Preparing Mahaprasadam 1

take frozen…. All rotten, rather the same vegetable, as we have got in
India practice, we dry it and keep it. That is tasteful. So far the cucumber
1. Collecting Tulasi leaves: pickles: As far as possible we should not offer to the deity things which
are prepared by nondevotees. We can accept from them raw fruits, grains,
Tulasi leaves are essential while offering bhoga to the deities but while or similar raw things. So far cooking and preparing, that should be strictly
plucking the leaves & manjaris we should offer our obeisances to Tulasi limited to the initiated devotees. And aside from this, vinegar is not good;
Maharani by chanting the following mantra; it is tamasic, in the darkness, nasty food. Concerning the use of sour
cream in the temple, it should be stopped immediately. Nothing should be
Tulasi amrta-janmasi, sada tvam kesava-priya offered to the Deities which is purchased in the stores. Things produced
Kesavartham cinomi tvam, varada bhava sobhane by the karmis should not be offered to Radha-Krishna. Icecream, if you
can prepare, is O.K., but not otherwise. Unpolished rice which looks like
O Tulasi devi, you are born from nectar, and you are always very dear to brown can be used… We do not mind polished or unpolished, but doubly-
Lord Kesava. Now in order to worship Lord Kesava I am collecting your boiled [siddha rice] mustn’t be used. Doubly-boiled rice is considered
leaves and manjaris. Please bestow your mercy upon me. impure. Sunbaked rice (atapa) is all right. Soya beans and lentils are
unofferable. Regarding purchasing things in the market, these items are
considered as purified when we pay the price for them. That is the general
2. Kitchen standards: instruction. But when we know something is adulterated, we should avoid
it. But unknowingly if something is purchased, that is not our fault.
Offering Food Things which are suspicious, however, should be avoided. No, it is not
Srila Prabhupada writes, "As far as the eatables are concerned, all items very good to use yeast in preparing prasadam. Since it is offensive to offer
should be first-class preparations. There should be first-class rice, dal, anything to Krsna that He will not accept, one should be extremely
fruit, sweet rice, vegetables, and a variety of foods to be sucked, drunk, cautious not to offer (or eat) anything questionable.”
and chewed. All the eatables offered to the deities should be
extraordinarily excellent." Food Purity
After assembling the ingredients for cooking, wash all vegetables and
Food items that can be offered fruits and anything else that can be washed. If something washable falls
The Hari-bhakti-vilasa lists some of the foods that may be offered: bilva, on the floor or in a sink, wash it off; if it is unwashable, reject it.
amalaki, dates, coconut, jackfruit, grapes, tala fruit, lotus root, leafy The cook should cover all preparations as soon as they are cooked. If an
vegetables, cowmilk products, and items made from grains, ghee, and animal sees a preparation before it is offered, it must be rejected. No one
sugar. Grains, especially rice, should always be offered with ghee. Rice except the cook and the pujari should see the unoffered food. Cover the
without ghee is considered asuric. The Lord is pleased when offered items ghee used for frying when it is not in use. Old ghee should be replaced
made with ghee, sugar, yogurt, guda (jaggery), and honey; chickpea regularly with fresh ghee. See to it that all ingredients are properly stored
preparations, dals, soups (wet sabjis), varieties of cakes, and other items in closed containers.
that can be licked, chewed, sucked, or drunk are all pleasing as well. One
may also offer drinks such as sugarcane juice, yogurt drinks, sweetened
Kitchen Standards !
lemon water, water flavored with cinnamon, camphor, or cardamom, and
Just as we must select pure, excellent foods to offer to Krsna, so we must
fruit drinks of various scents and colors. Many passages in the Caitanya-
also prepare them purely. To prepare food for the Lord, one must
caritamrta describe preparations that please Krsna. Here is a sample,
meticulously observe the rules for cleanliness and take the utmost care to
describing what Lord Caitanya’s associates would prepare for Him, "They
prepare the food properly. The consciousness of the cook enters into the
offered [Him] pungent preparations made with black pepper, sweet-and-
food he prepares, and therefore he should strive to be Krsna conscious
sour preparations, ginger, salty preparations, limes, milk, yogurt, cheese,
while in the kitchen. The kitchen, where the Lord’s food is prepared, is an
two or four kinds of spinach, soup made with bitter melon [sukta],
extension of the deity room, where He eats. So the same high standard of
eggplant mixed with nimba flowers, and fried patola." In a letter Srila
cleanliness should be maintained.
Prabhupada described foods in the mode of goodness and how to present
them to the Lord, "Foodstuffs in the modes of goodness are wheat, rice,
pulse (beans, peas), sugar, honey, butter, and all milk preparations, Dress in Kitchen
vegetables, flowers, fruits, grains. So these foods can be offered in any If possible cover your hair so as to avoid any hair falling into a
shape, but prepared in various ways by the intelligence of the devotees." preparation. Do not wear wool in the kitchen. All clothing must be
In Caitanya-caritamrta, Srila Prabhupada describes the best type of rice clean-that is, it must not have been worn in the bathroom, when eating
for deity offerings, "In India sukla-caval (white rice) is also called atapa- or sleeping, or outside the temple grounds.
caval, or rice that has not been boiled before being threshed. Another kind
of rice, called siddha-caval (brown rice), is boiled before being threshed. Personal Cleanliness
Generally, first-class fine white rice is required for offerings to the deity." You should be freshly showered and wearing tilaka and neck beads.
A devotee may offer bona fide foods considered delicacies by the local Wash your hands when first entering the kitchen, and wash them again
people or preferred by him or his family. In commenting on a sloka if you touch your face, mouth, or hair, or if you sneeze or cough
stating that one may offer his own or local favorites, Sanatana Gosvami (having-hopefully-covered your mouth).
writes that this means that even though people in general may not like a
certain food, if a person prefers it he may offer it. But this refers to foods Kitchen and Utensil Cleanliness
the scriptures approves, not those they forbid. Thus if one is fond of a The kitchen should be thoroughly cleaned regularly, including inside the
forbidden food, one cannot offer it to the Lord. And thus one cannot eat it. stoves, ovens, and refrigerators. Do not leave unclean saucepans and
Also, one should not offer even permissible foods that are tasteless, utensils lying around in the kitchen. Clean them after they are used (the
unpalatable, inedible, impure for any reason, or eaten by insects, animals, sooner they are cleaned after use, the easier they are to clean). No one
or people. If nothing else offerable is available, one may offer fruit alone. should eat or drink in the kitchen; nor should anyone use the sink for
If even fruit is unavailable, one may offer pure water while meditating on spitting into or drinking from. Remove all garbage from the kitchen at
offering elaborate preparations. If even water is unavailable, one should at least once a day. If you need to store prasada in the refrigerator store it
least mentally make an offering of food. in such a way that unoffered items will not become contaminated. I.e.
store prasada in sealed containers.
Food items that can not be offered
Common forbidden foods include meat, fish, eggs, onions, mushrooms, Maintaining Proper Consciousness !
garlic, masur-dal (red lentils), burned rice, white eggplant, hemp As far as possible restrict conversation to topics about Krsna. Do not play
(marijuana), citron, saps from trees (if not boiled first), buffalo and goat recordings of popular-style music in the kitchen. Traditional bhajana and
milk products, and milk with salt in it. Also, one should not offer canned kirtana recordings are appropriate. Deep-frying should be done in pure
or frozen foods to the deity, and it is best to avoid offering foods ghee, if possible. Ghee used for frying should be regularly replaced.
containing unhealthy substances such as yeast and white sugar. Srila (Ideally, ghee and other oils should be used only once, since each
Prabhupada makes following comments, “Frozen means nasty. I never reheating reduces their digestibility. An expert cook will use a minimum
 Preparing Mahaprasadam 2
amount of ghee for deep-frying and use the remainder for making halava
or mixing into rice.) If ghee is not available or cannot be made, you may
use vegetable oil, such as coconut, mustard, sunflower, or peanut oil.

