Honouring Maha-Prasad

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Evening class, part 2
14 October 2013

You must understand that one can become good through association. Sometimes I preach in Murshidabad, and I saw a bird in one house there, a parrot. I wanted to give some food to it, but it did not take. It turned out that the bird never took ordinary food—only after offering the bhog, ringing the bell, doing the arati, chanting the kirtans, etc. when everybody took prasad, that bird also took prasad. I saw that parrot. That bird understood that prasad is necessary. Always take prasad—being vegetarian cannot make you a pure devotee, only prasad can make you a good, pure devotee.

Do you have Tulasi or Tulasi leaves? You must always serve Tulasi, and Krishna will be very happy. "Tulasi dekhi' judaya prana madhava-tosani jani' (তুলসী দেখি' জুড়ায় প্রাণ, মাধবতোষণী জানি'): seeing Tulasi Devi soothes my soul, for I know she pleases Madhava." If you serve Tulasi Devi, Krishna will be very happy. Put a Tulasi leaf on the bhog, chant the maha-mantra, offer the bhog to the Deities, the Lord, and Krishna will take that happily.

প্রসাদ-সেবা করিতে হয়
সকল প্রপঞ্চ জয়

prasada-seva karite haya,
sakala prapancha-jaya

"By honouring the Lord's prasad I conquer all worldly illusions."

(Saranagati, 31.5, by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

What is prapancha? Material creation. Without taking prasadam, prapancha cannot be conquered. Always take prasad, it is good for you.

গ্রাম্যকথা না শুনিবে, গ্রাম্যবার্ত্তা না কহিবে ।
ভাল না খাইবে আর ভাল না পরিবে ॥

gramya-katha na sunibe, gramya-varta na kahibe
bhala na khaibe ara bhala na paribe

"Do not listen to the mundane talks, do not listen to the mundane news. Do not eat fancy food, do not wear fancy clothes."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 6.236-237)

Mahaprabhu said to Raghunath Das Goswami, "Always take prasad, I will be very happy." Prasad has so much power... We should try to always take only prasad.

One time, Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj and his party went to Kashmir (Muslim area) for preaching, and they could not find there any good place to take some food. They had waited for three days looking for a place, but after that they could not tolerate it any more, they were very hungry. Finally they went to a Hindu hotel and got some rice and dal, but there was onion and garlic in the dal. The brahmacharis said to Srila Sridhar Maharaj, "Maharaj, what is this?!" But Srila Sridhar Maharaj said,

mahaprasade govinde nama-brahmani vaisnave
svalpa-punya-vatam rajan visvaso naiva yayate

"O king, one whose fortune is meagre never develops faith in mahaprasad, Govinda, the Holy Name, or the Vaisnavas."

He always said this prayer, and in that hotel too—before taking that rice and dal they said it. That is prasada-guna gan (glorification of maha-prasad). You must always do it—you do not only take prasad, but you must honour maha-prasad. We must give respect, we must honour maha-prasad.

· · • • • · ·

{ 2001  |   2002  |   2003  |   2005  |   2009  |   2010  |   2011  |   2012 }
{ 2013  |   2014  |   2015  |   2016  |   2017  |   2018  |   2019  |   2020  |   2021 }

• Download (1.3 Mb)