HH Sarsvarupa Das Goswami: ISKCON operates many Govinda’s restaurants around the world. They are difficult to manage, but determined devotees, who are expert in cooking and management, come forward and take the burden. It is excellent preaching. People get to eat delicious vegetarian prasadam and hear krsna-kirtana, either in the restaurant or outdoors at Ratha-yatra. Srila Prabhupada was very fond of the restaurants. He said ghee produced on the farms could be brought to the restaurant and used in cooking or sold to the customers. By eating food cooked in ghee, meat-eaters would be inclined to give up their meat because ghee is rich in proteins. Eating in this way, they get intense animal protein without killing the animal. It helps them to give up the “blood lust.” Prasadam purifies a person and softens his heart so that he may hear about spiritual topics and chant the holy names.
There is a social side to Govinda’s restaurants. They provide an alternative to nondevotee restaurants, which Prabhupada put in the category of going to cinemas (something he forbid but some devotees had a tendency to do). Govinda’s is an excellent way to stop the forbidden activities.
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