Food: 2014

Saturday, December 20, 2014

Friday, December 5, 2014

Thursday, December 4, 2014

I went up to the front gate tonight to check out the fare at a new snack bar
that Mahavira prabhu has set up. Situated just inside and to the right of
the front entrance as you enter our property, it sells French fries, lassi,
kachuries, and other small snacks. With three picnic tables, it has quickly
become a social spot for the devotees, especially after the evening arati.
Now that the weather is getting colder, some like to gather and chat over a
fried snack or hot drink. When I walked up, the first thing I saw was a
small sign on the counter advertising hot drinking chocolate.

"Hey, Maha, that's not bona fide!" I called to Mahavira.

"What's not bona fide?" Mahavira responded, looking concerned.

"The hot drinking chocolate. You can't serve chocolate."

"No, drinking chocolate is different. It's okay. Prabhupada said it's okay."

"Did you ask him?" I asked suspiciously.

"Well, no, but drinking chocolate isn't the same as regular chocolate."

"Of course it is. It's chocolate. How can it be any different?"

"Well, how do you know that chocolate isn't bona fide?"

"I heard when I first joined. You can't offer chocolate. It's like coffee;
it has caffeine."

"No, I don't think it does. I heard it's okay."

We debated in this way for a few minutes. He wasn't willing to concede, and
I could see that the several others who were gathered there also thought hot
drinking chocolate was a good idea. Then I said, "Well, let's go and ask
Srila Prabhupada." He agreed that this would settle the matter clearly, so
we went into Prabhupada's darsana room where he was sitting quietly,
chanting almost inaudibly on his beads.

"What is that?" Prabhupada asked pleasantly as we offered our obeisances and
sat before him.

"Well, the devotees are selling hot drinking chocolate at the new snack bar,
Srila Prabhupada," I said, "and I don't think it's bona fide. Mahavira
prabhu thinks it is, so we thought we should ask you."

"Hmm. So, what is it made from?" Prabhupada asked thoughtfully.

Mahavira raced back to the shop and brought the can. He read out the
ingredients. "It's mainly from cocoa, Srila Prabhupada."

"Oh, cocoa. That, there is cocoa bean, it comes from this?"

"Yes, Srila Prabhupada."

"No, then it is not all right. If it is from cocoa bean you cannot take.
That means caffeine."

So that was it. The issue was settled, and hot drinking chocolate is no
longer on the menu.

- From "A Transcendental Diary Vol 5" by HG Hari Sauri Prabhu

Saturday, November 29, 2014

Pot

http://itspotluck.com/

Madan Mohan

Around two hundred years back, when Gopal Das Mukherjee was the temple
pujari. One morning when he was doing Madan Mohan’s shringar, he found it
difficult to put the deity’s turban on him. He couldn’t put the turban even
in after several attempts. Annoyed by the difficulty, the pujari slapped
Madan Mohan with his left hand and did not bother trying to put the turban
on afterward.

That night Madan Mohan himself appeared to the then Mahant, Shri Chandra Das
Goswami, and told him what had happened. He complained, “When Yashoda Maa
dressed me up before I went off to gocharan (cow grazing), she would give me
kheer or butter to eat. I was thinking of my mother’s love while the pujari
was putting the turban. While remembering the mother I shook my head, which
made it difficult for the pujari to put the turban.”

The next day, the mahant went to the temple to see if the turban had been
put on the deity. He found that it was missing from Madan Mohan’s head. When
interrogated about the missing pagri, the pujari said that the bhandari (the
storehouse manager) had not been able to get a good turban from the market,
and this one was too small. Then the Mahant asked him if he had slapped
Madan Mohan and the pujari shamefully admitted his misdeed. So the Mahant
immediately sacked the pujari after paying him off.

The pujari was so disappointed that he went to the Pushpanandan Ghat and
began a hunger strike to the death, as he could not bear to live without
serving Madan Mohan. With each passing day his condition deteriorated. All
this was too much for Madan Mohan, who could not bear to see his devotee in
trouble. He appeared again to the mahant in a dream and pleaded with him to
re-employ the pujari. Madan Mohan excused the pujari’s offense as he had
been in haste to perform his father’s shraddh ceremony that day.

When the pujari was asked about it, he admitted that he had been late for
the shraddh and was in hurry and that is why he had been frustrated. Pujari
was finally given his job back and the tradition to offer kulia after
shringar was established in the temple.

The samadhi of the Pujari Shri Gopal Mukherjee is still there in the temple
grounds.

https://www.youtube.com/c/AartiMadan/videos

https://harekrishnainfo.blogspot.com/search/label/Moh