Dedication

In the Vedic literatures, cooking is listed as one of the sixty-four arts. My spiritual master, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, was an excellent cook, and when he came to the West from India he used his skills to make delicious preparations for the pleasure of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Krishna. As we read in his biography by Satsvarupa dasa Goswami:

'...So he very deftly emptied the bag of flour, and with his fingertips, cut in the butter until the mixture had the consistency of coarse meal. Then he made a well in the centre of the flour, poured in just the right amount of water and very deftly and expertly kneaded it into a velvety smooth, medium-soft dough. He then brought in a tray of cooked potatoes, mashed them with his fingertips, and began to sprinkle in spices. He showed me how to make and form potato kachoris, which are fried Indian pastries with spiced potato filling. Meanwhile, in the course of the same afternoon Swamiji brought in fifteen other special vegetarian dishes, each one in a large enough quantity for forty persons. And he had made them single handedly in his small, narrow kitchen.'

These preparations were then distributed to the people who had come to associate with him. By taking this prasadam, sanctified food, they became further attracted to Krishna consciousness. The preparation and distribution of prasadam is an important part of the Krishna consciousness movement, and it is the part to which I have gravitated.

I would like to dedicate this book to His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and ask him to bless this endeavor.