Food for Life
Training Manual

“Everyone should be given a chance
to take prasadam…”

by Priyavrata das

Third Edition

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ISBN: 978-0-9850451-9-7

“Complete Welfare”

A Vaisnava’s compassion knows no limit, it is said,

“Oceanic and sweet—distinguished as gold, not lead.

Such compassion you’ll not find in the mundane welfare realm,

it emanates from the heart—and has the ability to overwhelm.

Dispelling dryness and insecurity from the hearts of “homeless souls,”

Instilling faith in the faithless—establishing spiritual goals.

Although externally appearing, like many other missions,

the essence we’re preserving—through transcendental vision.

Simply saving shirts (or bodies), neglecting swimmer (the soul),

“is a waste of valuable time,” we are emphatically told!

Our aim is to go deeper—our service personalized,

become expert in both realms, “complete welfare” combined!

No need to be fanatical, our mission is foretold—

“In every town and village,” inundating the young, the poor and the old!

Priyavrata das, 6 December 1991

Contents

Acknowledgments      13

Foreword      15

The Meaning of Food for Life      17

Preface      21

Introduction      23

Three Angas      24

Medicine and Diet      25

The Potency of Krishna Prasada      26

Is Food for Life just for Public Relations?      26

Practicing What We Preach      27

Is Prasadam Distribution a Less Important Service?      28

The Name: “Food for Life”      28

Bhakti, Feeding the Poor and Charity      29

Repositioning Food for Life      33

About Food for Life Global      33

More than a Manual      34

How do I start my Food for Life program?      35

Definition of Hare Krishna Food for Life      35

Everything We Do is Benevolent      35

Food for Life Prasadam should be First Class      36

Indiscriminate Prasadam Distribution      36

Research and Targeting      38

The Poor, the Bhaktas, and the Influential      38

Where Should I Distribute?      41

Free Food Kitchen      42

Budget Restaurants: a Winning Formula      43

Paying Restaurants vs Free & Budget Restaurants      43

Budget and Free Restaurants Make Devotees      44

Srila Prabhupada’s Standard      45

To Sell or Not to Sell?      45

Mobile Distribution      46

Prasadam Carts      47

Feeding the Students      49

University Food for Life      49

Feeding School Children      51

What is a Breakfast Club?      52

Why Start a School Breakfast Club?      52

How to Start a Breakfast Club      53

For Further Information on Breakfast Clubs      54

Related Articles      54

Home Delivery      55

How Do I Start a Home Delivery Service?      55

Making New Friends that can Possibly Bequest      56

Emergency Food Relief      57

What Did Prabhupada Say?      57

A Vaisnava’s Compassion should be Encouraged      60

Jayadvaita Swami’s Food for Death Seminars      61

Feeding the poor and suffering is not mundane welfare      63

The 2004 Asian Tsunami      64

Lessons in Vedic culture from the writings of Bhaktivinoda Thakur      65

Instructions from the life of Bhaktisiddhanta Maharaja:      68

Working with Other Organizations      69

Collaborating is Extremely Important      69

The International Committee of the Red Cross or (Red Crescent)      69

The United Nations      70

UNHCR      71

World Food Program (WFP)      71

Hunger Statistics      72

The World Health Organization      73

The Hunger Project      74

Other Venues      75

Festivals & Special Events      75

A Run in Sydney      75

Harinama Distribution      76

A “Cultural Event”      76

Promotion and Fundraising Restaurants      77

Catering      77

Music Festival Catering      78

Cooking Classes      78

Bakeries      79

What Should I Distribute?      81

Quality or Quantity?      81

Ingredients      81

Raw Food      82

Raw Food Distribution      84

Brown Rice      85

Wild Rice      86

Basmati Rice      86

Buying and storing tips      86

Availability      86

Nutritional Highlights      87

Ten Tips for Choosing the Best Cooking Oil      88

Olive Oil & its Benefits      89

Coconut Oil      89

The Case for Using Ghee or Coconut Oil      90

The Case for Organic Foods      91

The Evils of Modern Food Production      92

Foods in the Three Modes of Material Nature      97

What Can’t We Offer?      98

Should it Be Nutritious?      99

Simple Eating and High Thinking      99

Real Food and Real Garbage      101

Bogus Ingredients      101

Purity is the Force – What’s in Your Water?      102

Dairy      104

Ancient Tradition      104

All Milk is Not The Same      105

Vegan and the VEDAS      105

Prabhupada on Commercial Diary      106

Karma-free Vegan      107

Facts About Commercial Milk      107

Commercial Milk Consumption and Prostate Cancer      108

The Dairy Industry      108

What is in Commercial Milk?      109

The Ideal Menu      111

Prasadam, Prasadam, Prasadam      111

Food for Life Meals should be Deity Prasada      112

Hiring Cooks for Bulk Cooking      113

Devotees are Selfless      113

The Story of King Rantideva      114

Who Should Distribute?      117

Special Consideration for Grihasthas      117

What About Brahmacharis?      118

Can Non-Vaisnavas participate?      118

The Best Times      118

How Should I Distribute?      121

Vaisnava Etiquette      121

Cleanliness      121

Cleanliness Outside the Kitchen      122

Hygiene in Serving Prasadam      122

The Top Six Causes of Food-borne Illness      123

Rules of Serving Prasadam      125

Temple Distribution      125

General Distribution      125

Other Important Points      126

Cooking      127

Take Your Time      127

Cooking When You’re in a Hurry      127

Fast Food Tips      132

Cutting-up Tips      132

Making ‘Something-Out-of-Nothing’ Recipes      133

Cookware      134

Yamuna’s Mung and Cauliflower Kitchri      134

It’s Krishna’s Kitchen, Not ours      135

A Brahmana’s Name is ‘Suci’      136

Marketing      139

Uniforms      139

Signage      140

Identification Cards      140

Programs Title      141

Slogans      141

Media Services      142

Flyers, Brochures, Books and Photos      142

Affiliate Logo      143

Food for Life START UP KIT $79      143

Communicating through Food for Life      145

Economics      145

World hunger is a spiritual problem      145

Environment      145

Health      146

Ethics      146

Spirituality      146

Vedic food culture      147

A positive and alternative way of living      147

Complete welfare service      147

The qualities of a Vaishnava      148

Government Relations      149

What’s in it for Them?      149

They are also Krishna’s servants      149

Mature preaching, patience, personalism, and prasadam      150

Meeting Officials      151

Media Relations      153

Media Personnel      153

Pro-active and Re-active      153

Foreign Correspondents      154

Global Village      154

Transcendental Global Village      155

How to Produce a News Release      157

Some Basic Facts:      157

The Angle      157

The Basic Structure      157

Delivering the Media Release      158

When to Deliver Them      158

Who to give it to?      158

Humanitarian relief and the media: making the relationship more effective      159

Suggestions Regarding Media Events      163

EXAMPLE NEWS RELEASE      164

Fundraising with Food for Life      167

‘Friend Raising’      167

Building reputation is essential for fundraising      167

How we did it in Australia      168

Truthfulness      169

The ‘Half Hen’ Logic      169

Street Collections      170

How much percentage should street collectors get?      171

It’s time to get Professional      172

The “Beggar” Image      172

Three Reasons Why People Give      172

The Right, Right, Right Method      174

The Pyramid      174

Express Your Gratitude      175

Working Smarter, Not Harder      175

Foundation Membership      176

The $10 Club      176

Fundraising Products      176

Government Funding      179

Charitable Trusts & Foundations      183

Food for Life Grant Writing Team      183

A Guide for Grant Seekers      185

Define your project      185

Research      185

The application      185

Approach, style and format      185

Standard format for written applications      186

Tips on formal letter writing      187

The Golden Rule      189

Bequests or Planned Giving      191

Why Bequests Should Be a Key Focus of Your Planned Giving Program      192

Management      195

Management Structure      195

How to Spend & How to Manage?      196

FFL money and ISKCON administration      201

Employing devotees      202

Articles and Notes      205

Ideologies & Realities of Fundraising      205

Srila Prabhupada’s Secret weapon      207

Realizations, Quotations and Visions      207

Why is Food for Life Important?      207

How Does Food for Life Help Book Distribution?      208

How Does Food for Life Attract the Support of the Leaders?      210

A “socially acceptable” way of giving people Krishna.      212

The 2 millionth free meal      214

Influencing the leaders of society      217

Food for Life is Srila Prabhupada’s Desire      219

How ISKCON’s prasadam distribution began      221

“The 10-mile radius” quote      222

Prasadam distribution is “an act of love”      224

Food for Life as our “frontline” program      225

Helping to build our good reputation      225

Food for Life can “enter like the snake”      225

Food for life gives sadhu sanga      226

Fulfilling the prophesy—“In every town and village.”      227

The next phase of our movement      228

How Does Food for Life Attract the Media?      231

A great medium for propagation      231

Food for Life Has Unlimited Potential      233

Food for Life farms      233

Food for Life Dynamic farming project      233

Krishna’s R.A.Y. of hope!      234

Fundraising with Food for Life      235

Book distribution through Food for Life      235

Concluding Words      237

Proposals      237

APPENDIX      239

Diet for a New America      239

Total Development Fundraising Program      241

Riga Food for Life Report: How FFL Helped Build a Reputation      251

New York Times Article      253

Utility is the Principle      257

Our Human Responsibility      259

Food for Life: in Theory and Practice      265

101 Reasons to be a vegan      273

SERVING VEGETARIAN FOOD TO THE WORLD’S HUNGRY      295

Christian Vegetarian Association      301

History of the Meals on Wheels Program      307

WAYS FOR A SMALL GROUP TO HAVE A BIG IMPACT      309

Hidden Animal Ingredients      313

SAMPLE Food for Life Constitution      317

About Food for Life Global      319

How Can You Help?      322

Acknowledgments

In preparing the third edition of the Hare Krishna Food for Life Manual, I would like to offer my heartfelt thanks to the following devotees: His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who introduced Krishna prasadam distribution to the Western worlds and who inspires me to carry out his mission that “everyone should get a chance to take prasadam …”.

I offer my obeisances to His Holiness Tamal Krishna Goswami, my spiritual master and well-wisher, and who was famously known as the “gourmet guru” and whom I am always remembering and is my source of spiritual strength; His Holiness Mukunda Goswami, whom I see as my “Hare Krishna Food for Life” guru and dear friend; His Holiness Indradyumna Swami, who has always been a positive and encouraging influence in my life; His Holiness Sacinandana Swami, who instilled in me a sense of adventure and courage that enabled me to travel far and wide during my brahmachari days preaching the glories of prasadam and His Holiness Bhakti Caru swami who first introduced me to the Vedic culture of hospitality through his Vaishnava etiquette seminars.

I also cannot forget to thank my many devotee friends in Australia, especially Guruttama das, who introduced me to the wonders of prasadam distribution and who first trained me how to cook for the Lord, and Sakshi Gopal das, who kindly gave me the impetus to think globally and not locally.

Thanks also to Bhakta Neil Chakravarti who offered his valuable time in typing and adding new materials.

Once again, I would like to offer my humble obeisances and pray that I can fulfill the real purport of my name to become dear (priya) to the real devotees (vratas) of the Lord.

Priyavrata das

Bogota, Colombia 2015

Foreword

By His Holiness Mukunda Goswami
Minister for ISKCON Communications

Krishna consciousness is a positive force in today’s world. Unfortunately, most of the world’s six billion plus population is unaware of this. But wherever and whenever the Krishna consciousness movement has broken through the barrier of ignorance that surrounds it—in little population pockets here and there around the globe—people have come to appreciate ISKCON on many levels.

Addressing this problem of “thickness” the Hare Krishna movement’s Food for Life program has proven capable of breaking through even some of the most durable walls of human consciousness.

Srila Prabhupada’s “secret weapon” (prasadam or the Krishna consciousness food culture) can dissolve mental, emotional, and psychological barricades to Krishna consciousness faster than any other Krishna consciousness program.

But to effectively dissipate such ignorance in a sustained way, we need more than just random distribution of prasadam. We need an organized, effective group effort led by devotees with spiritual vision.

By spiritual vision I mean leadership that embodies absolute and uncompromising faith in the disciplic succession. At the same time, such leadership must present Food for Life “in an interesting manner for the understanding of the audience.” According to Srila Prabhupada, “This is called realization.” (Srimad Bhagavatam 1.4.1, purport).

Where is that leadership and who are those leaders? They are everywhere. They can be many, and they can even be all of us. Srila Prabhupada writes:

“Jagai and Madhai were delivered solely by Nityananda Prabhu’s mercy … Nityananda Prabhu saved them … what was not possible for Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was carried out by Nityananda Prabhu. Similarly, if one is true to Gaura-Nitai’s service in the disciplic succession, he can even excel Nityananda Prabhu’s service … it was Hanumanji who jumped over the sea in one leap and reached the shore of Lanka from the shore of Bharatavarsa … if we simply follow Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s instructions and follow in the footsteps of Sri Nityananda Prabhu, this Krishna consciousness movement can advance, and even more difficult tasks can be performed by the preachers remaining faithful to the service of the Lord. (Caitanya Caritamrta, Mad. 16.65)

It’s not that everyone will be a leader, but many leaders will emerge. I hope that the Hare Krishna Food for Life Manual will inspire some to become leaders, by providing a basis upon which true leadership can be built. As Srila Prabhupada indicates, such leaders can be empowered to perform “more difficult tasks” than Hanuman. Such leadership will emerge through the quality of sincerity.

An organized global effort to use prasadam to establish what Srila Prabhupada called the “cultural position” of Krishna consciousness (letter dictated by Srila Prabhupada on 22 March 1977) is a crying need of the day.

We have seen it work time and again, on ourselves and upon others—on the streets, in the temples, at festivals, at businesses, in homes. Nonetheless, this most easily assimilated form of Krishna consciousness still requires as systematic an approach as Srila Prabhupada established for all of ISKCON’s cutting edge preaching programs.

This second edition of the Hare Krishna Food for Life Manual, the result of a great labor of love by Sriman Priyavrata das, is a major stride forward in the quest to capture for ISKCON a global reputation as “unassailable” as that of the Red Cross. This manual’s practical and philosophical wisdom provides a foundation and perspective for launching Food for Life as a truly global campaign for cultural conquest.

Food for Life is an important way to show that ISKCON has a spiritual perspective (and some solutions) for the material problems of hunger, animal cruelty, ill health, malnutrition, and greed.

Any devotee who is serious about improving ISKCON’s reputation through Hare Krishna Food for Life will profit immensely by reading this book cover-to-cover. I heartily recommend that the reader thoroughly understand the manual’s cogent philosophical points (all based on Srila Prabhupada’s teachings), and as much as possible put its practical instructions into action.

If you do this, it is certain that merit will accrue to the reputation of Srila Prabhupada’s ISKCON. Each advance of the Hare Krishna Food for Life program brings ISKCON a step closer to taking its rightful place on the world stage. The present publication is stirring testimony to the fact that Priyavrata prabhu has rendered a great service to ISKCON and to humanity at large. He will surely publish future editions of this manual, updating it at regular intervals so that it remains current and relevant for years to come.

I am eternally indebted to Priyavrata for his selfless determination and dedication to assist me in helping to develop this essential field of Krishna consciousness activity.

Mukunda Goswami
Former Minister of ISKCON Communications
Former ISKCON Governing Body Commissioner

The Meaning of Food for Life

A Message from Mukunda Goswami

Priyavrata prabhu has mentioned it and written about it many times, but I have not. In the truest definition, Hare Krishna Food for Life (HKFFL) really means—plain and simple—prasadam distribution. It does not just mean ‘food for the destitute,’ ‘homeless,’ ‘disadvantaged, ‘underprivileged,’ or ‘economically challenged,’ et cetera.

But primarily because of the way HKFFL was portrayed in the past, it came to be known in many quarters for its welfare and disaster relief components. Unfortunately for all of us, HKFFL has been misused and abused. Many devotees have even manufactured fake “Food for Life” badges, collecting money in the name of Food for Life. Sadly, HKFFL has come to be one of ISKCON’s most misrepresented and abused outreach programs. Due in part to this misunderstanding, some have derided HKFFL with the epithet “crumbs for bums.”

This is not to say HKFFL never ministers to the homeless and destitute. It does perform this function. This is so because the destitute are also candidates for Krishna’s mercy, for according to the Srimad Bhagavatam, “when a person is poverty stricken, naturally his false pride in aristocracy, wealth, education, and beauty is smashed. Thus corrected, he is in the right position for liberation” (SB 10.10.15 pp). Out of compassion, too, devotees desire to help the materially impoverished. And this is in accordance with the will of the Lord:

“One should distribute Visnu-prasada to everyone, including the poor man, the blind man, the non-devotee, and the non-brahmana. Knowing that Lord Visnu is very pleased when everyone is sumptuously fed with Visnu-prasada …” (Srimad Bhagavatam 8.16.56)

Unfortunately, devotees all too often play up the Food for Life “welfare” image in an exclusive way when asked how is ISKCON “helping society.” Thus, although they may get quick nods of approval for “feeding the destitute,” they misrepresent ISKCON as some ordinary charity service.

I am willing to accept some of the blame for encouraging the promotion of this “welfare image,” as at one point it was a communications strategy for building reputation. The real “help,” of course, is curing the material disease of being victimized by maya. But the “welfare” aspect of HKFFL is by no means the total picture.

Food for Life can be correctly characterized as a holistic approach to bringing about peace and prosperity in the world, through eating a karma-free diet (a phrase we coined for “The Higher Taste” cookbook). This is prasadam distribution in a nutshell. And as Srila Prabhupada requested, it should always be accompanied by kirtana, even if only the mellow, low-key brand, played on a tape recorder or CD player at low decibels. Hare Krishna Food for Life is for the benefit of everyone and should not be perceived as exclusive to a particular class of people.

As much as HKFFL is a prasadam distribution program for everyone, it is undoubtedly a preaching strategy for reaching the masses with Krishna consciousness. Sometimes this comes through saving the life of a destitute person and thus making a friend for life, providing a person an opportunity to experience Krishna prasada and thus preparing their heart to receive Krishna, or through making the public more appreciative of the humanness of devotees and thus building faith in their hearts. Primarily, HKFFL’s function is to purify consciousness and provide opportunities to spread Krishna consciousness.

“Everyone should be given a chance to take prasada and thus be induced to chant the holy names Hare Krishna and also dance in ecstasy.” [Cc Antya Lila 1-32]

In terms of public opinion, HKFFL can justify its indiscriminate prasadam distribution as “welfare” on the basis that prasadam is nutritious for body and soul and that more people die every year from malnutrition than from hunger. In this way, we should establish HKFFL as the world’s most complete “welfare” service.

A few very good models for Food for Life can be found in Australia. In Perth, Australia, there is a “budget-style” restaurant named “Hare Krishna Food for Life,” which serves students, seniors, welfare recipients and others with low incomes. Mellow kirtana accompanies the serve out and there is Krishna consciousness literature on display for reading. Crossways Food for Life in Melbourne is another example of successful, prasadam distribution “budget-style” restaurants. Here the fare is limited to three or four preparations, but the taste is excellent and large numbers of customers come by every day! Many of them later become devotees.

Another fine example of an traditional Food for Life service was the one conducted by Kapiladeva das in Durban, South Africa in the 80s and 90s. The prasadam distribution was mostly done in townships and sometimes even in prisons. The daily distribution to thousands always included live kirtan. In Riga, Latvia, up to 1000 government-referred elderly came to the Hare Krishna center for prasadam every day and accept it in an atmosphere where soft kirtanas and bhajans were played on a cassette player. All these programs are unique, conducted according to the time, place and circumstance. However, all of them center on the common principle of all successful Food for Life services—liberal prasadam distribution, harinama and distribution of transcendental knowledge. We conclude with the words of Srila Prabhupada:

“... the best humanitarian work is to give knowledge to the humanity, not that one is suffering for want of food and ... If I give some food, that is good work. But that is not sufficient. I may give food, that’s all right. You give. We also give prasadam free. But that does not mean simply by giving prasadam, we are silent. We give knowledge also. This is Krishna consciousness movement. Food, automatically you have to give. That is... There is no prohibition. But at the same time knowledge ... Just like the same example. If you have got some children, if you don’t give them education, simply feed them; that is not your proper duty. You must give knowledge. Krishna consciousness movement is therefore giving them knowledge. The first knowledge is that we are trying to convince everyone, following the footprints of Lord Krishna, as He wanted to convince in the very beginning, that dehino ‘smin yatha dehe kaumaram yauvanam jara ...”

Yours in the service of Srila Prabhupada,

Mukunda Goswami

June, 1997

Potomac, Washington USA

Preface

Anyone who has ever come in contact with the Krishna consciousness movement is eternally indebted to the great Vaisnava acharya and saint, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, for gift of Krishna prasada (mercy). Therefore, those of us who are able should attempt to pay back His Divine Grace by sharing that same mercy with others. Krishna’s prasada comes in many forms, but with regard to the following Hare Krishna Food for Life Manual, we can most effectively distribute the mercy of Krishna by acting as Srila Prabhupada instructs in the following commentary:

“Everyone should be given a chance to take prasada and thus be induced to chant the holy names Hare Krishna and also dance in ecstasy. By these three processes, although performed without knowledge or education, even an animal went back to Godhead.” (CC Antya lila, 1: 32, purport)

Many devotees of Krishna have a great love and appreciation for prasadam distribution, and in their own unique way are helping to fulfill the above instruction. All of them, especially the grihasthas, recognize the service as the easiest and most convenient way to distribute Krishna’s mercy and thus participate in the sankirtana yajna. Others see a wonderful vehicle to glorify Srila Prabhupada, who is, after all, the founder of massive prasadam distribution outside of India. By honoring the spiritual master by our actions, we not only perfect our lives but also give faith to the faithless. As a consequence, the more the people of the world appreciate Srila Prabhupada’s unique and profound legacy, the more this Krishna consciousness movement will flourish. Food for Life therefore can also be seen as a “faith-building” operation.

This Food for Life Manual will provide basic guidelines on various aspects of starting, maintaining, promoting and utilizing your Food for Life program to share Krishna’s mercy. In some areas we have gone into great detail; however, because of the varying circumstances devotees find themselves in, most of what is given in this manual is general guidance. We don’t assume that every aspect is covered, nor do we think that every question is answered. However, we are confident that there is enough to get you well on your way to operating a very successful Food for Life program. We believe the information at hand will be extremely useful, not only for those devotees involved in Food for Life, but for all devotees, especially managers.

Finally, I would like to add, that prasadam distribution (Food for Life) should be seen as a “frontline” program. We should not make the mistake of viewing the service as some supplementary services like the “army kitchen department,” which is nothing but a support system for the “real work” of fighting the battle. No. We should rather heed the advice of Srila Prabhupada, who himself said, “prasadam is our secret weapon.” Not only is it transcendental to take Krishna’s prasadam, but it is also glorious to distribute, cook, or even prepare it. In fact, the Supreme Lord’s most confidential devotee, Srimati Radharani Herself, relishes this service more than anything else. Her two favorite activities were cooking and dancing for the pleasure of Krishna! Think about it, the highest of all servants of the Lord favored cooking for the Lord more than anything else!

“… The Supreme Mother, Radharani, personally cooked in the house of Raghava Pandita. Srimati Radharani received from Durvasa Muni the benediction that whatever She cooked would be sweeter than nectar. That is the special feature of Her cooking.” (Caitanya Caritamrta Antya Lila Ch. 6. Text 15–16)

“… In so many ways sixty-four arts. How to dance, how to cook, how to make garlands, how to smile, and Krishna is captivated by Radha.” (Transcripts, Philosophical excerpts)

So if prasadam distribution is a favorite activity of the divine Mother Srimati Radharani, certainly we should be encouraged to do the same. Indeed, in a room conversation Srila Prabhupada once explained that ISKCON was established by prasadam distribution: “I made this movement successful simply by [the] love feast. They did not come to hear Hare Krishna. They came for the love feast. From very beginning, when I was in 26 Second Avenue, every Sunday I was giving nice foodstuffs, at least 200 men … I was cooking myself. That is the beginning of our movement.” (Room conversation, India, 1977)

Just as Srila Prabhupada’s books are non-different from Krishna, prasadam is also Krishna. Therefore we urge all the members of the Hare Krishna movement to please distribute prasada! Distribute prasada! Distribute prasada!

Prasadam is Krishna … Please distribute Krishna! Brihat pots, ki jay!

Introduction

Prasadam distribution is very traditional in our Gaudiya Vaisnava sampradaya. There are numerous examples of indiscriminate prasadam distribution to the masses. For example, 5000 years ago during the Govardhana festival, it is described how prasadam was given to even the dogs and beggars: “As far as the lower animals are concerned, such as the dogs, and the lower grades of people, such as the candalas, or the fifth class of men, who are considered untouchable, they also may be given sumptuous prasadam.” (Krishna Book, Chapter 4). And of course it is well known how Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu spread the sankirtana movement primarily through the chanting of Hare Krishna and distribution of prasada. Srila Prabhupada explains, “In Jagannatha Puri, Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s only occupation was holding sankirtana at least four hours every day and distributing prasada to the devotees … So we are trying to follow by distributing prasada very liberally and we invite everyone without any discrimination.” (Srila Prabhupada letter to Dr. Naik, 7 August 1975)

We will find many references as to the importance of prasadam distribution given by Srila Prabhupada throughout the Srimad Bhagavatam and Caitanya Caritamrta, as well as in letters to his disciples. Srila Prabhupada often explained how “spiritual life begins at the tongue: “To control the senses begins with controlling the tongue. That is also very difficult job. Therefore, to control the tongue, the best thing to do is to take Krishna prasadam. First of all, offer to Krishna and then take. Tara madhye jihva ati, lobhamoy sudurmati ta’ke jeta kothina somsare. Krishna boda doyamoy kori bare jihva joy. At least if we take it as a vow that, “I shall not eat anything which is not offered to Krishna,’’ that will help us. Krishna boda doyamoy, kori bare jihva joy svaprasad-anna dila bhai. So with the tongue begins spiritual life.” (Srimad Bhagavatam lecture 1.5.11 June 10, 1969)

Many devotees in ISKCON will testify how prasadam played an important role in influencing their decision to surrender to Krishna. Srila Prabhupada himself said: “We will be known as the kitchen religion.” Throughout his letters, books and conversations we hear Srila Prabhupada emphatically state, “distribute prasada.” In fact, he desired that everyone be given an opportunity to take Krishna’s prasada. During a Bhagavad-gita lecture at the storefront in New York he explained: “If I ask somebody, ‘Please come and hear Bhagavad-gita’ oh, he may not agree. But if I offer some palatable dishes, foodstuffs, Krishna prasadam; oh, everyone will accept. So that is one of the processes of devotional service, that we should offer very sumptuously to the Lord, and the prasada should be distributed … if you eat and if you distribute that sort of prasada to the public, you are doing great service and the public is getting spiritual consciousness, God consciousness. Just establish; just propagate this everywhere. In the hospital, in the charitable societies, in industrial places, everywhere distribute this prasada and chant this Hare Krishna. Just see what is the result. You want peace? These are the processes of peace.” (Srila Prabhupada lecture, New York 16 December 1966)

Prasadam distribution pleased Srila Prabhupada. He became enlivened to see the conditioned souls receive the mercy of Krishna. In the lecture quoted earlier, he explains, “When he (the guru) is fully satisfied that prasadam distribution is going on, he is very much pleased and engages himself in the devotional service of the Lord by chanting and dancing.” (Srila Prabhupada lecture, 9 September 1973)

And, like the perfect acharya he was, Srila Prabhupada practically demonstrated his teachings. After every lecture at the storefront in New York he would cut one apple and personally distribute a portion to each of the guests. From the beginning days of ISKCON, Srila Prabhupada established prasadam distribution as an essential pillar of ISKCON’s tradition.

Three Angas

I can just hear the critics say: “prasadam distribution is going on. What we need are more people to distribute books—not cooking and distributing prasadam. After all, books are the basis.”

Yes, prasadam distribution is going on, but are we putting in our best effort? I would dare say, despite the recent expansion of prasadam distribution through the Mid-Day meal programs in India, prasadam distribution is still not going on to the extent that Srila Prabhupada desired, nor are the standards he established being maintained throughout the institution. Srila Prabhupada wanted first class prasadam to be distributed—and plenty of it as well. In a letter to all the temple presidents in 1977, Srila Prabhupada ordered that there be at least 10–20 preparations available throughout the day for any guests coming to the temple.

Yes, “books are the basis.” We are not disputing this point. However, we should remember that Srila Prabhupada said that there were three angas in the sankirtana movement: books, harinama and prasadam. They are all important. Srila Prabhupada writes: “From your figures of book distribution … you are doing real preaching. Which books are you distributing? Your prasadam program is also very important. Continue it. By chanting and giving prasadam you will get so many devotees.” (Srila Prabhupada letter to Locananda, 7 July 1975)

And “Book and prasadam distribution, sankirtana and Deity worship is our only business, so these programs must remain energetic. Your number one duty is to see that they are continuously carried on with enthusiasm.” (Srila Prabhupada letter to Jagadisha das, 3 December 1973)

Finally, “You have written that chanting, dancing and book distribution are going on nicely. Prasadam distribution should also be introduced. This will make the program even more effective.” (Srila Prabhupada letter to Hrdayananda Goswami, 2 November 1976)

In some areas of the world, there is a great imbalance in the sankirtana movement because of a lethargic or negative attitude towards prasadam distribution. Either the prasadam distribution is not going on at all, is being terribly neglected, or it is being exploited, as in the case of some unscrupulous people collecting funds in the name of Food for Life who have no intention of actually conducting or supporting prasadam distribution. If we wish to “build a house in which the whole world can live in‚” we must start by correcting this gross imbalance. The Bhagavad-gita clearly states that if prasadam is not distributed our sacrificial performances are in ignorance.

“Any sacrifice performed without regard for the directions of scripture, without distribution of [spiritual food], without chanting of Vedic hymns and remunerations to the priests, and without faith is considered to be in the mode of ignorance” (Bhagavad-gita As It Is, Chapter 17:13).

One interesting thought I had recently in this regard, was that if we were to only concentrate on book distribution, neglecting harinama and prasadam distribution, the tendency for the public would be to see devotees as “dry philosophers,” or people who do nothing practical for society but just talk. Similarly, if we were to only concentrate on harinama, we may be seen as “sentimental religious fanatics,” or people who are of no practical benefit to anyone. And, if we were only concerned with eating and distributing prasadam, neglecting both chanting and distribution of transcendental knowledge, we could expect to be misperceived as “sense gratifiers,” or whimsical people who are not able to perform any religious discipline. However, by putting all three ingredients (angas) together, you have the perfect formula for purification and preaching—the philosophy of the Bhagavatam, the culture of the holy name and the spiritual sense gratification of Krishna’s delicious prasadam.

Medicine and Diet

A bonafide Ayurvedic doctor will always prescribe a particular diet along with his medicine because the food we consume also influences the natural balance of the three doshas (kapha, pitta, and vatta). An Ayurvedic doctor who fails to prescribe a diet should be understood as a doctor in name only. Srila Prabhupada applied this same principle in explaining the importance of taking prasadam for curing the material disease. He explains: “Regarding the idea of prasadam restaurant, I am advocating it since very beginning. If you can manage such prasadam eating place and the temple at one place it will be super-excellent. I shall personally assist you in this affair because I like this idea very much. Our chanting is medicine and our prasadam is the diet for curing material disease.” (Srila Prabhupada letter to Dayananda, 17 October 1968) And later on in the same year: “This is actually our successful propaganda. We want to distribute our literature and books as well as our prasadam, and injecting our Hare Krishna medicine within the ear. So, reading of the literature and hearing of the chanting is the medicine, and prasadam is the diet. So, if diet and medicine are properly administered the disease of maya will be cured.” (Srila Prabhupada letter to Satsvarupa, 27 June 1968)

The Potency of Krishna Prasada

In the question and answer period of a Bhagavad-gita lecture in London on 4 August 1971, the following discussion took place:

Devotee: If you must have a spiritual body in order to go back home, she asks, is it only with this Hare Krishna mantra and by taking prasada that we achieve that body?

Prabhupada: Oh, yes.

Devotees: Haribol! Jaya! Haribol!

Prabhupada: You chant Hare Krishna and eat nice Krishna prasadam; you go back to home. Rest assured.

Devotees: Jaya, Prabhupada!

Prabhupada: That’s all right. It is so nice. And don’t you feel how you are becoming nicer and nicer? Practically. The news reporter ... One lady in Philadelphia, she saw our students and she was surprised. She inquired, “Are you Americans?” So we are creating such devotees that people are becoming surprised how this is possible. Yes, it is possible by Krishna consciousness. It is simple method. Simply chant Hare Krishna and take Krishna prasada. That’s all. Don’t require any education, philosophical theorizing. Simply … chant Hare Krishna and take Krishna prasada. And our temple is open for that. Everyone. No fee. No charge. So why do you lose this opportunity? Yes?

In referring to a mantra chanted every day by devotees before honoring prasadam, Prabhupada once commented:

maha-prasade govinde
nama-brahmani vaisnave
svalpa-punya-vatam rajan
visvaso naiva jayate

This is the statement of the shastras: “Those who are less pious, they cannot believe in Krishna and maha-prasada, and the holy name.” (Morning Walk, 16 April 1974)

Is Food for Life just for Public Relations?

Sometimes there is the accusation that Hare Krishna Food for Life is not a frontline preaching program, but rather a public relations (PR) exercise. They believe that because ISKCON is a preaching movement, it is not important what people think about us so long as we are preaching knowledge of Krishna.

However, Srila Prabhupada cared very much about public opinion. In a letter to Rupanuga (9 January 1975), he wrote:

... Somehow or other we should not become unpopular in the public eye. These dishonest methods must be stopped. It is hampering our reputation all over the world.

Of course we should not draw from this statement that Krishna consciousness needs to be “watered down” to suit public opinion, but rather, when the time, place and circumstance permit, we should preach boldly—“as it is.” Unfortunately, not everyone will be able to grasp the full value of the Krishna consciousness philosophy.

Most people hardly get past the, “I-am-not-this-body stage.” Most people eat meat and therefore most people are very ignorant. Programs like Hare Krishna Food for Life are essential for dispelling such ignorance, by providing a bridge for communication and a foundation for building a reputation that can lead to genuine faith in Krishna. Srila Prabhupada comments:

“Because everyone is engaged [in] simply duskrtinah, simply sinful activities. Eating everything, doing everything, and they’re life is full of sinful activities. Therefore to deliver them this prasada distribution is required.” (Srila Prabhupada lecture in Calcutta, 26 January 1973)

My experience with the Food for Life program is that it does indeed assist the spreading of Krishna consciousness, and that it is not a shallow “PR exercise.” Hare Krishna Food for Life can, if developed successfully, introduce all aspects of the Bhagavat philosophy and Vedic culture. Unfortunately, Food for Life is rarely seen in this light and thus has never been developed to its full potential. The aim of Food for Life Global is to change this and firmly establish Food for Life as a powerful medium for communicating Krishna consciousness and the pure lifestyle of the Vaisnava tradition.

Practicing What We Preach

Hare Krishna Food for Life speaks very plainly. It is a practical demonstration of how the Krishna consciousness movement is helping society. We’re supposed to practice what we preach; so practical demonstrations like Hare Krishna Food for Life are extremely important. It may be convenient to tell people: “Krishna consciousness can solve all your problems,” but we must be willing to demonstrate this practically. How can we dare claim to solve the larger social problems, if we cannot even address the smaller problems, such as hunger and malnutrition? It’s just not realistic. Therefore, the primary function of Hare Krishna Food for Life should be to facilitate spreading Krishna consciousness, by creating the “hospitable environment” necessary for the seed of Krishna consciousness to grow.

When the public sees Food for Life volunteers helping their community, it gives them faith in Krishna. Such faith is the very foundation for qualifying them to hear and understand Krishna consciousness. In the Mahabharata, it is stated: “There is no one more deaf than a person who doesn’t want to hear.” Furthermore, it’s spiritually purifying to honor those who distribute Krishna prasadam because in doing so you are, in essence, honoring devotional service, which is non-different from Radharani.

Is Prasadam Distribution a Less Important Service?

In 1968, Srila Prabhupada wrote: “There isn’t any difference between chanting the holy name at the same time as washing the dishes of the Temple. So do not be worried when you are attracted for doing other work in the Temple. There is variegatedness in transcendental activities. Sometimes we like to chant, sometimes we like to wash dishes. There is no difference on the Absolute plane.” (Srila Prabhupada letter to Satsvarup Maharaj, 15 February 1968)

Ultimately all services are absolute and equal. Krishna is not affected by the dualities of this world. He does not see higher and lower like us. Therefore we should not make the mistake of seeing a particular devotee as lesser, because their service may not be the most prominent activity. And in terms of the sacred activity of preparing and distributing the Lord’s prasada, we should definitely not be so foolish, especially when we consider the following statement by Srila Prabhupada in London at the 1973 Rathayatra: “Our Hare Krishna movement is standing on three principle things: chanting, dancing, and eating prasadam. It is not very difficult. It is very enjoyable to chant, dance, and take prasadam. And if you like, you can hear a little philosophy of this movement. Or even if you do not understand the philosophy, even you do not read the books, simply if you take part in these three things, chanting, dancing, and taking part in eating the prasadam, your life will gradually progress in spiritual advancement of life.”

The Name: “Food for Life”

Some devotees claim it sounds a little mundane, but actually we could say the same about many ISKCON outreach programs. In any case, the program is officially known as, “Hare Krishna Food for Life,” so that there’s an obvious connection to Krishna. Srila Prabhupada originally called ISKCON’s prasadam distribution program “ISKCON food relief,” not “prasadam relief.” As for the origin of the name “Hare Krishna Food for Life,” an Australian devotee, Yasomatinandana das, coined the name during discussions with Mukunda Goswami and ITV’s Nrsimhananda das in the early 1980s. The basic idea was to come up with a name that was catchy, easy to remember and a good translation for ISKCON’s prasadam distribution service. After all “prasadam distribution” doesn’t mean much to the average person. However, the name “Food for Life,” gets the message across that this is a feeding program saving lives. Indeed, Food for Life is helping the body and the soul of its recipients. On that note, since the establishment of Food for Life Global in 1993, we have encouraged Food for Life projects to broaden their activities beyond prasadam distribution to include all facets of the Krishna conscious culture.

Bhakti, Feeding the Poor and Charity

A series of Questions and Answers compiled by Hari Parshad Das

Question) Should a devotee feed the hungry and poor? Should a devotee be charitable towards needy living entities?

Answer) Yes, as long as these do not become his primary activities in life. These activities should not overshadow one’s bhajana (personal worship) and pracāra (preaching). A devotee’s primary activity should always be bhajana and pracāra. Charity according to one’s strength must be done compulsorily as a secondary activity.

Question) But feeding the hungry and serving the poor is not mentioned anywhere by the previous ācāryas.

Answer) Anyone who says this has not read the previous ācāryas carefully.

Question) Who exactly has spoken in favor of feeding the hungry and serving the poor?

Answer) Srila Jiva Goswami.

Question) Did he specifically say that devotees should feed the hungry and serve the poor? Or did he recommend it for the non-devotees?

Answer) He recommended it specifically for the devotees of the Lord.

Question) Where exactly did he say that?

Answer) In the commentary to that particular chapter of the Śrīmad-bhāgavatam where Kapila Muni describes devotional service. I am quoting here Śrīmad-bhāgavatam (3.29.26) along with the commentary of Srila Jiva Goswami and its translation:

ātmanaś ca parasyāpi yaḥ karoty antarodaram tasya bhinna-dṛśo mṛtyur vidadhe bhayam ulbaṇam

Translation (as per Srila Jiva Goswami's commentary): For a person having a differential outlook, who differentiates between the belly of himself and of other living entities, I (the Supreme Lord) appear in the form of all devouring death and continue his existence in the fearsome material world.

Commentary by Srila Jiva Goswami: atha sva-karma-pūrvakam arcanaṁ kurvaṁś ca bhūta-dayāṁ vinā na siddhyati ity āha — ātmana iti | antarodaraṁ udara-bhedena bhedaṁ karoti, na tu mad-adhiṣṭhānatvena ātma-samaṁ paśyati | tataś ca kṣudhitādikam api dṛṣṭvā svodarādikam eva kevalaṁ sambibhartīty arthaḥ | tasya bhinna-dṛśo mṛtyu-rūpo ’haṁ ulbaṇaṁ bhayaṁ saṁsāram ||

Translation of Commentary: This verse specifies how devotional service does not attain perfection for a person who is devoid of bhūta-dayā, mercy to other living entities.

