He Bestows Prasād Buddhi

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During Śrī Navadvīp parikramā at prasād time, devotees would line up. They were offered big leaf plates and were served salt, a green chili, and a slice of lemon. They served steaming hot rice (anna) piled up like a mountain. The dal was thin and watery. When the prasād was served we chanted mahā-prasāde govinde. After additional prayers concluded, everyone started honoring prasād.  

As I observed hungry persons getting busy eating mouthfuls, I felt still, just sitting and thinking. I had not started when I saw someone standing near my plate and I lifted my head to see it was Guru Mahārāj. He had come to see me. 

He understood that this was my first experience of prasād in Māyāpur. As he smiled, he told me, "This is prasād offered to Śrī Mahāprabhu." The moment I heard these words I started honoring prasād mouthfuls quickly.

My taste of food changed there and prasād then was so simple, humble, only two-three items, that is all. On special feasts, the only additional item would be kheer. Though the prasād was simple, there was a lot of bliss in it.  

Now things are very comfortable and prasād is like something served to royalty, but in those days it was very humble. At the time when our Guru Mahārāj had joined the maṭh, ekādaśī-prasād was so humble that no one even got a full fruit, one-tenth of a cucumber, and little potatoes. Through much hardship and struggle, they established Mahāprabhu's preaching in the beginning.  

—Śrī Rāsavihārī Das  

spoken in Hindi and English alternatively

Guru-kathā via Zoom on 29.5.2020, Gokul India

continued from: http://tirthagoswami.blogspot.com/2022/01/situated-within-his-transcendental.html



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