Hare Krishna,
We offer food to Krishna and we say some prayers just one time or we need to repeat 3 times everything? What we need to think when we are offering food to Krishna? What if i pronunciated wrong some part of the prayers?
Also how we really know if Krishna did accept the food and transformed into prasadam?
How did we Know that food becames prasadam?
Thank you
Replies
Hare Krishna Mataji,
There are many standards in regards to preparing bhoga and offering to Lord. The easiest way to offer food is simply to pray, "My dear Lord Krishna, please accept this food and show your mercy to this fallen soul," and to chant each of the following prayers three times while ringing a bell:
1. Prayer to Srila Prabhupada:
srimate bhaktivedanta-swamin iti namine
namas te saraswate deve gaura-vani-pracharine
nirvishesha shunyavadi pashchatya desha tarine
"I offer my respectful obeisances unto His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who is very dear to Lord Krishna, having taken shelter at His lotus feet. Our respectful obeisances are unto you, O spiritual master, servant of Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami. You are kindly preaching the message of Lord Caitanya deva and delivering the Western countries, which are filled with impersonalism and voidism."
2. Prayer to Lord Chaitanya:
krishnaya krishna-chaitanya-namne gaura-twishe namaha
"O most munificent incarnation! You are Krishna Himself appearing as Sri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu. You have assumed the golden color of Srimati Radharani. and You are widely distributing pure love of Krishna. We offer our respectful obeisances unto You."
3. Prayer to Lord Krishna:
jagad-dhitaya krishnaya govindaya namo namaha
"I offer my respectful obeisances unto Lord Krishna, who is the worshipable Deity for all brahmanas the well-wisher of the cows and the brahmanas and the benefactor of the whole world. I offer my repeated obeisances to the Personality of Godhead, known as Krishna and Govinda."
Chant three times Panchatattva Mantra:
Jaya sri-krsna-caitanya prabhu nityananda
sri-advaita gadadhara srivasadi-gaura-bhakta-vrnda
and then chant Hare Krishna Mahamantra for three times...
Remember that the real purpose of preparing and offering food to the Lord is to show your devotion and gratitude to Him. Krishna accepts your devotion, not the physical offering itself. God is complete in Himself--He doesn't need anything--but out of His immense kindness He allows us to offer food to Him so that we can develop our love for Him.
After offering the food to the Lord, wait at least ten minutes for Him to partake of the preparations. Then you should transfer the food from the special dinnerware and wash the dishes and utensils you used for the offering. While you eat, try to appreciate the spiritual value of the food. Remember that because Krishna has accepted it, it is non-different from Him, and therefore by eating it you will become purified.
You can write down the prayers and chant if you have any difficulties to memorize in the beginning.
How we really know whether Lord Krishna accepted our food? - Lord Krishna is so kind and He has confirmed in Bhagavat Gita that He would accept our offerings when it is done with Love and Devotion. Once you offer with Love and Devotion, honor the prasadam (after chanting Prasadam prayers:http://www.harekrsna.de/prasadam-prayer.htm) in the same consciousness with gratefulness in the heart, it will be reflected in your consciousness. That is also a proof to understand at our level.
Hare Krishna
Hare Krsna Mataji,
PAMHO.
When we say the prasadam mantra - maha prasade govinde....we say it only once. Only the mahamantra at the end can be said thrice. Some people say it once only. Depends on you. Krsna is not impressed with your mastery of sanskrit/bengali, He is impressed only by the purity of your feelings for Him, so dont worry about pronounciations at all.
Thoughts at the time of offering prasadam - maybe..... please give me your remnants, dear lord, so that I can keep body and soul together and use this body to serve You. You are so pure that only by eating Your remnants can I control the most difficult thing - my tongue, so that I can use my tongue in your service - by chanting your glories and honouring your remnants. This is just illustrative - you can have your own private chat with Your lord, it can be very personal, even something like - lord I dont know what all these mantras are and why we have to say so many things before putting anything in my mouth. I am doing everything to please You, I hope You are taking note of my efforts. It could be anything in between the two feelings I described.
I know one mataji who is initiated, her husband is favourable, but not a devotee (maybe chants one round, if at all). He can say from the taste of the food whether it has been offered or not. I have heard from other people also that the taste of offered food changes. It also depends on the mood of the person eating. If he eats with the feeling, wow pastries. I am waiting to dig into it... as against this is Krsna remnants, though pastries is my favourite food, it becomes tastier because Krsna has had it and I am having remnants, then naturally the taste is different.
Like everything else in spirituality, the actions remain the same physically, only the consciousness changes.
Everything (fruits, flowers, leaves and water) offered with love and devotion is accepted by the lord mataji.
I hope I have been able to answer your question.
Haribol,
Your servant,
Rashmi