The term 'antarodaram' means that such a devotee differentiates between his own belly and the belly of others. Not seeing me (the Supreme Lord) situated in everyone's heart, such a person does not consider others to be like himself. Moreover, even if such a person sees someone to be hungry, needy etc., he ends up filling only his own belly.

For such a person having a differential outlook, I appear in the form of death (mṛtyuḥ) and generate deep fear i.e. I continue his existence in the material world. (End of Commentary)

Question) Anything else to be noted here?

Answer) It is to be noted that this entire chapter (Canto 3, Chapter 29) is describing devotional service i.e. bhakti-yoga. Thus, all these instructions are especially meant for devotees. Srila Sridhar Swami has said in his commentary to the first verse of this chapter — bhakti-yogas tu bahudhocyate — in this chapter, devotional service is being primarily described. Therefore, these instructions are primarily for devotees.

Question) Does the commentary above by Srila Jiva Goswami also indicate other types of mercy towards needy living entities? Or does it simply speak about feeding the hungry?

Answer) It speaks about other types of mercy too. We should note the term 'kṣudhitādikam' in the commentary of Srila Jiva Goswami. The 'ādikam' means etc. In other words, he includes other types of distressed living entities in his commentary.

Question) But more recent ācāryas such as Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura have spoken against charitable service and feeding the hungry/poor.

Answer) This is another major misconception. Trying to show that a latter ācārya was speaking against the conclusions of the previous ācārya will never benefit the sampradāya. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura was never against charitable acts. He was against these acts only if they started overshadowing one's Krishna-bhakti. As specified above, these acts of charity should not become our primary engagement. Bhajana and pracāra should remain our primary engagement, while charity must be done as a secondary engagement.

There are many who have an artificial zeal of their own imagined pseudo-bhaktisiddhantism. Actually the mood of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura can be understood simply by observing his own activities, and these activities were witnessed directly by so many of his disciples.

One of his disciple — Śrīmatī Latikā Devi is on record describing how she personally saw Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura feed unlimited number of poor and hungry people without any distinctions. The video can be viewed at :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdW... (watch from 1 minute 45 second onwards for a precise description of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura's charitable nature).

I am typing out her statements here for anyone who cannot access the video:

Śrīmatī Latikā Dāsī: “When Prabhupada (Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura) was present (in the Bagh-bazar Gaudiya Matha), then every single day so many beggars and sādhus were fed. They were all served. There was an overhead sheet erected, a permanent sheet. And there were so many people continuously cooking. There the sādhus and beggars were fed. So many poor people came to eat there. Prabhupada did this a lot.” (end of quote, emphasis added)

Question) So Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura too sumptuously fed the hungry and poor?

Answer) Yes. However, an obvious fact should be noted here that Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura never compromised his bhajana as well as pracāra for the same. When one's bhajana and pracāra become overshadowed by other activities, one fails to satisfy the criteria of 'jñāna-karmādy anāvṛtam' (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhuḥ 1.1.11). In other words, one’s devotional service becomes covered with less important activities and it no longer remains pure.

Question) What about ISKCON's founder-ācārya Srila Prabhupada? He too criticised mundane welfare activities on many occasions.

Answer) Srila Prabhupada's criticism was specifically regarding those māyāvādīs who gave up their Vedanta study and started rendering charity as their primary occupation. Sometimes, Srila Prabhupada accepted the achievements of those māyāvādīs who did not get so much into charity but were instead fixed in their own spiritual understanding:

Quote: Aurobindo, he approached up to Brahman liberation. (Lecture on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 6.3.12-15 -- Gorakhpur, February 9, 1971)

However, if a spiritualist gave up their primary sādhana and started performing charitable work as their main activity, Srila Prabhupada was critical of that.

Quote: Because Māyāvādī philosophers have no information regarding the transcendental service of the Lord, even after attaining liberation from material activities and merging into the Brahman effulgence, they must come down again to this material world to open hospitals or schools or perform similar philanthropic activities. (Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi 8.19, Purport)

So it should be noted clearly that Srila Prabhupada's problem was specifically with someone who gives more importance to philanthropic acts as compared to one's sādhana/bhajana/pracāra. He did not have a problem with charitable acts if they did not overshadow one’s bhakti.

If Srila Prabhupada would be against all sorts of charity, he would never have instructed his disciples that — "Nobody should go hungry within ten miles of our temples" (Conversation, 13 January 1977, Allahabad).

Both Srila Prabhupada and Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura have carefully studied the conclusions given by Srila Jiva Goswami in his commentaries. It would be unwise to artificially assume that they instructed their disciples in doing something against the conclusions of their previous ācārya in this regard.

Question) Is charity towards the poor/needy a limb of bhakti?

Answer) No. It is not a direct limb of bhakti-devī herself. However, it is certainly a limb of the pristine character of a devotee.

The Śrīmad-bhāgavatam (11.11.29 - 31) describes the twenty-eight primary traits (qualities) of a devotee. One of those traits is — sarvopakārakaḥ. While explaining this character trait of a devotee, Srila Sridhar Swami says — yathā-śakti sarveṣām apy upakārakaḥ — the devotee bestows all sorts of help towards other living entities according to his limited capacity.

Therefore, mercy and charitable nature must be a part of the character of all those who wish to be devotees. If one does not cultivate and practice mercy as a devotee then as specified above, the Supreme Lord bestows fear to that devotee and continues his/her existence in the fearful material world.

Question) Can you summarize the siddhānta in brief?

Answer) We must feed the poor. We must be charitable. We cannot be hard at heart. However, we must give first priority to our bhajana/pracāra and never let acts of charity take precedence over bhajana or pracāra.

Repositioning Food for Life

The above Facebook Note written by Hari Prasad prabhu is very relevant to Food for Life once one understands the true purpose and mission of FFL. In the early days, FFL was mistakenly aligned with mundane charity and used for improving ISKCON's public relations, however, when I established the global headquarters in 1994 in Washington DC, and wrote the Food for Life Training manual, I made it clear that FFL was in fact "prasadam for everyone" and that the mission of FFL was to teach people about spiritual equality through the unconditional sharing of prasadam. Hence, the old markering message, "Feeding the hungry worldwide" was replaced wtih "Uniting the world through pure food." "Pure food", of course meaning prasadam, the most pure food. 

Distributing prasadam is the duty of every devotee of the lord and Prabhupada specifically stated that this activity "should be extended universally," and that "everyone should be given a chance to take prasadam."

In regards to bhajan/prachara, it should be noted that by positioning FFL as not just a program for feeding the poor, but a program for feeding everyone, with the explicit purpose of teaching spiritual equality, it certainly stays true to the desires of the acharyas to not compromise our bhajan.

I pray every day that devotees, especially the senior devotees and critics of FFL understood this and let go of the old perceptions of FFL. Even programs like FFL Annamrita that are in partnership with the government and therefore somewhat limited in their ability to preach, can very easily incorporate this basic teaching of using food to practically demonstrate spiritual equality. In a world overrun with violence and division the message of unity is most welcome, only in our case, we take it to the deepest level -- we are all souls, qualitatively equal to God and are all united in spirit. 

About Food for Life Global

Established in 1993 by His Holiness Mukunda Goswami and Priyavrata das, and officially registered in 1995 as the headquarters for Food for Life projects around the world, FFL Global’s mandate is to provide support and guidance to all ISKCON FFL projects. Our aims and objectives are as follows:

Train members in all areas of prasadam distribution and program management.

Provide guidance for FFL projects and be a resource of information.

Produce and sell FFL training and promotional materials.

Raise funds on behalf of FFL services worldwide.

Gifting small start-up grants to FFL projects worldwide.

Educate and inspire ISKCON devotees to distribute Krishna prasadam.

Represent FFL projects to ISKCON and the general public.

Act as the coordinating office in times of emergency relief

Encourage all people to engage in prasadam distribution through supporting the work of ISKCON volunteers or training them to start their own service.

More than a Manual

You will find that the Food for Life Manual is not just a ‘how to’ book, but rather a resource book of valuable information, instruction, and realization. At the end of the manual we have added a supplement called ‘Prasadam Katha.’ It is a flow of thoughts, realizations, and visions on the dynamics of prasadam distribution, all supported by quotes from Prabhupada and the scripture. There are so many more quotes we could have selected, but I think what has been selected from the endless treasure of Srila Prabhupada’s instructions and the Vedas is sufficient to stimulate any prasadam enthusiast—or should I just say devotee, for what devotee is not enthusiastic about prasadam?

How do I start my Food for Life program?

It’s very simple. You’ve already started. Now you have to tell people about it. You see, every Sunday feast is a kind of Food for Life program. The point is that “Food for Life” does not necessarily mean feeding only the poor people. No. The Food for Life program should be seen as the “introduction program” to the ancient Vedic culture of hospitality. In this way, we should have a broad vision of what exactly the Food for Life program is, and what activities it can participate in.

Definition of Hare Krishna Food for Life

IT IS NOT: A food relief meant exclusively for the hungry or destitute.

IT IS: Free prasadam for all people with the purpose of creating a sense of unity and spiritual brother- and sisterhood and thereby promoting the Vedic culture of spiritual hospitality.

Everything We Do is Benevolent

Because of the welfare image that Food for Life portrays, there is practically no end to the type of benevolent activities it could participate in. It is amusing, however, to think that just about everything ISKCON is doing is, in one form or another, a charitable act, and yet due to its public image such acts of charity are blown off as religious zealousness. Because of Food for Life’s unique social position, it is not only practical, but also wise for the Food for Life program to broaden the range of its activities to introduce other aspects of the Vaisnava culture.

Primarily, however, Food for Life should mean food relief (free prasadam distribution), and plenty of it. Srila Prabhupada wrote in a letter to temple presidents, dated 18 January 1977, “Let the whole world come, we can feed them.”

“The whole world,” says Prabhupada, not just the poor people. Now the question may still be raised, surely “prasadam distribution to our guests at the Sunday feast is not Food for Life?” But our emphatic response is “why not?” Putting the obvious spiritual benefits aside for a moment, every human body needs nutritious food, even the affluent. And thus, provision of nutritious vegetarian food, even to the affluent, is also a benevolent activity. This is especially true, considering the fact that approximately 1 in every 2 people that die in the United States this year will die from heart disease. Medical experts tell us that proper nutrition plays a major role in minimizing the possibility of premature death arising from heart disease.

Food for Life Prasadam should be First Class

So here we have a very interesting new angle for the Food for Life program, nutrition. By definition, prasadam should be the most nutritious food available. After all, we are offering our food to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, aren’t we? Therefore, prasadam should be first class. The best ingredients and the best cooks should always be employed. Srila Prabhupada comments: “…the eating program should be nutritious...” (Srila Prabhupada letter to Gargamuni, 20 November 1969)

An important note regarding nutrition: According to UNICEF, every day around 5000 people die of hunger. However, more than 35,000 people die as a result of malnutrition. To put things in perspective, that is akin to 350 jumbo jet crashes per day! Worse still is that 11 children under the age of five die from malnutrition-related diseases every minute of the day!

Considering this astonishing statistic, we would be wise to position our Food for Life project as not only a food relief program, but also as a community service providing nutritious meals to the community. Such efforts will help to justify our apparently indiscriminate prasadam distribution as “Food for Life,” and a charitable act. Of course, we better make certain that the prasadam we distribute actually is nutritious and not some hodgepodge of leftovers.

Indiscriminate Prasadam Distribution

Srila Prabhupada wanted indiscriminate prasadam distribution. Therefore, we should not stereotype Food for Life as only for the poor people. Factually, everyone in this world is “poor”—spiritually poor. Srila Prabhupada writes:

“So for prasadam distribution, it is not a question of rich or poor. That will be karma-kanda. Our program therefore is that we offer prasadam to everyone … Our philosophy is prasada distribution, without discrimination rich or poor.” (Srila Prabhupada letter to Giriraja, 15 May 1972)

In a room conversation on the 15 June, 1976 Srila Prabhupada talks with a Christian scholar about feeding the “poor”:

Scheverman: Jesus said the poor you have always with you. But at the same time, he said we must go out and give what assistance we can as a Christian community.

Prabhupada: That assistance means to… First of all, a man is …

Scheverman: Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and visit the homeless.

Prabhupada: A man is poor when he’s in ignorance.

Scheverman: So you see that as a greater poverty, is the ignorance, rather than the physical poverty of not having enough food.

Prabhupada: So food problem can be solved simply by accepting … That is also stated in the Bhagavad-gita. Find out. Annad bhavanti bhutani. How everyone can … Find out.

Dhrstadyumna: All living bodies subsist on food grains, which are produced from rains. Rains are produced by the performance of sacrifice, and sacrifice is born of prescribed duties.

Prabhupada: So if you produce enough food grains, both the man and the animal will live very peacefully. Food grains. And I’ve seen in your country, in America, in Africa, in Australia, so much vacant land without producing food grains. So men are not engaged to produce food grains, but they are brought in Detroit to manufacture of wheels of motorcar.

Kern: For ambulances to bring the sick to the doctor.

Prabhupada: So we have to correct this. First of all, produce food.

Scheverman: So if I understand you correctly, you are saying utilize intelligence to correct the problem. Produce more food rather than worry about the fact … So that the poor can have to eat and the animals can have. So your approach, then, is not one of direct assistance to the person who is starving or suffering, but rather indirect, utilizing intelligence to produce food.

Prabhupada: Yes, and there will be no starvation.

Scheverman: It’s an intellectual approach. I think our approach would be concerned with a person-to-person assistance. That is the way, our way, that Jesus has taught us. He said, “Feed the hungry and harbor the harborless and visit the imprisoned.”

Prabhupada: Yes. If you have got enough food grains … Just like in our headquarters in Bengal, we are giving food daily, at least one thousand men.

Scheverman: So you are feeding the hungry at your headquarters in [sic] London. You do utilize then the direct approach as well.

Prabhupada: No, our process is that everyone who is hungry, come and take your food. Our program is going on, feeding the poor is automatically there. If anyone comes to our temple, even here, anyone comes they can take prasada.

Research and Targeting

Even though Srila Prabhupada has encouraged indiscriminate prasadam distribution, we should still try to address the particular need of the city or country we are working in. Therefore, Food for Life’s primary target group of people should be the less fortunate: the poor; the homeless; the invalids because they are the most deserving candidates for welfare in the eyes of the general public. In other words, we should try to fill those gaps that are not being filled by the welfare system. That means finding the social “weak point.” Srila Prabhupada said that the way to defeat an enemy is to find out their weak point, attack it, and never let up until they surrender. Similarly, by targeting the weak points or problems in society, we can more effectively win the hearts and minds of society. Just as Archimedes once said: “Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world” (From Pappus of Alexandria). We can use Food for Life as our lever and the social weak points as our fulcrum to effectively change public perception and win the respect and appreciation of everyone.

Depending on the time, place, and circumstances we find ourselves in, we should position our prasadam distribution program to achieve the most appreciation from the public and the most attention from the media and government. Prasadam should be available for everyone, but we should give special attention to the particular “social weak point” in our city. Therefore it is important that we research our local situation first and then target accordingly, so that the maximum exposure and appreciation can be achieved.

The Poor, the Bhaktas, and the Influential

There are three basic groups of people that make up the “Food for Life clientele.” They are:

1) The “underprivileged” (the materially poor). Typically, clients of our Food for Life outreach programs or those who find themselves impoverished due to social challenges, or man-made or natural disaster.

2) The Bhaktas. Especially those who attend our temple functions or those who are genuinely interested in spiritual life.

3) The “influential” (the materially rich). The rich and famous, the leaders of society who are influential in their field of activity and who are concerned with and interested in helping those in need.

All these groups are important. No one should be denied. However, we naturally wish to have a receptive audience to communicate with, hence, most devotees will prefer the bhaktas and/or the influential. And there is nothing wrong with this when we learn to broaden the meaning of Food for Life beyond a program that is little more than a “hand-out to the poor,” to that of a dynamic community service introducing the full spectrum of everything the Vedic food culture represents. It should be understood, however, that by targeting the “underprivileged” we automatically capture the interest and appreciation of the “influential” crowd. And this is the unique advantage Food for Life has over other ISKCON prasadam distribution projects, in that it portrays a “community service image” as opposed to a strategy for proselytizing. Aside from this, the “underprivileged” are often better qualified to receive Krishna consciousness. Srila Prabhupada explains: “When a person is poverty stricken, naturally his false pride in aristocracy, wealth, education and beauty is smashed. Thus corrected, he is in the right position for liberation” (Srimad Bhagavatam 10.10.15 pp).

So considering the above comment by Srila Prabhupada we shouldn’t be averse to feeding the “underprivileged,” (the materially poor), nor should we be bound to the idea that Food for Life is only for the poor.

Srila Prabhupada declares: “Everyone is poor. Not that the rich man is not poor … Everyone should come to the temple and ask for prasada. That is required. So paratma nistham. The sannyasi should worship the Deity in the temple and feed the poor. Poor does not mean that one who has no legs, no ears, or no … poor… Everyone who is spiritually poor, he should be given, prasadam. By eating, prasade sarva duhkhanam hanir asyopajayate. That is called paramatma nistham. Yajna. It is called yajnasistasino santo mucyante sarva kilbisaih. It is not poor-feeding. It is distributing the resultant action of yajna. This worship is yajna. So yajna sistasino ... If you feed some men, not the so-called poor, everyone, then they’ll be freed from their sinful activities. Yajna sistasino santah mucyante sarva kilbisaih. Kilbisaih means sinful activities. Therefore prasada distribution.” (Initiation ceremony lecture, Calcutta 1973)

Having established our reasons for targeting our prasadam distribution according to the needs of the community, i.e. the “underprivileged,” or “social weak points,” as well as the justifications for indiscriminate prasadam distribution to everyone else, let us now address the points of where to distribute, when to distribute, what to distribute and how to distribute?

Where Should I Distribute?

Srila Prabhupada writes, “The idea of distribution of prasadam is long standing, and I suggested this from the very beginning of my missionary activities, both in New York, and … San Francisco. But it has never come to any practical shape till now. Therefore, if you can actually start a prasadam distribution program, it will be very nice. But to start a separate restaurant for this purpose does not appeal to me. If we have prasadam distribution program it is to be done in the temple premises, not separately. Separate attempt will require separate energy diverted from the temple management. Therefore if you do at all start prasadam distribution, try to do it in the temple itself.” (Srila Prabhupada letter to Cidananda, 24 December 1968)

Despite this clear instruction from Srila Prabhupada, many devotees will say that the Food for Life program should be operated from a venue separate from the temple facility because they feel we should not expect our genuine spiritual seekers “the privileged” to have to tolerate associating with the undesirable types who will make up our “underprivileged” Food for Life crowd. “It’s just not good public relations,” they claim. For example, in Riga (Latvia), at least 150 people were lining up every day for the temple’s Food for Life program. However, at the time of the Sunday feast, these unclean, unwashed, disorderly bunch of men and women would always cause great discomfort for the genuine Sunday feast guests—something had to be done. Instead of opening a separate Food for Life venue, the devotees decided to renovate the carport on the side of the temple building, transforming it into their Food for Life servery. The result was immediate success. The Food for Life clients were diverted away from the temple’s main entrance, and the Sunday feast guests were greatly pleased. Very soon the FFL crowd increased to more than 1500 per day! Obviously, Krishna was also pleased. (Note: See Riga Case Study, Appendix XV)

It is also important to note the time context of this letter to Cidananda. It was 1968 and ISKCON was barely established with few temples and no extra resources to support a separate prasadam distribution project. Many years later, however, Srila Prabhupada wrote to Satyahit and encouraged him to establish a mobile prasadam distribution program. “I am hopeful that if we can widely distribute free foodstuffs to the people of India, by giving it out at our centers as well as by traveling parties to villages, we will win over the whole country and the whole world by this activity on Krishna’s behalf.” (Srila Prabhupada to Satyajit, 16 March 1974)

Free Food Kitchen

Food for Life “free food kitchens” is the most preferred of all distribution centers because of their strong charitable appeal. Practically no other organization in the world provides as much, and as good quality food as our Food for Life programs does. And the fact that it’s free just knocks them off their feet! So the more we can align our program as a free service, the better. For one reason, it will attract donations from the public and possibly even government or corporate grants. However, initially, some free food kitchens will have to be subsidized. Therefore, you may have to sell prasadam on the side. But you should know that you will get support from the business community. It just takes a little time. The Belfast temple is a good example; they were receiving donations of fruit and vegetables from the local marketers for 10 years—enough to supply the entire bhoga demand of the temple—before they had even started their Food for Life program. They were receiving donations on the strength of their begging! So have faith, you will get unlimited support from the public for your free prasadam service. Because it’s “free,” you’ll make many friends. A case in point, a charity called the “DC Kitchen” has been serving 4000 free meals to homeless people daily in Washington DC for a decade. All the food is provided through donations from the public and local businesses.

It is important to note that Srila Prabhupada preferred free prasadam distribution. In a letter he wrote: “I do not follow what you mean by that they are starting to sell samosas. We should not sell any prasadam, we shall distribute prasadam and we can ask for contributions. That should be the method.” (Srila Prabhupada to Jadurani dasi, 14 January 1970)

And during a garden conversation in Detroit on 14 June 1976: “No, we are not going to do that. Better make it a doll exhibition. And give them prasada free. Restaurant in the city, that is all right. Not here. Nobody will come to the restaurant from the city. That is not possible. But we give them free prasada.”

Also in the Srimad Bhagavatam there is the following reference for Vedic free food kitchens:

In the holy places of India, like Vrindavana, Hardwar, Jagannatha Puri, and Prayaga, there are many great devotees, and there are still free kitchen houses for persons who desire to advance spiritually. Maharaja Yudhishthira was inquisitive to learn whether Vidura maintained himself by the mercy of the free kitchen houses (chatras) (Srimad Bhagavatam 1.13.9).

Raghunatha dasa Goswami took prasadam at the temple, but later he would stand at the Simha-dvara gate and eat only whatever he could gather by alms. Later he lived by taking alms from various chatras or food distributing centers. (Antya Lila, Chapter 6)

“In Vrindavan we can begin this prasadam distribution program also. Of course, there are many chatras for distributing, but we shall give them also Krishna Consciousness, that will be unique.” (Letter to Gurudas and Yamuna dasi, 25 April 1972)

Providing free prasadam to the public is an integral part of our Vaisnava tradition. Therefore this should always be your first consideration when determining your temple’s style of distribution.

Budget Restaurants: a Winning Formula

Budget restaurants are becoming very popular in many Food for Life programs in the West simply because the small amount of money collected helps to cover the cost of operating these facilities in expensive cities. Meals are served to guests who pay a nominal price and the elderly and unemployed are offered a reduced price. In Western countries, such a generous offer of nutritious meals for a few dollars is viewed as “charitable.” In some “budget” Food for Life restaurants, meals are provided free and a donation is requested. However, no one is ever denied prasada. The most successful way to promote your “budget restaurant” is to say that people can have “as much as they like” for a fixed price. The most successful example of this kind of project is the Food for Life Crossways Restaurant in Melbourne. Regular clientele are charged $7.50 per person, but those holding a social welfare card from the government only pay $5.50, which is very inexpensive in Australia.

You’ll also find this to be a powerful advertising strategy as well, because no regular restaurant business will be able to offer such a deal. The fact is only 10 per cent of the clientele will actually take more than one full plate. The real satisfaction for them is in knowing that they can have more if they want. It is a psychological fact that people like to have more than they can possibly consume. For as the saying goes: “The eyes are bigger than the belly!”

Paying Restaurants vs Free & Budget Restaurants

Because of the fierce competition in the restaurant trade, operating a Hare Krishna paying restaurant is never going to be easy. Although we have the best food (prasada), and more often than not, the best prices, it will always be an uphill struggle competing with other restaurants for the following reasons: we do not allow the use of alcohol, cigarettes, tea or coffee, and opening at night always interferes with the normal devotee lifestyle. On top of this, the larger restaurant chains have annual marketing budgets in the range of tens of millions of dollars. Therefore, we shouldn’t even dream of a high-class restaurant with a fancy menu and high-class clientele unless we are prepared to make tremendous personal sacrifices and compromises and spend a lot of money. Of course, anything is possible, and over the years there have been a few minor successes in this area. However, time and time again we see that such high overhead restaurants, with expensive menus and paid staff, cannot be maintained.

Your best bet is to copy success and go with the winning formula of prasadam budget restaurants that only open at lunch time and provide tasty meals for a fixed price and as much as a person can eat. The decor of the restaurant should be simple, clean, and typically Vedic. There should be plenty of devotional artwork and possibly even low tables with cushions, instead of the normal table and chair arrangement. Ideally, devotees should wear full devotional attire with tilaka; however, this should not be mandatory. They should serve the meals to the customers at their tables because self-service is not Vedic. Srila Prabhupada did suggest, however, that self-service was acceptable. Another benefit of serving people at their table is that it will provide an opportunity for more personal communication. Devotees should allow the customers to appreciate the relaxing atmosphere of the restaurant; however, they should seek opportunities to inform the clientele about aspects of Krishna consciousness. Usually the artwork, devotional attire, music or the food will stimulate plenty of questions. However, you may try placing laminated photocopies of BTG articles on the tables for people to read as they eat. All conversations should be light and pleasant, and only devotional music should be played. We have seen some restaurants actually include an altar with Deities in open view to the restaurant clientele. Prabhupada actually recommended this as well and it could easily be incorporated into a reading room within the restaurant. Again, another suggestion by Prabhupada and one that preceded the partnership of Starbucks Coffee houses and Barnes and Nobles bookstores by more than 10 years!

Budget and Free Restaurants Make Devotees

There are many good examples of budget style restaurants around the world. Melbourne’s Food for Life Crossways budget restaurant on Swanston Street in the city has been operating for over 30 years now and regularly serves 400 meals daily. Most of their clientele are students and business people from nearby offices who pay from $5.50–$7.50 for as much as they can eat. An excellent example of a successful free food restaurant was the Gopals restaurant in Sydney’s Parramatta district. It operated for seven years, five days a week from 12pm–2pm until it was closed down after a fire ran through the building. The second floor restaurant was very humble and served a sumptuous meal for free to an average of 50–80 people a day. Due to its central location, it attracted a mixed crowd of students and respectable business people just the same as the Gopals restaurant in Melbourne. The most amazing thing about this little upstairs restaurant was that in one year alone it was responsible for cultivating 35 people who later became initiated devotees.

The point to note here is that when we provide a free or budget service, the customers do not mind someone talking to them about Krishna consciousness, whereas in a regular paying restaurant the customers are literally paying to be left alone. This is the significant difference between the two programs and the most convincing reason for sticking with the “winning formula” of budget and free restaurants.

Srila Prabhupada’s Standard

In a letter to Bhagavan das, 7 July 1971, Srila Prabhupada suggested the following:

“The restaurant proposal is very nice. It should be very neat and clean and in the center column there should be Guru Gauranga altar. Everything prepared should be offered and kept on a table and the customer or guest should come and take prasadam on a plate to his full satisfaction. He can sit at table with chair. The items of prasadam you already know: kachori, luglu, samosa, sweet balls, simply wonderful, vegetables, chutneys, pushpanna, halavah, etc. The ingredients are easily available. As other things are available, you can increase your menu. And any party who pays more than $5 can be presented with a small book like Easy Journey, or Krishna, the Reservoir of Pleasure, and a copy of our magazine. And if possible continually tapes should be played of kirtanas and songs and record albums also.”

As you can see from this letter, Prabhupada changed his opinion on restaurants, depending on the time, place and circumstance. If he felt it was a good business decision, he encouraged devotees to sell prasadam, but if he felt the location and social circumstances did not warrant a prasadam business, he encouraged free distribution.

To Sell or Not to Sell?

In regard to what is better, selling prasadam or giving it away free, Srila Prabhupada said:

“We are distributing our own prasadam free, why another business should be there? Anyone is open to take our prasadam free. Better Srimati Morarji may contribute rice, dhal, etc., for this prasadam distribution program. According to our Vedic system, prasada distribution should not be on the line of hotel or canteen business. Whatever prasadam we can distribute, that should be done free of charge.” (Srila Prabhupada letter to Giriraja, 12 April 1972)

However, these statements were certainly not the last word on this subject. Jahnava Nitai das comments:

Srila Prabhupada’s letters were personal instructions to individuals for particular circumstances. They should not be held up and isolated from Prabhupada's other teachings. By selective quoting one can make Prabhupada appear to say almost anything. Let’s take the following example:

“I don’t follow what you mean by that they are starting to sell samosas. We should not sell any prasadam; we shall distribute prasadam and we can ask for contributions. That should be the method.” (Srila Prabhupada letter to Jadurani dasi, 14 January 1970)

From this quote it is clear that prasadam should never be sold. Some may now claim that Govinda’s restaurants are “Food For Death” because we are disobeying Prabhupada’s instructions and selling prasadam. There is even more evidence to support this view:

“According to our Vedic system prasadam distribution should not be on the line of hotel or canteen business. Whatever prasadam we can distribute, that should be free of charges. So to summarize, you should distribute free prasadam.” (Srila Prabhupada letter to Giriraja, 12 April 1972)

Yet, we find Prabhupada stating something quite the opposite here:

“I’m pleased to know the restaurant is again doing nicely. If palatable dishes are available people will certainly come. Srutakirti is a good boy. You can trust him. Cooperation must be there. It is a nice idea to sell prasadam at the beaches from a vehicle.” (Srila Prabhupada to Gurukripa, 14 December 1976)

Just see how by selective quoting (especially of Prabhupada’s letters to individuals) we can completely change Srila Prabhupada’s teachings. Prabhupada was giving personal instructions to individuals for their particular circumstances. We cannot hold these as universal instructions that must be followed by everyone in all circumstances. One minute “Prabhupada’s teachings” are that prasadam should never be sold; the next minute “Prabhupada’s teachings” are that selling prasadam makes him happy. This is the danger of selective quoting. In conclusion, the principle should be: whatever it takes to distribute prasadam, that method should be accepted.

Mobile Distribution

In one of the most profound letters on the topic of prasadam distribution outside the temple, Prabhupada declares: “I am hopeful that if we can widely distribute free foodstuffs to the people of India, by giving it out at our centers as well as by traveling parties to villages, we will win over the whole country and the whole world by this activity on Krishna’s behalf.” (Srila Prabhupada to Satyajit, 16 March 1974)

Actually a mobile program has many wonderful advantages over all other prasadam distribution programs. The obvious one is the excellent exposure a mobile service provides. Thousands of people every day will see the Food for Life vehicle traveling down the road to and from a program. Even though we may only distribute one day a week for 2–3 hours, tens of thousands of people will see us driving by even if we are only buying food from the market. All major organizations have company cars emblazoned with their logo for the sole purpose of advertising their service. Food for Life must do the same.

Other advantages of a mobile service are:

By being mobile we will not be restricted to any one area of the population. In other words, the mercy can be spread around. There will also be less likelihood of our program being controlled by the authorities.

Operating our program from the road will mean no big overheads such as rent.

Being mobile we will portray Food for Life as an organization that is very active, heroic, determined and enthusiastic about what they do. “The Krishnas are here to help us,” the people will say.

All you need to do to begin this program is to get a van (but please clean it up first), put the Food for Life logo on both sides, and then convert the back section into a serving bay. There is no need to build a kitchen in the back. This is often impractical and very expensive. Make sure the walls and floor are nicely sealed and can be easily washed out with a hose. Set up a hot serving table and arrange it so that it can operate from varying energy sources. You may even consider placing a solar power panel on the roof. Alternatively, you can set up a row of heat boxes in the back of the van. These boxes are plastic insulated containers that can keep khichari hot for six hours. This is probably the best way to go because not only are these boxes durable, they’re also hygienic and do not require any power source. Just prepare all the prasadam at the temple kitchen, offer it all to Their Lordships, store it in the heat boxes, and away you go! One resource for insulated carry boxes can be found at Ace Mart (www.acemart.com).

There are some disadvantages to a mobile Food for Life service, foremost of which is that you cannot fully control the environment you serve. At any time, you could have too many people to feed and not enough food, or the people you serve may become unruly. Moreover, a street distribution program is not conducive to sharing information about Krishna consciousness and this could be somewhat discouraging. For these and other reasons, I encourage Food for Life projects to make a street distribution program a supplementary service to a variety of Food for Life services. Again, the ideal Food for Life program will follow the “10 ingredient formula” outlined later in this manual.

Food for Life Global would like to establish mobile kitchen trucks for disaster relief in strategic locations around the world. These vehicles will enable Food for Life Global to effectively respond to emergency relief in the United States.

Prasadam Carts

An alternative to a prasadam van or truck would be a prasadam “cart”, which goes up and down the sidewalk. Similar to a peanut or snack vendor’s cart, with a colorful canopy, a bell, signs on both sides and detachable wheels so that you could pack it away in your car. Or, like Padayatra, you could go with a bullock cart through the township, specifically promoting Food for Life and handing out the mercy. Either way, it would be a sensation. Everyone would love it. Of course, there may some local community/council restrictions that will not make this possible.

Most such carts are short-lived endeavors. But Jerry Abrams—with determined enthusiasm—has been dedicated to giving New Yorkers a taste of Krishna for some twenty years. “Dishes Make Merchant a Taste Treat on Broadway,” reads the headline of Warren Woodberry Jr’s article on the front page of New York’s Newsday. “Dozens of people wait patiently in line to be served from the busiest food cart during lunch time.” Woodberry describes Abrams as a phenomenon, and praises his work in superlatives. And that’s just one of many major articles. The New York Times and New York magazine also ran feature stories, acknowledging this distinctive cart’s culinary specialness. “It’s not just because it’s vegetarian,” says Abrams. “It’s because it’s prasadam.” Bhakta Jerry has been dedicated to his service for more than two decades. Here is what Srila Prabhupada had to say about a Bullock Cart Program: “Your idea for the bullock cart sankirtana is very good. So now do it. Your program for distributing the literature, the charity and the prasadam, this is all very nice.” (Srila Prabhupada letter to Mimamsa Swami, 21 September 1975)

Feeding the Students

University Food for Life

Students need to be fed. They are often struggling financially, and because of their hectic life-style they tend to eat irregularly or eat unhealthy food. Therefore, it is reasonable to have a Food for Life program on campus, specifically for the students. After all, providing a nutritious inexpensive meal to the unhealthy and often impoverished students (the future leaders of the country) can also be an act of charity. In fact, the very successful Akshaya Patra project in Bangalore, India, has built their whole project around the importance of proper nutrition for children. Their website states:

“The premise that nutrition affects children’s ability to learn is not new. The link has been recognized for some time through anecdotal evidence and, more recently, through controlled research studies.

“Iron deficiency is one of the most prevalent nutritional problems of children in India. Iron deficiency in infancy may cause a permanent loss of IQ later in life. Iron deficiency and anemia lead to shortened attention span, irritability, fatigue, and difficulty with concentration. Consequently, anemic children tend to do poorly on vocabulary, reading, and other tests (Parker, 1989).”

Several studies have found effects of hunger and poor nutrition on cognitive ability. One such study found that among fourth grade students in the United States, those who had the least protein intake in their diets had the lowest achievement scores (ASFSA, 1989).

A laboratory study that involved healthy, well-nourished school-aged children found a negative effect of morning fasting on cognitive performance. A test of the speed and accuracy of response on problem-solving tasks given to children who did or did not eat breakfast found that skipping breakfast had an adverse influence on their performance on the tests (Pollitt et al, 1991).

Children who are hungry or undernourished also have more difficulty fighting infection, and they are more likely to become sick, miss school, and fall behind in class.

The midday meal programs operated by the ISKCON Food Relief Foundation and the Akshaya Patra Foundation is by far the best Food for Life or large-scale prasadam distribution programs in the history of Vaishnavism. I highly recommend that all ISKCON leaders study these projects and learn from them. (www.middaymeals.com and www.akshayapatra.org)

Another reason for feeding students is that Srila Prabhupada wanted it. He was extremely eager to convince the intelligent young people to take up Krishna consciousness. And thus he encouraged devotees to make presentations in the colleges and universities. There are numerous letters to this effect. Here is one of them, which I consider a gem:

“Your program for the university students is very nice; try to do it seriously and with scholarly approach. Yes, your chief weapon will be prasadam because everyone likes to eat nice foodstuffs and philosophy and other things will come gradually. In this way try to make many devotees, just like so many of you, my top-grade disciples.” (Srila Prabhupada letter to Narottamananda, 23 October 1972)

A university program is relatively easy to start. The first thing is to form a club with the university or student union. Call the club “Food for Life”, “Krishna’s Kitchen,” or “Krishna’s Vegetarian Club.” You will probably need at least 25 students to be enlisted as members, and some of them will have to be on the Club’s board of directors. The aims and objectives of your club may vary from other Food for Life clubs, but the following objectives should be a guideline:

Mission: The Food for Life Club aims to promote healthy eating and to assist the Food for Life charity in serving the needy.

To increase awareness and understanding of karma-free food;

To provide information on the health benefits of a plant-based diet;

To provide a sampling of a plant-based diet to all members, as well as give cooking demonstrations;

To practically engage members of the university in participating and expanding the Food for Life service to the underprivileged of the community.

To inform people about Food for Life’s international food relief service.

Once your club is formed, you will need to establish what are the best days and the best time to operate according to the needs of the students—it is important to ask the students’ opinion—and what is practical for the temple. Then you will have to establish whether the temple can afford to give out free prasadam or not. One possible problem you could encounter is that if you do decide to distribute free prasadam, the university canteen may object and try to have your club stopped. They’re in a strong position to do so, because most of their profits go to the university, and, unless we have a food seller’s license, we are not legally allowed to sell food on campus, club or no club. However, there is a way around this problem. Every club normally charges a membership fee. Often the amount is no more $5–10 per year. However, the Food for Life membership fee can be a little higher, maybe $30–$50 per year, and the students have the option to pay off their membership fee throughout the year. This should mean around $2–3 a week—just the right amount required to cover your costs. Alternatively, you may advertise that the prasadam is free but we are accepting donations. Either way, you should be able to get around any problems with the canteen.

Whatever you decide, the most important point is to be sensitive. Don’t try to take over the university, and never fight the authorities. You may get the students support, but eventually you’ll lose the battle because the students really don’t have as much power as they think they do. Better to outsmart the system than to attack it.

Once you are established, make sure the university management receives prasadam on a regular basis. Never neglect them. The next thing to do is to cultivate the media departments. Every university has a student newspaper, radio, et cetera; get to know the editors and producers; feed them; write articles for the paper; advertise your program; maybe even start your own recipe column.

Next, as a registered club on campus you will be entitled to many benefits. Find out what they are from the Club and Society’s president. Usually there are grants available for special events and for meeting the basic needs of the club. Your Food for Life Club could ask the university student union (if there is one) to cover some percentage of the food costs, as well for sponsoring special feast days during the year.

University programs are extremely important. Srila Prabhupada encouraged devotees to visit the universities and colleges in order to convince the most intelligent people of Krishna consciousness. If we don’t get intelligent people to join our movement, our movement will not progress. In one sense we could say that prasadam distribution to the students is the most important of all prasadam distribution programs, simply because of this point of cultivating the future leaders of society. Therefore, whatever Food for Life program you are already doing, you should complement it with a program that serves the student community.

We must mention here that there is one college program that stands above the rest, and that is the Hare Krishna Vegetarian club at the University of Florida in Gainesville, United States. It has been going since 1975, operating every day of the week, serving an average of 300 students per day. This is undoubtedly the longest running prasadam distribution program in the western world. All glories to their service! To find out more, visit www.krishnalunch.com.

Feeding School Children

It is not uncommon these days for many children to go to school without having had a nutritious breakfast—in some cases, no breakfast at all. This is partly due to their parents leaving for work before them, or they have not been taught the importance of a good healthy breakfast. In some case, children are being provided money by their parents to purchase breakfast; however, they are often spending it on soft drinks and candies instead of a healthy meal. Again, this could be because of their parent’s poor examples or their lack of knowledge. In the case of the “Mid-Day Meal” projects in India, the more than 1,500,000 children receiving a prasadam lunch daily are from poor families that cannot afford to provide the proper nutritious and balanced diet their children require. There is no doubt that feeding underprivileged school children is important on all levels, and the premier method of positively influencing future generations. All Food for Life projects should add this demographic to their target audience.

The following is another idea for a Food for Life school program, commonly referred to as “Breakfast clubs.”

