krsna Posted April 29, 2004 Report Share Posted April 29, 2004 Chaitanya Bhagavat by Srila Vrindavan das Thakur Madhya Lila Chapter 4 Lord Gaurachandra is the Supersoul in everyone's heart, therefore He knew Lord Nityananda's heart. Thus, He was planning a means by which to reveal Himself to Lord Nityananda. The Lord indicated to Srivas Pandit to recite a verse from the Srimad Bhagavatam. Srivas understood, and immediately recited a sloka describing the beauty of Krishna, "At that time Krishna, dressed as a dancer, stepped into the forest of Vrindavan. A peacock feather was stuck in His crown, His ears were decorated with graceful drooping yellow earrings, His golden yellow dress glistened and He was wearing the Vijyanti jewel around His neck. That land which carried the impression of His lotus feet, marked with the signs of the conchshell, disc, etc., is Vrindavan, His place of transcendental pastimes. He touched the flute to His lips and playing on it, filled it with His nectarean saliva . At the same moment His cowherd boyfriends were describing His beauty." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krsna Posted April 29, 2004 Author Report Share Posted April 29, 2004 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krsna Posted April 29, 2004 Author Report Share Posted April 29, 2004 Krishna's saliva is mixed in there. Isn't it? Serving and honouring prasadam Prasadam: The Lord’s Mercy. Food prepared in pure consciousness with pure products and offered with love to the Lord. The glories of prasadam Prasadam is spiritual, not different from Krishna. It purifies the heart (different levels of potency). It frees one from sinful reactions. We can simply eat our way back to Godhead. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Krishna become very pleased when we cook nicely for Them. Krishna actually eats the offering . By eating prasadam, the devotee becomes Krishna-ised. It connects our eating process to Krishna. It helps control the tongue. It protects one from falling into illusion. The offering contains love and devotion. We get benefit through offering, serving and eating it. We are not dry renouncers; we can prepare wonderful feasts. The Lord likes to see His devotees enjoy in a Krishna-conscious way. Cultural background Preparing, serving, and eating prasadam in the association of devotees is integral to devotional service with roots based in the most ancient Vedic culture and the Lord’s pastimes. A part of Deity worship (arcanam): Cooking for Krishna is an exact science. Various dishes are prepared in certain ways because experts in the art have determined that these preparations are most pleasing to Krishna. Trains us for the spiritual world in the correct service attitude of taking pleasure in eating Krishna’s remnants. The cowherd boys enjoy eating in Krishna’s company and sharing His remnants. In the spiritual world, Radha cooks for Krishna and She never cooks the same preparation twice. The temple kitchen is understood to belong to Radharani. She is the controller there. In Lord Caitanya’s pastimes, the devotees would make kirtana until they were exhausted and then eat a big feast together with great joy. The Caitanya-caritamrta contains many descriptions of the food preparations and feasts the devotees used to make. Look in the Caitanya-caritamrta and find a section where such a feast is described. Regulations in serving and honouring prasadam Serving Be clean. Hold utensils in right hand only. Do not touch serving utensils to eating plates. Be sensitive: give only what is wanted. Be quick: others may be waiting. No mixing: keep the preparations separate. Honouring We don't just 'eat' prasadam, we 'honour' it. It should be respected as non-different from Krishna. Don’t criticise prasadam. It should not be wasted. Your consciousness also affects how much benefit you get from eating it. Don’t steal from others. Don’t grab for yourself: serve and be served. Don’t eat while walking. Don’t horde prasadam. Be wise Take a short walk afterwards or sleep ten minutes on your left side. Don’t eat too much. Take the right balance. Don’t eat too much in the evening. Consider regulation and health. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 29, 2004 Report Share Posted April 29, 2004 filled it with His nectarean saliva If health inspectors find out about this when evaluating a prasadam restaurant, the devotees may have some explaining to do! Saliva in the food is a major health no-no. /images/graemlins/smile.gif Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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