Why do we offer prasad and how is it to be offered?

Transcript

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focused on by our Acharyas Question, what are the rules for offering prasad? Answer, the most important principle is devotion bhakti, principle is fundamental, rules are specific so the rules can vary according to time, place and circumstance the principle is that we are grateful to Krishna for his grace mercy which comes to us in the form of food actually food is a fundamental necessity for living and we cannot produce food on our own we may have our food manufacturing plants but they are actually simply food processing plants, nature alone produces food and actually nature produces food by Krishna’s arrangement, even when we have manufacturing plants, they basically process whatever is coming from nature, so food is actually a miraculous gift that God is providing us through nature and which we absolutely need so by offering food we express our acknowledgement of God’s grace and we expect our we accept our dependence on him and even more specifically the Vedic scriptures envision a cycle that it is Krishna through his representatives gives rains which produces grains and those grains we consume so what he is giving so if we are taking something from nature we should give something back so we return what we have by offering back to Krishna so offering, actually what we offer is not called prasad, what we offer is called bhoga so after we offer bhoga to Krishna what we get from him, his remnants they are called as prasad, the word prasad means mercy, the word bhoga means that which is to be enjoyed so Krishna is bhoktaram yajnityasam he is an enjoyer so bhoga is offered to the bhokta and then it is actually honoured by us, so now this is the principle which you should understand and we with a grateful heart we offer the food to Krishna for his having given us the food by which we are able to survive and get strength for our body but actually this is only a preliminary understanding of why we take prasad actually if we go deeper we will see that the songs of maha sharira vidyajal that we sing it is actually at a far far loftier level than just thanking Krishna for giving body the food, actually we see Krishna when Krishna’s mercy comes to others food, it not only nourishes our body but it purifies our heart and the whole prayer is of sharira vidyajal which devotees chant before taking prasad, that prayer is centred on how honouring prasad will grant us sense control, it will purify our senses and it will elevate us so that is the central point of why devotees take prasad because it is Krishna’s mercy that not only nourishes our body but it actually purifies our heart and in that way it liberates us from material existence so for his mercy we thank and the primary thing is we should have a proper understanding of why we are offering bhoga to Krishna and that is the most important rule and now specifically if we have a proper place we have an altar at home or wherever we are staying then to the altar we can chant the prayers, we can offer in a ideally speaking whatever food it should be cooked by devotees and it should be offered by devotees it should be served by devotees, it should be honoured by devotees in fact if you go further behind actually it should even be harvested it should be sowed, ploughed and harvested by devotees that will make the food completely devotionally permeated and that will be very pleasing to Krishna but if we are not in that ideal situation then at least we have our home, we can have a special plate for Krishna and after cooking without tasting the food we offer it and we chant the prayers there are generally three or four prayers, prayer to our spiritual master prayer to Srila Prabhupada, prayer to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and prayer to Krishna so that way the food goes up up the disciplic succession to Krishna and from there the food their mercy comes down to us and we chant each of these prayers three times while ringing a bell and preferably we can also offer Tulsi along with that and we offer this to a picture of Krishna along with the spiritual master and the complete altar that is there. So there is a book Beginner’s Guide to Krishna Consciousness which explains this process systematically I will focus on the principle over here and if we can’t do that, if we are in a situation where we can’t have a proper altar then in emergency situations we can just, especially if the food is not cooked, fruits and vegetables and dry fruits we can even offer in the mind and we can just pause for a few minutes and then we can take if it’s an emergency situation and if the food contains something which are say onion, garlic then we can just chant the Hare Krishna Mahamantra we cannot offer that food to Krishna but still if it is unavoidable, if we are in an emergency where we have to take it generally we should avoid taking it but then we can just chant the Hare Krishna Mahamantra the food is not offered to Krishna but at least the sinful reactions are minimized by nullified by that chanting of the mantras. So the important principle is gratitude and appreciation for not just the material nourishment but the spiritual upliftment also that is provided by Prasad and then following of certain rules by which we can offer the proper food to Krishna.
Thank you. So why do we tend