Pariprashnena — Q&A Archive

Will you change your opinion about if if we say "Yes it is prasadam"?

White sugar and commercial fruit juice arent forbidden substances. So if theres nothing better, they can be offered.

[quote][cite] ccd:[/cite]Will you change your opinion about if if we say "Yes it is prasadam"?[/quote]

If scriptural evidence is provided.

And one that will overrun this:

Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated February 7, 1976 addressed to Hrdayananda Maharaja. Concerning the use of sour cream in the temple, it should be stopped immediately. Nothing should be offered to the Deities which is purchased in the stores. Things produced by the karmis should not be offered to Radha-Krishna. Ice cream, if you can prepare, is o.k., but not otherwise. Now, you have such a big stock of this sour cream, so sell the stock at any cost. Who is the rascal who has purchased without permission?
http://prabhupadabooks.com/d.php?g=175306

[quote][cite] VEDA:[/cite]White sugar and commercial fruit juice arent forbidden substances. So if theres nothing better, they can be offered.[/quote]

What is "nothing better"? The objection could be made that the person should get a better paying job and buy unproblematic or at least less problematic ingredients.

Where is the line supposed to be drawn in what is good enough and what isnt - both in terms of ingredients as well as preparation and offering?

[quote][cite] Baker:[/cite][quote][cite] ccd:[/cite]Will you change your opinion about if if we say "Yes it is prasadam"?[/quote]

If scriptural evidence is provided.

[/quote] I do not think you will. There is no scriptural references that I know off relating to Gaura Nitai worship. Yes we do not offer shop juice and poor quality sugar to Radha-Krishna deities, so you are right, I suggest you only visit temples of Radha-Krishna and take only "maha" from the plates... Avoid low quality foods, until you see that it is the love that is being offered, not food.

Better is gur or honey and homemade fruit juice. Better paying job isnt possible for all devotees at all times.

As ccd said, theres no exhaustive fixed list of offerable and nonofferable (aside meat, fish, eggs, etc.) items I know of. For details please ask at deityworship.com website.

[quote][cite] ccd:[/cite]until you see that it is the love that is being offered, not food.[/quote]

Is "love" not something that is achieved only at the end of practice?

[quote][cite] Baker:[/cite][quote][cite] ccd:[/cite]until you see that it is the love that is being offered, not food.[/quote]

Is "love" not something that is achieved only at the end of practice?[/quote] Not achieved, arrived at. Actually at the beginning of entering on the path of love of Godhead. (after initial few years of sadhana and sadhu-sanga, usually via vaisnava-seva).

It is said one should offer food with "love and devotion".
This is an instruction that is per definition impossible to act upon for beginners.
What should beginners think, feel, do then?
Everytime I offer food, should I think "But I have no love and no devotion, so this doesnt really count" -?

>This is an instruction that is per definition impossible to act upon for beginners.
>What should beginners think, feel, do then?
You are right. You may not not feel the love for Krishna (yet). But it should come very soon in a seed form.

You can however feel owe and reverence to God and love to your spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada. We all feel that love to one degree or another.

>Everytime I offer food, should I think "But I have no love and no devotion, so this doesnt really count" -?
No it counts. At first. As per viddhi-marga, following the rules and regulations, and specifically you should be very clean and pronounce the offering mantras clearly (see also http://www.deityworship.com/worship/home-worship/offering-food-to-deities/). It guarantees, if you and ingredients are pure, and you follow the procedure correctly, that it is offered. I suggest you offer what you consider pure, and dont be too heavy on others. Yes sometimes others offer things we consider impure (like you consider impure shop juice). But really to seek faults in others, where we have more of it, is real impurity, as for myself I try to get rid of it, but it is hard.

It is not my intention to seek faults in others.

What I do not like is the implied obligation if something is to be considered "prasadam".
If the devotee who offered the food and I are not on speaking terms, but I am expected to think that he or she is so full of love that even less than appropriate food can become prasadam by the act of his or her offering, then it seems to follow that I am supposed to subject myself to this person. Even though I would prefer to have nothing to do with them.

This is why I said in the OP "And that therefore such a devotee ought to be given great respect and credence?"

[quote][cite] ccd:[/cite]You can however feel owe and reverence to God and love to your spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada. We all feel that love to one degree or another.[/quote]

No, I do not feel any such awe and reverence, or love.[br][br]

[quote]It guarantees, if you and ingredients are pure, and you follow the procedure correctly, that it is offered.[/quote]

I cannot guarantee such purity.[br]

By the time I clean and prepare everything, at least an hour passes, and by then I feel like shit.[br][br]

[quote] I suggest you offer what you consider pure[/quote]

That would be nothing then.

[quote][cite] Baker:[/cite]

[quote] I suggest you offer what you consider pure[/quote]

That would be nothing then.[/quote]

Oh... that explains it. You should start with that. But not everyone is elevated, give other regular guys some credit, were just trying to offer something in our hearts to Krishna, and sometimes we think shop bought juice is a nice thing, even if not as nice as what you talk about.

A friend of mine told me that when he started bhakti yoga he and his friend were offering food to the picture of Krsna. They just knew no meat-fish-eggs, no details. Their main qualification was they wanted to serve Krsna. The food became so uncommonly tasty that they understood it was accepted by the Lord. They also used to offer one incense stick together with the food and the smoke from the stick used to make a wide circle above the plate. They considered this to be the sign from the Lord that He accepted their offering.