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Syamasundara Das: How can the Vedic principle of receiving guests that you mentioned be practically applied in today’s day and age, because people will take undue advantage. . . .

Maharaja: Yes, the society has become so degraded in a way it may be difficult to practice, but in the ideal situation Prabhupada is saying that after the offering is made, the householder would go out on the street and
loudly announce that if anyone is hungry please come and be my guest. In a society like that there cannot be any scarcity, nobody can go hungry.  Prabhupada came to establish that standard. In ISKCON Prabhupada told us that every temple and even ISKCON centers should keep prasad for twenty people ready. The subji and halavah can be kept ready beforehand and the puri dough is ready and if some guest comes, you just fry the puris which takes only a minute or two, and serve. And when that batch is exhausted, cook another batch and if something is left over when the brahmacaris come back to the temple after sankirtana they can take care of the rest.  This is the standard that Prabhupada gave. And it’s not a very expensive affair. And when guests are treated like that they appreciate and come forward to support. We take care of them and they will take care too. That’s the standard Prabhupada gave. Individually for householders one may not be able to announce loudly like this, but at least when a guest comes, offer him a glass of water, and if there is some other prasad sweet or sandesh available, otherwise you can offer some potato chips or cookies. The main thing is by doing that we are establishing the proper culture in society, this is ISKCON’s business, as a result of that real prosperity will prevail in human society.