What is a Breakfast Club?¹

School breakfast clubs serve food to children who arrive early at school before formal lessons begin. The way in which the clubs operate depends on the individual circumstances of the school. However, many schools work closely with their school caterer or others to arrange an informal breakfast in a classroom serving fruit, toast, breakfast cereal and drinks.

Breakfast clubs have been operating in the UK for several years and the emphasis of different clubs varies considerably. For example, some breakfast clubs have objectives of integrating study or welfare support, while others focus on providing breakfast and a time for informal interaction between children and school staff.

A recent study of breakfast clubs summarizes four main areas of need as:

Health and nutrition

Improving children’s education

Children’s social needs

Parent and family life

A breakfast club involves pupils, school staff, parents and the wider community. It aims to improve the health and wellbeing of children, as well as the staff and volunteers involved. A breakfast club also underpins the goals of a health promoting school.

Why Start a School Breakfast Club?

There are many potential benefits of setting up a school breakfast club. Research has shown that breakfast improves children’s problem-solving abilities, their memory, concentration levels, visual perception and creative thinking. An evaluation of breakfast clubs by the New Policy Institute stated that all schools involved believed that attendance at the breakfast club provided a good start to the day, leaving the children more settled, attentive and motivated to learn. Breakfast club coordinators have also reported improved punctuality and school attendance.

Eating a healthy breakfast is important to everyone’s health needs. Breakfast provides an ideal opportunity for children to begin the day by eating bread, other cereals, fruit, and vegetables, which are all important elements of a healthy and balanced diet. Results from the National Diet and Nutrition Survey (2000) show children aged 4–18 eat less than half the recommended daily amount of fruit and vegetables.

How to Start a Breakfast Club

When planning your breakfast club, keep it simple, especially at the start. Gradually build up and develop the menu the club has to offer as it becomes established.

Assess school staff and parental interest and demand for a breakfast club before you start. Hold a special meeting for parents to discuss your plans. Investigate the type of breakfast food the children typically eat. Remember to consider religious and cultural aspects of food choice. If you have a school caterer, meet with them to decide whether it would be possible for them to offer a breakfast menu, perhaps on a trial basis.

Promote the breakfast club to encourage the children to attend, perhaps by involving them from the outset—for example, naming the club or designing a menu.

Continue promoting interest in the breakfast club. It may take time to establish the club within the school. You could offer an end of term prize for good attendance; send out regular newsletters; or encourage school staff to be involved and promote the club as an integral part of the school.

You may wish to seek funds to keep the cost of the breakfast menu low. Use existing funds within the school and opportunities for fundraising. Acquire funds from both government initiatives and local projects. Explore your local community—for example, local shops or supermarkets may be able to provide support and local libraries may donate or exchange books or toys.

If you do not have a dining room, make sure that a suitable breakfast clubroom is available.

Think about how the children will arrive at the club, e.g. before school supervision when crossing the roads.

Attend to relevant regulations. Health and safety regulations apply to premises, equipment, and storage of food and disposal of waste.

This program has been tried in Australia and the devotees have found it to be successful. Pancakes were especially popular! The parents were eager to see their children eat properly and the teachers were quick to note the marked improvement in the young children’s behavior and attentiveness, after the breakfast club began.

Because of the connection with schools, and specifically school children, this program has high possibilities for receiving government funding. Every year the government spends the major portion of its budget (billions of dollars) on health and education. It is well worth investigating how Food for Life could receive some of those funds.

For Further Information on Breakfast Clubs

Numerous organizations offer support for out-of-school services. On a local basis, find out what is happening in your area by contacting your Local Education Authority (the LEA can also advise on Education Business Partnerships), Social Services Departments, and Environmental Health Departments. The Early Years Development and Childcare Partnerships and Training and Enterprise Councils will also be able to give advice and support on a wide range of issues dealing with children’s clubs.

British Nutrition Foundation's ‘Ideas for a Healthy Breakfast’, click here for details

National Healthy Schools Standards www.wiredforhealth.org.uk

New Opportunities Fund www.nof.gov.uk

Breakfast Clubs www.breakfast-club.co.uk

National Evaluation of School Breakfast Clubs www.breakfastclubs.net

Related Articles

Breakfast: Waking Up to a Healthy Start

New Harvard Research Shows School Breakfast Program May Improve Children's Behavior and Performance

Home Delivery

Delivering hot meals to people’s homes is not only emotionally rewarding, but also a program that will attract a lot of public attention. The very well-known “Meals on Wheels” service has its roots in the Women’s Volunteer Service for Civil Defense preparing and delivering meals to their disadvantaged neighbors during the Second World War in Great Britain. These women also brought refreshments in canteens to servicemen during World War II. The canteens came to be known as “Meals on Wheels.” Thus, the first organized nutrition program was born (see the History of Meals on Wheels, Appendix)

How Do I Start a Home Delivery Service?

First contact the local government welfare office to see if there are home delivery services currently operating in your city. Next, find out to whom and when these services are being offered. With this knowledge you can either offer to complement these existing services by offering vegetarian meals for those people requesting such, or you can work independently to distribute Food for Life meals on the days that are not being covered by the other organizations.

In the early 1990s, Bhakta das from the temple in Melbourne, Australia took such an initiative. Through his research he found that the local government-sponsored home delivery service was not able to deliver meals over the weekends. Seizing the opportunity to fill this need, he went about preparing hot packaged meals and volunteers from the community delivered them.

The menu normally consisted of subji, rice, halavah and a salad packaged in an aluminum container, with a sticker on top stating, “Compliments of Hare Krishna Food for Life. Please enjoy.” In this way, even though he was not always able to personally deliver the prasadam, the recipients definitely knew who was feeding them. The program was a great success and the local media were quick to pick up on the story.

You’ll be surprised at just how many Sunday feast guests and members of the public will be happy to get involved in this program and deliver a few meals, one night a week. If you’re really confident, place an advertisement in the local newspaper, requesting all needy people to “phone Hare Krishna Food for Life for a free meal.” You’ll most likely get swamped with phone calls; but you’ll soon realize what a wonderful program this is for making a positive impact on your local community. For the service to be taken seriously by the authorities and the public, you will have to establish some criteria for who is and who is not qualified to receive your service. Researching your area, talking to your local welfare office, or coordinating with other organizations in the city could ascertain this. But, be careful: Canakya Pandit stated that one should not reveal one’s plans lest they be spoiled. So don’t reveal more about the program than is absolutely necessary.

Making New Friends that can Possibly Bequest

One other superb opportunity the home delivery service program offers is the potential for receiving large bequests (donations left in people’s wills). Because this program will naturally cater for a large volume of elderly people, the chances for receiving bequests from our prasadam recipients is high. There is nothing opportunistic about this, it is simply a matter of understanding a simple fact of life: people die and people with some level of wealth often want to leave a legacy by way of supporting their favorite charity. Food for Life should aim to become that “favorite charity.” For more information on bequests or planned giving, see these references:

The Planned Giving Design Center (PGDC) helps charitable organizations create strategic alliances with legal, tax, and financial services professionals in their communities who have the capacity to influence philanthropy. http://www.pgdc.net/pub/

Gift Planning Services for Charities and Donors in the United States and Canada

http://www.plannedgivingservices.com/

By the way, bequests or planned giving constitute the largest percentage of charitable donations in the world today. However, they are also the most underdeveloped source of charitable income. (Also see Bequests)

Emergency Food Relief

What Did Prabhupada Say?

In a letter to His Holiness Jayapataka Swami in 1976, Srila Prabhupada discouraged the official formation of an ISKCON emergency relief service. However, 20 years later Jayapataka Swami has some interesting realizations on those instructions and how there may be a place for such a service in ISKCON today.

Text 72189: 15-Dec-94 22:21 WET /157 lines/ COM: Jayapataka Swami (GBC)

Reply-To: Jayapataka.Swami@com.bbt.se

Comment on: Text 71759 by Priyavrata (FFL) (Dasa) TKG

Receiver: Priyavrata (FFL) (Dasa) TKG <860>

Subject: my letter

------------------------------------------------------------

Camp: Durban, So. Africa, Rathayatra festival.16-Dec-94

12 December, 1994, Potomac, USA

Regarding your point:

Finally, I have one small point for clarification. Srila Prabhupada wrote you the following letter:

“...Regarding food distribution, they may come to take at our Temple. With traveling sankirtana we can distribute wherever we go, but not to the emergency spot, like that.” [Srila Prabhupada letter 76-09-28 Vrindavan]

There are some devotees who would like to develop such an international emergency food relief service and there are other devotees who are completely against even the thought of such a service, considering it mundane welfare. I personally don't think that we are ready to develop an international service, but I can see the practical benefits and feasibility of developing local and maybe national emergency food-relief services. The recent earthquake in Latur (India) was an excellent example of the effectiveness of this type of strategy for preaching Krishna consciousness.

I was wondering, therefore, if you could be kind enough to tell us what you asked Prabhupada so that we can understand the context better.

Jayapataka Swami comments:

“After we did local flood relief and food distribution we found it to be quite effective in various ways. I wrote Srila Prabhupada whether we could go to similar relief to the Bay of Bengal Coast if there was a cyclone (hurricane type storm) or similar crisis. Srila Prabhupada gave the above reply. Srila Prabhupada’s focus seemed to be the 10-mile radius around each temple and not an international action team. At least that wasn’t HDG’s vision for the temples. It made sense in the context of everything else he instructed the temples to do.

“Now in the context of Nama Hatta, I don’t know how to apply that so well. What if one of our Nama Hatta villages was affected? Shouldn’t we help them out if we could? Then doesn’t it become more of a priority since devotees are involved?

“Since I’ve been involved directly or indirectly with various efforts of relief and rehabilitation the possibility of an international or in possibly continental (or large nation) action team has come to mind. From what Srila Prabhupada instructed it is clear to me that directly he didn’t want a temple to do it. It wasn’t ISKCON's role to do that in places far removed from their sphere of working. However, considering how many grihastas are leaving or have left ISKCON’s direct service, why not have a relief and rehabilitation or reconstruction agency that employs inclined grihasthas and does it as a charitable non-profit business? I don’t think that would contradict what Srila Prabhupada instructed. Rather it would be better for a grihastha to do something charitable in the name of Lord Krishna than just work in a grocery store or as a night guard or something, wouldn’t it? It could add to the prestige of ISKCON in the eyes of materialistic people, without directly taking any sankirtana laxmi or energy for the purpose.

“There are plenty of people to fund those kinds of activities. Gaura Krishna das told me that the UN was asking if ISKCON had such a team, and they had several places in the world where they needed to dispatch a team to do relief. Like what Devi Deva P. is doing in Philadelphia. Running a shelter isn’t exactly what a temple would do, but as a grihastha project it is useful and beneficial. In many ways ISKCON is benefiting. PR and public image is something that does count as well. We are realizing this when we want to do fundraising for our International and National Projects. The fact that it can be funded outside of ISKCON and employ devotees who really can’t be engaged in ISKCON or need more money than ISKCON can provide wasn’t presented to Srila Prabhupada. Senior devotees could discuss and probably ethically it is as good or rather much better than the painting business and other unrelated businesses, which are funding many ISKCON communities wholly or partially today.

“The other question is who is going to do and manage such a program? I wouldn’t mind guiding anyone in whatever aspects I know from the practical side of it. I have done flood relief for instance from Sri Dham Mayapur. The point is that one has to be expert! One has to be brave and careful! There are a lot of risks. When one is far away from one’s own base then it is even more of a problem. Whatever people pay millions of dollars to see on the latest action movies with Stallone or Swarzeneger, no less action packed excitement I faced while doing flood relief. Cobras attacking, being knocked off a boat in the river rapids, being smashed against a tree by the river current and having millions of red ants knocked off the tree onto the bodies of the devotees in the boat, saving stranded mothers and infants from the roofs of homes that were about to be washed away by the flood current in the next minutes and seconds, and many similar adventures are just a few of the examples of some of the adventures I experienced while doing flood relief in Mayapur. Not everyone is inclined to do such things or take such risks. This kind of service is for specific kind of active persons.

“Of course, on the other hand, there may be dull and boring times when the main crisis is over and the local people really don’t need so much aid but are going to get whatever they can for free, or it just takes a lot of time and effort if one helps in reconstruction and rehabilitation. This doesn’t affect ISKCON temples direct efforts since we fund it ourselves and can pull out whenever we want to, but if one was funded by the UN or something then you would have to stick it out until they said you weren’t needed anymore. One would have to be clear what this organization was for. Is it just for crisis relief, an international trauma center on the move, or whether the next phases of rehabilitation or reconstruction would also be included.

“If someone was going to do it as a regular occupation they would be better equipped if they knew first aid, lifesaving, and many other practical things (boating, flying, cooking, nursing, etc.) They would also need to know how to protect themselves from getting infected or affected by any epidemics, which were rampant. It beats being a night guard. It could pay good basic income and it would help others. It would give ISKCON and the Hare Krishna Movement a better public image. Probably it would provide a good income for a devotee as well. Even in N. America there is scope for it with all the floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes and civil riots that are happening.

“I hope this helped you. I can say more later if you like. Maybe you want to put this on the conference.”

A Vaisnava’s Compassion should be Encouraged

For those adamantly opposed to any form of emergency relief within ISKCON, shunning it as mundane humanitarianism, and who support their stance by quoting Srila Prabhupada’s letter to Jayapataka Swami (above), we argue that this is yet another case of Srila Prabhupada’s comments being taken out of context, isolated and misused.

Certainly back in 1976, with the temples primarily consisting of young brahmacharis and brahmacharinis, and resources already stretched, it would have been both impractical and brainless to take ISKCON’s focus from the foundational activities of book distribution and sankirtana to that of a humanitarian agenda.

At that time, all of ISKCON was in the midst of a sankirtana explosion with book distribution expanding all over the world, and Srila Prabhupada wanted to keep it that way, especially at the home of sankirtana, Sri dham Mayapur. More importantly, this letter was a specific instruction to a temple president of a fledgling ISKCON project.

It is interesting to note, however, that inevitably ISKCON Mayapur did indeed develop a makeshift emergency relief service, called ISKCON Food Relief and Srila Prabhupada did encourage book distribution teams in the United States to support it. Apparently, even though Srila Prabhupada was against any official development of such an outreach program, it evolved anyway, albeit, within the area of Mayapur dham, and he was happy to support it financially. He did however emphasize that ISKCON was not, and was never to become, a mundane humanitarian organization and therefore stressed the importance of distributing Krishna prasadam indiscriminately. “Our philosophy is prasada distribution, without discrimination rich or poor.” (Srila Prabhupada letter to Giriraja, 15 May 1972) He also said, “Everyone should get a chance to take prasadam ...” (CC Antya lila 1.32 pp), and that “this activity should be expanded universally ...” (CC Mad. 4.93) He also said: “One should distribute Visnu-prasada to everyone, including the poor man, the blind man, the non-devotee and the non-brahmana. Knowing that Lord Visnu is very pleased when everyone is sumptuously fed with Visnu-prasada.” [Srimad Bhagavatam 8.16.56]

So, my question to the naysayers is, why not take the opportunity to expand prasadam distribution in areas where people are in great stress? And in the purport to Srimad Bhagavatam 4.14.41, Srila Prabhupada clearly supports such (emergency relief) activity...

“Brahmanas, the topmost section of human society, are mostly devotees. They are generally unaware of the happenings within the material world because they are always busy in their activities for spiritual advancement. Nonetheless, when there is a calamity in human society, they cannot remain impartial. If they do not do something to relieve the distressed condition of human society, it is said that due to such neglect their spiritual knowledge diminishes. Almost all the sages go to the Himalayas for their personal benefit, but Prahlada Maharaja said that he did not want liberation alone. He decided to wait until he was able to deliver all the fallen souls of the world.”

Moreover, as Jayapataka Swami points out, maybe today there is scope for an official emergency relief service within ISKCON. Granted, Food for Life has filled this role somewhat over the years with its numerous efforts to alleviate the suffering of people affected by flood, storms, earthquakes and even war. But in all cases, the effort has sprung up from the desire of one local Vaisnava who sees a need to reach out to the suffering and therefore quickly gathers the resources and executes some kind of makeshift relief service. Sometimes, these efforts are backed by government agencies, such as the UN or Red Cross, or conducted entirely independently with only the resources available within ISKCON. Whatever the circumstance, it is easy to see that it is certainly not the most efficient way to go about organizing emergency relief. Therefore, with man-made and natural disasters affecting someone on the planet every day, we could make a strong argument that ISKCON should officially establish such a service. And as Jayapataka Swami suggests, it could also provide a socially acceptable and healthy income for many married devotees.

All Vaisnavas are compassionate. We are taught this from the very beginning of our spiritual education. It is a travesty, therefore, that once devotees get married there are few financially viable ways for them to use this quality. Government and corporate funded Food for Life programs could provide this opportunity, and an ISKCON Emergency Relief Service could as well. Most relief workers are not volunteers; they receive a wage. There is absolutely no need, nor is there any spiritual benefit for devotees, to sell paintings, work in grocery stores, or become security guards. When there are so many people in the world yearning for Krishna prasadam, why not make it a career path. It is a win/win situation for everyone. ISKCON should recognize the mutual benefits of supporting the Food for Life program and officially endorse it as one of the angas of the sankirtana movement; provide funding; establish Food for Life training programs, and, where possible, emergency relief services for those so inclined.

Jayadvaita Swami’s Food for Death Seminars

In a rebuttal to Jayadvaita Swami’s “Food for Death” seminar, Jahnava Nitai das had this to say:

This is the quote [SP letter 76-09-28 Vrindavan] offered most commonly by Swami J. as a universal blanket statement against distributing prasadam in emergency areas for all time to come, in all areas of the world, and in all circumstances. This also happens to be the “evidence” he offers against distributing prasadam outside of ISKCON temple compounds. Prabhupada said, “regarding food distribution, they may come to take at our Temple,” thus according to Swami J. there is really nothing more to be said about it. Anyone who distributes prasadam outside of an ISKCON temple is disobeying Srila Prabhupada and committing offenses against him.

But what of all the times Srila Prabhupada says we should distribute prasadam in the hospitals, factories, schools, charitable societies, etc.? Those are certainly outside ISKCON temple compounds? Or what of this letter, where Srila Prabhupada says it is fine to distribute prasadam at the businessmen’s club:

“I very much liked the report of prasadam distribution at the club for the businessmen.” (Letter to Amogha das, 5 August 1974)

What Swami J. is suggesting [apparently] is that it is fine to go to the rich man’s club and distribute prasadam to them, but it is offensive to go to the poor areas or to the emergency sites and distribute prasadam—all because one sentence in a letter written to a particular person in a particular situation [at a particular time in ISKCON’s history.]

Let’s look at the quote again:

“Regarding food distribution, they may come to take at our Temple. With traveling sankirtana we can distribute wherever we go, but not to the emergency spot, like that.”

This is an instruction to a temple president taking into account the temple resources, available devotees, and other circumstances. Under those precise circumstances, Prabhupada advised them that the temple should distribute prasadam within the temple compound. Remember Prabhupada’s explanation: “Separate attempt will require separate energy diverted from the temple management. Therefore if you do at all start prasadam distribution, try to do it in the temple itself.” This is not a universal rule for all times and places to be followed regardless of circumstances. This is a management decision Prabhupada gave, taking into consideration the situation at the time. In that particular situation, when there were few devotees in Mayapur, and not so many resources, Prabhupada advised them to distribute prasadam in the temple. Yet still he gave an exception:

“With traveling sankirtana we can distribute wherever we go, but not to the emergency spot, like that.”

Since the traveling sankirtana party will anyway be traveling to different villages, they could distribute in those places as well. This would not require any additional strain on the temple manpower. But at the same time, the sankirtana parties were traveling to preach and distribute books—not to run relief programs—thus Prabhupada tells them, “but not to the emergency spot.” Why should a bus of book distributors who have no experience in relief activities go to an emergency spot? Thus Srila Prabhupada gave the perfect managerial answer for this particular situation:

1) Distribute prasadam from our temples to reduce the resource needs and manpower needs required for an outstation distribution effort.

2) Since traveling sankirtana parties are anyway going out to preach, let them also distribute prasadam where they go, as there will be no additional manpower needed and no loss of manpower for the temple.

3) But since the primary service of the traveling sankirtana party is preaching and book distribution, they should not divert their path to go to emergency spots.

Swami J. takes this two-sentence quotation and tries to establish it as the universal instruction of Prabhupada on prasadam distribution, which prohibits the distribution of prasadam outside of our temples for all time. [End of comments by Jahnava Nitai das]

Feeding the poor and suffering is not mundane welfare

“One should distribute Vishnu-prasada to everyone, including the poor man, the blind man, the non-devotee and the non-brahmana. Knowing that Lord Vishnu is very pleased when everyone is sumptuously fed with Vishnu-prasada, the performer of yajna should then take prasada with his friends and relatives.”

The Bhagavatam specifically mentions the need to distribute prasadam to the poor, blind, and lowly people; this makes Lord Vishnu very pleased. Why are the “poor” specifically mentioned? The Bhagavatam could have simply said distribute prasadam to “everyone,” but it goes on to specifically mention the poor, blind and lowly. This is because all Vedic ritualistic ceremonies require giving charity to the brahmanas followed by giving charity to the poor. Even Lord Ramachandra followed this standard at the time of his marriage by giving his dowry of jewels away to beggars and poor people.

Charity to the poor is an essential aspect of the entire Vedic culture, not just Vaishnava culture. Every day in India thousands of smartas and Vaishnavas alike chant the following verse from Bhaja Govindam, outlining these principles:

“The Bhagavad-gita and the Vishnu Sahasranama should be sung; the form of the lord of Lakshmi (Vishnu) should always be meditated on; the mind should be led to the company of the saintly; and your wealth should be distributed in charity to the poor and the needy.”

In the writings of Bhaktivinoda Thakur we find the same instruction conveyed:

“It is an utmost duty of every householder to honor his guests, help the poor and fallen, and try to associate with saintly persons. Due to the lack of proper education and training nowadays people do not consider honoring guests and helping the poor as a duty.”

“It is a duty of every householder to serve the guest who has no shelter and help the fallen and poor according to their capacity. One cannot estimate how many people take shelter of the householders for help due to so many reasons. To help the poor, fallen, and guests according to one’s ability is the desire of the auspicious Creator. If you exhibit indifference in such activities, then you will certainly incur sin.”

The same thing is repeated in Srila Prabhupada’s Srimad Bhagavatam purport (1.14.43):

“It is the duty of a householder to feed first all the children, the old members of the family, the brahmanas and the invalids. Besides that, an ideal householder is required to call for any unknown hungry man to come and dine before he himself goes to take his meals. He is required to call for such a hungry man thrice on the road. The neglect of this prescribed duty of a householder, especially in the matter of the old men and children, is unpardonable.”

The 2004 Asian Tsunami

The biggest earthquake in 40 years resulted in the greatest natural disaster in modern history, affecting 12 countries, killing more than 200,000 and displacing millions. ISKCON Sri Lanka, ISKCON Chennai, ISKCON Malaysia and Dasanudas International Charities were quick to respond to the emergency by providing freshly cooked prasadam to survivors. Food for Life Global began reporting on these efforts on its website (www.ffl.org) and within days donations and volunteer requests began pouring in. H.H. Indradyumna Swami traveled to Sri Lanka on behalf of Food for Life Global to help expand the prasadam distribution. Many devotees began arriving from Russia, UK, South Africa, Hungary, United States, Poland, and Greece.

With relative ease, equipment and bhoga were purchased and new FFL teams began serving prasadam in the south, north, east and west side of the island. It soon became evident, however, that this was no ordinary emergency situation. Typically, survivors of a natural disaster are clustered together and it is relatively easy to feed large numbers of people in one area. The nature of the tsunami disaster was that areas extending over hundreds of miles were obliterated, causing the displacement of millions of people throughout. The military began setting up relief camps that could shelter 200–800 people. Smaller camps made for better hygienic conditions for survivors, but made it particularly challenging for Food for Life. Devotees would cook in one camp and then distribute to as many camps as possible. However, time, was not on our side. It took all day just to feed 2000–3000 people.

This logistical challenge, coupled with the fact that many survivors now living in relief camps were getting supplied rice and dhal, meant that Food for Life’s efforts became more of a complementary service to what the government was already doing. Granted, Food for Life teams were serving a more nutritious and balanced meal to survivors, and it was prasadam, but the fact that people were not starving presented a philosophical challenge as well.

As a result, Food for Life began identifying camps that were being underserved and focusing its efforts more on quality and not quantity. With a large amount of the donations not being necessary to support the prasadam distribution, Food for Life Global decided to focus its attention and these unused funds on helping the Bhaktivedanta Children’s Home. Considered by many to be the best orphanage in all of Sri Lanka, the Home had been caring for 80 orphans when the tsunami hit. Soon, more poverty-stricken and orphaned children began arriving at the Home and it became essential to expand the facilities. Food for Life Global established a fund-raising office and quickly began setting up a child sponsorship program.

Non-devotee volunteers came from the United States specifically to assist in this endeavor. Food for Life Global managed these volunteers, providing accommodation and meals while they worked full time on various services to help the Home. The biggest realization we had from this experience is that Food for Life, especially emergency relief projects, is the perfect medium to engage non-devotees in devotional service. In fact, the response to help Food for Life Global in its tsunami relief efforts was so overwhelming that hundreds of volunteers had to be turned away. More than 500 professional men and women, including doctors, nurses, lawyers, pilots, firefighters, TV producers, journalists, actors, business owners, soldiers, plumbers, and even boat captains filled out an application to volunteer for Food for Life! Now if this is not Krishna indicating to us how important Food for Life is, I don’t know what is. The response was unprecedented in the history of ISKCON.

FFL Global informed all the volunteers who were not selected that they would be considered for future relief projects. Plans are now underway to develop a FFL Volunteer Matching service, where volunteers can register and search for service opportunities with FFL projects around the world.

Lessons in Vedic culture from the writings of Bhaktivinoda Thakur

“Those who think that devotion to God and kindness to the jivas are mutually different from each other, and perform accordingly in their life, such persons will not be able to follow the devotional culture. Their performance is only a semblance of devotion. Therefore, all the types of beneficence to others, like kindness, friendliness, forgiveness, charity, respect, etc., are included in bhakti ... Charity of medicines, clothes, food, water, etc., shelter during adversities, teaching of academic and spiritual education, etc., are the activities included in the devotional culture.” (Tattva-sutram, 35, circa 1893)

“Assistance to others is of two kinds: relieving others of distress and helping others make progress. … Should help others as much as possible without distinguishing whether they are relatives or not. The same distress that befalls ourselves also comes to others. When a person is in difficulty, he thinks that others should give him relief. Thus one should try to relieve distress as if it were one’s own. A person must attempt to relieve distress by putting aside one’s own self-interest, which may prevent one from acting. One should try to remove other peoples’ bodily, mental, social and spiritual difficulties. Examples of bodily distress are sickness and hunger. Examples of mental distress are anxiety, envy, lamentation, and fear. Examples of social distress are inability to support the family, inability to give education to one’s children, inability to get them married, and lack of resources for cremation. Examples of spiritual distress are lack of faith, atheism, and desire for sinful acts. Just as one must relieve a person of distress, one should also try to elevate him. One should help people progress physically, mentally socially and spiritually by offering monetary, physical, and verbal assistance, and by engaging that person’s relatives as well.”

“Charity (dana) refers to giving money or materials to a suitable person. Giving to an undeserving person is a worthless expense, and is considered a sin. There are twelve varieties of charity: making water bodies or wells, planting trees to give shade and air, supplying lights, dispensing medicines, giving education, giving food, building roads, building ghatas, building houses, giving materials, giving the first portion of a meal, giving a daughter in marriage.”

“One should give water to those who are thirsty. If a thirsty person comes to one’s house, one is obliged to give him drinking water. Digging wells and ponds for drinking water, after selecting a suitable place, is also an act of punya. Wherever water is necessary, for instance at tirthas where there is no river or water body, wells should be dug. One should plant huge trees such as asvattha on the sides of the road or river or at places of relaxation. One should also plant tulasi and other holy trees in one’s own house and at pure places. These trees assist in bodily and spiritual health. Lights should be installed at ghatas, on roads and narrow paths to assist night travelers when there is no moonlight. By giving light in charity a person earns heaps of punya. Raising lights during Kartika month is for beauty but does not aid the traveler, as they are too high to light the path.”

“In giving medical relief, a person can go to the house and distribute medicine, or can have the sick persons come to a designated shop and receive free medicine. A person should perform this punya with sincerity. Students may be given education at one’s expense. Educating children is a very important service. Food distribution may be done at one’s home or at designated place for the public. Roads should be constructed to places [that are] difficult to approach or to places that are inaccessible. Ghatas should be constructed on riverbanks or the banks of other water bodies for the general public’s use. If a person also constructs resting place at the ghata, or plants gardens, roof coverings or temples, he gains addition merit. Building a house for a person who has no money and nowhere to live is punya karma. Giving materials should be done to qualified or deserving persons. Before taking one’s own food in the house, one should offer the first portion to another person. One should give one’s daughter along with ornaments to a suitable person of the same varna.”

“A person should show hospitality towards his guests and society as a whole. The householder should take care to serve guests when they arrive at his house. In the scriptures it is directed that after preparing food the householder should go to his door and call out three times for persons who have not eaten. If anyone appears, he should feed that person first, and later eat along with his family. There is a rule that one should call out about an hour after noon, but in modern times it is difficult to remain without food till then. Therefore, whenever the food is ready, the householder should call out for hungry persons. This does not refer to feeding professional beggars. Social hospitality is performed by acts beneficial to society in general.”

“Selfishness is a great sin. Though all endeavors for gaining material assets in this life or the next are for one’s own benefit, there is no injunction forbidding pursuit of those interests, for God has sanctioned personal and universal benefit to occur simultaneously. But if we ignore God’s interest, we can do no good to the world. That self-interest which lives at the expense of others’ welfare is condemned. From such selfishness arises undue miserliness towards one’s family members, reluctance to do charity, argument, theft, frustration, egotism, envy, violence, lust, and extravagance. According to the degree of selfishness in a person, one can measure his disservice to himself and the world. If no attempt is made to remove selfishness form the heart, the human being cannot perform any beneficial activity.”

“Every householder should give in charity according to his capacity. To give a huge charity at a time is beyond the capacity of many householders, therefore the householders are averse to such a form of charity. If a householder desires to give in charity and if it is impossible for him to give that charity at a time, then he should give charity in installments and easily attain the result of his previously desired charity. If the householders become habituated to give in charity in this way, then by the combined charity of the householders a great auspicious activity can be performed. Yet the householders will not have to suffer the distress of giving a huge charity. If they want to act like this, then the householders should form a charitable committee in their respective villages or cities and with the accumulated money with that committee they should help the poor householders, fallen and poor people. If need arise they can also execute other auspicious activities without any obstacles. The committee belongs to ordinary mass of people; therefore, it is the duty of everyone to keep an eye on the committee so that its activities can be carried out properly.”

“Giving charity and performing yoga, when connected to devotional service, are activities that lead to devotional service.”

“It is an utmost duty of every householder to honor his guests, help the poor and fallen, and try to associate with saintly persons. Due to the lack of proper education and training nowadays people do not consider honoring guests and helping the poor as a duty. … Even today there is no scarcity of kind-hearted persons, but the fact is that they are very rare. A householder has so many duties, but generally people often neglect those three above-mentioned duties.”

“It is a duty of every householder to serve the guest who has no shelter and help the fallen and poor according to their capacity. One cannot estimate how many people take shelter of the householders for help due to so many reasons. To help the poor, fallen, and guests according to one’s ability is the desire of the auspicious creator. If you exhibit indifference in such activities, then you will certainly incur sin. The thoughtful sages have ascertained this as the duty of the householder. If a householder fails to execute these duties, he commits grave sin.”

Instructions from the life of Bhaktisiddhanta Maharaja:

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Prabhupada was traveling through Orissa with his disciples. One day as he was coming back from Saksi Gopal temple, some people asked for alms from the married men who accompanied Srila Prabhupada, but none of them gave anything. Srila Prabhupada, in seeing this, stopped, sat down and started to talk about the duties of married men. During his conversation he said: “If married men think: ‘I must not give any of my money, which I consider reserved for Krishna, to the poor and deprived’, then they are really showing symptoms of wretchedness, cruelty and lack of compassion for others. They should not consider that giving charity to the poor is a fruitful activity.

“This kind of mentality shall make their hearts hard and they will suffer of greed. As a result of this they shall not want to spend their money, not even on the devotional service to the Supreme Lord, which is the ultimate goal in life. This will invite offenses in the service. To save ourselves of this kind of deceit and sinful concept, Sri Gaurasundara used to give money and things like that to the poor people during His pastimes as a married man.”

Working with Other Organizations

Collaborating is Extremely Important

This could be a practical solution to your inability to secure necessary funds and facilities for operating your Food for Life program. You simply need to scout around and see what other organization could possibly use a “free-food” element or “nutritious vegetarian service” in their present program, which more than likely is most of them. You could try youth hostels, orphanages, police youth clubs, hospitals, old-age homes, or even prisons, and the like. However, there are organizations that will be more approachable than the others—the Red Cross for example. In many parts of the world we are working very harmoniously with this organization. In some places they are supporting us with food supplies and in others with volunteers or even kitchen and office facilities. They are a non-discriminating and highly reputable organization, with centers worldwide. The important message to understand in this regard is that by working with other more established organizations like the Red Cross we build our own reputation. So, whatever program you currently operate, you must by all means try to cooperate with other organizations. Do not try to conduct your service in a vacuum.

The International Committee of the Red Cross or (Red Crescent)

There are approximately 300,000,000 Red Cross/Red Crescent members throughout the world working for the betterment of mankind and peace for the human race. In 1965, at the 20th international conference of the Red Cross, held in Vienna, a charter was given to the ICRC establishing seven Fundamental Principles:

1) Humanity

2) Impartiality

3) Neutrality

4) Independence

5) Voluntary service

6) Unity

7) Universality.

The principles are specific to the movement worldwide and must be respected by all its chapters.

The principle of Impartiality requires that the Red Cross/Red Crescent societies make no discrimination of any kind and it is this principle that enables Hare Krishna Food for Life to work closely with this organization and enhance ISKCON’s reputation.

Whatever program you decide to do, this point of collaborating with other organizations must be there. However, in working with these other organizations, we should not lose sight of our own goals and objectives and be overly concerned with mundane morality. Srila Prabhupada explains:

“All decent men want to give service to humanity; only thing is they do not have information really what is that service. Hospitals, feeding the poor, Red Cross, these are service to the bodies only, not to the man. Service to humanity means jnana. By giving people knowledge, jnana, that is the highest service to humanity. So we are performing the actual welfare work of society by informing everyone through our literatures who is God, who they are, and what is the relationship.” (Room conversation, 1 September 1973)

The goal of all our endeavors, be it Food for Life, cleaning, cooking, Deity worship, etc., is to spread love of God. The method and duration of time may vary, but the goal should be the same. Prasadam distribution is a spiritually purifying activity and one of the most effective ways of spreading love of God by giving Krishna in the form of sanctified food. After all, prasadam is a prerequisite for the effective transfer of transcendental knowledge. Web site: http://www.icrc.org/eng

The United Nations

Although most people associate the United Nations with the issues of peace and security, the vast majority of its resources are devoted to economic, social and sustainable development. United Nations development efforts have profoundly affected the lives and well-being of millions of people throughout the world. Guiding the United Nations work is the conviction that lasting international peace and security are possible only if the economic and social well-being of people everywhere is assured.

Many of the economic and social transformations that have taken place globally in the last five decades have been significantly affected in their direction and shape by the work of the United Nations. As the global center for consensus building, the United Nations has set priorities and goals for international cooperation to assist countries in their development efforts and to foster a supportive global economic environment.

Virtually every United Nations body and specialized agency is involved to some degree in the protection of human rights.

One of the great achievements of the United Nations is the creation of a comprehensive body of human rights law, which, for the first time in history, provides us with a universal and internationally protected code of human rights, one to which all nations can subscribe and to which all people can aspire.

Not only has the United Nations painstakingly defined a broad range of internationally accepted rights; it has also established mechanisms with which to promote and protect these rights and to assist governments in carrying out their responsibilities.

The foundations of this body of law are the United Nations Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the General Assembly in 1948. Since then, the United Nations has gradually expanded human rights law to encompass specific standards for women, children, disabled persons, minorities, migrant workers and other vulnerable groups, who now possess rights that protect them from discriminatory practices that had long been common in many societies. Rights have been extended through groundbreaking General Assembly decisions that have gradually established their universality, indivisibility and interrelatedness with development and democracy.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights works to strengthen and coordinate United Nations work for the protection and promotion of all human rights of all persons around the world. The Secretary-General has made human rights the central theme that unifies the Organization’s work. Web site: http://www.un.org/english/

UNHCR

During the war in Sarajevo, the Food for Life project in Belgrade formed an alliance with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) to provide food relief services for the thousands of refugees streaming out of the region. In fact, during one fundraising campaign, a poster was designed depicting the smiling face of Lord Jagannatha along with the names of the cooperating organizations, Food for Life and UNHCR. It was a terrific boost to the reputation of ISKCON Belgrade at that time. Here is what two local NGOs had to say about Food for Life’s work in Belgrade:

“On behalf of the IRC, I would like to compliment the efforts of Food for Life in providing fresh fruit, vegetables, and prepared meals to some of the most vulnerable groups in Serbia.” —Leland Montell (Country Director of the International Rescue Committee)

“As one of Food for Life’s supporters, OXFAM has witnessed firsthand the organization’s activities and its ability to reach vulnerable groups in a caring and respectful manner.” —Zola Dowell (Program Coordinator OXFAM, Belgrade Serbia)

Developing complementary and cooperative relationships with established NGOs like UNHCR, OXFAM and IRC are essential to the success of Food for Life. Web site: www.unhcr.org

World Food Program (WFP)

Born in 1961, WFP pursues a vision of the world in which every man, woman and child has access at all times to the food needed for an active and healthy life. We work towards that vision with our sister UN agencies in Rome -- the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) -- as well as other government, UN and NGO partners.

On average, WFP reaches more than 80 million people with food assistance in 75 countries each year. About 11,500 people work for the organization, most of them in remote areas, directly serving the hungry poor. 

There is enough food in the world today for every man, woman and child to lead healthy and productive lives. And yet hunger afflicts one out of every seven people on earth.

WFP’s vision is a world in which everyone has access at all times to the nourishment they need for a full life. It believes that the issue of hunger belongs at the top of the international agenda.

Hunger Statistics

Every year, authors, journalists, teachers, researchers, schoolchildren and students ask us for statistics about hunger and malnutrition. To help answer these questions, we've compiled a list of useful facts and figures on world hunger.

Some 795 million people in the world do not have enough food to lead a healthy active life. That's about one in nine people on earth.

The vast majority of the world's hungry people live in developing countries, where 12.9 percent of the population is undernourished.

Asia is the continent with the hungriest people - two thirds of the total. The percentage in southern Asia has fallen in recent years but in western Asia it has increased slightly.

Sub-Saharan Africa is the region with the highest prevalence (percentage of population) of hunger. One person in four there is undernourished.

Poor nutrition causes nearly half (45%) of deaths in children under five - 3.1 million children each year.

One out of six children -- roughly 100 million -- in developing countries is underweight.

One in four of the world's children are stunted. In developing countries, the proportion can rise to one in three.

If women farmers had the same access to resources as men, the number of hungry in the world could be reduced by up to 150 million.

66 million primary school-age children attend classes hungry across the developing world, with 23 million in Africa alone.

WFP calculates that US$3.2 billion is needed per year to reach all 66 million hungry school-age children.

For more information, visit www.wfp.org

During the 1993 war between Abkhazia and Georgia, Food for Life successfully operated a program that fed more than 2000 people daily. Most of the raw ingredients Food for Life used to prepare porridge; bread and tea came from the local Red Cross, which was supplied by the World Food Program. To read more on this story, see “The Saffron Berets,” BTG 1994.

In 2005, the World Food Program launched an electronic game called “Food Force”, which not only educates people about the activities of WFP, but also provides an interactive way of teaching people about world hunger and how to address it by taking you on an emergency mission! To see the game, go to: http://www.wfp.org/videos/food-force

The World Health Organization

The World Health Organization (WHO) is the United Nations specialized agency for health. It was established on 7 April 1948. WHO’s objective, as set out in its Constitution, is the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health. Health is defined in WHO’s Constitution as a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.

WHO is governed by 192 Member States through the World Health Assembly. The Health Assembly is composed of representatives from WHO’s Member States. The main tasks of the World Health Assembly are to approve the WHO program and the budget for the following biennium and to decide major policy questions.

