How to practically cook and offer food to Krishna?

Wrapoorva, 15 December 2019

Hello everyone,

I very recently have started to recite the maha mantra and read Bhagavad Gita

Slowly stepping towards krishna conscious

As I was reading on quora and other forums I came across Krishna prasadam .

How Bhoga offering can be done at home.

I did understand most of it, but I also have some doubts, I hope people here can

help me and guide me on this subject. Please be patient till I explain my doubt.

So I am Married woman and a family of three, we are normal working class family

We have 3 meals (breakfast ,lunch,dinner) like most of us .

When I cook , I also pack our lunch before we set off to work

So breakfast and lunch is the same

And dinner I cook something different

Sometimes breakfast would be simple oats

So I prepare something for lunch and the same is carried over for dinner .

Either breakfast and lunch is the same or lunch and dinner is the same .

So my question is ,are all 3 meals supposed to be offered to krishna ? Dinner time how do we offer Bhoga (when I cook something different)

And also small snacks in the evening( like potatoes fry or something similar homemade) how to offer that as Bhoga ?

One more question is we place water to krishna during Bhoga , can’t we use this very water while preparing our dish so the prasadam is mixed with the food I cook??

Thank you for your patience

Kindly answer my question and help me

Wrapoorva

Lilamanjari Devi Dasi, 17 December 2019

Hare Krishna Mataji

Please accept my humble obeisance

All glories to Srila Prabhupada

All glories to His devotees. 

First of all glories to you for your enquiry which shows how serious you are to practice Krishna consciousness as perfectly as possible. 

Recently I had asked some queries to my dear Spiritual Master HG Sriman Sankarshan Das Adhikari, Srila Gurudev, regarding something related to worshipping at home. He had asked me to go through the below links. 

——

Here’s something official from ISKCON:

https://deityworship.com/home-worship.html

Here are some tips from ISKCON Birmingham:

http://iskconbirmingham.org/how-to-practise-krishna-consciousness-at-home#Setting%20Up%20Your%20Altar

——-

As per your queries—–

When I cook , I also pack our lunch before we set off to work 

So breakfast and lunch is the same 

And dinner I cook something different

Sometimes breakfast would be simple oats 

So I prepare something for lunch and the same is carried over for dinner . 

Either breakfast and lunch is the same or lunch and dinner is the same .

So my question is ,are all 3 meals supposed to be offered to Krishna ? 

—— If breakfast and lunch is same, then only once it has to be offered and then pack. So that way you are having prasadam for breakfast as well as lunch. 

Dinner time how do we offer Bhoga (when I cook something different)

And also small snacks in the evening( like potatoes fry or something similar homemade) how to offer that as Bhoga ?

—– I didn’t understand this query properly. Maybe other devotees in the group can understand and help. Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita-

BG 3.13: The devotees of the Lord are released from all kinds of sins because they eat food which is offered first for sacrifice. Others, who prepare food for personal sense enjoyment, verily eat only sin.

 I can only say that even I cook for evening and Sometimes snacks etc and offer it to Krishna. So you can offer snacks etc in Krishna’s plate and then it becomes prasadam and you can mix it with rest of snacks and save it for future use.. Now all of it becomes prasadam so next time you honor the snacks you do not offer it. It’s already prasadam.

One more question is we place water to krishna during Bhoga , can’t we use this very water while preparing our dish so the prasadam is mixed with the food I cook??

—- We do not mix the offered water in the food we cook. The offered water you can transfer to a pot or bottle and use as drinking water. 

Hope it helps to some extent. 

Thank you. 

Hare Krishna

your insignificant servant, 

Lila Manjari devi dasi

Guru Vandana devi dasi , 17 December 2019

Hare Krishna mataji

Please accept my humble obeisance

All glories to Srila Prabhupada

To your query:

Dinner time how do we offer Bhoga (when I cook something different)

And also small snacks in the evening( like potatoes fry or something similar homemade) how to offer that as Bhoga  .

You have to offer Bhoga when you cook something different in the night,the same way you do in the morning. Krishna says, “Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer or give away, and whatever austerities you perform – do that, O son of Kuntī, as an offering to Me.”( Bhagavad gita 9.27).

You have to offer in the evening also when you cook snacks.

If you cook three times , do the offering all the three times. 

Lila Manjari mataji has explained everything in detail.

Thank you

your servant

Guru Vandana devi dasi

Wrapoorva, 18 December 2019

Thank you very much Lila Manjari Mataji for resolving my query

Hare Krishna !!

Wrapoorva

Wrapoorva, 18 December 2019

Thank you Guru Vandana Devi Mataji for resolving my query.

Hare Krishna !!

Wrapoorva

Editor’s note – also see https://krishnaconsciousness.com/at-home

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