3. Offering: After preparing nice foodstuff to offer to the lord by

taking the necessary precaution mentioned above; the person making
offering should set up Lord’s plate and put plucked Tulasi leaves in each
article being offered, close the curtains & then should chant the mantras
making offering to the guru parampara (3 times each mantra whilst
simultaneously ringing the bell)

Prasadam Offering Mantras

(i) Srila Prabhupada’s Pranam Mantras:

nama om visnu-padaya krsna presthaya bhu-tale

srimate bhaktivedanta-svami iti namine
namas te sarasvate deve gaura-vani-pracarine
nirvisesa-sunyavadi-pascatya-desa-tarine

(ii) Lord Caitanya’s Pranam Mantra:

namo maha-vadanyaya krsna-prema-pradaya te
krsnaya krsna-caitanya-namne gaura-tvise namah

(iii) Krishna’s Pranam Mantra:

namo brahmanya-devaya go-brahmana-hitaya ca

jagad-dhitaya krsnaya govindaya namo namah

(iv) Panca-Tattva Maha Mantra:

sri-krsna-caitanya prabhu nityananda

sri-advaita gadadhara srivasadi-gaura-bhakta-vrnda

(v) Hare Krishna Maha Mantra:

Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

Make the offering for 15 minutes & then ring the bell again before taking
the Ucistha Mahaprasadam of the lord.
 Honouring Mahaprasadam 3
Mahaprasade Govinde
- by Krsna Dvaipayana Vyasa
This song is sung before honouring prasadam

maha-prasade govinde
nama-brahmani vaisnave
svalpa-punya-vatam rajan
visvaso naiva jayate

(Mahabharata)

O king, for those who have amassed very few pious activities, their faith in maha-prasada, in Sri Govinda, in the Holy
Name and in the Vaisnava is never born.

sarira abidya-jal, jodendriya tahe kal,

jibe phele bisaya-sagore
ta'ra madhye jihva ati, lobhamoy sudurmati
ta'ke jeta kathina somsare

This material body is a network of ignorance, and the senses are one's deadly enemies, for they throw the soul into the
ocean of material sense enjoyment. Among the senses, the tongue is the most voracious and verily wicked; it is very
difficult to conquer the tongue in this world.

krsna baro doyamoy, karibare jihva jay,

swa-prasad-anna dilo bhai
sei annamrta khao, radha-krsna-guna gao,
preme dako caitanya-nitai

Lord Krsna is very merciful-just to control the tongue He has given us the remnants of His own food! Now please eat
these nectarean grains while singing the glories of Their Lordships Sri Sri Radha and Krsna, and in love call out
"Caitanya! Nitai!"

Video recitation