WHO has hundreds of health programs, but one in particular will resonate with those FFL programs focusing on children, specifically undernourished school children, like the emerging “Mid-day Meal” projects in India and Sri Lanka. It is called the “School Health Program”, and according to WHO’s website, an effective school health program can be one of the most cost-effective investments a nation can make to simultaneously improve education and health. WHO promotes school health programs as a strategic means to prevent important health risks among youth and to engage the education sector in efforts to change the educational, social, economic and political conditions that affect risk.

It would be wise for FFL projects focusing on school children to collaborate with WHO. Web site: http://www.who.int/en/

The Hunger Project

Regarded as a leading figure in addressing world hunger, this organization has operations all over the world.

The Hunger Project is a strategic organization and global movement committed to the sustainable end of world hunger.

“In Africa, Asia and Latin America, we empower local people to create lasting society-wide progress in health, education, nutrition, and family incomes. We apply a two-prong strategy: mobilizing grassroots self-reliant action, and mobilizing local leadership to clear away obstacles to enable grassroots action to succeed.

“Our highest priority is the empowerment of women. Women bear primary responsibility for family health, education and nutrition—yet, by tradition, culture and law they are denied the means, information, and freedom of action to fulfill their responsibility. The Hunger Project is committed to transforming this condition.”

Their vision is complementary to Food for Life’s objective of a peaceful and prosperous world where humans, animals and nature live in harmony, and more importantly where there is equal respect for gender and race. Their charter states:

Achieving the sustainable end of hunger means nothing less than creating a new future for all humanity, a future where:

Every day, every person has enough of the right food to be healthy and productive;

Babies are born healthy and strong, and girl babies are prized as much as boy babies;

Children stay alive, so parents can have smaller families;

Women and girls are full partners in society;

People have control over their own lives and destinies, and all individuals have a chance to contribute;

The values of honoring human beings and nature flourish.

Web site: www.thp.org

Other Venues

Festivals & Special Events

Just about every day of the year somewhere in the world, there will be a music concert, national holiday, yoga retreat or some kind of mind, body and soul festival taking place. Often devotees are invited to take part, and they usually utilize such opportunities to sell prasadam and Prabhupada’s books. The annual Rainbow Gathering² in North America is a case in point. Devotees have been serving tens of thousands of meals at this gathering since its beginning in 1973. There is no reason why we should not utilize these opportunities to promote Food for Life. This does not necessarily mean we have to give away prasadam, although that is always best. But we could sell prasadam for the purpose of raising money for Food for Life. We could advertise that with every meal purchased, “Someone in need receives a free meal.” Or, “With every $5 purchase a percentage of the profit goes towards feeding the hungry.” Of course, it is important that we actually do what we say. The point is: we should seize every opportunity possible to advertise the good work we are doing for the community through Food for Life. Most people forget easily, so it worth our while to keep reminding them. Whenever and wherever we distribute prasadam we should somehow or other connect it to the Food for Life program, and thus continue to raise the appreciation and awareness for this most import community service.

Take a careful look at your local calendar and see what social event could afford an opportunity for Food for Life to participate. During my tour of Russia in the mid 1990s Food for Life caused a sensation when they began participating in the National Children’s Day by baking huge cakes. On one such occasion, the Moscow FFL team baked three half-ton cakes and decorated them with swans and flowers. It was the most beautiful FFL celebration I have ever seen and the response was phenomenal. Even the ultra-conservative Russian orthodox priests attending the City celebrations were in awe, and of course the children were overjoyed! The local and National media picked up the story and it was a great boost to Food for Life’s popularity and relevancy in the city. Yes, “relevancy.” We should always be looking for ways to highlight our relevance—it is the beginning step in gaining respect.

A Run in Sydney

Every year around August, practically the whole of Australia tunes in to hear about the outcome of the “City to Surf” fun run. It is a huge public spectacle, where nearly 100,000 people run from the center of Sydney to a popular tourist spot called Bondi beach. The course is over 13km (8 miles), with most of the runners taking part in costumes! However, during the 1980s and 1990s, the Sydney devotees greeted all the runners at the beginning and end of the race with harinama, and a team of Food for Life volunteers, wearing official “City to Surf” hats and jackets, handed out thousands of sweet, juicy oranges! All of which were first offered to their Lordships Sri-Sri Radha Gopinatha. The tired runners were elated to receive such a timely benediction (cold, juicy oranges) after their grueling run up and down the hills of Sydney on a hot summer day, and they openly praised the devotees and sometimes even hugged them in appreciation.

The Sydney devotees became famous for their participation in this event. In the beginning they were not invited and had to sneak in at the end of the race to distribute the free oranges. However, seeing the unflinching determination to return every year despite the protests of the race officials, the devotees were given official status in 1987 by the sponsoring organization, The Sun newspaper, so that they called officially take part. Because of the huge advertising opportunity, local orange merchants happily donated all of the 20–30 thousand oranges required by the devotees. It also become customary for the winner of the race to receive a maha garland from one of the devotees, and this always provided a photo opportunity in the local newspaper.

The above example is a classic case of seizing the moment to spread the culture of Krishna consciousness. Every country of the world has similar community events like the one in Sydney, Australia. Such events always present an opportunity to distribute Krishna prasadam. No community event would be successful without the inclusion of some kind of food, so why not Krishna prasada? (See the Chapter on ‘Social Integration’ from The 10 Ingredients of Successful Food for Life program to learn more.)

Harinama Distribution

This is an age-old tradition in ISKCON, but often overlooked as a medium for promoting the cause of Food for Life. Instead of just handing out milk powder sweets from the back of the kirtana party, why not prepare more familiar foods like cookies and then package them up in plastic bags with an attractive card attached on top that explains all about the Food for Life program and ways in which people can support it. This is a simple adjustment to what we are already doing, but a most effective method of educating the public about one of ISKCON’s most positive social contributions. The first impression is often the most lasting impression, so distribute prasadam on harinama and enrich the public’s appreciation for Food for Life at the same time. The public needs to learn that we do more than just chant and dance.

A “Cultural Event”

During my tour of the CIS in 1995, I was delighted to see the devotees effectively combining all three programs: harinama, prasada and distribution of books. Three programs in particular stood out: The Dzerzinsk Food for Life program operated from a local restaurant. While serving out meals to a large group of elderly Russian women, they serenaded the gathering with a soft, melodious harinama. The people loved it, even tapping their feet and singing along. A similar program operated in Moscow where mostly elderly women gathered to receive their only meal of the day, along with inexpensive books that they could take away. Another innovative Food Life program was the street festival in Odessa (Ukraine). The devotees positioned themselves at the main entrance to the city’s central park. Having set up a type of festival arrangement with Food for Life banners, a prasadam tent and book tables, they continually attracted crowds all day. The colorful kirtana, interspersed with short but powerful street lectures on the Bhagavad-gita, accompanied a constant stream of prasadam distribution. As a result, their Food for Life program was viewed more as a “cultural event,” rather than a charitable service to “feed the poor.”

It is important to note that the Food for Life program does not have to distribute Krishna conscious literature and perform kirtana to be considered perfect and complete. Prasadam distribution alone is perfect in order to share the mercy of Lord Krishna. If the situation permits, by all means, present your Food for Life program more in a cultural context with kirtana and spiritual education. But it is not necessary.

“…When people take to eating only prasada offered to the Deity, all the demons will be turned into Vaisnavas.” (Caitanya Caritamrita Madhya-Lila 4–93 pp)

Promotion and Fundraising Restaurants

Probably the most unique way to blend business with pleasure and yet still remain a charity is by positioning your Food for Life center as a promotion and fundraising restaurant. This approach was actually adopted with some success in Newcastle, Australia in the early 1990s. The idea behind this approach is that the restaurant is fully decorated with promotional literature, enlarged news clippings and endorsement letters of Food for Life’s worldwide activities. Customers come to take a meal in exchange for a donation to the program, and if they desire they can sit down to watch videos or research information about Food for Life. The promotion and fundraising center is not subjected to the usual restrictions that apply to a “selling restaurant.” Even those who have no money are not denied a meal. This approach would work best if you actually had a local free food program operating elsewhere in the city. It is a variation on the budget style restaurant; only the emphasis is placed more on fundraising than “feeding the needy.”

Catering

Catering is and has always been a terrific way to make money. The margins are high and the overheads relatively low, compared to running a restaurant. You can cater for a function, such as a wedding, birthday or staff party, or supply local restaurants, health food stores or corporate offices at lunchtime. Catering to the media for special events is also one of the easiest ways to generate good publicity. For example, in 1987 the Sydney devotees cooked breakfast in the studio for famous radio celebrities, Jono and Dano during their morning radio show and received official recognition of their Food for Life program in Kings Cross. On another occasion, Food for Life was asked to cater for a birthday party at popular environmental newspaper in Sydney.

You can also use catering to raise funds and awareness of your Food for Life program. You can advertise that a percentage of profits from your catering service will help to feed the needy, and thus gain a winning advantage over other catering services. You might say something like: “For every meal purchased with FFL catering, you are feeding a needy person.” Of course, make sure you actually do what you say you are going to do. Moreover, there is the possibility that your corporate clients could claim FFL’s catering service as a tax-deductible donation if you are able to register your FFL catering business as a charitable organization.

There are a variety of ways to do catering, from catering for birthdays and special occasions, to company annual parties or industry trade shows, vegetarian conferences, and even functions for other religious or spiritual groups. The Melbourne devotees once catered for the Sai Baba organization during their annual International gathering! You may also try catering to the office workers during their lunch hour by bringing pre-ordered meals to them. All these efforts can be affiliated with Food for Life to help raise public awareness. It makes good “conscious” business sense and everyone wins.

Music Festival Catering

The most successful example of large scale catering has been shown by the Australian devotees, led by Ajita’s das’s New Govardhana farm team called Govinda’s Catering, and followed soon after by Devaprastha das in Perth and his Prasadam Catering service. Large, fully-equipped catering trucks set up outside temporary cafes at all the major music concerts around Australia, providing freshly cooked prasadam meals to millions of people every year.

To learn more, visit: http://govindascatering.com.au/ or http://www.paws.org.au/

Cooking Classes

Cooking classes are financially self-supporting, but they are more of a preaching event rather than a profit venture. If we have a qualified instructor, then we may be able to make a little more money. Cooking classes are best run in conjunction with an ISKCON restaurant as then it provides an opportunity to cultivate potential devotees and/or major donors. However, it is unlikely that it can be run as a Food for Life concern unless you are teaching underprivileged people, etc. In some countries, the government will sponsor training programs for unemployed people to learn skills and gain necessary job experience. Organizations are offered the chance to employ and train these people while the government pays the wages. It would be well worth asking your local council to see if such programs are available. Aside from offering cooking classes, we could also teach farming. Such a program was initiated at the New Gokula farm in Cessnock, Australia and it received AUD$120,000 grant from the Australian Government!

Bakeries

It is interesting to note that one of the finest organic, natural grain bakeries in the United States is called the “Food for Life Baking Company.” Food For Life Baking Company is a family owned and operated specialty bakery with a passionate commitment to natural foods. Food For Life originated in Glendale, California, in the back of a small neighborhood natural foods store known as Foods For Life Natural Foods.

They were the first wholesale bakery in the United States specializing in natural foods, and they developed the first sprouted grain breads on the market with The Live Grain Difference!

Following in their footsteps, Hare Krishna Food for Life could set up discount bakeries where fresh breads are served to the public for profit and is coupled with free distribution of breads to shelters throughout the city.

ISKCON needs to move away from the concept that Food for Life is a project exclusively for feeding the poor, to that of a project that represents healthy eating, vitality; respect for the environment and respect for all human beings. Food for Life should literally translate to “Food for the soul.” When people hear the words “Food for Life,” whether they are attached to the words “Hare Krishna” or not, it should conjure up positive thoughts of wellbeing – for body and soul. Typically, it does just that. In fact, this is one of the reasons why over the years I have not policed other organizations that use the name Food for Life, because in all circumstances, the program has represented something positive and has therefore indirectly raised awareness of our own Food for Life program. I will talk more on this topic later when I discuss the vision of Food for Life Global.

What Should I Distribute?

Quality or Quantity?

There is an ongoing argument about which is the most important: quality or quantity? Actually we should always try to increase, both quality and quantity, but of the two, quality is more important. After all, the success of Krishna consciousness is based on the principle of love and devotion. Lord Krishna tells Arjuna, priti purvakam to act “with love.” And in verse 9.27 of the Bhagavad-gita Krishna instructs us, yad juhosi dadasi yat “...Whatever you offer or give away, should be done as an offering to Me.” So although we may wish to be the biggest prasadam distributors in the world, first let us establish a high standard of quality, and then allow Krishna to expand the program, as He desires. We may only distribute 50 meals per week, but if the quality is first class (which means the best according to our means), the program will be appreciated by all and will make a lasting impression. As opposed to a large-scale prasadam distribution program that is not maintained. Just like a shooting star, the impression will not last.

It amazes me that we still see more emphasis on quantity than quality in ISKCON temples throughout the world. To save a few dollars, managers are prepared to sacrifice not only the health of the devotees and the congregation, but also the very satisfaction of Lord Krishna—the Proprietor and Enjoyer of all sacrifices! We must have faith that by offering only the best quality food to the “Husband of the Goddess of Fortune” we shall certainly be blessed with sufficient resources to maintain our efforts. Srila Prabhupada comments:

“This is the verdict of Sri Isopanisad. The word pushan (“maintainer”) is especially significant, for although the Lord maintains all beings, He specifically maintains His devotees.” (Sri Isopanishad, text 16 pp)

Ingredients

Srila Prabhupada explains:

“Anna, ghrta, dadhi and dugdha are food grains, ghee, yogurt and milk. Actually these are the basis of all food. Vegetables and fruits are subsidiary. Hundreds and thousands of recipes can be made out of grains, vegetables, ghee, milk and yogurt. The food offered to Gopala in the Annakuta ceremony contained only these five ingredients. Only demoniac people are attracted to other types of food, which we will not even mention in this connection. We should understand that in order to prepare nutritious food, we require only grains, ghee, yogurt and milk³ (Cc Madhya lila 4.93 purport).”

In a letter to Bhakta Kris dated 13 November 1968, Srila Prabhupada elaborates:

“I have noted your questions carefully, and regarding your question about the prasadam recipes, Krishna is offered foodstuff in goodness. The foodstuffs in the modes of goodness are wheat, rice, pulse (beans, peas), sugar, honey, butter and all milk preparations, vegetables, flowers, fruits, grains. So these foods can be offered in any shape, but prepared in various ways by the intelligence of the devotees. The ingredients are always the same as above, whether you fry them, boil them, bake them, powder them, or whatever way they are combined or cooked, the idea is that they must come from this group of foodstuffs. So you can make your own recipe if you like, so long as the ingredients are within this group. This food group is stated by Krishna in the Bhagavad-gita, and we follow accordingly.”

It is especially interesting that Prabhupada states: “…you can make your own recipe if you like …” Considering this carefully, it would appear that it is not wrong to provide the Deities healthier dishes for their daily offerings and it is not absolutely essential that we offer them ghee and spice laden offerings that are typical of Asian Indian cuisine.

In an interesting letter to Harer Nama dated 1 December 1968, Srila Prabhupada again confirms that recipes can be invented so long as they use only bona-fide ingredients:

“So far as explaining my letter to Kris, I have listed the ingredients which may use for preparing prasadam but these various varieties of foodstuffs may be prepared either in the given recipes or if you like you may invent nice new formulas for offering. The important thing is that your preparations be palatable for Lord Krishna and that the ingredients be within the groups of ingredients already listed. You have asked me about sassafras and, yes, it may be offered. Mushrooms are generally not offered, but there is no prohibition, there is no harm in them.”

Raw Food

A raw food practitioner once raised an interesting point during a discussion about Food for Life’s free meals. Quoting Lord Krishna’s declaration in the Bhagavad-gita of what types of food can be offered in love, this man felt confident that he was following Lord Krishna’s instructions better than I or anyone else in ISKCON.

“If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit or water, I will accept it.” (Bhagavad-gita 9.26)

I pointed out to him, however, that Krishna is not pleased by anything but devotion … The Supreme Lord does not want any food or flowers in and of themselves, but when His devotee offers them with bhakti, He is very attracted and inclined to reciprocate that devotee’s love. Nonetheless, the point raised by this man was a valid one and it made me appreciate his sincere analysis of Lord Krishna’s teachings. Certainly he was following one of Krishna’s instructions verbatim, and this cannot be faulted. My conclusion from this experience was that if a devotee living on the temple grounds wanted to follow a raw food diet, the temple should fully encourage and support them. For, just like devotion, diet is a very personal thing. Chanakya once said: “Dress according to the taste of others, but eat according to your own.”

On this topic of raw food, a Prabhupada disciple called Rohini Kumar offers a very interesting conversation he once has with Prabhupada.

“When I first moved into the temple, I ate whatever prasad was served. Then I became Prabhupada's cook, so I had a kitchen, and I could prepare what I wanted. I had come from a Southern California raw-food background, and I started eating salads and fruits and simple foods but I wanted to make sure that I was not going against what Prabhupada wanted. One day I decided to ask him about a raw diet as opposed to taking parsadam. He said, "Actually, a raw diet is the best diet for Krishna consciousness. It's simple. It keeps your body healthy and clear. We don't tell the masses about it, because most people can't follow it, and we don't want them to get distracted from Krishna. But if you can do it, it's the best diet for your Krishna consciousness."

“Also, one of the things that I had to give up when I moved in the temple was hatha-yoga. Everybody told me that hatha-yoga is included in bhakti-yoga and I didn't need to do hatha-yoga; I only needed to dance in kirtan. I was stubborn about that for a while, but when I moved in the temple, there was no time for it and no place to do it. Then when I got to be with Prabhupada, I started doing it again. In the midmorning, before cooking for him, I went in the backyard and did some yoga-asanas, but I wanted to make sure it was okay. After I'd been doing it for two or three days I had full intent to ask Prabhupada about it that day but when I brought his lunch plate in, he said, "I see you're doing yoga exercises in the yard." I said, "Yes sir. I was going to ask you about that. The devotees told me that that's not bona fide, it's not our process." "Actually," Prabhupada said, "these exercises are very good for your health. We don't want anyone to become distracted, so we don't teach it. But for you, it's very good and I encourage you to do it." A short time later, we were taking a walk in a park in San Diego when someone was doing a headstand off in the distance. Prabhupada looked over and said, "Oh, this is Sirshasana. That's very good for the health. There are so many of these exercises, Sirshasana, Yogasana, Padmasana, that are very good for the health." With a bit of sarcasm towards yoga, an elder god brother said, "So, we should do this every day, Prabhupada?" Prabhupada didn't answer him but just kept walking. When he finally got back to the car, Prabhupada turned around and said, "It's not necessary." I remembered what Prabhupada had told me and I realized that Prabhupada was answering the mood of the question. The real idea is that whatever is good for your Krishna consciousness, do it. Whatever is not good, stop it.”

Raw Food Distribution

There is nothing wrong with distributing raw food that has been offered to Krishna, as prasadam. Ultimately, Lord Krishna through his mystical power has created this raw food from a seed, soil and water and the sun has baked it to perfection. The food is therefore complete and in its most nutritious form. The Food for Life program in Romania at one time regularly distributed fresh fruits to needy children with great success. There is no reason why your Food for Life program could not be completely “raw.” As long as all the fruits are properly cleansed and offered in devotion, there is no harm. It would certainly cut down the expense of maintaining a kitchen and cooking staff. One thing to be careful about, however, is that the fruit is free from pesticide residues. Best is to use only organically grown fruits and vegetables, or to clean them thoroughly with soap and water or a solution of clean water and grape seed extract⁴ before serving. Running them under the tap is not sufficient, as many pesticides are combined with waxes and oils to help them stick to the produce.

Of course, raw food distribution can be just raw ingredients that have been offered to Krishna. One example of such raw food distribution was during the 2011 food relief conducted by Food for Life Japan. The volunteers would prepare a prasadam feast for 400 survivors every Sunday morning and drive some five hours north of Tokyo to one of the main refugee facilities. However, because of this large distance, they decided to complement the program by filling an entire two-ton truck with fresh fruits and vegetables that had been offered to the Deities. In this way, they were able to supply the survivors prasadam throughout the week.

For more information on the physical and emotional benefits of a raw food diet, I suggest the following resources:

http://www.sunfood.net/

http://www.living-foods.com/

http://www.rawfood.com/

Brown Rice

Early on in ISKCON’s history there was a great controversy about whether or not we could use brown rice in cooking for Krishna. Some devotees quoted Srila Prabhupada as saying that brown rice was meant for dogs. However, the kind of brown rice Srila Prabhupada was referring to is quite different from the high quality unpolished organic brown rice available in the West. In a letter to Mahapurusha, dated 17 October 1967, Srila Prabhupada settles the argument and it appears was not averse to high-quality brown rice: “Unpolished rice which looks like brown rice can be used. Generally, in America [in 1967], the brown rice is doubly boiled, therefore unfit. We do not mind polished or unpolished but doubly boiled must not be used. Doubly boiled rice is considered impure. Sun baked rice is all right.”

“Compared to other whole grains, brown rice is high in much-needed B-complex vitamins—a positive plus for vegetarians. When cooked or served with dhal, the nutrition is further boosted, providing nearly all of the essential amino acids. Many wholefood enthusiasts consider brown rice a nearly perfect grain and, therefore, a superior food.” (Lord Krishna’s Cuisine by Yamuna dasi, p 698)

The cultivation of rice began as early as 6000 BC, making rice one of the oldest grains grown for food. Even now, it’s a dietary staple for almost half the world’s population, especially in China, India, Japan, and Southeast Asia.

While the most familiar types are the long-grain white or brown rice, found in most markets, there are actually more than 7000 varieties of rice. In the United States, rice is grown primarily in Arkansas, California, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, and Texas. It comes in three basic varieties: long-grain, medium-grain, or short-grain. Long-grain rice is four to five times longer than it is wide, and includes such aromatic rices as the highly fragrant basmati and jasmine varieties. When cooked, it’s fluffy and somewhat dry. Medium-grain rice has shorter, fatter grains and medium starch content, yielding a slightly denser end product that’s suitable for most uses. Short-grain rice (also called pearl rice and glutinous rice) is plump and almost round with high starch content that, when cooked, yields rice that is moist and somewhat sticky. Because it’s easier to handle with chopsticks, this is the variety preferred in the Orient.

Brown rice is more nutritious than white rice, and has a mildly nutty flavor and chewy texture. Only the inedible outer husk has been removed, leaving the nutritious, high-fiber bran coating. Brown rice takes somewhat longer to cook than white rice.

White rice has had the husk, bran, and germ—and thus, most of the nutrients—removed. Converted or parboiled white rice contains some of the nutrients of the bran and germ. Instant rice or quick rice has been cooked before being dehydrated and packaged, so it’s quick to cook but also lacking in flavor and texture.

Wild Rice

Hailing from India, this fragrant rice has been grown in the foothills of the Himalayas for thousands of years (the name literally means “queen of fragrance”), and it is now grown in the United States. Aging the harvested rice decreases its moisture content and enhances the distinctive nutlike flavor and aroma. Like the very nutritious quinoa and buckwheat, wild rice can be used on Ekadasi. Wild rice isn’t actually rice at all, but rather the seed of a water grass native to the northern United States. Nor is it ‘wild’ rice—most is grown in commercial rice paddies.

Basmati Rice

Basmati rice is available in white and brown (unprocessed) forms. White rice sets off food flavors more distinctly, while brown rice has higher fiber content and takes longer to cook.

Buying and storing tips

Buy basmati rice in the packaged or bulk grain section at your grocery, or local health food or specialty store. When purchasing basmati rice from the bulk section of health food stores, look for intact kernels that aren’t broken, scratched, or damaged. You should think twice about buying in bulk from the traditional Indian grocer, as much of the bagged rice is old and very dirty.

Store rice in a cool, dry area in a sealed glass or plastic container, away from the open air and moisture.

Cooked rice can be refrigerated for up to seven days, or stored in the freezer for six months.

Availability

Basmati rice is available year round.

Cooking Tip

Wash rice thoroughly under cold water⁵, as rice often sits around in warehouses for years before it gets to the kitchens of the world, and is therefore very dirty. Finding small stones among the rice is not uncommon. Rinse and carefully rub the rice with your palms several times while changing the water regularly until it becomes clear. Set the rice aside to dry before cooking it.

Nutritional Highlights

Basmati rice, 1 cup (200g) (cooked)

Calories: 205

Protein: 4.2g

Carbohydrate: 44.5g

Total Fat: 0.44g

Fiber: 0.63g⁶

*Good source of: Iron (1.9mg), Selenium (11.8mcg), Thiamine (0.26mg), and Niacin (2.3mg)

Oil: Can We Use It?

As Srila Prabhupada has explained earlier, we should use only those foodstuffs in the mode of goodness, namely, wheat, rice, pulse (beans, peas), sugar, honey, butter, all milk preparations, vegetables, flowers, fruits and grains. Generally, Srila Prabhupada recommended the use of oil for the outside of the body; however, he was not absolutely averse to the use of oil in cooking. He explains, “Produce oil from castor seeds and stock the oil sufficiently. It can be used in so many ways—for burning, grease, cooking, and a purgative to cure all diseases.” (Srila Prabhupada letter to Nityananda, 16 March 1977)

And, in a room conversation in Vrindavana on 14 July 1977, he was even more explicit:

Prabhupada: My mother used to prepare very nice food. We were glad in that way. Nice paratha, nice vegetable, achara, so many things she used to prepare. Always preparing some food. Puffed rice.

Tamala Krishna: She was cooking with ghee?

Prabhupada: Yes. Our family, with ghee. Some fried. That is used, oil.

Tamala Krishna: Fried portal.

Prabhupada: Ghee and oil, both were used.

Ten Tips for Choosing the Best Cooking Oil

by Lynn Grieger, R.D., C.D.E.

Which type of oil should you use for cooking? Follow these savvy ideas for choosing cooking oils to maximize both health and taste:

Remember that all oils have about 120 calories per tablespoon (you could eat two apples for that number of calories, and a tablespoon is about the size of your thumb).

The first rule of cooking oils is to use as little as possible. Oil is fat, and fat contributes to obesity.

Use a nonstick pan and add oil with a mister to minimize the oil while keeping the flavor.

If you must use more than a mist, use a measuring spoon. Don’t pour oils and guesstimate the amount you’re using. Measure out no more than one teaspoon of oil per person you’re serving, and remember that less is definitely better.

Oils high in monounsaturated fats—olive and canola—may actually benefit your heart and arteries. If you have heart disease or are at high risk for heart disease, choose these oils first.

If you’re looking for a burst of flavor, choose stronger oils such as sesame, walnut or chili-flavored. Use these flavored oils in salad dressings instead of cooking since they do not tolerate heat well.

Corn, safflower and sunflower oils are high in polyunsaturated fats. These oils are neutral in terms of health and taste, but still use a light hand and don’t overdo it.

Boost your omega-3 fatty acid intake by choosing soy, canola or walnut oil. Omega-3 fatty acids are also in abundance in cold-pressed flax seed oil and are important for a healthy cardiovascular system.

If you’re looking for a cooking oil to fry foods, choose one with a high smoke point to avoid setting off your kitchen fire alarm. Corn, safflower, canola, grapeseed, rice bran and soy oils are excellent choices. Remember that fried foods absorb quite a bit of the oil they are cooked in and therefore are much higher in calories.

Peanut oil or walnut oil gives a mild, nutty flavor to salad dressings when paired with balsamic or other flavored vinegar.

Cottonseed oil should never be used for cooking, as it’s indigestible. Blended edible vegetable oil or even vegetable oil (that doesn’t mention which vegetable) should never be used, as there is the risk that animal oils may be included in the mixture. According to Australian law (I cannot speak for other countries), manufacturers of oil are legally allowed to use up to 10 per cent animal fat in their oil and still be able to advertise it as vegetable oil.

Olive Oil & its Benefits

Olive oil⁷ is the one of the most commonly used oils today. Benefits of olive oil include a reduction in cholesterol levels due to the fact that extra virgin olive oil contains more than 75 per cent monounsaturated fatty acids. Of course olive oil greatly improves the taste of recipes adding a depth of flavor to sautéed dishes and salads. It however should not be heated and is best used after cooking is completed or on salads.

Just What Is “Extra Virgin Olive Oil”?

Extra virgin olive oil is simply the first pressing of the olives, usually cold pressed, which is a chemical free process that produces lower acidity levels. That being said you should know that often times the olives are pressed several times to produce as much oil as possible. Usually the darker the olive oil, the fruitier the flavor is. Most of the domestic oils come from California and imported varieties come from all over Europe including Spain, Greece, Italy and France.

When cooking with olive oil save your expensive oils for salads, dressings and vinaigrettes. When sautéing use either a combination olive oil (one that is simply a blend of extra virgin and regular olive oil) or a straight olive oil.

Olive oil, like spices and dried herbs, should be stored in a cool, dark location and will last for up to six months. If refrigerated, the oil will last up to one year but will become cloudy and possibly too thick to pour. Once the oil reaches room temperature, it will again become clear and liquid.

Coconut Oil

Coconut oil has zero cholesterol and is a versatile and healthy alternative to ghee. It can be used in cooking or as an additive for drinks and baking recipes. Water from the young coconut is the most alkaline and healthy drink on the planet. Coconut oil is the most superior cooking oil on the planet.

Coconut has a long history as a food that increases chastity and purifies the body and mind. Coconut milk is sacred to the Greek goddess of wisdom (Athena). Coconuts are an essential element of rituals in Hindu tradition. The Hindu goddess of well-being and wealth, Lakshmi, is often shown holding a coconut. In Hindu wedding ceremonies, a coconut is placed over the opening of a pot, representing a womb.

Coconut water is known to be one of the most balanced electrolyte sources in nature, making it an excellent rehydration drink. It is also a powerful alkaline-producing food. The coconut tree is an extraordinary gift of nature, providing a variety of edible products – coconut water, oil, butter, cream, malai (meat), vinegar, “palm cabbage,” sugar crystals, syrup and even a type of “soy sauce” when the sap is mixed with sea salt. In some parts of India, the coconut palm is known as kalpa vriksha, meaning, “the wish-fulfilling divine tree,” although the banyan, sacred fig and parijat are also considered as such. Eating coconut is said to inspire tolerance, acceptance and spiritual receptivity.

The Case for Using Ghee or Coconut Oil

Regardless of how good the oil is, if you use it over and over again for deep-frying it will eventually become toxic. Unfortunately, in many countries we see ISKCON temples and Food for Life kitchens are doing just this. To save a few dollars a day, is it really worth risking the health of the devotees and the public? Krishna and Krishna’s devotees should be offered the best. Therefore, in all circumstances it is better to use ahimsa ghee⁸ or coconut oil, as they are pure, wholesome and able to withstand repeated use more than any oil. If you take good care of ghee or coconut oil, they will last much longer than other oils and probably save you a lot of money. But again it is just as important not to overuse them in your cooking, as it too can be harmful to one’s health if consumed in large quantities and if repeatedly used for deep frying. The golden rule: Use moderately and with respect.

How Do You Take Care of Ghee or Coconut oil?

1) Be careful not to burn it by cooking at too high temperatures.

2) Regularly filter them through filter paper after every time you use it for deep-frying.

3) If possible, store them in the refrigerator like you would butter.

4) Keep it covered when it is not being used.

By doing this you can be sure your ghee and coconut oil will stay fresh and tasty for months, or even years. In the Ayurveda it mentions that if pure ghee is stored for more than 10 years it becomes so potent that it can cure a person from snakebite or even cancer!

The Case for Organic Foods

10 Top Reasons to Go Organic⁹

1) Organic produce is not covered in a cocktail of poisonous chemicals. The average conventionally grown apple has 20–30 artificial poisons on its skin, even after rinsing.

2) Fresh organic produce contains on average 50 per cent more vitamins, minerals, enzymes and other micronutrients than intensively farmed produce. Science says that it’s good for you.

3) Going organic is the only practical way to avoid eating genetically modified (GM) food. And by buying organic food, you are registering your mistrust of GMO’s and doing your bit to protest against them.

4) If you eat dairy, going organic has never been more essential to safeguard you and your family’s health. Intensively reared dairy cows and farm animals are fed a dangerous cocktail of antibiotics, hormones, anti-parasitic drugs and many other medicines on a daily basis, whether they have an illness or not. These drugs are passed directly onto the consumers of their dairy produce, which must be a contributing factor to diseases like coronaries and high blood pressure.

5) About 99 per cent of non-organic farm animals in the UK are now fed GM soya. And there has never been a reported case of BSE in organic cattle in the UK. Common sense says that organic is safe food.

6) Organic produce simply tastes so much better. Fruit and vegetables full of juice and flavor, and so many different varieties to try! There are about 100 different kinds of organic potatoes in production in the UK, and that’s just potatoes.

7) Organic farms support and nurture our beautiful and diverse wildlife. Over the past 30 years, intensive farming in the UK has led to dramatic erosion of the soil, a fall of up to 70 per cent of wild birds in some areas, the destruction of ancient hedgerows, and the near extinction of some of the most beautiful species of butterflies, frogs, grass-snakes and wild mammals.

8) Organic food is not really more expensive than intensively farmed foods, as we pay for conventional foods through our taxes. We spend billions of dollars every year cleaning up the mess that agro-chemicals make to our natural water supply. And the BSE crisis in the UK cost taxpayers 4 billion pounds.

9) Intensive farming can seriously damage farm workers’ health. There are much higher instances of cancer, respiratory problems and other major diseases in farm workers from non-organic farms. This is particularly true in developing countries, and for agrochemical farms growing cotton.

10) And if you simply like the idea of your children and grandchildren being able to visit the countryside and play in the forests and fields just like we did when we were young, go organic for the sake of all of our futures.

The Evils of Modern Food Production

How to Shop to Avoid Genetically Engineered Foods

Foods are often genetically modified to make them more resistant to disease, improve their nutritional value, or increase their ability to grow in different climate conditions. The US Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and regulates their use, yet some studies have shown that these foods can be harmful to your health and our environment. Many foods we eat may contain ingredients derived from GMOs, and you should decide how comfortable you are with consuming them. If you live in Europe, avoiding GM foods is easier, since laws require labeling. In the U.S. and Canada, however, food manufacturers are not required to label their food as genetically modified or not.

1. Buy food labeled 100% organic. The U.S. and Canadian governments do not allow manufacturers to label something 100% organic if that food has been genetically modified or been fed genetically modified feed. You may find that organic food is more expensive and different in appearance from conventional products.

Trusted Organic Certification institutions include the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Quality Assurance International (QAI), Oregon Tilth, and California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF). Look for their mark of approval on the label of the product.

Also, just because something says "organic," it does not mean that it doesn't contain GMOs. In fact, it can still contain up to 30% GMOs, so be sure the label says 100% organic.

2. Recognize fruit and vegetable label numbers. Price lookup (PLU) codes can be found on the stickers that are on your produce. These codes can be used to identify foods have been genetically engineered or modified.

If it is a 4-digit number, the food is conventionally produced. This food may or may not be genetically modified.

If it is a 5-digit number beginning with an 8, it is definitely GM. However, do not trust that GE foods will have a PLU identifying it as such, because PLU labeling is optional. If it is a 5-digit number beginning with a 9, it is organic and is not genetically modified.

3. Seek products that are specifically labeled as non-GMO or GMO-free. It was once rare to find products labeled as such, but thanks to organizations such as the Non-GMO Project, they are becoming more common. You can also research websites that list companies and foods that do not use genetically modified foods, but be aware that some information is often incomplete, and conflicting interests may not be declared.

4. Shop locally. Although more than half of all GM foods are produced in the U.S., most of it comes from large industrial farms. By shopping at farmers' markets, signing up for a subscription from a local Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm, or patronizing a local co-op, you may be able to avoid GM products and possibly save money at the same time.

Shopping locally may also give you the opportunity to speak to the farmer and find out how he or she feels about GMOs and whether or not they use them in their own operation. Buying local food does not guarantee that you will be avoiding GMOs. Many local farmers use genetically modified seeds.

5. Buy whole foods. Favor foods that you can cook and prepare yourself, rather than foods that are processed or prepared (e.g., anything that comes in a box or a bag, including fast food). What you lose in convenience, you may recover in money saved and satisfaction gained, as well as increased peace of mind.

6. Grow your own food. If you grow your own food, you buy seeds that have not been genetically modified. This way, you know exactly what was grown and what went into growing it.

Many websites sell non-GMO seeds. You can visit http://www.seedsavers.org/ or http://www.seedsnow.com/ to find non-GMO seeds.

Identifying Foods Most Likely to Contain GMOs

1. Become familiar with high-risk crops. These are the products that are most likely to be genetically modified. Crops that are genetically modified include soy, corn, canola, sugar beets, cotton, Hawaiian papaya, zucchini and yellow summer squash, and alfalfa.

Soy is not limited to actual soybeans. See How to Live With a Soy Allergy for more information on avoiding soy products. Make sure that your soy milk, edamame, and tofu have a 100% certified organic label.

Corn includes corn flour, meal, oil, starch, gluten, and syrup.

Canola oil is also known as Rapeseed oil. This ingredient can be found in a lot of processed foods. If you usually use Canola oil for cooking, try using coconut oil instead.

Sugar beets are found in any sugar that is not 100% cane sugar. Make sure you read the label.

Cottonseed oil is a common ingredient in vegetable oil, shortening, and margarine.

Many dairy products contain GMOs. Some farmers inject their cows with a genetically modified hormones rBGH/rBST and/or are fed genetically modified grains. You should look for dairy products that say rBGH or rBST free.

Hawaiian papayas are genetically modified. You should buy papayas grown in other regions like the Caribbean.

2. Be aware of ingredients derived from GMO crops. Not only are the actual crops genetically modified, but an ingredient that is derived from the crop is genetically modified as well. If you are buying processed foods, you should read the food label and avoid any of these ingredients: amino acids (synthetic form, not naturally occurring in protein), aspartame, ascorbic acid (synthetic vitamin c), sodium ascorbate, citric acid, sodium citrate, ethanol, natural and artificial flavorings, high fructose corn syrup, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, lactic acid, maltodextrins, molasses, monosodium glutamate, sucrose, textured vegetable protein, xanthan gum, vitamins, and yeast products.

About 75% of processed foods at the grocery store contain these ingredients. This includes foods like soda, cookies, bread, and chips. You can avoid these derivatives by cooking your food from scratch and carefully buying your food.

3. Use a shopping guide. There is no way for you to know every food that contains GMOs. If you are unsure, you should consult a GMO food guide. The Center for Food Safety has created an iPhone and Android app that can help you avoid GMOs when you are shopping. You can also download or use their online guide.

4. Avoid corn syrup, fructose, and fructose corn syrup: Present in almost all beverages and sodas (even health food brands), and in almost all sweetened products.

5. Avoid rBGH Milk & Dairy Products: Monsanto’s¹⁰ genetically engineered bovine growth hormone (rBGH), marketed through veterinarians and injected into dairy cows, causes increased milk production and horrible mastitis. These cows then require constant medical supervision and continuous high doses of antibiotics. Their milk contains high levels of pus. The cow’s milk and dairy products made from this milk also contain rBGH, bovine growth hormone. This hormone increases cancer risk in human beings. If you wish to consume milk, only consider using milk from protected cows that are grass fed, live naturally, and are never separated from their calf.

6. Avoid Aspartame: This is known as the artificial sweetener Equal or NutraSweet and is made up of three chemicals and a genetically engineered enzyme. It has been implicated in many diseases. It breaks down into formaldehyde in the body.

7. Avoid Dough Conditioner: This is a code word for a combination of genetically engineered enzymes and other components, found in cheaper breads and baked goods.

Resources

Almost everything that can be found in your conventional food market is also produced by the organic food industry. If you buy a few carefully chosen conventional foods, keep up to date on which few conventional foods are safe. For more information, see:

http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/

The National Organic Program

The Organic Consumers Association

Wholefoods Market website.

Foods in the Three Modes of Material Nature

Bhagavad-gita As It Is

Chapter 17

Text 8

ayuh-sattva-balarogya-
sukha-priti-vivardhanah
rasyah snigdhah sthira hrdya
aharah sattvika-priyah

Translation

Foods dear to those in the mode of goodness increase the duration of life, purify one’s existence and give strength, health, happiness and satisfaction. Such foods are juicy, wholesome, and pleasing to the heart.

