Krishna's Mercy: Prasadam Distribution

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Prasadam Distribution

Prasadam is a sanksrit word that means "the Lord's Mercy". When Lord Krishna advented on this planet some five thousand years ago, he gave a famous discourse on the meaning of life to His cousin and dear friend Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. This discourse is chronicled in the famous book, Bhagavad-gita.

In the Bhagavad-gita, Lord Krishna explains that He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and that anyone can offer Him vegetarian food such as fruits, flowers, milk, or some water and that He will gladly accept it. Lord Krishna then eats the food, but leaves the remnants for us to partake in. These remnants are known as prasadam, which is the lord's mercy. Prasadam is thus considered very sacred and gives an immense benefit to anyone who partakes of it. Prasadam is offered to the Lord by His devotees preparing foodstuff and then placing it in front of a picture or deity of Him. Devotees also chant appropriate mantras at the time of the offering. The food is then left for the Lord to partake of for a few minutes and then it is distributed to others to enjoy.

Generally all food that is eaten has its own karma associated with it. Karma means fruitive activity, or activity which yields either a positive or negative material result. For example, meat eating generally has bad karma associated with it since it requires the unnecessary killing of innocent animals. Krishna prasadam is known as "karma-free" food because it has no material results attached to it. It is completely sprititual and invokes a spiritual connection in those who partake of it. Krishna's Mercy mainly offer baked goods such as cookies to Lord Krishna because they can be easily distributed in mass quantities through the mail after being offered.

Through deity worship to Lord Krishna, Krishna's Mercy is dedicated to offering and distributing as much prasadam as possible to as many people as possible. One of our main prasadam distribution channels is the sending of "Krishna Care Packages" to military personnel serving overseas. Military men and women sacrifice a lot to defend their country and they don't ask anything in return. There are many websites and organizations set up where people can adopt random soldiers and support them by sending letters and care packages. Lord Krishna is the ultimate well-wisher and Krishna's Mercy uses these sites to connect with soldiers and send them packages of Krishna prasadam along with reading material describing Krishna.

Krishna's Mercy also connects with local food banks and soup kitchens to distribute prasadam to their recipients. Food banks and soup kitchen provide a great service by feeding the needy, but they usually provide many non-vegetarian items which have bad karma associated with it. Krishna's Mercy tries to feed the needy and reawaken a spiritual spark in them at the same time through prasadam distribution.

Many Hindu temples already have programs in place where prasadam is distributed to the public for free on various days of the week. Krishna's Mercy's members attend these temples and supplement the prasadam distribution by providing additional food to be offered to the respective deities.

Krishna’s Mercy is a nonprofit organization dedicated to delivering Krishna prasadam to one and all.