HKC 8: Sweets & Milk Sweets

It is important that one should not only offer nice palatable food to Krsna and then accept the remnants of such an offering as Krsna's mercy or prasadam, but one should also distribute such prasadam to others. This is Krsna consciousness. Even if one does not accept all the principles of Krsna consciousness, if he simply eats krsna-prasadam he can gradually become fully qualified to become a devotee of Krsna. In this way even the most ignorant people-or even an ignorant animal-can get the benefit of Krsna consciousness. Sivananda Sen, a devotee of Lord Caitanya, once gave a little prasadam to a dog; thus the dog later met Lord Caitanya Himself and attained liberation.

Once, after a lecture, a disciple asked Srila Prabhupada what happens if a devotee gives someone a little morsel of prasadam, such as the "simply wonderfuls" described later in this section. Srila Prabhupada replied, "Then that is wonderful. Simply wonderful! He has not tasted such a wonderful sweet in his life. Therefore, you give him a simply wonderful, and because he is eating that wonderful sweet, one day he will come to your temple and become wonderful. Therefore it is simply wonderful. So go on distributing these simply wonderfuls." He thought for a moment, and then said, "Your philosophy is simply wonderful, the prasadam is simply wonderful, you are simply wonderful, and your Krsna is simply wonderful. The whole process is simply wonderful." The devotees responded, "Srila Prabhupada is simply wonderful!" It is said, yasya prasadad bhagavat-prasadaḥ: "It is only by the mercy of the spiritual master that one can receive the mercy of Krsna."