Text 9

katv-amla-lavanaty-usna-
tiksna-ruksa-vidahinah
ahara rajasasyesta
duhkha-sokamaya-pradah

Translation

Foods that are too bitter, too sour, salty, hot, pungent, dry and burning are dear to those in the mode of passion. Such foods cause distress, misery, and disease.

Text 10

yata-yamam gata-rasam
puti paryusitam ca yat
ucchistam api camedhyam
bhojanam tamasa-priyam

Translation

Food prepared more than three hours before being eaten, food that is tasteless, decomposed and putrid, and food consisting of remnants and untouchable things is dear to those in the mode of darkness.

Purport by Srila Prabhupada

The purpose of food is to increase the duration of life, purify the mind, and aid bodily strength. This is its only purpose. In the past, great authorities selected those foods that best aid health and increase life’s duration, such as rice, wheat, fruits, vegetables, milk products, and sugar. These foods are very dear to those in the mode of goodness. All these foods are pure by nature. They are quite distinct from untouchable things like meat and liquor. Slaughter is the way of subhumans. Protein is amply available through split peas, dhal, whole wheat, etc.

Foods in the mode of passion, which are bitter, too salty, or too hot or overly mixed with red pepper, cause misery by reducing the mucus in the stomach, leading to disease. Foods in the mode of ignorance or darkness are essentially those that are not fresh. Any food cooked more than three hours before it is eaten (except prasadam, food offered to the Lord) is considered to be in the mode of darkness. Because they are decomposing, such foods give a bad odor, which often attracts people in this mode but repulses those in the mode of goodness.

Remnants of food may be eaten only when they are part of a meal that was first offered to the Supreme Lord. Otherwise the remnants of food are considered to be in the mode of darkness, and they increase infection or disease. Such foodstuffs, although very palatable to persons in the mode of darkness, are neither liked nor even touched by those in the mode of goodness. The best food is the remnants of what is offered to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In Bhagavad-gita the Supreme Lord says that He accepts preparations of vegetables, flour and milk when offered with devotion. Patram puspam phalam toyam. Of course, devotion and love are the chief things that the Supreme Personality of Godhead accepts. But it is also mentioned that the prasadam should be prepared in a particular way. Any food prepared by the injunctions of the scripture and offered to the Supreme Personality of Godhead can be taken even if prepared long, long ago, because such food is transcendental. Therefore to make food antiseptic, eatable and palatable for all persons, one should offer food to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

What Can’t We Offer?

There is a general belief among ISKCON Vaisnavas that the Deities of Lord Krishna should always be offered traditional Indian cuisine. On the contrary, Krishna clearly states in the Bhagavad-gita that he accepts any plant-based food preparations (fruits, flower, water, etc.) as long as it is offered with love and devotion. Srila Prabhupada explains, “There is no harm if devotees have invented recipes, so long they are strictly vegetarian, no garlic, no onions, like that.” (Srila Prabhupada letter to Kirtananda, 27 October 1972)

Should it Be Nutritious?

In New York on 5 March 1975, Srila Prabhupada had the following conversation with a food retailer:

Bernard Manischewitz: You know I’m in the food business, so my first question deals with my food business. I’m familiar with the Krishna cookbook. I’ve read the recipes, but I do not see any suggested menus or nutritional information, and I’m wondering if there’s any thought that’s been worked on that. Is there any background of menus or nutritional information?

Prabhupada: Yes. Nutritional information means that we require for balance food: starch, carbohydrate, protein, fat. What else? Starch, carbohydrate, protein, fat. These are necessary nutrition, but these things are there in vegetable diet. Rice, starch; wheat, protein; dhal, protein; then vegetable, carbohydrate; and milk, fat. So if we take food and test it within these four, five groups … Eat according to our conception, sattvikah. Sattvika means foodstuff in goodness. There are three qualities in the material world-goodness, passion and ignorance. So these items: rice, wheat, vegetables, dhal and milk are sufficient for nutrition. Above that, you take a little fruit; it is very good. And in India this foodstuff is taken by the learned circle—brahmanas, ksatriyas—and they keep very good health, very good life.

Bernard Mainschewitz: This is on experience, on the experience that they have?

Prabhupada: Yes. This is experience. You will find many healthy persons in India subsisting only on these foodstuffs, and they have good brain also. India is still, I think, 80 per cent people are strictly vegetarian. Not to speak of the higher class, but the lower class also.

In a letter to Nandarani, dated 17 October 1968, Srila Prabhupada emphasized the importance of Krishna prasadam over all other considerations and acknowledged that he was not an expert in nutrition:

“So we are concerned with Krishna prasadam, neither vegetarian or non-vegetarian. You can say to your friend who has invited us that Swamiji is not very expert at speaking about nutritional value of foods, but whatever we take as Krishna prasadam, there is no comparison of nutrition with any other foodstuff all over the universe.”

Simple Eating and High Thinking

The Lord says, patram puspam phalam toyam: He is ready to accept from the devotee any kind of offering, never mind what. Even a leaf, a flower, a bit of fruit, or a little water, which are all available in every part of the world, can be offered by any person, regardless of social position, and will be accepted if offered with love. (Bhagavad-gita 9.2)

In Srila Prabhupada’s following commentary, it becomes quite clear how important a simple, healthy diet is to the spiritual advancement of a devotee.

“This verse is very significant for those desiring to elevate themselves to a higher level of Krishna consciousness. When a person is initiated by a spiritual master, he changes his habits and does not eat undesirable eatables or engage in the eating of meat, the drinking of liquor, illicit sex or gambling. Sattvika-ahara, foodstuffs in the mode of goodness are described in the sastras as wheat, rice, vegetables, fruits, milk, sugar, and milk products. Simple food like rice, dhal, capatis, vegetables, milk and sugar constitute a balanced diet, but sometimes it is found that an initiated person, in the name of prasada, eats very luxurious foodstuffs. Due to his past sinful life he becomes attracted by Cupid and eats good food voraciously. It is clearly visible that when a neophyte in Krishna consciousness eats too much, he falls down. Instead of being elevated to pure Krishna consciousness, he becomes attracted by Cupid. The so-called brahmachari becomes agitated by women, and the vanaprastha may again become captivated into having sex with his wife. Or he may begin to search out another wife. Due to some sentiment, he may give up his own wife and come into the association of devotees and a spiritual master, but due to his past sinful life he cannot stay. Instead of being elevated to Krishna consciousness, he falls down, being attracted by Cupid, and takes to another wife for sex enjoyment.” (Srimad Bhagavatam 4.26.13)

Again, in the following commentary, Srila Prabhupada drives home the same point.

“The devotees of the Lord are always anxious for the spiritual improvement of the general public. When the sages of Naimisaranya analyzed the state of affairs of the people in this age of Kali, they foresaw that men would live short lives. In Kali-yuga, the duration of life is shortened not so much because of insufficient food but because of irregular habits. By keeping regular habits and eating simple food, any man can maintain his health. Overeating, over-sense gratification, over dependence on another’s mercy, and artificial standards of living sap the very vitality of human energy. Therefore the duration of life is shortened.” (Srimad Bhagavatam 1.1.10)

In a letter to a disciple, Srila Prabhupada recommends that one should “eat to keep fit.”

“Eating is the basic principle for keeping one’s health. Eating too much or too little causes disease. Therefore Bhagavad-gita says yuktahara vihara. Simply eat to keep fit. That is one important business of those in Krishna consciousness. Generally, hepatitis is a disease on account of eating too many fatty and spicy foods. So we must always use simple foodstuff and a little milk. Not very much puris and halava and sweet balls and sweet rice, like that.” (Letter to Madhudvisa, 15 September 1971)

Real Food and Real Garbage

It is well known by everyone who has even a faint interest in keeping good health that highly processed products like white (polished) rice, white or brown sugar, and white (bleached) flour are literally lethal to one’s health. Some say white sugar (also called ‘White Death’ in health circles) is worse than heroin! All such highly processed products like these are extremely difficult to digest. The Ayurveda states: ama “undigested food” is the cause of all disease in the body. How then is it possible that devotees are still using these poor quality substitutes for the real thing? We should not remain ignorant when it comes to knowing what quality food is and what is outright garbage.

When Srila Prabhupada spoke of foods in the mode of goodness, he refers to uncontaminated foods. Processing contaminates or adulterates food and renders it imperfect. Therefore, since we should only offer Krishna the best of everything, it should use only the purest ingredients available, even if it costs a few dollars more. Let me clarify: Lord Krishna is the Husband of the Goddess of Fortune and He will not allow His devotee to starve because they have spent everything within their means to ensure that the Lord gets the best. The story of Sudama brahmana and Kolavecha Sridhara should be enough to convince us that the Lord will always provide for a devotee’s needs. When it comes to purchasing the bhoga for offering food to Krishna, only the very best should be selected.

Bogus Ingredients

Apart from the obvious processed foods, which line supermarket shelves, there are also a large range of products containing non-vegetarian preservatives and additives that sneak past out attention, either through mislabeling, ambiguous names or in some cases no labeling at all. The following list is some of the most common ones to look out for. They are all derived from animals or animal by-products.

Rennet: Many cheeses contain animal rennet, a natural enzyme obtained from the stomach of young cows. It is used to curdle milk when making cheese. Vegetarian cheeses are manufactured using rennet from either fungal or bacterial sources. However, commercial cheeses are also often laden with GM ingredients and the milk is not pure. If you cannot acquire cheese from protected cows, there are ample vegan “cheeses” made from nuts that are very suitable for most recipes.

Gelatin: Is an odorless, colorless, tasteless thickening agent and is the glutinous protein material obtained from animal tissues by boiling. Most comes from beef bones, cartilage, tendons, and pigskin.

There are other non-vegetarian ingredients that are less noticeable:

Xanthophyllous (yellow coloring): Obtained from plants and sometimes fish eyes.

Cochineal, carmines or carmine acid (red coloring): A red dye derived from the dried female bodies of the scale insect, Dactylopius coccus.

Lecithin (emulsifier): One of a group of phosphoglycerides found in animal substances, including egg yolk, nerve tissue, semen, and cell membranes. Look for “soy lecithin.”

Sucroglycerides (emulsifiers): Obtained from lard and animal fats.

Shellac (glazing agent used on apples): A transparent coating made by dissolving lac, a resinous secretion of the lac bug (a scale insect that thrives in tropical countries, especially India), in alcohol.

L-Cysteine Hydrochloride, Monohydrate (improving agent used for bread-baking flour): Obtained from animal hair, feathers and even human hair (in China).

There are numerous other additives and preservatives that are derived from animal sources. Rather than mentioning them all here, I suggest you research your local health food store or library for a book on this subject. Be warned: the contamination of Kali-yuga is everywhere. To read more on this topic, see Hidden Animal Ingredients.

Purity is the Force – What’s in Your Water?

Krishna states in the Bhagavad-gita raso’ham apsu kaunteya (BG 7.8): “I am the taste of water.” Due to modern industrialization and factory farming, many contaminants have been introduced into the world’s water systems and the results can be lethal. These contaminants include benzene, acrylamide, antimony, barium, asbestos, adipate, alachlor, aldicarb, carbon tetrachloride, and chlorobenzene. As much concern we have for the quality of the food we offer and consume, there should be even more concern for the quality of our water supply for drinking and cooking. Boiling water is simply not enough of a precaution. Boiling may kill some bacteria, but it will never remove chemical and metal residues. Here is a short list of common contaminants found in water supplies and the ill effects of consuming them either directly or through cooking. They must be avoided at all costs.

Antimony

Short-term: EPA has found antimony to potentially cause the following health effects when people are exposed to it at levels above the MCL for relatively short periods of time: nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.

Long-term: Antimony has the potential to cause the following effects from a lifetime exposure at levels above the MCL: AND/OR—Antimony is a (known/potential drinking water) human carcinogen. OR—No reliable data is available concerning health effects from long-term exposure to antimony in drinking water.

Asbestos

Short-term: Asbestos is not known to cause any health problems when people are exposed to it at levels above the MCL for relatively short periods of time.

Long-term: Asbestos has the potential to cause the following effects from a lifetime exposure at levels above the MCL: lung disease; cancer.

Adipate

Short-term: Adipate is not known to cause any health problems when people are exposed to it at levels above the MCL for relatively short periods of time.

Long-term: Adipate has the potential to cause the following effects from a lifetime exposure at levels above the MCL: reduced body weight and bone mass; damage to liver and testes; cancer.

Short-term: EPA has found alachlor to potentially cause the following health effects when people are exposed to it at levels above the MCL for relatively short periods of time: slight skin and eye irritation.

Alachlor

Long-term: Alachlor has the potential to cause the following effects from a lifetime exposure at levels above the MCL: damage to liver, kidney, spleen; lining of nose and eyelids; cancer.

Short-term: EPA has found aldicarb or its breakdown products to potentially cause the following health effects when people are exposed at levels above the MCL for relatively short periods of time: nausea, diarrhea and relatively minor neurological symptoms. These effects are reversible.

Aldicarb

Long-term: Aldicarb has the potential to cause the following effects from a lifetime exposure at levels above the MCL: sweating; constricted eye pupils; and leg weakness.

Short-term: EPA has found benzene to potentially cause the following health effects when people are exposed to it at levels above the MCL for relatively short periods of time: temporary nervous system disorders; immune system depression; anemia.

Benzene

Long-term: Benzene has the potential to cause the following effects from a lifetime exposure at levels above the MCL: chromosome aberrations; cancer.

Acrylamide

Short-term: EPA has found acrylamide to potentially cause the following health effects when people are exposed to it at levels above the MCL for relatively short periods of time: damage to the nervous system; weakness and in coordination in the legs.

Long-term: Acrylamide has the potential to cause the following effects from a lifetime exposure at levels above the MCL: damage to the nervous system; paralysis; cancer.

Tetrachloride

Short-term: EPA has found carbon tetrachloride to potentially cause the following health effects when people are exposed to it at levels above the MCL for relatively short periods of time: liver, kidney and lung damage.

Long-term: Carbon tetrachloride has the potential to cause the following effects from a lifetime exposure at levels above the MCL: liver damage; cancer.

To learn more about water hygiene, I suggest the following document from the National Center for Environmental Health: http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/

Dairy

In this section of the training manual you will find arguments for and against the use of using milk. It is important to understand the distinct difference between traditional milk flowing from protected and loved cows, and commercial milk that is forcibly extracted from unloved cows. But first, let’s comment on how this relates to FFL projects.

Because of the controversy surrounding the dairy industry Food for Life Global does not financially support food distribution containing commercial dairy. While Food for Life Global takes this stance, an explanation of the Vedic tradition may help us better understand why some of FFLG affiliates sometimes use dairy in their food preparation.

Ancient Tradition

The Vedic tradition is centered on worship of Krishna, the “cowherd boy,” and the cow as “Mother.” India’s ancient Vedic culture has existed on cow’s milk for tens of thousands of years. Milk is and always will be an integral part of that culture.

History has proven that cultures can survive for thousands of years and their people live long, healthy lives when there is a symbiotic relationship between humans and animals. Hundreds of millions of Hindus have used dairy products for many thousands of years, lending credibility to the notion that dairy products can be safe to consume. To ignore this fact is to allow ourselves to be blinded by our reluctance to even consider evidence that challenges our own personal convictions and the current medical belief.

All Milk is Not The Same

It is important to keep in mind that milk from each different source is unique; that is, cow’s milk and human milk are not one and the same. Taken further, the milk that a brown cow produces is different from that of a spotted cow, and within each herd, every individual cow has the ability to produce a unique blend of milk for its calf.

Similarly, even among breast-feeding women, the milk that each woman produces are not exactly the same. By nature’s wondrous design, the milk that a mother produces for her child is perfectly suited to that child. Amazingly, even while breast-feeding, a mother’s milk can change according to the needs of the child! Obviously, a subtler influence is present here—the influence of love. In the same way, if a cow is loved and protected, the milk it offers to humans will most certainly be uniquely beneficial. On the other hand, the commercial milk that comes from mistreated and diseased cows is certainly very harmful as is clearly evident from the numerous medical studies on commercial milk consumption.

On this point, it is important to note that ALL dairy research is conducted on milk forcefully extracted from abused commercial-bred cows, and not on milk lovingly offered by protected grass-fed cows.

Vegan and the VEDAS

The founder of ISKCON and the inspiration behind the Food for Life program, Swami Prabhupada was not vegan and was probably not even aware that such a diet existed. However, although there is substantial support both from Prabhupada’s teachings and the Vedic literature about the benefits of consuming dairy, the fact remains that a large percentage of the world population are lactose intolerant, which clearly indicates that not all humans are meant to consume milk.

Lactose intolerance is the inability to metabolize lactose, because of a lack of the required enzyme lactase in the digestive system. It is estimated that 75% of adults worldwide show some decrease in lactase activity during adulthood. The frequency of decreased lactase activity ranges from as little as 5% in northern Europe, up to 71% for Sicily, to more than 90% in some African and Asian countries

When the Vedas were originally spoken this was most probably not the case, and of course there was no such thing as milk contaminated with growth hormones and antibiotics, etc. Even during Swami Prabhupada’s lifetime the state of commercial milk was much purer. However, another point to consider here is that even people suffering from lactose intolerance have found that they can consume raw, un-homogenized milk and not have the same negative reaction they have with conventional store-bought milk.

From the beginning of the movement he started in 1966, Swami Prabhupada encouraged his students to develop self-sufficient farms that could supply all their needs, completely independent of modern society, including commercial dairy. He wanted ISKCON to be a positive alternative to modern life. Devotees of Krishna were to be self-sufficient.

Prabhupada on Commercial Diary

Prabhupada was once furious with a devotee for purchasing commercial dairy...

Letter to Puru, Vrindaban 6 April, 1976:

I am in due receipt of your letter dated February 7, 1976 addressed to Hrdayananda Maharaja. Concerning the use of sour cream in the temple, it should be stopped immediately. Nothing should be offered to the Deities which is purchased in the stores. Things produced by the karmis should not be offered to Radha-Krishna. Ice cream, if you can prepare, is o.k., but not otherwise. Now, you have such a big stock of this sour cream, so sell the stock at any cost. Who is the rascal who has purchased without permission?

And yet despite this letter, devotees have gone on for decades using sour cream in subjis. And I think this is very clear, "Nothing should be offered to the Deities which is purchased in the stores."

The following letter written to Krishna das on December 25, 1969 clearly shows Prabhupada desire to avoid adulterated products in worship of Krishna.

“Regarding purchasing things in the market, these items are considered as purified when we pay the price for them. That is the general instruction, but when we know something is adulterated, we should avoid it. But unknowingly if something is purchased, that is not our fault. Things which are suspicious, however, should be avoided.”

Letter to Syama, Seattle 21 October, 1968:

"Your second question, ice cream purchased from the market may not be offered. Because such ice cream contains sometimes undesirable things, which we should not offer. We must offer to Krishna only first class prepared foodstuff, especially made at home. We shall try to avoid as far as possible goods purchased from the market and offer to Krishna."

Letter to Kirtanananda -- Hawaii 24 March, 1969:

 So far the cucumber pickles: As far as possible we should not offer to the Deity things which are prepared by non-devotees. We can accept from them raw fruits, grains or similar raw things. So far cooking and preparing, that should be strictly limited to the initiated devotees. And aside from this, vinegar is not good; it is tamasic, in the darkness, nasty food. So I think we shall not accept this pickles.

Letter to Jayapataka -- Los Angeles 12 August, 1969:

..."These "yoga" societies are useless. If you do go, you should not eat their food. We cannot eat anything not offered to Krishna, and we cannot offer anything to Krishna which is not cooked by a devotee. I hope this will clear up the matter for you."

Offerings to Krishna begin from the point of gathering the ingredients, not simply when the food is on the altar. So if you truly want to please Krishna and have your preparation magically transformed into prasadam, use only the very best ingredients you can find. Do not compromise to satisfy a lusty tongue, but go the extra mile to give their Lordships the very best. That is devotion and that is what Prabhupada expected from devotees serving the deities.

Karma-free Vegan

Because there is violence even in the gathering and preparation of vegan meals, no food is ever totally karma-free, or ahimsa (non-violent) unless it is first offered in sacrifice to God, at which time it becomes pure, antiseptic, and spiritually nourishing! Bhaktas call this food prasada—or mercy. By adopting this spiritual practice, a vegan can further their quest for real peace, harmony and spiritual purity. Despite a vegan’s good intentions, if they fail to recognize God as the source of all creation, their efforts will remain dry, mundane and inadequate.

Facts About Commercial Milk

Calcium: Green vegetables, such as kale and broccoli, are better than milk as calcium sources.

Fat Content: Dairy products—other than skim varieties—are high in fat, as a percentage of total calories.

Iron-Deficiency: Milk is very low in iron. To get the U.S. Recommended Dietary Allowance of 11 milligrams of iron, an infant would have to drink more than 22 quarts of milk each day. Milk also causes blood loss from the intestinal tract, depleting the body’s iron.

Diabetes: In a study of 142 children with diabetes, 100 percent had high levels of an antibody to a cow’s milk protein. It is believed that these antibodies may destroy the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas.

Contaminants: Milk is frequently contaminated with antibiotics and excess vitamin D. In one study of 42 milk samples tested, only 12 percent were within the expected range of vitamin D content. Of ten samples of infant formula, seven had more than twice the vitamin D content reported on the label, and one had more than four times the label amount.

Lactose: Three out of four people from around the world, including an estimated 25 percent of individuals in the United States, are unable to digest the milk sugar lactose, which then causes diarrhea and gas. The lactose sugar, when it is digested, releases galactose, a simple sugar that is linked to ovarian cancer and cataracts.

Allergies: Milk is one of the most common causes of food allergy. Often the symptoms are subtle and may not be attributed to milk for some time.

Colic: Milk proteins can cause colic, a digestive upset that bothers one in five infants. Milk-drinking mothers can also pass cow’s milk proteins to their breast-feeding infants.

Commercial Milk Consumption and Prostate Cancer

By Neal D. Barnard, M.D.

Abstract

Prostate cancer is one of the most common malignancies worldwide, with an estimated 400,000 new cases diagnosed annually. Its incidence and mortality have been associated with milk or dairy product consumption in international and interregional correlational studies. As a result, case-control and cohort studies have further investigated this association and are described in this review. Of twelve case-control studies, six found significant associations, as did five of eleven cohort studies, with relative risk of prostate cancer among those with the most frequent dairy product consumption ranging between 1.3 and 2.5, with evidence of a dose-response relationship. Mechanisms that may explain this association include the deleterious effect of high-calcium foods on vitamin D balance, the tendency of frequent dairy intake to increase serum insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) concentrations, and the effect of dairy products on testosterone concentration or activity.

The Dairy Industry

It is important to note the symbiotic relationship between the factory farming industry (slaughterhouses) and the dairy industry. One cannot exist or prosper without the other. Every year in the United States alone, more than 40 million cows are killed for human consumption. Many of these cows come directly from the dairy industry once they stop producing a sufficient quantity of milk. Male calves are immediately separated from their mothers at birth and sent to ‘veal pens’ where they are artificially fattened and protected from direct sunlight so that their meat remains tender. When we purchase commercial milk products, we directly support this inhumane system of food production. It is important to understand the power of our own plates. Every time we sit down to eat, we are either voting “Yes” or “No” to this modern brutality. Sadly, to say, even the organic commercial milk companies support the same slaughter industry. Although cows are cared for on organic farms with organically grown feed, and are even administered homeopathic medicines when sick, inevitably they too are sent to the slaughterhouse once their milk production stops. Srila Prabhupada considered it “violent” to buy or use leather products. Similarly, we should be aware that commercial dairy products are directly connected with a very violent industry. See: The Mad Cowboy website for the numbers.

What is in Commercial Milk?

Each sip of commercial (non-organic) milk provides you with:

Pituitary hormones (PRL, GH, TSH, FSH, LH ACTH Oxytocin)

Steroid hormones (Estradiol, Estriol, Progesterone, Testosterone, 17-Ketosteroids, Corticosterone, Vitamin D)

Hypothalamic hormones (TRH, LHRH, Somatostatin, PRL-inhibiting factor, PRL-releasing factor, GnRH, GRH)

Thyroid and Parathyroid hormones (T3, T4, rT3, Calcitonin, Parathormone, PTH peptide)

Gastrointestinal peptides (Vasoactive intestinal peptide, Bombesin, Cholecystokinin, Gastrin, Gastrin inhibitory peptide, Pancreatic peptide, Y peptide, Substance P and Neurotensin)

Growth Factors (IGF’s (I and II), IGF binding proteins, Nerve growth factor, Epidermal growth factor and TGF alpha, TGF beta, Growth Inhibitors MDGI and MAF, and Platelet derived growth factor

Others … (PGE, PGF2 alpha, cAMP, cGMP, Delta sleep inducing peptide, Transferrin, Lactoferrin, Casomorphin and Erythropoietin

In short: growth hormones, fat, cholesterol, allergenic proteins, blood, pus, antibiotics, bacteria, virus and more!

The Ideal Menu

According to our means (devotee-power, money and facilities) and the particular tastes of the local people, we should devise a suitable menu that is both healthy and culturally relevant to the people we wish to serve. In other words, it may be appropriate to serve rice and dhal in India, but it may be more appropriate to serve borsch (beet soup) and buckwheat in Russia.

We have basically a choice of five cuisines and they are: Indian, international, local, economical or opulent. In all cases, the meal should be sumptuous and plentiful. A bowl of soup will not do. Srila Prabhupada wanted that our guests receive a full plate of prasadam—a complete meal.

“Give them nice prasadam by which they are attracted. It doesn’t matter kichuri, puri, kacuri, ladu. Whatever they are attracted, we must give. Whatever will attract them. That I want. Krishna prasadam. Don’t waste; give them nice palatable foodstuff. Give them one finest kacuri, one nice samosa, two puris, they will be very glad. Make very, very, nice prasadam.” (Srila Prabhupada room conversation, Hyderabad, 10 December 1975)

Srila Prabhupada states, “puri, kacuri, ladu ...” should be offered to guests coming to the temple. However, we needn’t overdo the menu for a Food for Life “underprivileged” crowd as they probably won’t appreciate it. But at least we should be able to offer the minimum of some type of bread, a basic salad or fruits, a sweet (halavah is the best) and a drink (herbal tea in cold climates). This should be our absolute minimum standard if we are to avail ourselves as the representatives of Lord Krishna, the “maintainer” of all living entities.

Prasadam, Prasadam, Prasadam

Regardless of how much you distribute, or how nice it may taste, by far the most essential ingredient required in your Food for Life program is love and devotion. We should make sure that we are actually distributing prasadam! Srila Prabhupada comments:

“Those who do not make an offering of their food ... are eating only sin. In other words, their every mouthful is simply deepening their involvement in the complexities of material nature. But preparing nice, simple vegetable dishes, offering them before the picture or Deity form of Lord Krishna and bowing down and praying for Him to accept such a humble offering enables one to advance steadily in life ... Above all, the offering should be made with an attitude of love.” (Bhagavad-gita 9.26).

An “offering of love” doesn’t mean a hurried prayer at the last minute. Rather, our devotion should begin from the point we purchase the ingredients for the Lord’s meal and not only at the time when the finished preparations are on the Lord’s plate. In the same purport quoted above, Srila Prabhupada explains, “The important element, in preparation, in serving, and in offering, is to act with love for Krishna.”

“Preparation, serving and offering.” All are important elements in the process of making prasadam. It is just not good enough that we are distributing food. We must distribute prasadam otherwise our activities are simply karma kanda. No spiritual benefit for ourselves or for the recipients.

Therefore, we highly recommend that all temple presidents make the necessary arrangements to have qualified devotees involved in all aspects of the Food for Life program. That means expert cooks, kitchen hands, transporters, servers and qualified brahmanas to offer the bhoga to the Deities. However, if you think that such a high standard is not necessary for your Food for Life program, we suggest you read on.

Food for Life Meals should be Deity Prasada

Often there is the situation where there are not enough qualified devotees available to spare for a Food for Life program, and therefore we may conclude that it is all right to get any group of people to manage the Food for Life program, just as long as it gets done. However, such a lazy and poor attitude towards the sacred act of preparing, offering and distributing the Lord’s prasada will just not do. We should engage only qualified devotees in Krishna’s kitchen. Srila Prabhupada explains, “In our Krishna consciousness society, unless one is twice initiated—first by chanting Hare Krishna and second by the Gayatri mantra he is not allowed to enter the kitchen or Deity room to execute duties” (Srimad Bhagavatam, 4.31.10 pp). Not only should we distribute first-class prasada, but it should also be Deity prasada. In the Srimad Bhagavatam, Srila Prabhupada lays down the law:

“As such, temple worship necessarily includes distribution of prasada ... Distribution of prasada to the ignorant masses of people is essential for persons who make offerings to the Personality of Godhead.” (Srimad Bhagavatam, 3.29.24 pp).

“One should distribute Vishnu prasada to everyone, including the poor man, the blind man, the non-devotee and non-brahmana. Knowing that Lord Vishnu is very pleased when everyone is sumptuously fed with Vishnu prasada, the performer of yajna should then take prasada with his friends and relatives.” (Srimad Bhagavatam, 8.16.56).

Hiring Cooks for Bulk Cooking

From these quotes it is very obvious that Srila Prabhupada wanted us to distribute Deity prasadam to the public. And, in fact, by making the necessary arrangements to distribute Deity prasadam, we can automatically solve the problem of finding a first-class cook and brahmana for our Food for Life program. However, in some instances, like the Kumbha Mela festival or Santipura festivals held in India, where tens of thousands of people must be fed, it may be required to hire cooks to do the bulk of the cooking. Cooking for so many people at a time is not an easy task—it requires great expertise and experience. At the famous Santipura festival held annually in Bengal, India, one method employed is to dig a large hole in the ground, cover the inside with clay and then seal the natural earthen pot by burning logs in the middle. After the logs are removed, four tunnels are dug which lead to underneath the earthen pot. Wood is then fed in from the side to fuel the underground fire while the courageous cooks stir a massive quantity of khichari by maneuvering huge poles from the side. Srila Prabhupada writes:

“Some professional men should be engaged 24 hours preparing prasadam. There are many volunteer organizations in Calcutta. They should come forward and help us distribute prasadam.” (Srila Prabhupada letter to Jayapataka, 24 April 1971)

Devotees are Selfless

One other interesting point noted from the verse quoted earlier (Srimad Bhagavatam 8.16.56) is that it finished by saying, “the performer of yajna should then take prasada with his friends and relatives.” This means we should be first concerned that the public is satisfied with Vishnu prasada before we ourselves take the Lord’s mercy. Srila Prabhupada always insisted that guests receive a “full plate” of prasada, not just a token sweet. It is totally selfish to take a whole feast of Vishnu prasada for ourselves, and deny this privilege to the public, and instead offer them something which is third class or paltry.

Of course we also hear from Krishna book that the procedure for distributing Krishna prasada was to begin with the most qualified persons present, the brahmanas; next were the elderly, then came the children and then everyone else. From this we may justify, that “we as brahmanas should be served first.” However, this principle does not apply to those who cook the prasada, or as described in the above verse, “the performers of the yajna.” In other words, Food for Life cooks should be the most selfless. Here’s another verse from the Srimad Bhagavatam:

“If we do not perform yajna and distribute prasada to others, our lives are condemned. Only after performing yajna and distributing the prasada to all dependents—children, brahmanas and old men—should one eat. However, one who cooks only for himself or his family is condemned, along with everyone he feeds. After death he is put into the hell known as Karmibhojana.” (Srimad Bhagavatam 5.26.18, purport)

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura also confirms: “One should give away the best portion of his prasada, before taking for himself.” (Sri Caitanya Siksamrita)

This selflessness is part of our Vedic tradition. The first-class grhasthas would make sure that all the hungry people in the village had been adequately fed before they themselves ate. There is also the wonderful story of King Rantideva, who voluntarily sacrificed his breakfast prasadam to three strangers, although he hadn’t eaten anything for 48 days.

The Story of King Rantideva

Rantideva is famous in both this world and the next, for he is glorified not only in human society but also in the society of the demigods.

Rantideva never endeavored to earn anything. He would enjoy whatever he got by the arrangement of Providence, but when guests came he would give them everything. Thus he underwent considerable suffering, along with the members of his family. Indeed, he and his family members suffered for want of food and water, yet Rantideva always remained sober. Once, after fasting for 48 days, in the morning Rantideva received some water and some foodstuffs made with milk and ghee, but when he and his family were about to eat, a brahmana guest arrived.

Because Rantideva perceived the presence of the Supreme Godhead everywhere, and in every living entity, he received the guest with faith and respect and gave him a share of the food. The brahmana guest ate his share and then went away.

Thereafter, having divided the remaining food with his relatives, Rantideva was just about to eat his own share when a sudra guest arrived. Seeing the sudra in relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, King Rantideva gave him also a share of the food.

When the sudra went away, another guest arrived, surrounded by dogs, and said, “O King, I and my company of dogs are very hungry. Please give us something to eat.”

With great respect, King Rantideva offered the balance of the food to the dogs and the master of the dogs, who had come as guests. The King offered them all respects and obeisances.

Thereafter, only the drinking water remained, and there was only enough to satisfy one person, but when the King was just about to drink it, a candala appeared and said, “O King, although I am low born, kindly give me some drinking water.”

Aggrieved at hearing the pitiable words of the poor fatigued candala, Maharaja Rantideva spoke the following nectarean words:

“I do not pray to the Supreme Personality of Godhead for the eight perfections of mystic yoga, nor for salvation from repeated birth and death. I want only to stay among all the living entities and suffer all distresses on their behalf, so that they may be freed from suffering. By offering my water to maintain the life of this poor candala, who is struggling to live, I have been freed from all hunger, thirst, fatigue, trembling of the body, moroseness, distress, lamentation and illusion.”

Having spoken thus, King Rantideva, although on the verge of death because of thirst, gave his own portion of water to the candala without hesitation, for the King was naturally very kind and sober.

Demigods like Lord Brahma and Lord Siva, who can satisfy all materially ambitious men by giving them the rewards they desire, then manifested their own identities before King Rantideva, for it was they who had presented themselves as the brahmana, sudra, candala and so on. (Srimad Bhagavatam 9.21.2–15)

Who Should Distribute?

Srila Prabhupada explains: According to the Vedic principles, a householder, before taking lunch, should go outside and shout very loudly to see if there is anyone without food. In this way he invites the people to take prasada. If someone comes, the householder offers him prasada, and if there is not much left, he should offer his own portion to the guest. If no one responds to his call, the householder can accept his own lunch. Thus the householder’s life is also a kind of austerity. Because of this, the householder’s life is called the grhastha-asrama. (Caitanya Caritamrta, Madhya Lila 3.41, purport)

Special Consideration for Grihasthas

In the following conversation, which took place in Tokyo on 22 April 1972, Srila Prabhupada gave clear outlines of the duty of a householder and the principle of atithi Narayana, or the honoring of unexpected guests as if Narayana Himself had visited.

Sudama: So we should take the Deity prasadam and our prasadam and go to all the houses?

Prabhupada: No. You invite them, that ‘Anyone you are welcome. Take prasadam.’ We can announce. Then you can judge how many people are coming daily. You should announce that ‘Anyone can come and take prasadam at noon.’ It is the duty of a grhastha to loudly cry, ‘If anyone is hungry, please come. We have got still food.’ That is the duty of a grhastha. If one does not come, then the chief of the house, he takes prasada. If somebody says, ‘I am hungry,’ so he should offer his own food. ‘You eat.’ This is duty of a grhastha. Bhunjate te tu agham papa ye pacanti. Those who are cooking for themselves, they are simply eating sinful things. Bhunjate te tu agham papa ye pacanty atma-karanat. So hospitality is one of the duties of the householder. Atithi. Tithi means date. So if I go to your house, I inform you that ‘such and such date I am coming there.’ But atithi, he does not inform you; all of a sudden he comes. So you should have to receive him. That is called atithi. Pantha … Formerly, if some of the walkers in the street, suppose he has become hungry, so he enters anyone’s house. So ‘I am hungry, sir. Give me something to eat.’ He’ll immediately, ‘Take.’ Pantha-bhaga. There is a stock of foodstuff that is called pantha-bhaga. If somebody comes all of a sudden, he should take.

Pradyumna: The temple should always have some prasadam there?

Prabhupada: Temple must have—even an ordinary grhastha [must have]. That is Vedic civilization, not that we cook for yourself, for my husband, for my wife and children, eat it sumptuously and go to bed. No. Even grhastha, he should be always prepared to receive guests. Yes. And even a guest comes, your enemy, you should receive him in such a nice way that he will forget that you are all enemies. Grhe satrum api praptam visvastam akutobhayam. This Vedic civilization, not that: ‘Beware of dog. Please don’t enter here. You are forbidden to come here. And if you come, I shall shoot you.’ Sometimes they do that. This is not human civilization. But we must be also like human being, not cats and dogs. Otherwise how can you teach? If I am like cats and dogs, I cannot criticize others as cats and dogs. I must be first of all a human being. Then I shall teach others how to become devotee. Apani acari jive sikhaila bhakti. First behave yourself perfectly, then teach others to become perfect. That is preacher.

What About Brahmacharis?

Srila Prabhupada was not against brahmacharis being engaged in prasadam distribution; in fact, as devotees it is their duty to distribute prasadam. “I request you to also remain there, work nicely with Mr. Punja and take charge of the preaching, kirtans, prasadam and book distribution programs. This is actually the work for a brahmachari”. (Srila Prabhupada letter to Vijayadvaja, 29 December 1974)

And, “I request you to live with your God brothers as a regular brahmachari and prosecute our standard practices for spreading Krishna consciousness by book distribution, distribution of prasadam and preaching to interested people.” (Srila Prabhupada letter to Mahadeva, 3 March 1974)

Can Non-Vaisnavas participate?

As long as all the prasadam has been prepared under the guidance of a qualified brahmana and offered to the Lord with devotion, there is absolutely no reason why non-Vaisnavas cannot participate in the sacred act of prasadam distribution. Indeed, it is a devotee’s duty to engage others in the service of the Lord. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is maha-vadanyaya, the most magnanimous, and therefore providing an opportunity for devotional service is consistent with His mood to inundate the world with love of Krishna! In this regards, I wrote a book called, How to Build a Successful Food Relief, specifically for non-Vaisnavas who want to know how to prepare prasadam and develop their own Food for Life project.

The Best Times

Before planning who is going to cook and how you will distribute the prasada, you should research to find out what are the best times for your recipients and the most practical time for the temple. We need to be consistent. We should establish a time for distribution and stick to it. We should be punctual, regulated and consistent. If you’re running a Food for Life restaurant, the best time to open is from 12 noon to 3 pm. Whereas if you’re operating a home delivery service, the most effective time of course would be from 6–8 pm. Usually this is also the case with mobile distribution programs. Times will vary from place to place, country to country, so research carefully.

How Should I Distribute?

Vaisnava Etiquette

In the Caitanya Caritamrta there is the following quote: “My dear Sanatana, although you are the deliverer of the entire universe and although even the demigods and great saints are purified by touching you, it is the characteristic of a devotee to observe and to protect the Vaisnava etiquette. Maintenance of the Vaisnava etiquette is the ornament of a devotee.”

The characteristics of a devotee are always sublimely manifest in all of his actions. Srila Prabhupada said we should “act in such a way that they will see we are of ideal character.” And when asked, “How do you recognize a Hare Krishna devotee?” He replied, “He is a perfect gentleman.”

Sanatana Goswami said to Haridas Thakura: “Some behave very well but do not preach the cult of Krishna consciousness, whereas others preach but do not behave properly. You simultaneously perform both activities in relation to the holy name by your personal behavior and by your preaching. Therefore, you are the most advanced devotee in the world.” (Caitanya Caritamrita, Antya 4.128–30)

“Srila Prabhupada’s reputation depends on our behavior. In his compassion he lifted us up from very degraded backgrounds … In order to maintain Prabhupada’s good name, our behavior should be exemplary.” (His Holiness Bhakti Caru Swami, Vaisnava Etiquette book)

The importance of proper Vaisnava etiquette in the Food for Life program cannot be overstressed. Food for Life is a very high-profile program. In other words, it is very much in the public eye. Therefore, it is essential that we behave properly in our dealings with the public. Reverend Noffs, a well-known Christian cleric and welfare worker in Australia, once commented about the Food for Life volunteers’ attitudes in this way: “It’s not just a handout, it’s a handout with something else—human compassion—and it gives welfare a human face.” His point was that the Vaisnavas are not “impersonal” in their dealings with the public. Rather, their caring and “personal” attitude is manifest in the way they serve prasada.

