(2) Did You Take Prasad?

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Siliguri, 1 May 2019, evening, part 2
Translated from Bengali

Did you all take prasad at noon? Did you get the ice-cream?

প্রসাদ-সেবা, করিতে হয়,
সকল প্রপঞ্চ জয়

prasada-seva, karite haya,
sakala prapancha jaya

‘The entire material world can be conquered by honouring the Lord’s prasad.’

(Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

If you take prasad, all diseases will go away. Do you know what the diseases are? Avidya (ignorance), asmita (false identification), raga (misdirected love), dvesa (aversion to anything that is against my enjoyment) and abhinivesa (being unable to give up unfavourable habits). All these diseases will go away if we honour prasad. We must serve prasad (do prasad-seva).

I always tell everybody – sometimes, one or two people from one house take initiation, but the rest of the family do not come to this path and do not want to come to the temple. In such cases, you must offer bhoga at home and give them some prasad from time to time. Give them prasad and be patient. The only reason most people are scared to come to this line is because they cannot give up eating fish and meat. They think, 'Oh, if I take initiation, I will have to give up fish, meat, onion, garlic. I will have to fast on ekadasi – I will not be able to eat rice on these days.' If you want them to give up all this fish, meat, etc., you should secretly give them prasad. 'The entire material world can be conquered by honouring the Lord’s prasad.' It is necessary to take prasad.

Another thing is this. Many people say, 'Oh, there was so little paneer – most of it was just potato.' What do we sing in the kirtan?

তব নিজ-জন, প্রসাদ সেবিয়া,
উচ্ছিষ্ট রাখিবে যাহা ।
আমার ভোজন, পরম-আনন্দে,
প্রতিদিন হবে তাহা ॥

tava nija-jana, prasada seviya,
uchchhista rakhibe yaha
amara bhojana, parama-anande,
prati-dina habe taha

‘Whatever remnants Your devotees leave behind after honouring Your prasad, I will eat that very happily every day.’

(Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

'I will take whatever is left after Vaishnavs take prasad.' I personally went to take prasad only after four o'clock. I watched prasad distribution to the last person...

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