.
But in general, we should foresee such situations and plan how we can go through them without hurting ourselves or hurting the feelings of others, hurting our consciousness, hurting the feelings of others. If we plan properly, think about it and pray to Krishna, we can always gracefully come out of these situations by protecting our consciousness