Cleanliness

Srila Prabhupada said, “Cleanliness is Godliness.” In other words, every activity we perform for Krishna should be done with a responsible and concerned attitude towards cleanliness. This is especially true when cooking and serving prasada. Srila Prabhupada writes, “The kitchen department should be very clean and things should not be wasted. This is the first consideration.” (Srila Prabhupada to Aksayananda Maharaja, 6 January 1976)

In a room conversation on 22 March 1971, Srila Prabhupada spoke about the proper standard of cleanliness (take note, this may shock you):

Prabhupada: Utensils for cooking purpose must be very, very clean … If the black portion remains, in India they will not touch.

Pusta Krishna: Even on the bottom?

Prabhupada: Yes.

Pusta Krishna: On the outside?

Prabhupada: They’ll not touch: ‘Oh, it is still dirty.’ But our ... going on. What can be done? Where there is no cleanliness, little rubbed with soap, they think that is sufficient. What can be done? But that is not cleanliness. If there is a black spot on the outside … it has to … It will immediately be cleaned.

My mother used to see every utensil, whether there is any spot. The maidservant had to surrender. Examine. Where there is no spot. Then it is finished. Otherwise she has to do again. Everything should be neat and clean. The kitchen should be very neat and clean, washed twice daily, opened nicely and smeared with water and gobar. And if you see the kitchen, immediately you’ll feel comfortable. It is very cleanly prepared, then offered to the Deity. Then you take. Automatically your mind becomes cleansed.

Cleanliness Outside the Kitchen

As well as the kitchen and pots being spotlessly clean, the place where we distribute prasadam should be just as clean. After all, prasadam is non-different from the Lord and thus deserving the minimum respect of a suitable and clean distribution area. At least we should try to keep the place clean at the time of distributing the prasadam. It is even more important that the server be qualified—well dressed, clean in appearance and possessing a friendly attitude. Because it is simply foolish if we make all arrangements for cooking first class prasada, and then be so irresponsible as to allow an uncaring, unclean and poorly dressed person to serve the prasadam.

Hygiene in Serving Prasadam

Washing hands before serving prasadam should be mandatory in all Food for Life operations. As too should be the wearing of disposable plastic serving gloves and hairnets or scarves. Since the food handlers participating in FFL projects may not all be trained professional food workers or brahmana-initiated Vaisnavas, it is important that they at least be thoroughly instructed in the proper method of washing their hands.

The following may serve as a guide:

Use soap and warm water.

Rub your hands vigorously as you wash them.

Wash all surfaces, including the backs of hands, wrists, between fingers and under fingernails.

Rinse your hands well.

Dry hands with a paper towel.

Turn off the water using a paper towel in your clean hands.

Wash your hands in this fashion before you begin work and frequently during the event/project, especially after performing any of these activities:

After touching bare human body parts other than clean hands and clean, exposed portions of the arms.

After using the restroom.

After caring for or handling children or animals.

After coughing, sneezing, using a handkerchief or disposable tissue.

After handling soiled surfaces, equipment or utensils.

After drinking or eating.

During food preparation, as often as necessary to remove soil and contamination and to prevent cross-contamination when changing tasks.

When switching between working with raw food and working with ready-to-eat food. Again to avoid cross-contamination.

Directly before touching ready-to-eat food or food-contact surfaces.

After engaging in other activities that contaminate hands.

The Top Six Causes of Food-borne Illness

From past experience, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) list these six circumstances as the ones most likely to lead to illness. Check through the list to make sure your prasadam distribution event/project has covered these common causes of food borne illness.

Inadequate cooling and cold holding.

Preparing food too far in advance for service.

Poor personal hygiene, not practicing proper handwashing while handling open foods, and infected personnel handling foods.

Inadequate reheating.

Inadequate hot holding.

Cross contamination by contact of raw foods with cooked foods.

For more information on this important topic, I suggest the following resources:

Guideline for Hand Hygiene in Health-Care Settings

World Health Organization Fact Sheets

Food borne diseases, Emerging

Food safety and food borne illness

Rules of Serving Prasadam

Temple Distribution

“We should never waste Krishna prasadam. Best thing is to cook only what is required and then give each person what he wants. That is the Vedic system that the people sit in rows behind their plates and servers pass down the rows and put a very small portion of each foodstuff on each plate, unless there is some objection by a person, then nothing is given. Then if anyone wants more, the servers pass up and down the rows continually and give more if anyone requests. In this way nothing is wasted and everyone is satisfied.” (Srila Prabhupada letter to Kirtiraja, 7 November 1972)

Applying these instructions to the Food for Life program we should note the following:

1) Krishna prasadam should never be wasted.

2) Cook only what is required and then give each person what they want.

3) Do not serve too much the first time unless people specifically ask for more.

4) Always serve seconds, thirds and even fourths. Make sure everyone is satisfied.

General Distribution

His Holiness Bhakti Caru Swami lists the following points for distributing prasada (we have modified these points to suit the Food for Life program):

5) Ideally, prasadam should be served by qualified Vaisnavas and not by the new bhaktas or bhaktines, who are not familiar with the standards of Vaisnava etiquette. (Note: Srila Bhaktisiddhanta would sometimes have his sannyasa disciples serve prasada to the Vaisnavas.)

6) Those who are serving should be very clean, peaceful and satisfied. Wash hands first and use disposable food-handling gloves.

7) Serve just the right amount so that nothing is wasted.

8) Old people and children should be served first.

9) Always serve a drink first.

10) Prasadam should be served in the following order:

a) Bitter preparations (bitter melon, sukta etc.,)

b) Spinach and other astringent items. (green leafy salads)

c) Fried preparations and dhal

d) Spicy vegetable dishes (dry subjis first, then wet and always lightest to richest)

e) Sour items (such as raitas)

f) Sweet preparations (if serving Gujarati style, serve a sweet in the beginning).

Note: Rice and chapatis (bread) should always be on the plate and both should be served hot. (If serving Gujarati style, serve rice at the end of the meal.)

1) Always serve a second and third time. Make sure everyone is totally satisfied. Don’t hold back—prasadam should be distributed.

2) Do not touch plates with the serving spoon. Touching the plate means contaminating the spoon. If a spoon becomes contaminated, you must wash it.

3) Don’t allow your fingers or fingernails to touch any of the preparations, even water. Use serving spoons always. Salt should not be served by hand, as it absorbs moisture from the fingers and becomes contaminated. Use a spoon.

4) Never touch prasadam with your feet or step over it. It is offensive.

5) Serve the prasadam from food-grade buckets that are clean and not used for any other purpose. Try to use insulated food transportation containers.

6) Don’t drag buckets along the floor or make clanging noises. Serve quietly.

7) After everyone is finished taking prasada, clean the place immediately.

Other Important Points

1) Make the necessary arrangements so that prasadam can always be served hot. We can do this by keeping the bulk of the prasadam in warming pots and then filling serving buckets regularly.

2) Keep prasadam covered with lids or a cloth, so that no insects, dust, fumes, sprays or a person sneezing can touch it. To do so is respectful and in accordance with all health standards. (Note: Prasadam cannot be contaminated; however, germs are not prasadam.)

Cooking

Take Your Time

It is always best to take your time when cooking. Cooking should be a meditation, not a passionate, “slap-up” job. Plan your menu and have everything in place before you even start cooking. That means you know where all the spices are; all your bowls and cloths are close at hand; and you have all your essential ingredients chopped up in advance, such as ginger, chilies and fresh ground spices. Familiarize yourself with the kitchen. Ask experienced Vaisnavas about anything you need to know about the kitchen or the people you are going to feed. Don’t try to do too much. Better to cook fewer items and make them all first class than to cook many third-rate preparations. Plan your cooking so that you will never have to use a high flame to make up lost time. It is always better to cook on a low flame so that the vegetables retain their full flavor and so that there will be less risk of burning the bottom of the pot. Slow cooking is good cooking.

Cooking When You’re in a Hurry

Although it is preferred to plan ahead and cook slowly, sometimes you may find yourself in a situation where you have to cook fast. Many of the tricks for preparing large quantities of prasadam quickly and when you hardly have anything to cook with, can only be picked up with a lot of hard work in the kitchen battling it out.

Get a knife that is crazy sharp. Keep it sharp.

When your knife is dull, you have to saw through everything. Cooking is harder and takes longer. When your knife is sharp, you can cut things in one stroke. Either learn how to sharpen your own knife every couple of weeks, or go to a specialty kitchen store and pay someone to do it for you.

Your other tools that are meant to cut things should also be very sharp.

Buy the sharp, cheap vegetable peelers so that you can just throw them away the second they get dull.

Do not own graters or zesters that aren’t made by Microplane. The company started out making woodworking tools, but then realized that what they were really making were some seriously badass kitchen tools. Microplane = lime zest in three seconds.

Box graters are good, multitasking kitchen tools, but that one you inherited from your grandma is useless. Throw it away and buy one made by Microplane.

Hold the knife the correct way

Putting your index finger on top of the blade is not a stable way to hold your knife; actually, it’s pretty unsafe. Put your thumb on one side of the blade and your index finger on the other, with your other three fingers holding the blade. It may feel awkward at first, but it offers you way more control. You’ll get used to it.

Always create a flat side on food before you cut/slice it

The flat surface will make food more stable, so cutting it will be much safer. And if you can, start curling your fingers under to hold food and resting the knife against your knuckle. You’ll get used to it and eventually cut faster. Just force yourself to practice.

Learn how to chop food the most efficient way to save time

Making horizontal slices, then vertical slices two ways, will work for many different foods besides onions.

Keep oil, salt, and pepper on your counter

Put oil in a container with a spout.

Keep salt in an open container so you can grab some whenever.

Have a pepper grinder on hand.

Keep pantry essentials in the front of your cabinet

Sugar

Oils

Your favorite spices and seasonings

Put your most-used tools in the drawer closest to where you work

Knives

Vegetable peeler

Small kitchen spoons

Wooden spoon

Slotted spoon

Measuring cups

Measuring spoons

Whisk

Rubber spatula

Rolling pin

Get the things you rarely use out of the way

These things can go in the drawer across the room.

Cherry pitter

Melon baller

Cookie cutters

Buy a spice rack that you can actually look through

Mounted shelves, revolving shelves, drawer organizers, whatever. As long as you don’t have to pull seventeen containers out of the cabinet every time you reach for the cinnamon, a real spice rack will save you serious time. Also, every time you reach for a single spice, you will probably be inspired to use a whole bunch more, seeing as they’re right in front of you, and all.

Hang your pots and pans

Chances are, you have way too many pots and pans, and they are all stacked messily in your cabinet or on a shelf. A couple of sauté pans, a big stew pot, a smaller pot, and a nonstick pan are all you really need. And, instead of stacking them, build a pot rack and hang them up.

Clear enough space to work

Get everything you don’t need off the countertops before you cook. The end.

Read the recipe(s) all the way through before you start cooking

How annoying is it to find out midway through cooking that a recipe calls for room-temperature coconut oil, and realizing that yours is still solid?

Understanding an entire recipe before you start cooking means that you can always stay three steps ahead of yourself: Use the right pan for the cooking, the right size bowl for mixing. No surprises.

Have all your ingredients prepped and ready to go

All ingredients should be set out in front of you before you start cooking. Professional chefs refer to the collection of ingredients required for a certain dish as mise en place, and they spend a significant amount of time during the day making sure that their mise is totally prepped and ready to go before dinner service starts.

Three rules of mise en place:

1) It’s OK to measure certain ingredients as you go, as long as all you have to do is take them out of their container. (Think liquids, oils, and pantry staples like flour and sugar.)

2) However, any ingredients that require an extra step — like cleaning, chopping, roasting — that should be done ahead of time. So, if a recipe calls for minced ginger, or a certain quantity of chopped herbs, you should prep and measure those before you start cooking.

3) Keep in mind what you can and can’t do ahead of time. You can’t, for example, just peel and chop a bunch of potatoes or apples and let them sit around while you do other things or they’ll brown. Knowing how to prep is knowing how to cook.

Learn how to multitask

Three examples:

1) Get your sauce for dinner marinating while you’re waiting for your tea to steep in the morning.

2) If you are cooking pasta — or really, boiling anything as part of a recipe — know that the first thing you do is put a pot of clean water on the boil.

3) Bake the cake before you start cooking the main meal, because you’re going to have to wait at least an hour for the cake to cool before you can frost it anyway (so annoying).

Cook in bulk as often as possible

Making one huge batch, once, is faster than making three smaller batches over the course of a month. Invest in good, airtight storage containers (think Tupperware, plastic quart containers, or Ball jars), and always have Ziploc bags on hand.

Seven things you can make in bulk and store in the freezer indefinitely:

1) Tomato sauce

2) Soup/Stew

3) Bread

4) Waffles

5) Vegetable Stock

6) Cookies

7) Cake

Five things you can prep in bulk and store in the fridge for up to a week:

1) Salad dressing

2) Rice

3) Chopped vegetables

4) Vegetable pate

5) Hummus

Cook the same thing over and over again

Variety is nice, but put a few dishes in your repertoire that you can cook really well, and really quickly. After you’ve cooked something enough times, you’ll be so familiar with the ingredients and the process that it will be mindless. And you can transfer your knowledge of those processes to other dishes.

Use the right amount of heat

If you try to start cooking when your pan or oven is too cold, your food will take longer to cook. (It will lose moisture, too, which means it won’t taste as good.) On the other hand, if you let things get too hot, food will burn. All of your hard work, literally up in flames. Also, you may end up having to fan your beeping smoke alarm with throw pillows and magazines, which will distract you and take up valuable time.

Try to find the right temperature to cook your food efficiently while retaining the flavors. Usually, this means a medium flame.

Clean as you go

Work as cleanly as you can, and wash all of your dishes as soon as you’re done.

Letting things sit in the sink or on the counter just makes more work for next time, and eventually things will get lost in the clutter. Srila Prabhupada and his chef disciple, Yamanu were big proponents of this and you’ll find if you make the effort to clean as you go, you will feel much more in control and less-stressed while cooking.

Fast Food Tips

Dhal

By using split mung dhal and boiling it until slightly soft, and then blending it in an industrial blender you can make a smooth, hot dhal in less than 10 minutes.

Halavah

By using a little extra butter or coconut oil, enough to make the semolina look like very wet sand, and by stirring vigorously, you can cook a large amount of semolina ready for adding the water within 10 minutes.

Rice

There is no need to stir fry rice for 20 minutes when you are cooking it in bulk. Simply boil the water (1.5 times the rice for bulk amounts) and then add the rice, a little oil or butter. Turn down the flame and return in 20–25 minutes.

Puris

If you don’t have the time or the people to roll out thousands of round puris, simply roll out a sheet of dough and cut it into diamond shapes. Deep fry as usual. For variation, add icing sugar when they are cool.

Subji

Steaming a subji is much faster than deep-frying all the vegetables. It’s better to deep fry just one vegetable like potato, pumpkin or curd and then add a sauce, along with all the other steamed vegetables.

Cutting-up Tips

Spinach

Don’t use a knife to cut off all the leaves from the stem. Better to use your hands. Simply hold in one hand and with the thumb and big finger of the other, quickly strip the leaf of the stem. You'll be surprised how effective and time saving this method is.

Cauliflower or broccoli

If you’re making khichri, the quickest way to cut up the vegetables is to place them in a thick, plastic food-grade bucket and use a sharp, long-handled knife to chop them inside the bucket. For khichri you can get away with irregular-sized vegetables.

Potatoes

Sorry, no speed tips. Be careful you don’t chop your fingers. Or better, get yourself an industrial food processor that can slice and dice buckets of potatoes in seconds.

Making ‘Something-Out-of-Nothing’ Recipes

Cheap & fast koftas

If you’re short on vegetables and need a quick savory dish, then consider using leftover rice and subji (as long as the rice and subji are still fresh, that is). Mix equal amounts of rice and subji together and then add a little baking powder and enough chickpea flour (not too much) to enable you to finish with a moist mix. If necessary, add some dry mixed herbs and then deep fry on a medium heat for five minutes. Scoop into the hot ghee or oil with two large stainless steel spoons.

Vayu Pakoras

If you have neither vegetables nor leftovers to work with, then you can try Vayu Pakoras or “Air” Pakoras. Make your normal pakora batter; however, add a little more self-raising flour so that the batter is a little thicker than usual. This is a popular dish served by Govinda’s Catering, and their cooks can sometimes pump out 20,000 in one day! Scoop the batter, using two stainless steel spoons, into medium temperature ghee and cook as usual. Drain and keep in a cardboard box or a paper-lined container without covering. (Covering any type of pakora will make it go soggy.) These are quick, cheap and great for any large prasadam distribution program.

Ekadasi Halavah

It’s Ekadasi and you have no carrots to make Gajak Halavah. What to do? Try using buckwheat or quinoa flour (They are not grains). They make wonderful halavah using the same method as for semolina. Another alternative is pumpkin or even sweet potato. Steam the pumpkin or sweet potato first, then add it to an equal amount of soymilk. Add a few cardamom pods and cook slowly until the milk reduces. Next add a quarter the amount of raisins and sugar to the amount of pumpkin or sweet potato. Remove from stove and add enough dry-roasted desiccated coconut to thicken the mixture until it resembles halavah. Nuts and butter are optional.

Cookware

Aluminum pots may be good for cooking, but they’re dreadful for your health—they give you aluminum poisoning. In the United States, the Department of Health and Human Services banned all aluminum pots for use in commercial and public institutions. Any food that was going to be sold or served to the public could not be prepared in any aluminum cookware.

Stainless steel pots are always superior in durability and cleanliness, and cooking with copper-based stainless steel pots cannot be matched by any other cooking medium. They’re also easier to clean (let’s not forget the pot washers). If you care and respect your stainless steel pots, they will last for up to 20 years. Yes, stainless steel pots are more expensive (in the West), but isn’t the health of the Vaisnavas and the pleasure of Krishna more important than saving pennies?

As Srila Prabhupada has mentioned in the earlier conversation, his mother was concerned that there was not a spot of black even on the outside of the pot. This standard is a far cry from an experience I once had where Vaisnavas of one temple were proud to show off their old aluminum pots, covered with a thick layer of black gunk on the outside and with bottoms grossly buckled. How can we cook the Supreme Lord’s dinner in such disgustingly dirty, inferior cookware? Cooking is supposed to be a yajna, and for a successful yajna we must take into consideration the place, the performer of yajna, the ingredients, and the utensils. Having good quality pots is essential. There is no excuse.

Yamuna’s Mung and Cauliflower Kitchri

SERVES 6 to 8

Ingredients

3/4 cup split, husked mung beans (mung kidal)

1-3/4 cups basmati rice

1-1/2 teaspoons cumin seeds

1-1/2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger

1 to 2 teaspoons crushed red pepper

3 cardamom pods, crushed

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1/4 teaspoon yellow asafetida

4 tablespoons clarified butter, or 2 tablespoons each corn oil and butter

1 cauliflower, trimmed and cut into florets

7-1/2 cups hot water or vegetable stock

2 cups chopped tomatoes or baby peas

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

Salt and coarsely ground black pepper to taste

6) Remove any foreign matter from the beans and rice, transfer them to a large bowl, and rinse several times until the water is clear; drain in a strainer.

7) On medium high, heat 3 tablespoons of the butter or oil in a pressure cooker or a nonstick or heavy-bottomed 5-quart saucepan.

8) Add the cumin, ginger, pepper, and cardamom; when the cumin turns medium brown, add the turmeric and asafetida. Immediately, add the cauliflower, rice, and beans. Cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. 

9) If you are using a pressure cooker, pour in 5-1/2 cups of the water or stock and bring to a boil. Cook at high pressure for 6 minutes. 

10) Off the heat, pour in the remaining 2 cups liquid, tomatoes or peas, and 1/4 cup of the cilantro. 

11) Season with salt and pepper and mix gently. Place the pan over moderate heat for 1 or 2 minutes to warm the tomatoes or peas and allow the grains to absorb the liquid.

12) If you are using a saucepan, add all of the liquid at once. Bring to a boil. Cook over low heat, partly covered, stirring occasionally, for 40 to 60 minutes, or until the rice is tender, the beans are soft, and the liquid has been absorbed.

13) At serving time, garnish with the remaining cilantro and drizzle with the remaining butter. 

Read the original article: Cooking with Yamuna Devi: Traditional Indian Taste.

It’s Krishna’s Kitchen, Not ours

Srila Prabhupada said that the kitchen is an “extension of the Deity room.” In other words, the kitchen is as worshipful as the Deity room. Therefore, all endeavors must be made to ensure that a high standard of cleanliness and etiquette are maintained in our temple and/or Food for Life kitchens. This means observing the following rules:

1) Do not enter Krishna’s kitchen in a contaminated state. You are considered contaminated if you have:

Passed stool and not as yet taken bath or are wearing the same clothes that have been worn in the toilet or some other dirty place.

Handled children. (Children typically always unclean.)

Slept in the same clothes for more than one hour.

2) Do not take devotee plates in Krishna’s kitchen. Prasadam should be served outside of the Lord’s kitchen. This is the Vedic system; as described by Srila Prabhupada, “devotees or guests sit down and devotees serve them.” To make up plates in the kitchen is as bad as eating in the kitchen. To do so is uncivilized.

3) While cooking for Krishna, one should not even think about eating the food being prepared for Krishna, what to speak of smelling or tasting. Never, under any circumstances is it acceptable to eat in Krishna’s kitchen. The cooks and pujaris should be very disciplined in this regard. The kitchen means: “Service to Krishna, not service to our belly!” Even maha-prasadam should not be eaten in Krishna’s kitchen. It is disrespectful and such a lusty mentality will contaminate the kitchen atmosphere. Srila Prabhupada explains:

“One should never eat within the kitchen, there is ample place to eat so why should one eat in the kitchen? Kitchen should be considered as good as the Lord’s room, and nobody should wear shoes in the kitchen, smelling and tasting of foods being prepared for the Lord should never be done, talking within the kitchen should be only what is necessary for preparing the prasadam, or about the Lord, and dirty dishes (those taken from kitchen and eaten from) should not be brought back into the kitchen (but if there is no other place to wash them, then they should be put into the sink and washed immediately). Hands should always be washed when preparing prasadam, and in this way everything shall be prepared very cleanly and purely.”
(Srila Prabhupada letter to Aniruddha, 16 June 1968)

4) There should be no prajalpa or frivolous activity in Krishna’s kitchen. Srimati Radharani is the “manager” of the kitchen department; therefore, one should perform service in the kitchen with the greatest respect.

5) Krishna’s sinks should never be used to wash our plates. This is completely disrespectful. Of course, there may be a different standard at home, but as much as possible we should try to respect the Lord’s kitchen. It is better to arrange for a separate washing tub for our plates.

A Brahmana’s Name is ‘Suci’

“A brahmana’s name is suci, or one who is clean. In the toilet room, wash with water and wash your hands with soap. Then wash feet, face and mouth. Your cloth must be washed daily, especially any cloth used to sleep in. In the kitchen, also, things should be kept spotless and cooking should only be done by brahmanas; others may assist. That is the same procedure followed with Deity worship. So these are some of the points to note in brahminical life. Keep yourself clean outside by bathing, etc., and clean inside by chanting Hare Krishna mantra. Go on in this way and your rapid advancement in Krishna consciousness will be certain.” (Srila Prabhupada room conversation, 3 July 1971)

These are the basic standards of cleanliness as given by Srila Prabhupada and they should be observed at all times.

Now we know the basics: who, what, where, and how. We shall now talk a little about the preaching potency of Food for Life. In other words: how should we promote it? How should we use it to present the culture and philosophy of Krishna consciousness?

Marketing

Uniforms

Every organization has uniforms. The Vaisnava uniform is traditionally the dhoti, kurta or sari. However, we should understand that the primary objective of the Food for Life program is to practically demonstrate how the Krishna consciousness movement is solving the problems of society and, therefore, our Food for Life volunteers should present themselves as dedicated people with a mission—a “humanitarian mission.” All volunteers, whether they are initiated Vaisnavas, non-Vaisnavas, or congregational members, should wear the Food for Life logo on some part of their clothing. Preferably our appearance should be consistent and so a good idea is to use aprons that have the Food for Life logo on the front. Aprons can be worn over our regular clothing, and if they get a little dirty it will not look so bad because aprons are expected to get a few food stains. However, t-shirts or sleeveless jackets are also respectable, and they are especially good to have for our congregation members and non-devotee volunteers who take part in the program. I also strongly suggest caps or scarves to be worn by all the prasadam servers because covering the hair is often necessary to abide by local health and hygiene laws. Wearing a uniform will help to inspire our Food for Life volunteers. They will feel part of a team and it will help to present Food for Life as a serious organization.

However, according to time, place, and circumstance there may be exceptions. For example, during an emergency relief program many non-Vaisnavas may be asked to help out. At such times, while it is good to have your “Hare Krishna Food for Life” signs, it may not be appropriate to have the words “Hare Krishna” on the uniforms. During the 2005 Tsunami relief in Sri Lanka, Food for Life Global arranged for t-shirts with the following artwork, as many non-Vaisnavas had been asked to come and help.

The volunteers felt encouraged that they belonged to an actual organization, while at the same time they did not feel as if they had suddenly converted to the Hare Krishna religion. Obviously, by their voluntary actions they were performing devotional service, albeit unknowingly. Nonetheless, they were making huge strides in their spiritual advancement, directly participating in the sankirtana movement working alongside Vaisnavas. Without doubt, Food for Life is one of the most effective programs for engaging people in devotional service. It should be noted that during the first few weeks following the Asian tsunami of 2004, Food for Life Global received more than 500 applications for volunteerism from the general public. To my knowledge, it was unprecedented in the history of ISKCON.

Signage

‘Food for Life’ signs are another frequently neglected feature of most Food for Life programs. It is important to help people see that you are a professional organization by promoting your program with signs. Whenever there is prasadam distribution, there must be at least one ‘Food for Life’ sign. I used to think that it was critical to use Hare Krishna in the signage, but am now of the opinion, that the service itself is way more important than for people to know it is being done by Hare Krishna devotees. It all depends on the social and political climate you find yourself in. If for example, you are serving prasadam in a Muslim or Orthodox Christian country, where Hinduism is not tolerated, it may not be a good idea to advertise, “Hare Krishna.” But if this is not the case, then by all means, promote: “Hare Krishna”, and not something ambiguous such as: “Meals without borders,” as did one temple. The result was that after many years of prasadam distribution, the local people still knew nothing of the compassionate work of Krishna’s devotees. Another exception to this would be in situations where you are engaging many non-devotee volunteers who may be enthusiastic about the Food for Life program but not in the least interested in the Vaisnava religion. This is sometimes the case when Food for Life Global coordinates emergency relief services and must engage the assistance of the public.

All signs must be big, at least 1–3 meters long, and they should as closely as possible resemble the official international and trademarked Hare Krishna Food for Life logo (below). These signs can take the form of plastic banners, canvas, cloth or even cardboard – whatever is practical. But something is better than nothing.

Description: FFL-LogoAbove: The official trademarked logo of Hare Krishna Food for Life is owned by Food for Life Global.

Identification Cards

Along with signs advertising your program, volunteers should wear Food for Life identification cards with their photograph and name. This simple but personal touch adds a professional look to the whole operation, and it will help to inspire confidence in the public for Food for Life and ISKCON. In emergency situations, volunteers for humanitarian agencies are expected to wear ID cards and they can also help in gaining access to secured areas. An example of a Food for Life Global ID card is below.

Above: Official Food for Life Global ID card. Only valid if issued by Food for Life Global and stamped.

Programs Title

When registering your prasadam distribution program, it is important to take into consideration the cultural and linguistic challengers of calling your service “Food for Life.” What sounds catchy and upbeat in one country may be totally inappropriate or sound stupid in another country. Therefore, it is acceptable to change the name of the program as long as you keep the same style and design of the standard FFL branding. In Armenia, for example, Food for Life is known as “Bread for Life.” In Lithuania, it is known as “Food for Soul,” and in Brazil it is known as “Alementos para la Vida.” In all cases, the devotees kept the design of the logo the same, but just changed the words to better suit their audience.

Slogans

In 1996, ISKCON Communications department in consultation with many senior Vaisnavas around the world felt that the slogan, ‘Serving the World’ emphasized the spiritual side of Food for Life more than the former, ‘Feeding the Hungry Worldwide.’ After all, we’re doing more than just feeding hungry people. The slogan ‘Serving the World,’ clearly establish the fact that the Vaisnavas are the servants of humanity and the saviors of the world.

In 2005, Food for Life Global adopted an even more meaningful slogan: Uniting the World Through Pure Food. This message clearly shows the true purpose of Food for Life as a modern day representation of the Vedic Culture of Spiritual Hospitality.

Although Food for Life primarily means prasadam distribution, it may also include other services like medical care, education, counseling and even shelter, as is happening with the Food for Life Vrindavan project.

For consistency, all Food for Life programs (at least in the Western countries) should make the following adjustment to their logo. The next time you have your stationery or signs printed, please use either Serving the World or Uniting the World Through Pure Food as your slogan.

Media Services

Our Food for Life programs should be well advertised in all newspapers, periodicals, radio and TV stations that offer free advertisement services. However, if there are no such free advertisement opportunities available, we should nevertheless try to get free advertisements by talking to the appropriate people in these agencies. Regular advertisement is one of the keys to marketing success, and ‘marketing’ the glories of Krishna is what the Krishna consciousness movement is all about! (For more information see, Appendix: Media Relations.)

Flyers, Brochures, Books and Photos

There should be ample promotional literature available on the Food for Life service for mass distribution to the public, as well as for use in fundraising, media, and government relations. Everyone should know about the kind and caring activities of the Vaisnavas. One of the services of the Food for Life international office (FFL Global) is to design and produce general Food for Life promotional material. However, each yatra should produce their own promotional leaflets and flyers, etc., to highlight their local programs.

New Branding for Food for Life Global

In 2016, Food for Life Global took on a new branding. We felt the need to create something more formal and simplistic, as well as unique from all the speculated and unprofessional FFL logos around the world.

We noticed that many temples, rather than contact us directly to ask permission for using the Prasadam das logo, the would create their own. It is a sad commentary on ISKCON culture that there is rarely any respect for copyright. I created the prasadam das logo in 1996 in collaboration with a Latvian devotee, Nataraja das. We will continue to have Prasadam das as a “mascot” for the organization but will mainly use him in future animations.

Affiliate Logo

This is the official affiliate logo that all bona-fide affiliates can use on their website and marketing materials. Please note that if you are not listed on our project page, then you are not affiliated with Food for Life Global.

Food for Life START UP KIT $79

FFL Training Manual (3rd Edition)

FFL Global Rep Guidelines

The 10 Ingredients of Success

Pure Vegetarianism Brochure

Best Prasadam Quotes

How to Raise a lot of Money Now

HK FFL logo

HK FFL logo (illustrator)

Food for Life Volunteer Handbook

Food for Life Affiliate Standards

FFLG Affiliate Logo

FFL Media Kit

FFL Information Brochure

FFL Sample Constitution

101 Reasons to be Vegetarian

Facebook for Non Profits

What is really in your milk

Links to Lectures and Videos on FFL and Food Yoga

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Password to enter page: Prasadam

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Communicating through Food for Life

The following are a few ways in which we can present the Vaishnava philosophy and culture through the medium of Food for Life.

Economics

Meat feeds few at the expense of many. For the sake of producing meat, grain that could feed people feeds livestock instead. According to information compiled by the United States Department of Agriculture, more than 90 per cent of all the grain produced in America goes to feed livestock—cows, pigs, lambs and chickens—that wind up on the dinner tables. In addition, for every 16 pounds of grain fed to cattle, we get back only one pound of meat. Harvard nutritionist Jena Mayer estimates that bringing down meat production by only 10 per cent would release enough grain to feed 60 million people. According to recent studies, if the entire population of the world shifted to a plant-based diet the planet could sustain a population 30 times the present. Facts such as these have led food experts to point out that the world hunger problem is artificial.

World hunger is a spiritual problem

The solution to the world hunger problem lies in recognizing the supreme proprietorship of God. God (Krishna) is the supreme father of all beings and is providing sufficient food for each and every one of them. The elephant in the jungle get its ton of food and the ant gets its grain of sugar – only man seems to have a food shortage problem. Why? It’s because humans are greedy and are not aware of the ultimate proprietorship of God. For example, if a bag of grain were left lying in a street, birds would come along and take enough to fill their stomachs and soon fly away. However, a greedy man would take the whole bag and store it.

Environment

According to ancient Vedic wisdom “every living being has its quota.” However, because one person is taking more than his allotted quota others have to suffer. This imbalance is indirectly the cause of much of the world’s ecological problems. Humanity’s burning passion to have more than we need results in large-scale exploitation of the environment. Without doubt the greatest contribution to the degradation to the environment is meat eating. The heavily contaminated runoff and sewage from slaughterhouses and feedlots are major sources of pollution to rivers and streams. “The production of excrement by the total US population is 12,000 pounds per second; however, the production of excrement by US livestock is a mammoth 250,000 pounds per second! Amazingly, though, there is no sewage system used in any US feedlot. And where does all this waste end up: human water supplies.” (Excerpt from, Diet for a New America by John Robbins.) Hare Krishna Food for Life is attempting to correct this imbalance caused by greed that threatens to ruin the Earth by even distribution of food.

Health

A diet consisting of fruit, vegetables, grains, legumes, and milk will reduce the possibility of premature death arising from heart and intestinal diseases. As early as 1961, the journal of the American Medical Association said, “Ninety to ninety-seven per cent of heart diseases can be prevented by a plant-based diet.” A plant-based diet promotes longevity and physical fitness. “Man’s structure, external and internal, compared with that of the other animals, shows that fruit and succulent vegetables constitute his natural food” (Swedish scientist Karl Von Linne). Hare Krishna Food for Life distributes only the finest and healthiest plant-based foods.

Ethics

Leo Tolstoy wrote: “While our bodies are the living graves of murdered animals, how can we expect any ideal conditions on Earth?” When we lose respect for animal life, we lose respect for human life as well. We’re fearful of enemy guns, bombs, and missiles, but we close our eyes to the pain and fear we inflict in slaughtering 20 billion animals per year! Can it be anything but hypocritical to march for peace and then go to McDonald’s for a hamburger or go home to grill a steak? This is the very duplicity that George Bernard Shaw condemned:

We pray on Sundays that we may have light
To guide our footsteps on the path we tread;
We are sick of war, we don’t want to fight,
And yet we gorge ourselves upon the dead.

Hare Krishna Food for Life teaches that we are all God’s children. From this understanding, we seek to further the welfare of the world and extend compassion to others.

Spirituality

All major religious scriptures enjoin man to live without killing unnecessarily. The Old Testament instructs: “Thou shalt not kill” (Exodus 20:13). The Quran establishes that all creatures on earth are sentient beings: “There is not an animal on earth, nor a bird that flies on its wings—but they are communities like you” (Quran, 6:38). Also, “The Holy Prophet (Mohammed), peace be upon him, forbade the beating or the branding of animals. Once he saw a donkey branded on its face and said: ‘may Allah condemn the one who branded it’.” Lord Buddha established ahimsa (nonviolence) and vegetarianism as fundamental steps on the path of self-awareness. And in the ancient Indian classic, the Bhagavad-gita, Lord Krishna explains that spiritual perfection begins when one can see the equality of all beings.

Hare Krishna Food for Life is upholding the fundamental teachings of the world’s major religious traditions by only distributing sanctified plant-based foodstuffs.

Vedic food culture

The Hare Krishna Food for Life program represents the revival of the ancient Vedic food culture. The Vedic food culture was such that every living being was properly cared for and fed—even the dogs and beggars. The householders took great pride in providing for all others. In fact, the ideal householder would not even take their own meal until all needy persons in the village had been given a share of food. An unexpected guest would be treated as if the Supreme Lord Himself had arrived at the house.

A positive and alternative way of living

The Hare Krishna Food for Life program is not just a food-relief service. Rather, it is simply one small feature of a truly positive, practical and alternative way of living. Based on the theme, ‘simple living and high thinking’, the program starts on the land. Our members not only cook the food we serve, but grow it as well on our many farms. We feel there is too much emphasis on materialism. Human life is not meant for increasing the needs of the body. Human life is meant for self-realization, and this begins with simplifying our lives so that the bulk of our energy can be utilized in pursuing more spiritually oriented goals. Just see the result of this materialistic society—distress and dissatisfaction. As humans we have a God-given facility for understanding our spiritual nature and our relationship with Krishna and His creation. The Hare Krishna movement is trying to encourage people in this direction.

Complete welfare service

The Hare Krishna Food for Life program is meant for creating complete reform in the wayward lives of a misdirected civilization. Hare Krishna Food for Life is providing a complete welfare service. Not only do we hand out millions of free meals to the needy around the world, but we also have a drug rehabilitation service that is nearly 100 per cent successful. “Krishna consciousness is close to 100 per cent successful in stopping drug abuse among those who voluntarily enter the program.” (Addictions magazine, Washington DC area Council on Alcoholism & Drug Abuse, Inc.) In fact, we have hundreds of thousands of living examples of transformed lives. Along with this, we provide shelter for the homeless, employment schemes, healthy life training programs, and spiritual counseling for those interested. We believe that welfare must include both material and spiritual rehabilitation for it to be considered complete.

The qualities of a Vaishnava

All members of the Hare Krishna Food for Life organization follow a regulated and healthy lifestyle, avoiding all forms of intoxication, non-vegetarian foodstuffs, and illicit sexual activities. Unmarried members practice celibacy for mental and physical strength and purification. Consequently, our members possess good character and are highly disciplined. We feel it is important to lead a pure lifestyle for self-development as well as to set a good example for others. All of our members are volunteers and do not receive any salaries. However, they are willing to work up to 18 hours per day. Rising by 4am and finishing by 10pm, their only motivation is to carry out the orders of their spiritual master that, “No one within a 10-mile radius of a temple should ever go hungry.”

The above applications for preaching and utilizing the Food for Life program are just to provide you with a basic outline. Obviously we could discuss much further and go into finer detail on particular philosophical points. However, this would also be determined by the particular time, place, and circumstance we find ourselves in.

Government Relations

Food for Life is an excellent way to engage the government leaders in the service of the Lord. Srila Prabhupada wanted us to try to attract the attention of the authorities. He said:

“If we can attract the attention of the authorities, we can push on in a larger scale.” (Srila Prabhupada, Lilamrita Vol. 6 p. 65)

What’s in it for Them?

The first thing you need to do is research the political field. Find out who is the popular politician or authority in your city. Next, find out what their policies are regarding welfare. Once you know this you’re in a strong position to meet them.

Now, you must understand that we must present our ideas in terms of their (politicians’) interest, because the reality is that everyone thinks about themselves first. Atmavan manyate jagat: “Whatever I think, the whole world thinks.” This means we have to talk in terms of “What’s in it for them.” When we can do this, we will really begin communicating. A politician is primarily interested in gaining votes and recognition. If they are seen supporting a charitable cause, they’ll be recognized. As for gaining votes, we simply need to let the politician know that there are hundreds and thousands of Hare Krishna followers in their country or city, and they'll automatically be inspired to support us.

They are also Krishna’s servants

In the Bhagavad-gita, Krishna explains how the learned sage sees with equal vision. This sama darsinah (equal vision) is especially important in any type of communications work. Therefore, one point we must be very clear on is that government officials are also spirit souls. We should not see them as impersonal “suits and ties,” but as people like you and me. Krishna consciousness is synonymous with personalism. Therefore, we should learn how to see the body of every living being as a “temple of Vishnu,” and thus worthy of all respect. This is personalism. This is Krishna consciousness. Srila Prabhodananda Sarasvati nicely describes the correct etiquette in dealing with important people, such as government officials:

“Putting a straw between my teeth and falling at your feet, crying in distress again and again, I say: O noble man, just leave everything far behind you and try to develop your love for the lotus feet of Lord Garuracandra.” (Caitanya Candramrita)

Mature preaching, patience, personalism, and prasadam

Srila Prabhupada would often quote the above verse to the book distributors to explain how one should sell books. A devotee is determined, but his determination is saturated with genuine humility. Therefore, in dealing with respectable people, it is important that we are patient and expert in giving them Krishna consciousness. In other words, we should try to communicate in such a way that they become interested to learn more about Krishna consciousness. They should always feel as if they’re in control. This requires mature preaching, patience, personalism, and prasada. Try to be their friend first. Behave like a perfect gentleman or lady. Be patient and tolerant with their misconceptions and impure behavior. And most importantly, get them to love prasada! Every time you see them, give them prasada. At first they may assume that you are trying to bribe them; however, like all of us, they will happily surrender. Nonetheless, you can explain to them that you give prasadam to everyone. “It’s our culture. We like to do this. We don’t discriminate; everyone deserves the mercy of God.” In this way try to give them the seed of faith.

