Prasad - The Guru's Grace

For What We Are About To Receive

May The Lord Make Us Truly Thankful!

Many times during Swami's darshan, I have received blessed Prasad.  Excited devotees would buy an assortment of delicious sweets, place them on a shiny silver platter and carefully decorate the offering with an abundance of colourful flowers.  Often, by the side of the sweets lay packets of tiny golden lockets, letters and deity statuettes - all lovingly arranged for Swami's attention.

Usually, the determined devotees would wait for days for a suitable seating position where Swami could bless the platters.  This would mean rearranging the sweets and improving on their floral skills, until finally, each platter resembled a beautiful bouquet of flowers.

Often, the devotee's efforts received Swami's blessings. He would walk along until He reached a superbly decorated platter, stop, look and bless the sweet offering.  While doing so, he would take large handfuls of the delicious selection and throw them over the seated devotees.  With loud aahs! and whoops of joy, and small gestures of gratitude, the sweet would be accepted and passed around to others, or sometimes kept for loved ones and friends.

I remember many wonderful moments with Swami as He blessed sweets.  Frequently, He would throw them high into the air and one would land on my head, chin or nose.  His favourite target seemed to be my headband.  Once a sweet lodged itself between the folds of my shawl, and not until I stood to leave, did it fall on to the floor where I could retrieve it.  But mostly, the sweets simply land in my lap or even underneath my cushion - how they found their way there, I will never know.  But always, I felt elated when a blessed sweet came my way.  I would keep my "precious catch" until a quiet moment, then eat it slowly savouring the delicate flavour.

On one occasion in 1992, when seated in the front line in Prasanthi Nilayam, Swami came along and playfully tossed sweets to those seated all around, but missed me altogether.  It had been one of those days when I had felt less than happy with myself and therefore, undeserving of a blessed sweet.  Mentally, I expressed to Swami that I didn't deserve one.

Immediately, He turned and tossed, with determined accuracy, a large toffee.  The missile landed with a loud thud on my head, shattering the silent moment.  This of course, left me startled because Swami had read my mind!

Blessed sweets re "Prasad" - a gift from the Guru; a gift that has the power to change our lives.  When a master gives food to His devotees, He is in fact, giving of His energy.  If we take Prasad with this understanding, it can gladden our lives and bring us closer to Him.

No matter how we receive Prasad, or what form it takes, be it sweets directly given to us by the Guru, or blessed food shared with us by others, it is always full of Divine Energy.  Having accepted such blessings, we accept the Guru's grace.  The secret is to appreciate it.

~ Yvonne Northrop ~

(Sanathana Sarathi - Jan. 1997)