Author: Dandavats Staff
12 years ago Bhaja Hari prabhu opened the Gokula Cafe, which is still going strong, (photo attached)
Bhaja Hari once said he had a serious regret, he received the below letter when he was temple president of Bhaktivedanta Manor. And he had not been able to implement the instruction. This was his regret. This was not a personal instruction as the instruction went out to every temple president worldwide. Still we believe for this reason Bhaja Hari became a big Prasad distribution devotee in his later years
January 18, 1977
To All ISKCON Temple Presidents,
Please accept my blessings. Now you must arrange in each temple there must be sufficient stock of prasadam for distribution. You can keep first class cooks, two or three, and they should be always engaged. Whenever any guest comes, he must get prasada. This arrangement must be made, that the cooks prepare ten-twenty servings at a time, of puris and subji, and you can add halava and pakoras, and the visitors must be supplied immediately. Whenever a gentleman comes, he must be served. As the twenty servings are being distributed, immediately the cooks prepare another twenty servings and store it. At the end of the day, if no one comes, our own men will take, so there is no loss.
You cannot say, “it is finished,” “it is not cooked yet,” “there is no supply for cooking” etc. This must be enforced rigidly. The temple is managed by Srimati Radharani, Laksmiji; so why should there be want? Our philosophy is, if anyone comes, let him take prasada, chant Hare Krsna and be happy. Everything is being supplied by Krsna, Krsna is not poor, so why we should deny them? This should be done at any cost. There is no difficulty, it simply requires nice management. At the end of the day you may sell or give away. If we believe that Krsna is providing and maintaining everyone, then why should we be misers? This means losing faith in Krsna, and thinking that we are the doers and suppliers. We are confident Krsna will supply! Let the whole world come, we can feed them. So please do this nicely, begin at once.
Hoping this meets you all in good health.
Your ever well-wisher, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
Another sankirtan hero is Sudeshna Prabhu, a book distributor since the mid-seventies and still goes out most days, if he is not doing Prasad distribution. He’s pictured sharing Prasad with devotees during the lock down