Having established a good relationship with such people, you should make all efforts to maintain it. After all, it is the age of Kali and faith is a delicate thing. So keep these people informed of your progress. Send them cards on Christmas Day or their birthday. Make them ‘Foundation members’ of the Food for Life program. Keep them involved in your program. It is our responsibility to engage these conditioned souls in the Lord’s service. And as for government officials, the most practical way to engage them is to get them speaking about us, or even better still writing endorsement letters for the Krishna consciousness movement. Srila Prabhupada comments:

“If such leaders of society can be influenced to preach on our behalf, help us to spread Krishna consciousness in some practical way, that is the best service. But simply supporting, that will not help us. Support of mass of people will help us. But mass of people take direction form their leaders, so if the leaders of present day society can be persuaded of our beneficial working for the human welfare, and if they help us somehow to spread what they have learned from us to the people in general, that is the point to be considered...” (Srila Prabhupada letter to Damodara, 9 January 1973)

And in another letter: “I have always stressed that we must become recognized not only by the mass but also by the class. This class section of the society should be encouraged to write letters of appreciation of my books and our activities.” (Srila Prabhupada letter to Mukunda, 21 February 1973)

You never know, these people may even start practicing bhakti yoga, after all, it is their nature: Jivera svarupa haya nitya Krishna das “Every living entity is an eternal servant of Krishna.”

Meeting Officials

Seeing a government official about your program, however, can be a daunting task at first. To make your visit successful, here are some practical tips to follow.

1) Be yourself: Believe in what you are doing. Do not be intimidated by the surroundings. Government offices are simply places where people work.

2) Clothes: Do not be attached to wearing your Vaishnava dress. You have only a short time to get your message across and you do not want to create unnecessary distractions. Wear something in which you feel comfortable but which also fits the surroundings.

3) Numbers: Ideally, two persons. The association will give you strength. More than two will distract from good communications. Two people will allow you to corroborate what transpired; it allows one of you to watch and feel the nonverbal exchanges that take place, and give each of you time to collect your thoughts while the other speaks. We do not recommend taking notes throughout the meeting unless it is an occasional point jotted down unobtrusively. However, as soon as you leave, sit down and note together what undertaking you or the politician has given, and any new information you have obtained. You may like to send a letter to confirm what was agreed. This is not necessary for every visit, but it is a good idea with a notoriously slippery politician. After all, Canakya Pandit did say, “never trust a politician ...”

4) What to take:

Prasadam and maybe even flower garlands.

A brief description of the history of the Food for Life.

A flipbook with photos of your program and others around the world.

You should also have a letter to the politician explaining your program and future plans.

This letter should say precisely what you would like them to do for you. Please be specific. You have to tell the politician exactly what they will get, find out, discover or be able to achieve when they take the action you want them to take. Don’t waste his or your time.

a) Copies of letters of reference (endorsements) from other ministers, politicians or directors of reputable organizations.

Remember that you are supposed to be the expert. Do not presume that the politician will know a great deal about your program and do not try to convey too many ideas. We recommend you use a format in your presentation document similar to what a politician receives from their department as briefing notes. It is a form they are accustomed to following: no more than one or two pages, clearly set out, maybe even in point form, stating what the issue or problem is, the obstacles being faced (no funds, religious discrimination, for example), your present position and ending with a specific recommendation to the politician. Other detailed documents can be provided to support your information. Someone in the department might read them, but probably not the politician.

5) Advisers: At least one person from the politician’s office will be present—a senior private secretary or secretary. These people are very important. They control the advice to and from the politician and to the department. The workload is such that few politicians can keep up with everything in their portfolio all the time. Usually, different staff members look after different aspects of the portfolio. Therefore, it is essential you develop a relationship with the appropriate adviser, if possible, and keep them well informed of your progress, and well fed on prasadam.

6) The interview: Ideally, the politician should speak for a total of half your visit and you share the other half. If you are a little unsure how to proceed, follow the format of your presentation document. Beginners often try to talk too much. Listening is just as important. It will give you clues how to present your proposals, show you obstacles to overcome as well as misunderstandings on the part of the politician that should be corrected.

7) Be clear and pleasant: Be yourself. Make points simply and firmly. Do not alienate, but be firmly dignified if things get tough.

8) Be respectful: Last, but the most important of all, be very respectful and listen carefully. Politicians like to be loved. They are spirit souls like us. They want a reciprocal relationship. However, because of their diplomatic training, they may often sound so agreeable and pleasant that you may think they are agreeing with you, when in actuality they are not. After all, they have been trained in diplomacy; so don’t get bewildered by their promises. Just take note, and if necessary, write to remind them—but in a respectful manner.

Also, keep a united front with your partner and do not exceed your mandate. Do not commit yourself or the program to more than is possible. If the politician wants to push you beyond this, it is appropriate to say that you will have to take it back to your group for consideration.

There is no need to employ a professional person to represent your program. You know your situation better than anyone. The political world is not divorced from the whole world of personal relationships about which we all know a great deal. So be bold and courageous. “Try and you shall succeed.”

Media Relations

With the latest media technology now at the fingertips of almost every homeowner, the potential to spread information about the Krishna consciousness movement to millions of people in seconds has become a reality of the modern world. Therefore, we must use this valuable opportunity to its fullest. Srila Prabhupada comments:

“So you may understand it that by disseminating our Krishna consciousness propaganda anywhere and everywhere, by selling books, by making publicity, newspapers, television, so many ways there are to spread Krishna consciousness information, you may know it that by utilizing our energy in this way to give everyone access to the Absolute Truth, that is the real understanding of desire to serve humanity.” (Room conversation, 1 September 1973)

The Food for Life service has the ability to capture the media very easily. This fact has been proven again and again around the world. Especially in Australia, where efforts were made to extensively engage the media to promote ISKCON, through Food for Life, with the result being that today Krishna devotees have an excellent reputation all across the country.

Media Personnel

Like the government officials, media representatives must be very expertly handled. Only mature and well-informed Vaishnava’s should deal with them. One of the major complaints and frustrations that media correspondents have about public relations or communications officers are that they are often not very knowledgeable or well informed about their particular field. Therefore, it is extremely important that the devotee who acts as the communications officer for Food for Life is an expert and able to speak on all related issues concerning Food for Life.

Again we should know that all media personnel are exactly that, persons—like you and me. It just so happens that they have a job with the local newspaper or television company. Therefore, treat them like people. Give them plenty of attention and plenty of prasada! Keep them informed about the progress of the Food for Life program. Regularly send them a report. It may only be a half-page of information, but it will keep them thinking of us, and that’s the secret. More than anything else, media relations mean being personal.

Pro-active and Re-active

Often organizations will never contact the media until a major catastrophe happens and their group or organization is in damage control. Then they will resort to using what is known as ‘re-active’ techniques on the media in an attempt to save their organization from ‘drowning.’ Inevitably what happens is that they simply sink even further with their ‘re-active’ excuses. A better way of dealing with the media and counteracting negative events is to continuously bombard the media with the positive aspects of Krishna consciousness. This is known as being pro-active. If we keep filling the media with all the ‘goodness’ of Krishna consciousness, they simply won’t care for anything that may appear bad or negative. Even if some reversal does occur, our friends in the media will be eager to give us the opportunity to clarify or correct the situation. But often they will not even care to report the negative news because of their friendship with us and their respect and appreciation for the good we are doing. For example, if you fill a cup with milk until it is nearly overflowing, and then try to put one drop of ink inside, it won’t be able to enter but will roll off the top and leave the milk uncontaminated. Good media relations means being pro-active by thoroughly filling up their cup with the goodness of Food for Life and/or Krishna consciousness!

Foreign Correspondents

In every major city of the world there are representatives from the media in foreign countries. They are known as foreign correspondents. Particularly this is so where there is overseas interest in that city due to war, political unrest, famine, natural disasters, and so on. Presently there are many such places around the world that are regularly being reported in the news by foreign correspondents. The war-torn state of Palestine is one such place. Practically every single day, in all forms of the media, there is some update on the horrific situation there. The fact is everyone knows something about Palestine. Even the old wheat farmer in the outback of Australia would be able to tell you something about what’s happening there. The same applied to the war in Sarajevo during the early 1990s and the current Syrian refugee crisis.

Global Village

So what does this mean to us? It means a lot, especially since ISKCON has members in the Middle East. For example, back in the early 90s, a small group of about 10 new bhaktas risked their lives throughout the fighting to save the lives of others. They ventured out every day to feed hundreds of starving children and the elderly with cookies and fresh hot bread. Unfortunately, hardly anyone outside of Sarajevo knew about their work. Partly because Sarajevo is a Muslim-dominated country, and so the devotees did not present themselves as affiliated with ISKCON, but mostly because these devotees did not realize the importance of contacting foreign correspondents. Not only is it important for their own local preaching that they do this, but it is even more important they do this for the rest of the ISKCON world. Everything we do, especially activities like Food for Life, should be handled as an international concern. The fact is, with the rise of the Internet, the world truly is a global village. Now with the ubiquity of smartphones, the world with all its cultural diversity, linguistic, political, and religious barriers is just one big village. The Internet is also playing a major role in molding the behavior and thought patterns of the people of the world. As an emissary of the Vedic Culture of spiritual hospitality and its foundational principle of spiritual equality, it is imperative that Food for Life be at the cutting edge of this medium. Our message is pure, simple, and internationally relevant—and so we should never hesitate to share it.

Transcendental Global Village

As representatives of the highest ‘media agency,’ we should always try to inject the message of Krishna consciousness wherever possible. In other words, we have to use every opportunity we can to broadcast the activities and message of the Vaishnava culture through the media. Foreign correspondents, like any news reporters, are waiting anxiously for a story. Any success or human-interest story involving Vaishnava’s in one country should be known around the world. We have to make Krishna consciousness and Hare Krishna Food for Life an international brand. Why should only a handful of FFL projects around the world get good media coverage? All ISKCON and Food for Life centers should benefit. We have to start seeing ISKCON and Food for Life as a transcendental global village. Uniting Srila Prabhupada’s family was one of the goals of the Prabhupada Centennial committee, and we strongly believe that in order to do this we must start promoting and developing international projects such as Food for Life, hence, Food for Life Global slogan: Uniting the World Through Pure Food.

How to Produce a News Release

Some Basic Facts:

1) 85%–90% of all newspaper articles start as a news or press release.

2) A news release must be arranged as a precise list of facts in a precise list of importance.

3) The media is not to promote you; they are simply conveying information. This is important to understand when preparing to write.

4) Before beginning, draw up a list of all the most important points you want to get across in your news release and then list them in order of importance from the most to the least important. Having done this, you’ll know how to make your first sentence really powerful.

The Angle

The most important element in your news release is the angle. You must find an appropriate angle or ‘hook’ to present your story about Food for Life. One example is that Food for Life is serving its ‘100,000th free meal!’ That’s impressive and interesting. The point is, your angle must be unique, sensational, historical, controversial, or plain impressive. It must be newsworthy! Look for the human-interest story: something that tells of a person’s struggles, success, misfortune, good fortune, or courage.

Another way to get the attention of the media is by involving a celebrity or important person in your Food for Life program. The media always like to report on what important people are doing. Politicians are the easiest to involve; however, even more effective is to engage a famous celebrity, a humanitarian, or a well-known musician, or such like. If you are able to do so, you are almost guaranteed to get into the news.

The Basic Structure

We will not go into too much detail here. First thing to do is find out the name of the media person you will be giving it to and address it to them, along with their job title. Use colored paper, not white. Even better, use your colorful letterhead. Every sentence should be a paragraph and every line should be one and a half spaced or double-spaced. Wherever possible, your press release should be no more than 1.5 pages in length. Every day in a major city newsroom, up to 500 media releases will come in, so we have to make ours stand out above the rest.

Now the most important thing to do is to try to capture their attention in your first paragraph. And this should begin with a one-sentence headline. This first sentence should basically state the main theme. For example, “Hare Krishnas serve the two-millionth free meal!” Then in your opening paragraph give all the details about the program. That means the five (Ws) and the one (H)—Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How. Keep it short, precise, and interesting (and make sure there are no grammatical or spelling errors.) The first paragraph is the most important part of your media release. Take your time and make it powerful.

Each line of the media release should be double spaced, so that it is easy to read. Put your contact name and phone number on the top or bottom of the page, as well as the times to ring. Leave a quarter of the top of the page clear so that the media person can write notes. See a sample on page 145.

Delivering the Media Release

The best thing is to deliver the media release by hand directly to the person along with prasadam. Personal contact is always the best. The next best thing is to mail or courier it along with prasada. If this is not possible, only then should you consider faxing. Fifty per cent of all faxes get lost. They often fall out of the paper tray onto the floor or merge with a mountain of other papers on the newsroom desk, and no one ever gets to see them.

When to Deliver Them

Send news releases out regularly, but don’t send out something when you have nothing to say. There should be at least two delivered to every newsroom. If you have to mail the new release, make sure you ring first to alert the secretary of your incoming letter.

The first media release should arrive one week before the event is to take place. The second one must arrive the day before. Then on the morning of the event you must ring them to politely remind them of your event. And then when they come, don’t forget the prasadam and maha garlands! Give them a ‘full serving’ of Vaishnava etiquette.

Who to give it to?

Radio stations

1) Chief of staff (newsroom)

2) Producer (first find out which radio program would be interested in our story. Radio stations are the easiest mediums to get publicity, simply because they need to fill up 24 hours of radio time). They’re desperate for stories and news.

Television

1) Chief of staff (newsroom)

2) Chief researcher (this is the person who is responsible for all that happens on a television current affairs or chat show)

Newspapers

1) Chief of staff (newsroom)

2) Pictorial editor (this person is interested in photos for the newspaper. Therefore, you should mention on your news release all the photo opportunities that will be available at your event)

3) Religion editor (a very important person to educate about the cultural and religious value of the Krishna consciousness movement)

4) Food editor (you may consider giving this person a free cookbook as well).

You should also consider contacting specialist publications and freelance writers, who are usually the best of all reporters. If you want instant action, then local papers are by far the best. They always like to report on people and organizations in their local area. Pictures are especially good for local papers. Black and white photographs are more likely to be used. Remember to attach a label on the back and mark it with the date, time, place and who the people are in the picture.

Note: To find out the names of these people, you can either ring the secretary or obtain what is known as a ‘media guide,’ which is a list of all the people in the media. It will give their name, position, responsibility, phone, fax, and the mailing address. A media guide is essential for any serious communications officer. There are many online sources for this information.

Humanitarian relief and the media: making the relationship more effective

Humanitarian aid organizations need the press. Good coverage can help with fundraising, smooth the way to cooperation with host governments and raise staff morale. Journalists need humanitarian organizations to provide on-the-ground expertise and resources, and the raw material of their stories. It is therefore surprising how little each side understands the other:

NGO press officers complain that few journalists know about chronic, long-term problems such as HIV/AIDS in Africa or the comeback of malaria. Journalists say that they do know about these issues, but need better reasons to run stories on chronic issues today, rather than at some point in the future.

NGO press officers complain that journalists are less knowledgeable than they used to be, and less polite in the field. Journalists doubt that humanitarian organizations operate efficiently, and are skeptical about their motives.

Journalists complain that NGO press events lack the kind of follow-up or relevance that could result in more than a single story about an event.

NGOs offer increasingly elaborate websites. Journalists find that the sites do not contain all the information they need – and that for competitive reasons NGOs usually do not link to other NGOs doing the same kind of work or providing aid in the same area.

The following article reports on two surveys exploring the nature of the relationship between humanitarian NGOs and the press, carried out in the latter half of 2003. The work was sponsored by the Fritz Institute and the Reuters Foundation. The first survey covered press officers and field personnel at 54 humanitarian aid organizations worldwide, by email and telephone. Their responses helped shape the second survey, covering reporters, editors and opinion writers. More than 290 responses were tallied. The full report, by far the largest and most systematic ever attempted in this field, is available at www.fritzinstitute.org .

Has coverage of aid work increased?

By a three-to-one margin, journalists said that coverage of humanitarian aid operations had increased. This was contrary to the belief among many NGO press officers that coverage was static or declining, especially for chronic problems such as HIV/AIDS in Africa. Research in NEXIS, a database of articles, showed that the volume of stories on long-term chronic crises has indeed been increasing in the mainstream press. The coverage is spread across many more groups providing aid, including humanitarian NGOs, perhaps contributing to the perception of less coverage by individual NGO press officers.

The bad news: a more critical press

By a four-to-one margin, journalists said that criticism and skepticism in the press about relief organizations had increased. Among columnists, editorial writers and opinion writers, the gap was 11-to-1: 57% said they were more critical about relief organizations, as against 5% who said they were not. Journalists criticized NGOs as having ‘large bureaucracies’, and for staging ‘fancy events and expensive lunches aimed at attracting journalists’. Faith-based organizations were noticeably exempt from these criticisms. It seems that journalists have only a hazy idea about what overhead is necessary in any organization, and only a vague notion about where to gather comparative data (one source for North American NGOs is www.guidestar.com).

What makes news?

Reporters who cover crises do not do so full time. In fact, the average among the respondents was less than one story in five. Only two of the 265 journalists who responded to this question said that they exclusively covered crises. Only 10% (27) said that crisis stories made up more than half of their output. Thus, the newsworthiness of humanitarian stories is judged by the norms of other stories they do, such as timeliness and death-toll.

Almost half of the respondents (49%) said that a high death-toll was the best reason to run a relief story. Having a readership of the same background as the people affected by the crisis was also cited as making a story compelling, as was the involvement of aid workers from the readership or viewership area. As for what keeps crisis stories off the news agenda, the two main reasons given were a lack of journalistic resources and ‘crisis fatigue’; each was mentioned by more than a quarter of respondents. The third most cited reason was the predominance of Iraq and Afghanistan, followed closely by a ‘lack of new angles’ to long-running crises.

There was a marked orientation towards breaking news: almost half (48%) of all the stories done by all the respondents were categorized by them as breaking news; 31% were categorized as features and 20% as opinion, columns or editorials. Even respondents who classified themselves as columnists, editorial writers and opinion writers did a substantial amount of what they considered to be breaking news (43% of their output, on average). The lesson from this is that humanitarian aid organizations should not pour huge resources into ‘educating’ journalists about crises. The issue is not lack of knowledge, but that journalists and their editors do not consider many crises to be ‘news’.

What journalists want

Journalists most want what most NGOs seem loath to provide: links on their websites to other groups doing similar things or working in the same areas. The next most popular request was for NGOs to hold more press conferences. Journalists, particularly outside North America, also asked for training, travel help and free editorial material, such as images and video. This was confirmed by NGO respondents, who reported an increase in requests by journalists for ‘stock footage’ video and still images to use in coverage. Many NGOs have started to put still images on their websites in response. While these images are typically collected informally, some NGOs give their field staff digital cameras and ask them to submit photographs.

Lessons for NGOs

Resource issues: Only nine of the 54 NGO respondents said that they had a specific budget for press relations within field and regional offices. The approach is remarkably ad hoc, despite the potential fundraising benefits of a good relationship with the press. While donors want to see their money used operationally, some are willing to specifically fund press relations efforts.

NGOs acknowledge many missteps in press relations, and many NGO respondents mentioned a need for more training. Although large international organizations often hire experienced journalists as press officers at headquarters, regional press officers are rarely well-versed in international press relations. There is, however, little time or money to train press officers in the field. No respondent outside CARE and the IFRC mentioned having a budget for such training beyond perhaps a few hundred dollars for attending short seminars.

Nevertheless, regional press officers described the range of basic services they provide to journalists without special prompting. These include writing and distributing press releases and background reports on regional aid needs, offering photographs for use with journalists’ stories and holding the press conferences that journalists say they want more of. They displayed good understanding of the need for timeliness in attending to journalists’ requests.

The web

The worldwide web has opened up opportunities for humanitarian aid organizations to gain international visibility. But the potential of Internet technologies has barely begun to be exploited. Few NGOs have a formal online pressroom and archive of press releases. Those that do, and had the usage data to tell, reported that these areas were popular with users.

Key issues include:

Few humanitarian organizations’ websites have internal search engines.

None of the NGO officers we talked to said that their organization had a formal procedure in place to check on a continuing basis whether their website was easily found on the various international versions of Google, Yahoo and other search engines. Several assumed that their webmasters or other ‘technical’ personnel handled such chores.

Many sites cannot be fully searched from the outside by search engines such as Google, either because the pages are sparse on text or because they are ‘framed’. Framed pages load faster when bandwidth is low, but cannot easily be found and indexed by search engines.

Newer web technologies such as streaming video and blogs (weblogs: online newsletters by individual or corporate reporters) are virtually ignored.

Email is often used to send press releases, but distribution lists are built in a haphazard manner. Fax and post are also used, despite the costs and potential for errors in distribution. Email is clearly under-utilized, perhaps because address lists are poor.

Conclusions

The issues that need fixing fall into two categories: misconceptions and inefficiencies. On the misconception side, humanitarian aid organizations should pay closer attention to what journalists say they need to enable them to cover crises. The journalists have a fair idea about what the crises are, but often lack the financial resources necessary to report them.

On the inefficiencies side, NGOs need to rethink their traditional ideas about training. If a typical field office staff member stays with an organization for two years, expensive annual training visits would benefit that organization for only 18 months before replacements are hired. Organizations should thus think about sharing training visits and basic training materials, and about supplementing visits with alternative training methods such as online distance learning. Finally, humanitarian aid organizations have taken great advantage of the Internet, but can do far more, at trivial extra cost.

Suggestions Regarding Media Events

There are so many opportunities for promoting your Food for Life program and inviting important people and the media to your temple or center. According to His Holiness Mukunda Goswami, ISKCON’s Communications Director, “A Food for Life program operation in a city of 500,000 people should issue at least 50 new releases every year. This should be the absolute minimum.”

Try putting on a celebration feast for your 100,000th free meal or Food for Life’s first birthday in the city, or some significant milestone event like this. You could also have a special feast on a public holiday, like Christmas or Father’s Day. Contact your local council, library and tourist information center for news on up-and-coming events. Then somehow try to involve your Food for Life program. The key is to be creative and collaborative.

EXAMPLE NEWS RELEASE

15 November 2015
9:00 am
MOSCOW TIMES
Attention: Mr. Sam Kirtanovgor (Chief of Staff)

(For Immediate Release)

“Food for Life celebrating 50th Anniversary of ISKCON founding”

At 12 noon, Thursday 20 November, at Moscow’s World Convention center, the Food for Life, a social outreach project of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (the Hare Krishna movement) will be celebrating the 50th Anniversary founding of ISKCON by serving 1 million meals in one day.

The Convention center will be the site of a full day’s entertainment, including mantra-rock bands with laser light special effects, drama, Indian dancing, sword-fighting, ancient wedding ceremonies, and free food distribution.

The colorful event will be preceded by a massive parade of 1000 Hare Krishna musicians from 25 countries, playing traditional instruments (drums, cymbals and horns). The parade will start at the Red Square at 9am, proceeding down Tverskaya Street, and finally arriving at the Convention Center at 12 noon.

The Hare Krishna movement (ISKCON) was founded in 1966 in New York by His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada, who began his worldwide missionary activities on the order of his spiritual master. Within a short span of 11 years, he traveled the globe 14 times, initiating more than 10,000 followers and establishing 108 Krishna temples, as well as schools, restaurants, food relief service (Hare Krishna Food for Life) and farming communities.

Krishna members from all over the globe are joining together to celebrate this historical occasion in major cities around the world, including New York, Paris, London, and Sydney, performing their traditional Hare Krishna chant, organizing free public festivals and distributing millions of plates of free plant-based meals.

Everyone is welcome to come and enjoy the exciting occasion.

Admission is free.

* END *

Contact:

Sergey Listenev...............(9am–12pm) Ph: XXXXXXXXXXX

Or: Murari............................(12pm–3pm) Ph: XXXXXXXXXXX

Note: Of course your media release can be more detailed and a little longer. This is just a basic sample.

Fundraising with Food for Life

‘Friend Raising’

The first thing to know about fundraising is that it begins with ‘friend raising.’ Now what that means is that we must learn how to cultivate long-lasting friendships. We do this by being truthful, respectful, humble, and tolerant. Unless we can demonstrate these qualities, especially truthfulness, we can never expect to gain the full support and reciprocation of the public. So before you get carried away with how much money your temple could make from a Food for Life program, you’d better understand the need to be honest.

Srila Prabhupada was particularly insistent that money collected for food relief programs be used for those programs. If we do everything above suspicion, we will see an amazing amount of public appreciation and financial support coming to our Food for Life program. Practically, we won’t have to bother ourselves with all the fundraising techniques and professional manuals. Donations will literally pour into the temple because everyone likes to give. They like to give to a cause that they have faith in—a cause that will utilize their donation properly.

So our first concern should be to develop enduring friendships, by demonstrating the qualities of Vaishnava’s, such as truthfulness, as well as learning to see everyone who comes in contact with our movement as potential Krishna bhaktas.

Building reputation is essential for fundraising

In fundraising, a good reputation is essential. The fact is people are not going to give to any organization that doesn’t have a good reputation. In order to attain a good reputation, we have to first get eradicate any bad reputation that we may have. And that basically means re-educating people, improving communications, erasing misconceptions, practicing what we preach, and being consistently good over a long period of time—and maybe even changing our strategies.

A good example of this is the Salvation Army. Most people are unaware that the Salvation Army is a “splinter group” of the Methodist church. Back in the early 1800s, the Salvos were out on the streets of England, just like us, banging drums and blowing horns, with a true evangelistic spirit. However, their sincere attempts to glorify God with music and song were not at all appreciated. In fact, they were badly ridiculed by the public, beaten and practically forced off the streets. Does this sound familiar? Anyway, they decided to adjust their strategy by incorporating a welfare service into their program, feeding and clothing the poor during the war times. The result was immediate acceptance by the public and a wonderful reputation that is still flourishing today. In fact, their reputation is so strong that today the words “welfare” and “caring” are practically synonymous with the name Salvation Army. Another good example of changing strategies is the Australian Yatra.

How we did it in Australia

Some of you may be familiar with the history of the Australian yatra. When Krishna consciousness began there, devotees were subject to persecution from the public and the media as well. However, in 1980, when 60 Minutes, Australia’s most popular public affairs television program, aired ‘The children of Krishna,’ ISKCON’s reputation changed literally overnight. Taking advantage of this newly found reputation, the Australian leaders embarked upon a major propagation campaign, producing two color magazine inserts that were placed into leading newspapers across the country. This was followed by a national bus party that visited every major town in Australia, distributing books and free prasadam as well as promoting the cause of the oppressed Soviet Hare Krishnas, culminating in a record sung by Sri Prahlad das, ‘Mr Gorbachev, Set Them Free.’ The result of all this was that our movement was favorably reported in every single newspaper, TV news broadcast and radio show in Australia!

Alongside the “Free the Soviet” campaign, however, the Hare Krishna Food for Life program also began to become famous. Starting back in 1978 from the Kings Cross temple, this program achieved national recognition in the mid 1980s when it was seen as a practical solution to a major social problem. Australia was experiencing an unprecedented rise in unemployment and inflation at the time, and thus thousands were caught struggling to make ends meet. The Food for Life program was ISKCON’s positive input. As one famous social reformer commented during a television interview: “I think that the Hare Krishnas will fulfill the role that the Salvation Army fulfilled in the 19th century … It’s not just a handout—it’s a handout with something else—human compassion—and it gives welfare a human face.” (Reverend Ted Noffs, 1986)

Along with these successful media campaigns, ISKCON also utilized the Food for Life program to cultivate leading government officials by encouraging them to endorse the program and even practically engaging them in the program by serving some of the meals. This pro-active preaching was coupled with a more mature approach to street activity (we stopped harassing people to take a book). The result is that today members of ISKCON experience a healthy reputation all over Australia and New Zealand. This solid reputation and respectability helped gain numerous grants from the federal government and private foundations in the early 1990s.

Of course, a lot more funds have been collected over the years, utilizing the name of Food for Life, through street collections and the like. The fact is that many temples around the world rely heavily on the Food for Life program as a means for maintaining the temple. Unfortunately, very little of this money actually makes its way to maintaining these Food for Life programs.

Truthfulness

According to the Srimad Bhagavatam, “Truthfulness is the last leg of religion.” Srila Prabhupada himself said that we should become adored for our honesty:

Regarding the controversy about book distribution techniques, you are right. Our occupation must be honest. Everyone should adore our members as honest. If we do something that is deteriorating the popular sentiments of the public in favor of our movement, that is not good. Somehow or other we should not become unpopular in the public eye. These dishonest methods must be stopped. It is hampering our reputation all over the world. Money collected for feeding people in India should be collected under the name ISKCON Food Relief. Not any other name. And every farthing of that money must be sent to India, or better yet, buy food grains there and ship them here and we will distribute. But every farthing collected for that purpose must be used for that purpose.”
(Srila Prabhupada letter to Rupanuga, 9 January 1975)

We should strictly adhere to this essential religious principle of truthfulness, not only for the sake of purity but also to enhance our reputation and qualify ourselves as worthy recipients of the public’s donations. One of the biggest complaints book distributors receive is that the public feels that we are dishonest. Too often devotees, especially managers, neglect the principle of truthfulness in the name of ‘doing the needful,’ making a few extra dollars to pay the bills. However, although we can always justify the means by the result, as we can see by this quote, Srila Prabhupada was never pleased with anything that would jeopardize our reputation.

The ‘Half Hen’ Logic

We shouldn’t be like the man who had a chicken but who was only interested in getting the egg. He didn’t want the hassle of having to feed the chicken; therefore, he foolishly concluded that the best thing to do would be to cut off the chicken’s head! He would then only have the best half of the chicken. He could get the egg and not have to worry about feeding it.

Srila Prabhupada often gave this analogy to condemn the mayavadis who are only willing to take those parts of the Bhagavad-gita that suit their whims. “We should accept the Bhagavad-gita in whole,” said Srila Prabhupada. Similarly, we felt this same analogy could be applied in terms of Food for Life management. In other words, we must be willing to put into the Food for Life program what we are willing to take from it. We shouldn’t be like the foolish chicken farmer and try to avoid feeding the chicken and yet still expect to get all the eggs. Unfortunately, however, many of our Food for Life programs around the world are being managed with this ‘half-hen’ logic. And thus they are being exploited and mismanaged, both legally and ethically. “We should be adored for our honesty,” said Srila Prabhupada.

Street Collections

The way the public view our devotee collectors on the street is the way they will view ISKCON. Rude, overzealous neophytes or dishonest management can cause havoc for our movement’s reputation. There are already so many examples in the history of ISKCON of temples being closed down, humiliated and even sent bankrupt because of illegal collecting methods using the good name of Food for Life. In one city of America, for example, irresponsible members of our movement were caught red-handed by the federal police for embezzling thousands of dollars collected in the name of Food for Life. The media plastered the story on TV, radio and newspapers and our reputation sank further into the mud of Kali-yuga. The authorities were so disturbed by this incident that, for the first time in American history, the State Attorney General wanted to close down a charity (Food for Life).

Despite the bad history (there are a lot of other examples) this shortsighted attitude continues in temples all over the world. Temple presidents find themselves stretched to pay the bills and this quick fix method, using stickers, hats and other tricks, is always the one they fall back on. Collecting on the streets is considered by professionals to be the most inefficient and potentially damaging method of fundraising there is. Nonetheless, in some temples, day after day, ISKCON members are sent out on the streets by their temples presidents to hustle for donations using the good name of Food for Life. Unbeknownst to these donors, is that a very small percentage of what’s collected actually makes its way into the FFL accounts, unless of course the donor makes out a check, then the management is forced to use it for Food for Life.

But this is not the only scenario. The sad truth is there are many older devotees that have fallen into trap of easy money, who go out to collect independently of the temples, using the same tactics they learned when living in the temple. I know, because I have seen them in action and given them a rude awakening when I tell them that I am the director of Food for Life Global and that what they are doing is bogus.

My question is: Does it always take a crisis, as we’ve seen in the past, before a temple management or independent grhastha realizes that they’re on the wrong track, and that they should have been more thoughtful and honest—more Krishna conscious about making money?

What is wrong with living by the law, working at an outside job, paying taxes and being a respectable citizen who also practices Krishna consciousness? We shouldn’t think that we are able to do whatever we like just because we chant Hare Krishna. Of course, if we genuinely practice Krishna consciousness, we will become purified of these cheating propensities.

All honest members of ISKCON should stand strong on this point and work towards stamping out all bogus methods of collecting in the name of Food for Life. I have lost track of how many phone calls or emails I have gotten over the last 24 years from the public asking me if “such-and-such” is a bonafide collector. I flatly tell them, “No, they are bogus, report them to the police.” Why would I do this, you ask? Because these same people have the gall to send people to our website! We have never received one penny from a street collector.

How much percentage should street collectors get?

Since the beginning of Hare Krishna Food for Life, ISKCON temples have been using it as a “cash cow” to collect donations from the public, however, in most cases these funds are never exclusively used for the purpose stated by these street collectors and there are examples of individuals raising millions of dollars for themselves using this method. Yes, I said, millions! In many cases, the collector will keep most of the donations and give a token amount (10-20% to the temple, while others will keep 33%-50% of the collection, however, keep in mind that this spread of the collection is all based on what the collector admits to having collected.

What does the National Council of Non Profits in the US have to say about this matter?

“It is NOT appropriate for a nonprofit to compensate a fundraising professional based on a percentage of the money raised.

The message here could not be clearer: ISKCON or Food for Life should NOT be paying their fundraisers a percentage of funds collected.

The actual professional standard is that 100% of the collection is given to the charity and then the charity pays a set wage to that fundraiser, which is then reported in their annual filing as fundraising fees or wages, which the collector is then taxed on.

See Standard #21 of the AFP Code of Ethical Principles and Standards for professional fundraisers.

Read a position paper on percentage based compensation from AFP that describes why paying a fundraising consultant or grantwriter on commission or based on a percentage of funds raised is not ethical.

Example: Code of Ethics/Fundraising. See Section VII of the Pennsylvania Association of Nonprofit Organizations' (PANO) Code of Ethics which is one standard contained in the Standards for Excellence for Pennsylvania nonprofits.

Here is an excellent resource for policies and standards related to fundraising: https://www.councilofnonprofits.org/tools-resources/ethical-fundraising

It’s time to get Professional

The public is fed up with bogus collectors and misspent donations. It is well known that much of the money collected for most of the larger charities is swallowed up in administration, which often means wages. As a volunteer organization made up of supposed unmotivated servants of the Lord, we should avoid using Food for Life as the sole basis for maintaining our temples or families. If you’re a collector, you DO NOT have a right to take these funds. They belong to the charity you represent. And don’t tell the public that every single cent will be used for feeding the needy—be realistic. And if you’re a temple manager, please make sure that you do not jeopardize our reputation by careless money management. The Charity Commission is always on the lookout for bogus operations.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Because of the controversy surrounding this form of fundraising, Food for Life Global does NOT endorse any street collections and any FFL project found to be doing that is immediately disqualified from our support or endorsement. If you do this kind of collecting and it is learned that you are cheating the public, you will lose your affiliation status with Food for Life Global.

The “Beggar” Image

Ill-motivated members of ISKCON should not be allowed to pose as Food for Life collectors and cheat the public out of their money. If ISKCON temples allow it, the public will soon become annoyed, as has happened in so many countries around the world. This method of fundraising (selling stickers or just street begging) is very much outdated, and in general, is not appreciated by the public. We should try to improve our public image by practically demonstrating that ISKCON members are productive members of the community and are able to live in harmony with the modern world as responsible citizens

“We are not dependent on anyone’s contribution; we are dependent on Krishna,” Srila Prabhupada said.

Three Reasons Why People Give

There are three major reasons why a person will give in charity to one organization and not another:

1) The Mission

Q)      Is it a worthwhile mission? Is it charitable?

A)      Yes, certainly. The Food for Life program is a worthy mission. Everyone can appreciate feeding the needy. So we’re doing well with the first reason. However, because people want a vision of a better future, the needs of our program must be well defined and also our solution must be very clear so that there is no doubt about the worthiness of what we are trying to do.

2) The quality of the people involved

Q)      Are the members of the organization of good character? Do they practice what they preach? Are they committed to the mission?

A)      Here we could do with some improvements. First of all, we should only have very qualified devotees representing the Food for Life program. We simply cannot afford to have anything but well trained and committed devotees representing this program (that is, cooking, distribution of prasadam, and fundraising). The devotees we send out onto the streets collecting on behalf of ISKCON or Food for Life are supposed to be the ambassadors of our movement. We are being judged by their behavior. As the saying goes, “You judge a tree by its fruits.” Similarly, if we send out “sour” or “unripe” fruits into the marketplace, our “tree” of reputation will not be appreciated. There is a common saying in the United States among the devotees, “Food for Life for me and my wife.” It may sound humorous, but the implications of this non-Vaishnava behavior could be disastrous for our movement. Unless we can demonstrate honest and perfect characters, we can never expect wide scale support from the masses.

The other point is that for our volunteers (devotees) to be committed to the mission, it is essential that the leaders encourage their efforts to push on the Food for Life program. Let’s start having a broader outlook on the preaching mission of ISKCON. Those involved in prasadam distribution and sankirtana should receive as much encouragement as the book distributors. It is only fair. These devotees should also be consulted in determining the strategies and directions of the program. After all, they are the ones who are seeing the problems and the positive results of prasadam distribution. Their opinion should be valued. When we do this, we will really begin seeing commitment.                               

3) The financial stability of the organization

QQ)       Is this organization accountable? Will they spend my donation properly? Can I trust them?

A)            Here again is another area we need to improve: accountability. We cannot be so naive as to expect people to blindly donate their money without concern for accountability. All successful organizations in today’s fundraising sector spend a large percentage of their time and energy in demonstrating accountability. One of the obvious ways they do this is through publications. They send out regular newsletters to their donors, telling of the organization’s progress and future developments, as well as a detailed income and expenditure report. The fact is if we wish to get large donations, we must become accountable. We must be ready to literally open our books to the public.

In conclusion: People give to others who they see as representing a worthwhile, professionally run, honest organization with dedicated and highly regarded staff.

The Right, Right, Right Method

One logical and practical rule of fundraising is the “right method.” We should ask the right person, in the right way and at the right time, for the right amount, in the right place and through the right person. In other words, we must use a little common sense. If you ask a little old lady on the street for a one-million-dollar donation, you’ll get nothing. Similarly, if we ask a millionaire on the street for one dollar, we’ll get nothing. Not only because such a small donation is an embarrassment to the rich businessman, but it’s just not the right place, nor the right method. The larger the donation, the larger amount of time, care and information we must sacrifice. Rich people just don’t make large donations on the street corner. For such people we should organize to have a meeting, and at that time prasadam should be given along with sufficient information of our program, our plans, and specifically how our rich friend can invest in this program. We can only expect to get back what we are willing to put in.

In order to arrange such a meeting, it will be necessary to go through the right person. That means someone who is respected by our potential donor should refer us. This is probably the rightest thing you can do—getting referred or endorsed by another organization or important person that means something to our potential donor.

The Pyramid

The picture of a pyramid can help us to understand the science of fundraising. Imagine that you have a pyramid, consisting of many levels (refer to Figure 1, Appendix IV). The bottom layer represents the unlimited potential donors for your Food for Life program. They term this the “Universe.” Every organization has their own “Universe,” consisting of all the people who have ever come in contact with the organization. For us that means contacts made through book distribution, our restaurants, Sunday feasts, the temples, and relatives of devotees. All these make up our “Universe.”

Now, the idea is to somehow or other draw these contacts to the first level of the pyramid. This means convincing them to make a contribution to Food for Life. Naturally the percentage of these first-time donors is less than the initial “Universe.” Similarly, the next level represents those who give for a second time, or who renew their commitment. This percentage again gets smaller. The next level is the group that regularly gives to the program, but their donations are sporadic and they are still not yet fully committed. The next level is those who have made some concrete commitment to the running of the program and are making substantial and consistently regular donations on a weekly, monthly or yearly basis. These people are a small percentage. The top level— “the peak of the pyramid”—consists of those who are willing to donate their lifetime savings to the organization. Such people are often coming from the bottom of the pyramid and have been gradually elevated up to the top of the pyramid over a long period of time. These people are a very small percent, but their contributions are the largest. In fact, it is said that 80 per cent of all donations will come from 20 per cent of your donors—in other words, the top two levels of your pyramid. Therefore, it is only logical that 80 per cent of your time and care be given to the 20 per cent of your donors. The idea is to gradually bring people to higher and higher levels of your pyramid—and this requires patience and long-term vision.

