He Relishes Prasad Only After All Are Served Properly
When Guru Maharaj came out to offer water Tulasi ji, he used to take the darshan of the bhog offering to the Lord, seeing it from the balcony on the first-floor corridor. He could not get Thakurji's direct darshan from that angle, but he could see the offerings placed on the floor in front of them. When he saw their offering plates, he would say, Oh! Today there’s a very nice offering to God. He would be extremely pleased. Later he would remark, But I cannot honor that prasad, what to do?
Pure devotees relish prasad just by the sight of it, for they have no enjoying tendency. They want to relish it, they have that particular consciousness.
On particular festival days like Lord's appearance day, anniversary festivals, etc. he would make a point of requesting us to bring prasad directly from Thakurji's plate. Even if we had his plate ready (from what was separately prepared for him separately due to his special diet) he would not eat that unless we first gave him some prasad from Thakurji.
Another incident I recall was in Hyderabad Math on the anniversary festival of Sri Sri Radha Vinod jiu. In the afternoon, everyone went for Nagar sankirtan and the offering was delayed until about 3 in the afternoon. Guru Maharaj was supposed to speak Harikatha in the evening.
Guru Maharaj’s room there is adjacent to the nat mandir, and when there was amplified kirtan, he could not rest properly. It was already 2:30 pm, so we thought that by the time everyone finishes prasad, Guru Maharaj will take prasad and rest at about 3 or 3:30, and by 4.30 he will have at least one, one and a half hours rest.
I asked Tatpar Maharaj to please bring prasad for Guru Maharaj because he has to speak in the evening and if he waited until later, he cannot get proper rest. When Maharaj brought the prasad plate and placed it in front of Guru Maharaj, Guru Maharaj asked: what is this? We reminded him and said the time was short and he had to take his medicines and rest. We requested again for him to please take prasad.
Then Guru Maharaj became so angry. He said: all the devotees have performed nagar sankirtan. Today is Thakurji's appearance day, the bhoga offering is going on, and all the devotees have not eaten anything. They are participating in the arati kirtan, and I will sit here and eat prasad?
He became so angry, he did not want to eat. He told us to just take it away, he did not want to eat. We told Guru Maharaj again that the time is up, you have to take rest. He said, No! this body will die one day, I have to die one day.
So we had no choice but to remove the prasad plate from in front of him. Again after half an hour or forty minutes, we heated it up and informed him that everyone has not sat down to take prasad. Only after he came to know this, Guru Maharaj took prasad.
We brought in some mahaprasad from Thakurji and after that, he started speaking very calmly: see all the devotees are doing bhajan. The whole day they have performed sankirtan and they have not taken prasad until after 3 o'clock, so how could I take prasad before them, like some kind of an enjoyer? You should understand that this is a devotional path; there is a devotional process.
Saying this, he retired, but not for long. Hardly 15-20 minutes went by before he had to get up again and speak. The point is that he did not even care for his fragile body. He was already 89 by then. Any other person would have taken prasad or rest thinking I have to take medicine, so let me do this— but he would not compromise for his material or bodily comfort. He would simply try to abide by what is to be done by sadhakas, even though he is beyond all this.
The glories of prasad are infinite, we are not able to understand the significance of maha-prasad and the significance of the special events and observances. If we actually take mahaprasad, then we can conquer all our material desires. That is the easiest way. On several occasions, Guru Maharaj has tried to indicate this by giving such small instructions.
On particular festival days like Lord's appearance day, anniversary festivals, etc. he would make a point of requesting us to bring prasad directly from Thakurji's plate. Even if we had his plate ready (from what was separately prepared for him separately due to his special diet) he would not eat that unless we first gave him some prasad from Thakurji.
Another incident I recall was in Hyderabad Math on the anniversary festival of Sri Sri Radha Vinod jiu. In the afternoon, everyone went for Nagar sankirtan and the offering was delayed until about 3 in the afternoon. Guru Maharaj was supposed to speak Harikatha in the evening.
Guru Maharaj’s room there is adjacent to the nat mandir, and when there was amplified kirtan, he could not rest properly. It was already 2:30 pm, so we thought that by the time everyone finishes prasad, Guru Maharaj will take prasad and rest at about 3 or 3:30, and by 4.30 he will have at least one, one and a half hours rest.
I asked Tatpar Maharaj to please bring prasad for Guru Maharaj because he has to speak in the evening and if he waited until later, he cannot get proper rest. When Maharaj brought the prasad plate and placed it in front of Guru Maharaj, Guru Maharaj asked: what is this? We reminded him and said the time was short and he had to take his medicines and rest. We requested again for him to please take prasad.
Then Guru Maharaj became so angry. He said: all the devotees have performed nagar sankirtan. Today is Thakurji's appearance day, the bhoga offering is going on, and all the devotees have not eaten anything. They are participating in the arati kirtan, and I will sit here and eat prasad?
He became so angry, he did not want to eat. He told us to just take it away, he did not want to eat. We told Guru Maharaj again that the time is up, you have to take rest. He said, No! this body will die one day, I have to die one day.
So we had no choice but to remove the prasad plate from in front of him. Again after half an hour or forty minutes, we heated it up and informed him that everyone has not sat down to take prasad. Only after he came to know this, Guru Maharaj took prasad.
We brought in some mahaprasad from Thakurji and after that, he started speaking very calmly: see all the devotees are doing bhajan. The whole day they have performed sankirtan and they have not taken prasad until after 3 o'clock, so how could I take prasad before them, like some kind of an enjoyer? You should understand that this is a devotional path; there is a devotional process.
Saying this, he retired, but not for long. Hardly 15-20 minutes went by before he had to get up again and speak. The point is that he did not even care for his fragile body. He was already 89 by then. Any other person would have taken prasad or rest thinking I have to take medicine, so let me do this— but he would not compromise for his material or bodily comfort. He would simply try to abide by what is to be done by sadhakas, even though he is beyond all this.
The glories of prasad are infinite, we are not able to understand the significance of maha-prasad and the significance of the special events and observances. If we actually take mahaprasad, then we can conquer all our material desires. That is the easiest way. On several occasions, Guru Maharaj has tried to indicate this by giving such small instructions.
—Sri Bhakti Suhrid Paramadvati Maharaj
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