HKC 6: Savories

The preparation of savories shows the sophistication of prasadam cooking. The great spiritual masters in Krsna consciousness recommend that one should not be attached to material sense enjoyment, but one should accept everything enjoyable which is in relationship to Krsna. For example, eating is necessary, and we want some palatable dishes to satisfy our sense of taste. Therefore, for the satisfaction of Krsna rather than for the satisfaction of the tongue, some palatable dishes may be prepared and offered to Krsna. This is renunciation. Let the palatable dishes be prepared! However, unless they are offered to Krsna one should not eat them. This vow of rejecting anything which is not offered to Krsna is actually renunciation, but it is not dry and artificial renunciation, for by such Krsna conscious renunciation one is fully able to satisfy the demands of the senses.

For an impersonalist, the Lord, or the Absolute, being impersonal, cannot eat. Therefore an impersonalist artificially tries to avoid good eatables. But a devotee, knowing that Krsna is the supreme enjoyer and that He eats all that is offered to Him in devotion, offers good eatables to the Lord and then enjoys the prasadam remnants. The devotee takes prasadam in Krsna consciousness, whereas the nondevotee rejects it as material. The impersonalist, therefore, cannot enjoy life due to his artificial renunciation, whereas the devotee enjoys full bliss in relationship with Krsna.