Should devotees take the prasad of demigods?

From: Mukesh Bhatt

Transcript

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question from Mukesh Bhatt Prabhu should devotees honour the prasadam of the demigods answer certainly the devotees respect the demigods as representatives of god and also as devotees of god at the same time we cannot be sure of the consciousness in which that food has been cooked we cannot be sure about the property of the way in which it has been offered we cannot be sure about the standards of the way in which the deity of the demigods is being worshipped and therefore as devotees we generally do not honour the demigod prasadam in the same way as we would honour Krishna’s prasadam because the whole principle of demigod worship is for people with material consciousness and so it is often permeated significantly if not entirely with that material consciousness that’s why if we at all go to a function where demigods are worshipped or if we go to a demigod temple we would generally not accept the prasadam and that does not mean that we should do it in a publicly visible way that disturbs the faith of others and that creates bad emotional feelings for them so it would be best if we avoid it in a sensitive respectful way not that we convey the idea that we disrespect the demigods nor that we disrespect the demigod worshippers and generally if it’s unoffered food we can offer it mentally to Krishna but if it is food offered to the demigods then it is not proper for us to offer it to Krishna also mentally before taking it so it would be best if we can discreetly avoid taking the prasadam but we should not create a public scene by saying that this is demigod prasadam and I cannot take it in general unless we have the facility and the clarity to explain the rationale behind what we are doing in a sensitive and respectful way and if at all we have to accept the prasadam then we can accept it respectfully but not eat it ourselves and we could give it to some people who are not taking prasadam at all who are just taking non-devotional food which has not been offered at all or we could give it to some non-human living beings we could give it for example to a cow and that way we could ensure that demigod prasadam does not get wasted or disrespected by being thrown away or something like that and in the worst case if at all one is in a social function where one is highly obliged then only if the demigod prasadam does not contain onion, garlic does not contain any food that disturbs the regulated principles then in the worst situation if we are in a position where we cannot disturb the feelings of others and do the abhav in a discreet way then we can chant the Hare Krishna mantra three times and then take a small morsel of that food just for the sake of honouring the sentiments of the demigod worshippers who have offered us that food the best would be if we could discreetly avoid it or discreetly share it with somebody who is not taking prasadam but is just taking materialistic food this is not to be done in a disrespectful way again very importantly it is to be done in a sensitive and mature way so that we don’t hurt the