Through some coincidences in my life, I had the opportunity to visit the Iskcon Hare Krishna Temple in Vrindavan. As a kid and even later, I have visited the Hare Krishna Temple in Bombay very often.
I always used to like the devotional atmosphere of the Hare Krishna Temple in Juhu and would always look forward to go there. I also used to like the prasadam they served there and the prasad had a diffferent quality to it, which is very rare these days.
My visit to the Iskcon Hare Krishna Temple in Vrindavan again left me in great awe. The temple is charged with a lot of positive energies of love, devotion. Instantly it can uplift anyone.
My evenings in Vrindavan for the few days that I was there, would be to take part in the devotional singing and chanting of hymns and aarti later.
Later we would go for dinner in the Krishna restaurant. I was amazed to see the simple variety of food both continental and indian food offered on their menu.
The food is simple, down-to-earth, tastes great and thoroughly enjoyable. They also serve hot milk with honey. I have never tasted such a kind of milk. It was sweet even without the honey and was simply out of the world. My personal feeling is that they must be lovingly and compassionately taking care of the cows in their gaushalas. The cows must be feeling loved, hence the milk it gives had the quality of love in it.
Even the milk sweet prasadam they serve in the temple, is really good. Whatever food they offer or serve in their restaurants, is first offered to Lord Krishna and then served to the people. They also prepare the food with a lot of devotion and love for Lord Krishna. Hence the food is infused with love energy. Also, since the prasad is first offered to Lord Krishna, it then is known as the mahaprasad as it has Lord Krishna’s blessings and energy in it.
The food, I have had in all the Iskcon Temples have a different quality to it. This food is not only for the body, but it also subtly affects the mind, heart and soul of the person who receives the mahaprasad.
The food made in the Isckon temples are sattvic and they do not use any onions or garlic. They have many sites and blogs where they share their recipes. They also have great vegan recipes. Some of the websites are:
I hope you enjoy making the recipes with love, compassion, devotion and care as much as I enjoyed making some of them.