Express Your Gratitude

Although it is important to spend a large amount of time with your regular donors, this does not mean that you neglect everyone else. No. We must be appreciative of everyone’s contribution. We have to be patient and ready to spend a long time cultivating people over many years. Unfortunately, due to a lack of such patience and long-term vision, many of our contacts have been lost, neglected, or improperly treated.

The tendency has been to get as much from people as possible in the shortest time and never worry about them again. “Take their money and run!” No thank you, no recognition, and no sensitivity. Actually, there is another rule of fundraising and that is, “say thank you,” at least seven times! Make people feel appreciated. Everyone likes to feel appreciated, so do it—say, “thank you.” Thank them personally, write them a letter, give them a certificate of recognition, advertise their name in your temple newsletter, send a card on their birthday, or give them prasada. Please do it, and the result will be that these people will give again and again, and gradually rise up to the top levels of your pyramid.

Working Smarter, Not Harder

We need to start working smarter, using our intelligence, and not harder like the ass! This means doing things in a systematic and professional manner. Every temple should collect a database or “Universe” of contacts and start using them. This means cultivating them, fanning the spark of devotion in their hearts by engaging them in more and more devotional service. In other words, get them working for Krishna; don’t let them rot away in Maya’s dungeon. We’re supposed to represent the brahminical culture. The intelligentsia of society, not the arms and legs! It is our responsibility to engage people in Krishna’s service. Therefore, what is required is that we start working smarter and using our intelligence in Krishna’s service. For example, say you need to package 10,000 sweet balls for a festival on the weekend. Instead of engaging 10 brahmacharis in laboring all day to do this, it is a much smarter idea to engage one brahmachari in ringing up all our contacts and asking them would they like to do a little devotional service for Krishna. This is what it means to be resourceful and a brahmana is the most resourceful person

Foundation Membership

This is a neat way to create a steady financial basis for your prasadam distribution program. Approach your friends, family members, and business people in the area to become a Food for Life “Foundation Member.” The price could be set at say, $500 per year (Gold Member) and $250 dollar per year (Silver Member), and maybe $108 per year (Prabhupada das Member). Members could pay in a lump sum or by installments. They should receive a special framed certificate of appreciation, as well as a membership card, some of Prabhupada’s books, a Krishna poster, a regular newsletter and prasada. The newsletter can be in a two-page format, with a short report on the program’s progress, future plans, a story, a financial report and a mention of others who have recently signed up as members. Your members will appreciate being kept informed.

This program is similar to the Life Membership program, but a little more affordable of course. However, we shouldn’t fall into the same trap of promising too many benefits as we did with Life Membership. Better to offer what you can practically afford. The most important thing to offer them is truthfulness. Sell them on the spiritual benefits of investing in this important welfare project, of distributing Krishna prasada.

The $10 Club

Food for Life Global has a $10/month club where people commit to giving $10 through a direct debit of their PayPal account and in exchange they get a free copy of the book, FOOD YOGA. However, as an extra incentive, if they pay 12 months in advance, they get a FFLG supporter T-shirt. We’ve found this program to be very effective in creating a steady flow of income to support the charity’s operations.

Fundraising Products

Whenever we go shopping these days we are guaranteed to see some type of “fundraising-confectionery” being displayed at the pay counter. There is no reason why Food for Life should not have its own line of fundraising products. It may only be packets of cookies or small plastic bags of burfi, but you’ll be surprised at the response. People become addicted to those little sweets at the corner shop. One confectionery company in England last year made 20 million pounds from one single chocolate bar! And in Australia a group of devotees developed a chewy fruit-and-nut bar, which they called the “Bliss” bar. These Bliss bars are offered to the Deities at the Melbourne temple and they have been steadily selling for well over 10 years now. At one point in time, for at least 3–4 years the Bliss bars were exclusively used on all flights of one Australian airline service. Literally millions of these Deity prasada Bliss bars have been consumed by conditioned souls in Australia.

Our famous Hare Krishna cookbooks are literally overflowing with delicious and unique sweets and savory snack recipes. The potential is huge. Unfortunately, very few devotees have attempted to pursue this field. Those that did were not always successful, partly due to their impatience. They tried to expand sales too quickly—way before they were ready to do so. But there are many success stories with small-scale prasadam businesses, including Gopal’s Health Foods in Texas, USA that has a multi-million-dollar turnover every year.

Now, with regard to fundraising with prasadam, a special ‘ingredient’ can be added—the “sales angle.” Fundraising for the needy. All or most of the profits go towards feeding the needy. Actually, it is a well-known fact that much of the profits collected during fundraising drives is swallowed up by the charity administration, sometimes as much as 70 per cent, believe it or not. According to the law in Australia, and I suppose it is similar in other countries, up to 50 per cent of charitable donations can be legally justified for covering administration costs. That means wages, bills, office stationery, and so on. However, we should not misunderstand this. Although it may be legally justifiable, in the eyes of the public it is extremely corrupt. Therefore, as much of the profit as possible should be utilized in furthering the aims of the Food for Life project and not ruthlessly chewed up in management. His Holiness Mukunda Goswami has suggested that we should advertise on the packets the exact percentage of the profit we intend to use in feeding the needy. This is a very intelligent suggestion.

Government Funding

A radically different situation exists today for government funding than what was in operation 10 years ago. Governments all over the world are under much tighter scrutiny, both internally and externally. In turn, government departments are turning a much more scrutinizing eye on those receiving and seeking funds.

However, the bureaucrats you will deal with today tend to have a much better grasp of not-for-profit (charity organizations) issues and concerns. But they are also under pressure from an increasing atmosphere of budget trimming, accountability for dollars and the need to increase the impact of those dollars. Over the next few years (particularly in Western countries) we will see the following trends:

Smaller grants programs

Greater competition because of the diminishing dollar

The need to fundraise apart from the government

Community profile—an accepted role or position locally. How we are needed

Numbers of volunteers, skilled and trained staff

Experience with and acceptance by other reputable welfare organizations (for example, endorsement letters and newspaper clippings, mentioning our cooperation with other reputable organizations)

An unusual idea (be idealistic).

Today’s approach to gaining government funds is surprisingly close to that used by a well-managed business. What are you selling that they’ll buy? You’ve got a project, so who needs and wants it?

If they are governments who need or want it, you will have to identify which departments are most appropriate. Something you thought was humanitarian may be better viewed as educational. Something you thought was educational may relate well to employment issues. 

Who in the government has the money? What are their funding guidelines? How can we tailor Food for Life to fit these? Once you know these things, you’re in a good position. However, your success will depend upon whether you will be able to:

Fulfill their (the founder’s) allocated area of duty (their portfolio)

Be a successful investment for them

Manage without their ongoing financial support (our future independence)

Quantifiable evaluation (do what we say we will do and achieve results).

Don’t expect or ask for long-term funding. What you are more likely to get is funding that contributes to the establishment of long-term autonomy. Approach the government with a proposal as to how they can be free of you. Write yourself off as a funding obligation! Approach the government in a positive way. You should say, “We have something to offer you and all we need is a little help to get started.” Be optimistic and confident and leave the result up to Krishna.

There are numerous avenues open for receiving grants from both the government and private organizations; we only need to learn how to qualify ourselves. This means targeting our efforts to meet a specific need in the community, and a need that suits the objectives of the particular funding body. There are government and corporate grant reference books available in every library. Take the time to research them and note down potential schemes. The Department of Health is an obvious government department to approach; another is the youth welfare department.

Ironically, for those seeking government funding one of the most effective strategies will be to pursue non-government avenues of income-generation. In other words, the government will prefer to support the organization that is willing to put in as much into the program as the government is being asked to. For example, if two organizations were asking for $50,000, the successful organization will be the one that is willing to invest the same amount (or near to), either cash or kind, in that program.

Today, an organization seeking funding is likely to be presented with an application form to be completed. Typically, it will follow a format that replicates a planning procedure, beginning broadly and ending with specifics. For example:

What are your ‘Mission’, Purpose Statement, and Philosophical Statement?

What are your Aims and Objectives?

For this project what are your objectives specifically?

How do you plan to carry them out?

How will you evaluate outcomes; for example, what are your performance indicators and targets?

You see, these questions presume that a strategic planning process is in place in your organization; that is, you have done enough homework to be able to answer these questions. A strategic management approach looks at the broad environment as it relates to the Food for Life program; evaluates past performances; identifies strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and obstacles; which weaknesses can be turned into strengths; and what strengths to enhance. 

Planning is simply “organized forethought,” and for our own wellbeing Food for Life cannot afford to leave it out. If we want government money today it won’t be successful in its bid unless it has in place a planning cycle.

Previously, if you got into a funding program your position was fairly secure. Today this is only true for the duration of your signed “Service Agreement” (usually 12 months, occasionally three years). It is now necessary to illustrate results with hard data in order to guarantee repeated or recurrent funding. 

In other words, we have to illustrate what we have achieved or can do that makes us worthwhile. We need to be able to make statements such as, “We are the only organization in our area that feeds the needy” or “We’ve been in operation for 10 years and have helped 500,000 homeless people in that time and achieved excellent rehabilitation results. Here are our references … ”

We must be bold. In fact, in the Srimad Bhagavatam it is mentioned that one of the symptoms of the age of Kali will be “audacity”—those who have it will be accepted as truthful! Therefore, it is necessary that we show off our credentials and successes. We should present a strong case, with statistics, endorsements, and proof of our reputation. 

We should explain that Hare Krishna Food for Life is an international project, with 20 years of experience.

It is sometimes necessary to show the wealth of resources that we can offer. As much as possible we need to establish a partnership relationship, rather than a subservient role, like beggars, who have nothing to offer.

The resources we may offer include:

Equity in buildings

Existing equipment (for instance, commercial kitchen equipment, computers, cars, trucks)

Free labor (number of volunteers)

Professional skills (give detailed portfolios)

Land or even money. (The more you can offer, the better your chances.)

One more important point: When a government department awards a grant, they are not whimsically handing out money; they are investing in that organization’s future and the reputation of the government.

Charitable Trusts & Foundations

Charitable Trusts or Foundations vary enormously in both the way in which they respond to applications and the amounts they disburse. No single formula will guarantee success, and disappointments are inevitable. However, because of the enormity of charitable trusts, the potential for success is much larger. There are literally thousands of charitable trusts or foundations in every country.

The procedure for making applications is generally the same; research reference books in your local library and select possible trusts to approach. The only difference is that in applying for government grants, the local political environment will have a major effect on the decision, whereas in corporate grant schemes, the deciding factor will be our reputation and ability to present a convincing project plan.

I recommend subscribing to an online grant database service to help speed up your research and target those foundations that are most likely to support your project. Many services like The Foundation Center http://foundationcenter.org/ provide a way to cross reference your search queries so that you can see who they gave to in the past, how much, and for what purpose. With such information, it is easier to tailor your proposals so that they are more effective.

Food for Life Grant Writing Team

Food for Life Global has a team of grant writers that are searching the Internet for grant opportunities for affiliated Food for Life Global projects. If you are officially affiliated with FFLG your project can qualify to be part of these applications. To learn more about this, email us at contact@ffl.org

A Guide for Grant Seekers

Define your project

Many grant-making or charitable trusts prefer to meet a specific need, and one that will have long-term results. They do not normally like contributing to general costs. Trusts like new and imaginative projects, but they also understand that your existing schemes need to be supported. So decide what your specific needs are first and then think how you can show long-term benefits.

Research

You should expect that perhaps 80 per cent of Trusts would not be able to help us with our project needs. However, that still leaves hundreds of Trusts that could. Research into their policies and priorities; the size of their grant; who they have supported in your area; what activities or schemes they are more inclined to support; and when in the calendar year the applications are considered. If appropriate, you can ask Trusts for information on their guidelines.

The application

Always ring first to find out relevant information such as procedure for applying; closing date for applications; inside information regarding the policies of the Trusts; or tips for successful submissions.

Approach, style and format

Be organized and concise (approximately 2 to 3 pages)—don’t drown them with information unless they specifically ask you.

Try to convey enthusiasm and excitement and a feeling of commitment to the organization. Don’t beg and give the image of a general appeal.

Be realistic in the amount you ask for, but don’t hold back.

You can’t assume that Trusts have heard about Hare Krishna Food for Life and its work. You must convince them that we are well equipped to carry out the project. Try to illustrate an element of self-help.

Trusts are not good for emergency or urgent appeals.

Be positive and confident, but don’t overstate your achievements.

Plan your strategy well ahead—think in terms of months not weeks.

Plan your fundraising. Write to only 5–10 Trusts at any one time.

Poor communications skills will definitely jeopardize your chances. If the language you are writing in is your second language, say so or get help with the application.

Always follow up your application with a short phone call before and after you send it. Alert the secretary and listen to any advice given.

Keep trying and you will eventually succeed. The average is every two to three submissions to the one Trust will be successful. Usually, however, you cannot apply more than one time every year to any one Trust.

Standard format for written applications

1) Full legal name of organization or project

2) Background information

3) Scale of organization (how many volunteers, assets, services)

4) The aims and objectives

5) Management structure (who and what credentials do your directors have, including their experiences and successes)

6) Audited accounts, annual report, constitution and budget for the current year. (For a sample constitution see Appendix XIV)

7) State the amount of money required and for what purpose. Give a detailed breakdown of how much will be spent and on what. Spell out who will benefit from the project. Provide evidence of need for the project and how urgently it is required. Do not over or under cost your project. Remember different Trusts can be approached for different items. Make it clear that you have thought ahead to where funds might come from in the future once the grant has run out. In other words, convince them that you are a progressive and resourceful organization

8) Give a detailed project plan—showing the month-by-month development of the project and how it will be evaluated

9) Provide correspondence address/name/phone number. A responsible person of the program should sign the letter and make their position clear.

Finally, remember that Trusts are legally obliged to distribute their money. However, there are always more applicants than money available.

The following information was extracted from a government publication on Charitable Trusts found in a reference library in London. Here is a typical example of a charitable trust:

The City Parochial Foundation (UK)

This foundation sets a standard of approachability and openness to potential applicants that are a model for all other trusts. It is also committed to carrying out an annual monitoring of geographical spread of the grants made, as well as an annual monitoring of the ethnic minority organizations funded, to enable the trustees to see to the extent of its support to such organizations.

The Parochial Foundation prefers to fund programs that focus in areas of the Metropolitan Police District of London and the City of London. Their objective is in essence social welfare. They have a budget of £6,142,000 per year! Remember: this is simply one of literally thousands of charitable Trusts or Foundations.

After researching this particular funding scheme, it appears that Hare Krishna Food for Life is best suited to their “Small Grants Scheme”; wherein one-off grants of up to £10,000 are available. All that is required is to apply for an application and go through the process. Usually applications must be in by certain dates. Take notice of the dates.

Tips on formal letter writing

As a letter writer you should aim for the highest standard possible. A letter can reflect great credit or discredit upon the temple or person whose name it bears.

A good letter should achieve these things:

1) Communicate information or ideas precisely and clearly

2) Present things accurately

3) Faithfully represent the ISKCON policy

4) Be courteous and friendly

5) Appropriate

6) As brief as possible.

The writer will need to consider who will be reading the documentation and format it appropriately in order to achieve these ends.

Paragraphs

A paragraph consists of a sentence or a group of sentences expressing a central thought. In a letter, each paragraph should convey one principal thought fully developed and exclusive of irrelevant matter.

The central thought of a paragraph is frequently expressed in one sentence, usually known as the topic sentence. This sentence often opens the paragraph, telling the reader what the paragraph, as a whole, is about.

Short, well-constructed paragraphs will facilitate good communication in letters. They will allow the writer to work through the letter point by point and to place emphasis upon the appropriate parts of the message. Strong emphasis may be given to a particular important point by a number of methods, for instance:

1) A strikingly short paragraph, which by contrast draws attention to itself.

2) By repeating the point in different form in different paragraphs, but avoiding verbosity.

3) By indenting a key paragraph.

4) Bolding, italicizing or underlining key words in your key paragraph, using one of these conventions.

Checking the letter

We can check our letter by asking three questions:

1) Is the letter complete?

The letter should give all the important facts. Have you mentioned all the relevant information needed to impress or persuade your reader?

2) Is the letter correct?

Have you spell-checked everything and then had it proofread by someone. Remember, computer spell-checkers do not pick up words like: there, they’re or their or it’s and its, etc. A misstatement could also cost you the reader’s respect. Have you addressed them and their organization correctly? Did you quote the correct reference for the information you used to support your case?

To ensure accuracy, the letter-writer should also:

Know something about the person or organization that you are writing to

Be well informed about ISKCON and Food for Life policies

Be fully competent in the language you are writing in      

Double-check every statement in the letter

Review the tone of the letter for precision and clarity.

Creating good tone

If the ‘style’ of a letter is the way in which we say what we have to say, the tone is the offshoot of this: it is the attitude that comes through to our reader. The tone of a letter can affect the way a reader feels about the correspondence; the way he reacts to it. The message itself may not be objectionable, but the tone may be. This is also true in speech. For example, we could say: “It is nice to see you,” and by varying the tone, we could give a different meaning to the same statement. By adding a pause between It is and nice we’re saying, in reality, “I’m not so happy to see you.” Or if we put more emphasis on the word nice and don’t pause, we’re saying exactly what is stated.

Is the letter concise?

The letter should express your ideas in the fewest words consistent with precision, clarity, and courtesy. Long-winded phrases and unnecessary sentences should be avoided.

Long-winded      Better (concise)

Give consideration to      ... Consider

It is the opinion of our organization      ...We feel

A copy is attached hereto for your perusal      ...A copy is attached

At the present time      ...Presently

One final point: Never sign a letter without first reading it correctly.

The Golden Rule

Tips for casual but powerful letter writing

Always tell the reader in quite specific terms exactly what they’ll get, find out, discover or be able to achieve when they take the action you want them to take.

Always write your letters remembering your reader is tuned into the frequency WIIFM “What’s In It For Me.” The basic principle of the material world is selfishness, or as stated in the Vedas: Atmavan manyate jagat: “Whatever I think, the whole world thinks.” Therefore, we must write in terms of our reader’s interest, not ours. The trick is to achieve your objective while simultaneously achieving theirs. For a politician this means increased votes, for the celebrity this means improved profile, and for the company this could mean either improved sales (through sponsorship), or more often than not an opportunity to make a tax-deductible donation.

1) Salutations

Begin your letter with “Good morning” or “Hello,” in preference to the very outdated and dry, “Dear Sir/Madam” opening. In our normal day-to-day dealings with people we never greet a person by saying, “Dear Mr. or Mrs. … We always say “Good morning,” etc. So why change this when we write letters? Always try to make your letters as personal as possible. Your reader will appreciate this unique, colorful and personal salutation, which is important. Why? Because unless you are able to capture your reader’s attention within the first two minutes of reading your letter, it will end up in the waste basket. Your letter has to literally grab them by their ears and stimulate their senses, mind, and intelligence.

2) You, You, You

You have to keep your reader interested all throughout your letter. This means keeping your letter focused in terms of their interest. For example, instead of saying: “Our work is respected by the community.” It’s better to say: “You’ll be interested to know, Sir, that our valuable service is receiving much praise from your community.”

Similarly, instead of saying: “We have included some information for your perusal.” It is far better to say: “For your benefit, Sir, we have enclosed background information on our international service.”

In other words, try to say you, your or you’ll in preference to I, we or my, etc.

3) Attention Grabbers

These are sentences or single words that are used right in the beginning of your letters to capture the reader’s attention. An example could be: “Good morning, Mr. Smith, congratulations! We’re so happy you were re-elected.”

Or, “Happy Birthday!” “Nice to see you are well gain,” and so on.

Attention grabbers are the things that help to put your reader in the right frame of mind for your request that comes later.

4) Be Concise

Don’t waste words. If you can say it concisely—do so. We highly recommend you limit your letters to one page. The first two paragraphs are the most important. Quickly catch their attention, state your case, make your request and leave them interested. Important people receive hundreds of letters every week. So be concise, appealing and interesting.

5) Endorsements

The use of a quote (a few lines will do) from other important people will always be very effective and strengthen your case. Use them early in the letter and state their source.

6) PS (Postscript)

The PS is very powerful. Never underestimate it. Always finish your letters, even the official ones, with a postscript. Make it positive, direct and relate it your request. It is best to handwrite the PS (if you have neat handwriting).

Bequests or Planned Giving

Charities are striving to build their endowments, and planned giving will continue to outgrow other forms of fundraising, due to the ageing of the population, and the concentration of wealth in the older generation. A recent survey in the United States identified seven categories of philanthropy:

1) Communitarians: Mostly community-minded, male business leaders interested in establishing contacts with similar leaders of other charities.

2) The Devout: Those who give out of religious faith to various religious causes.

3) Investors: They have no strong loyalty to any charity. They are very interested in tax advantages and approach their donation as a business transaction.

4) The Socialites: These are primarily active, affluent, involved women, who will often serve on a number of charitable boards.

5) The Altruists: The smallest group, they often give anonymously to a variety of social causes to help the truly needy.

6) The Repayers: They give out of a sense of loyalty, obligation, and gratitude.

7) The Dynasts: They give from a base of family wealth, continuing a family tradition of giving.

You need both humanistic and technical skills to succeed in planned giving, Minton said. Don’t simply refer anything slightly beyond your comfort level to the experts. You have a crucial role to play as the planned giving officer, and shouldn’t allow yourself to be squeezed out of the loop. Establish your credibility by becoming familiar with gift instruments and, if you see the donor’s advisor giving what appears to be wrong advice, raise your concerns with the advisor privately and tactfully.

As an absolute minimum, he stressed, every charity should put in place a program to encourage and recognize bequests, still the source of more significant gifts than all other instruments combined.

Why Bequests Should Be a Key Focus of Your Planned Giving Program

By Richard Ely, Strategic Fundraising Consultants

The question we now address is, “Why bequests?” We are indebted to presentations by Frank Logan, retired head of planned giving at Dartmouth College, for portions of this analysis.

First, let’s define bequest: “a gift of money or other property under the terms of a will. In common language, bequests frequently include gifts from living trusts and any gift received as the result of a donor’s death.” But we’ll keep it simple and use bequests as gifts through a will. O.K., here’s why you should focus on bequests:

1. The historical context is ripe for bequests.

There has never in human history been more value in money and other property than there is now. Even with the stock market off significantly, people still have great wealth. Real estate also is at all-time highs, and older people, especially the “Baby Boomer” generation (born prior to 1964) have more in savings than ever before.

Second, all this wealth is changing hands. See Boston College study cited in the following article (http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/gsas/swri/swri_features.htm).

Third, bequests are a significant portion of charitable giving. See: http://charitychannel.com/why-bequests-should-be-a-key-focus-of-your-planned-giving-program/

There is considerable wealth out there; it’s changing hands and much of it is going and will go to charity through bequests. You want to get your share.

2. How bequests work makes them very valuable

Any person can make a bequest to any qualified charity, of any amount, using any asset. Just about anything goes!

Having a will drafted by a competent attorney is easy and inexpensive. A charitable bequest can be as little as one sentence (how about this marketing slogan: “one sentence in your will can help cure cancer”). If a person already has a will, adding a charitable bequest through a codicil is even easier.

You are not asking people to do something complicated. In fact, it’s easy and will make them feel good!

3. Charities can derive significant benefits from bequests

Bequests generally flow to endowment, unless specifically restricted. That’s a good way to build endowment. Bequests don’t require lots of technical expertise on your part. Our previous articles on planned giving have many of the details you need.

Marketing for bequests shows your donors and prospects that your organization’s view is long term, comparing you well to your competitors for charitable dollars. You are also promoting your stability and your bright future, based on your "illustrious" history.

You are marketing something that can only result in benefits for your organization.

4. Donors can derive significant benefits from bequests

Bequests are one of the most personal forms of charitable giving. That’s a primary way that people make decisions about the people and charities they love the most. Bequests are extremely private and confidential. It is not necessary to disclose that you’ve made a person or charity a beneficiary. Bequests can be part of a person’s regular financial and estate planning, so if you’ve prompted them to think about wills, you’re helping them with their planning.

Second, many older people wish to retain their wealth until death. They are concerned about illness, incapacity, nursing homes, inflation, and the rising cost of health care. A bequest will often be the only way to get a gift.

Third, bequests are revocable, so the donor can keep control up to the very end. Finally, many people are asset rich and cash poor. They have plenty of property, but not a lot of income because they are often living on fixed incomes (social security and pensions). As a result, they are simply not candidates for current gifts. No matter how much wealth they have—and they may have a lot of it, they just do not want to jeopardize their future financial security.

By marketing bequests, you are appealing to your donors to do something important for them and for you. You are talking their language—addressing concepts that are important to them that shows sensitivity to their concerns. And bequests can also work well as a fallback position for major gift turndowns.

In closing, I suggest that you start with bequests if you are just starting a planned giving effort. If you already have a planned giving program, make sure you’re featuring bequests. You may feature other things, but don’t forget about bequests. The benefits to donors and to charities are just too great to ignore. And, if the charitable community can convince more people to have wills drawn, charitable bequests would certainly increase.

Management

Management Structure

In order that the Food for Life program be properly managed and developed we recommend the following management structure. There must be three key persons involved in the overall management of your program. They are:

1) Prasadam manager

Duties: All aspects of cooking and distribution of prasadam, from quality control, health standards, cleanliness (kitchen and serving area), etiquette in serving, vehicle maintenance, kitchen equipment maintenance, etc. Not that they do all this, but they must be responsible for managing these areas.

2) Food for Life communications officer(s)

Duties: Every temple should have a Communications or PR Officer. However, there should be one devotee designated as the Food for Life Communications Officer for the simple reason that Food for Life is a huge portfolio. The Food for Life Communications Officer should establish friendships with the local authorities including the Council, police, politicians and members of the Chamber of Commerce. They should regularly attend local welfare inter-agency meetings to learn about what is happening in the community and to meet the directors of other agencies. Their goal should be to educate all these people about the activities of Food for Life, both locally and internationally. They should gather information and disseminate information. They will also need to collect all newspaper articles, radio interviews and television footage. The essence of their work is to promote and gather endorsements for Hare Krishna Food for Life in order to build a good reputation for Krishna’s devotees.

3) Fundraising officer

Duties: This person has an important service, simply because every endeavor requires money. Their duty is to research government and private grant schemes, making applications, writing letters to government departments and donors, developing a donor base, overseeing all aspects of Food for Life money management and policing all unlawful collecting in the name of Food for Life. The fundraising officer will need to be a creative person with an ability to think of new fundraising schemes. They will also need to be resourceful with money, devotee power and available facilities. The fundraising officer will use all of the resources acquired by the Communications Officer: newspaper clippings, endorsement letters, etc., for convincing the relevant people (departments) of our eligibility for funds.

Volunteer Coordinator

You will not be successful unless you have a reliable team of volunteers and this takes effort. A volunteer coordinator manages all elements of volunteering either within their own organization or on behalf of the organization for which they are recruiting volunteers.

The role involves assessing and meeting an organization’s needs through the recruitment, placement and retention of volunteers.

Volunteer coordinators manage volunteers and their relationships with those they come into contact with, including employees and service users of an organization. They also monitor, evaluate and accredit volunteers.

A team of enthusiastic volunteers

All three managers must work harmoniously together. They all have essential services in the development and expansion of the Food for Life program. However, they can only excel when they have a cooperative team of enthusiastic devotees. A team! Not one person, as is often the case with Food for Life programs around the world. Let’s start putting in a concerted effort into our prasadam distribution. Let’s start spending the donations as we say we are going to. Let’s start making sure that no one within a 10-mile radius of our temples goes hungry! Srila Prabhupada wanted large-scale and first-class prasadam distribution in every temple. What is the use of big temples and farming communities if we cannot distribute prasada?

“Give them prasadam. They will come. So why you are not giving prasadam? Every day there must be huge prasadam distribution.” (Srila Prabhupada, morning walk, 21 November 1975)

We should invest money and energy into the Food for Life program. Are we really doing our best with the prasadam distribution program? Are we spending our money correctly? Are we engaging qualified devotees for this sacred service? These questions must first be addressed then good management should follow.

How to Spend & How to Manage?

In the following lecture and room conversation, Srila Prabhupada goes to great lengths to instruct his disciples on the art of managing prasadam distribution:

Prabhupada: Go and chant Hare Krishna and give them food. They are hungry. Then it will be successful. Chant Hare Krishna, let them come and dance with you, and give them prasadam. They are hungry. It will be success. It is not difficult at all. That was Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s preaching to the mass of people. He would chant for four hours, and after finishing kirtana, He’ll give them sumptuous food to eat. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was doing this. So you can do this. You collect money not for your eating but for distribution of prasadam. That is required. And if you do that, Krishna will send you. Yoga-ksemam vahamy aham. There will be no need. Just like in our temples, everywhere, we are daily feeding so many daridras. So many. In Los Angeles, in New York, and Mayapur also. Daily we are feeding five hundred to one thousand people. They are daridras. So that is the duty of every temple. There we’re feeding not only Hindus and but Muslims also. Anyone. Anyone come here and take prasadam. And the whole village is so satisfied with these activities. Temple means there must be sufficient foodstuff. Anyone who comes for foodstuff, he should be given. So by worshiping Krishna, these things automatically done. There is no need of extra endeavor. Parat-ma nistha. This is called paratma nistha. Etan samasthaya parat-ma nistha. Not only now. From time immemorial, all the temples in India, they have got sufficient foodstuff. Even at Natha-dvara, if you pay them only one anna or four annas, they’ll give you so much nice prasadam. The two annas, four annas, the priestly order, they take. Otherwise, prasada is distributed. So by worshiping Krishna … Krishna is not hungry. He’s fully satisfied. He doesn’t require to eat. Temple worship means to distribute the prasadam to the poor. That is temple worship. Temple worship does not mean that you, bring some rice from the neighbors and cook it and eat yourself and sit, sleep down, nice. No. Temple worship means you must distribute prasadam (Initiation ceremony, Calcutta 1973).

Prabhupada: Make very nice palatable prasadam. We shall spend for that. Why miserly? There is no need of miserly. You are going to earn money by agricultural produce, so how the money will be utilized? It will be utilized for Krishna’s purpose. By prasadam, by chanting, by drama, somehow or other bring them. That is our mission. Congregational chanting. Always festival, and we shall spend for that. Immediately arrange. If there is scarcity of money, I shall pay … Bring them somehow or other. Tomorrow I want to see at least 500 men. Make arrangement like that. I came here to see that, not to sit down in a room peacefully. So there also we shall inform the meeting that we want to propagate this Krishna consciousness movement town to town, village to village, by attracting them with musical demonstration of sankirtana, dramatic play, movie, prasadam. Somehow or other they should come to the temple, to the pandal and congregational chant Hare Krishna maha-mantra, hear Bhagavad-gita, Bhagavatam. For this purpose, whatever expenditure is required, that you should collect and spend. This is the scheme of Hare Krishna movement. You must come here, question, understand, and vigorous propaganda should be inaugurated town to town, village to village. Those who are educated, to them distribution of literature. The school, college, library, institution, university, by scholarly presentation. That is wanted. What is that?

Devotee: (indistinct)

Prabhupada: Oh, it doesn’t matter. Understand the idea?

Jagadisa: Oh, yes.

Prabhupada: To attract them to really nice prasadam, palatable food, we shall spend. And we shall argue [indistinct] also by literature produced, and they’re learning. Where is the difficulty? We shall take contribution from rich persons. We shall earn ourselves, and spend it, to give them very nice prasadam. Gradually when they come, when you engage them in producing their own food, own shelter, own cloth … This should be organized. And they’ll be glad. As soon as they understand, they will be glad to do. And they will stop all this nonsense: illicit sex and meat eating. Then their life will be purified. And they’ll make more and more advancement in this path. That is perfection. That you want. Is it clear or not?

Jagadisa: Oh, yes.

Prabhupada: Yes? This is our mission. If you give them very nice palatable prasadam … They go to hotel from miles together to take some palatable foodstuff, restaurant, and hotel. And we cannot give nice Krishna prasadam? Why? Why you cannot give? Arrange like that, first class. Simply for eating they will come. Immediately do it.

Jagadisa: I have a question, whether we should always give them khichari or whether we should …

Prabhupada: Give them nice prasadam by which they are attracted. It doesn’t matter khichuri, puri, kacuri, ladu. Whatever they are attracted, we must give. Whatever that will attract them. That I want. Krishna-prasadam. Don’t waste; give them nice palatable foodstuff. Give them one finest kacuri, one nice samosa, two puris, they will be very glad. Make very, very, nice prasadam. What is this rubbish, the dog cannot eat even? They have done a great mistake, all rascals. I am very angry. I say that if you have got no money, I’ll spend, I will give you money. Why should you make such tenth class, and no food at all. It is to be thrown away. Simply waste of grains and energy. Engage nice professional cook, prepare nice foodstuff. I shall spend for that if you have no money. Gentlemen who are coming immediately should be offered some prasadam. “Please come here, take: puri, kacuri, samosa.” Arrangement should be like that. The doctors came, he comes out of love, but there is no prasadam. Huh? What is this? The doctor comes, but we couldn’t supply him prasadam at 12 o’clock.

Jagadisa: Today?

Prabhupada: Not today, the other day.

Jagadisa: Oh.

Prabhupada: Prasada is not yet ready, you also said. After eating I have no, not yet ready. What is this? At 2 o’clock? As soon as they want. The Vrindavana also, the same thing I told that what they are doing? Prasadam, as soon as they want, they must feed some prasadam according to the position of the person. We shall spend for that. I am not hesitating to spend money, why the arrangement is lacking? Immediately arrange for theirs and invite them. Don’t make it childish. Where are the leaders, they are now engaged there?

Jagadisa: Pardon me?

Prabhupada: Our leaders are engaged there?

Jagadisa: At the kirtana?

Prabhupada: Huh.

Jagadisa: Mahamsa is there. I don’t know where Hamsaduta is.

Prabhupada: So anyway, this is my instruction. We have to written and discuss and go. And I want to see tomorrow many thousand people. If you cannot make attractive, why they will come? Then it is failure. Make attractive. Whatever money is required, I shall pay. Simply theory will not help. Make such prasadam as people will come and be mad after it.

Jagadisa: Yes, we can …

Prabhupada: Just explain. You have taken in writing?

Jagadisa: It’s on tape.

Prabhupada: So go and discuss. They must be attracted.

Jagadisa: I see.

Prabhupada: Otherwise it is failure. (break)

Mahamsa: …Who came, but …

Prabhupada: You are satisfied?

Mahamsa: No.

Prabhupada: Then?

Mahamsa: No. The people also, there was no advertisement that today there would be a program.

Prabhupada: So whatever it is required, you do it.

Mahamsa: So on tomorrow, I will do the advertisement and show them …

Prabhupada: Give them very, very first class prasadam.

Mahamsa: Yes.

Prabhupada: They will come for the tongue.

Mahamsa: Yes. Today the dallers [indistinct], they liked it very spicy.

Prabhupada: That they like, I do not know what they like. But you prepare they should come and eat.

Mahamsa: Yes.

Prabhupada: I do not know what they like.

Mahamsa: There is a lot of subji in the dhal also, today and it’s hot. They like it.

Prabhupada: Whatever it may be, whatever they like, the villagers, you prepare. If you have no money, I shall pay money.

Mahamsa: OK.

Prabhupada: But attract them. They will come here to eat, “Oh, very nice thing.” That is wanted. I made this movement successful simply by love feast. They did not come to hear Hare Krishna. They came for love feast. From very beginning, when I was in 26 Second Avenue, every Sunday I was giving nice foodstuff, at least 200 men. Daily at least more than 15, 20. I was cooking myself. That is the beginning of my movement. The chapatis with Kirtanananda, first of all he was taking one and two, then 12. (Laughter) There was another boy …

Devotee: Stryadhisa.

Prabhupada: Stryadhisa. Twenty-two chapatis. (Laughter) “Stryadhisa, can I give you?” “Yes.” I gave him four. Finished. “Stryadhisa, can I give you?” “Yes.” (Laughter) Very nice boy. He was eating 22. One day there was no money, so he immediately went and came after some time with some money. “And where did you go?” The shoe booth. He polished shoes and brought some money. (Laughter) In this way, this was developed. Give them prasadam, nice prasadam. Any gentleman comes, immediately there must be some prasadam. Engage first class cook. Spend money, don’t be a miserly. If you have no money, I will pay. So long I am living, I shall go on paying. You don’t be miserly. Bring devotees for eating, and then chanting, then cinema, then lecture, in this way you have to develop. Not that people will come, “Hare Krishna mantra is there, let us go there.” They will not come. What do they know about Hare Krishna? They will come, “Oh, there is nice, good prasadam distributed.”

Mahamsa: Some people I know, they said that yesterday the prasadam was not nice, and there was …

Prabhupada: Not nice, it is not eatable even by the dogs. But you are less than the dogs if you (prepare) such thing. I was surprised. You allowed a sweeper to cook. I was surprised. We have distribution prasadam, not dog’s food. Such rascals as here. You do not know. I do not wish to discuss any more on this point. You have murdered the whole thing in two days. Now if possible, bring them, bring them first class prasadam, very palatable. Foodstuff means even one has no appetite he’ll eat. That is food. Not that even one has got appetite, he’ll forget. That is not food. So do like that and for money produce, use cane, sugar cane, and rice. We shall spend for that. (Room conversation, India, 1977)

Regarding the percentage of our income that should be spent on harinama and prasadam distribution, Srila Prabhupada said, “As such, fifty percent of our income may be spent for this purpose.” (Srimad Bhagavatam 1.5.36, purport)

FFL money and ISKCON administration

Because ISKCON is supplying all the devotees and the facilities for the FFL programs we may justify using all the money collected for FFL in ISKCON administration. Yes, this is true to some extent; however, if we say that we are collecting for feeding the needy then that money should for the most part go towards that program that is feeding the needy and not swallowed up in other ISKCON projects. We have to draw the line somewhere, otherwise we are playing with fire. We should not tell the public one thing and do another.

Of course any charity would quickly go bankrupt if they had to spend 100 per cent on welfare and nothing on administration. We have to spend for administration and some of this spending will also mean maintaining or employing devotees. However, this should never be at the expense of truthfulness. Devotee maintenance and administration must always come second to upholding the principle of truthfulness. If we do things in an honest manner everyone will be favorable to us, and fundraising will cease to be a problem.

In order to legally justify FFL money being spent on ISKCON administration, we have to adjust our FFL constitutions so that they encompass more of the aims of ISKCON. We also need to clearly understand the relationship between ISKCON and FFL. In other words, we should only spend as much as we can demonstrate a clear connection between the two organizations. That means, if we can show that 50 per cent of ISKCON’s gas bill is due to the FFL program, it would be perfectly acceptable to make FFL pay 50 per cent of the bill, so long as we can show the clear connection. Two things are needed: we need to broaden our own perspective on the meaning of Food for Life in that it will always have a connection to ISKCON since the idea of FFL was born from ISKCON devotees reviving the ancient spiritual hospitality culture of India and expanding it around the world. We also need to broaden the public’s perception of Food for Life beyond that of just a food relief service. Food for Life is much more than that. By doing this we can protect ourselves from being accused of duplicity.

Employing devotees

Employees of other charitable organizations—like the Red Cross, Salvation Army, UNICEF—are often provided company cars and paid decent salaries for their work. This is also possible for Food for Life staff if the organization is managed professionally. These organizations did not get to where they are now by selling stickers on the streets of major cities. Rather, they worked hard for many years to build a solid reputation that donations and facilities now readily pour into their organizations from the public and government.

If even 10 per cent of all the money collected in the name of ISKCON food relief or Food for Life had been used for developing and expanding prasadam distribution, I think FFL would be just as wealthy as these other big organizations and able to employ many hundreds of married devotees. The Seventh Day Adventist church is a case in point. They developed their vegetarian health food industry so that it now employs many hundreds of thousands of their congregation worldwide. Why hasn’t ISKCON been able to do the same? Maybe because we spend too much of our time on the streets begging and not enough time in developing programs like Food for Life and prasadam businesses.

Devotees should be engaged in developing honest prasadam businesses, such as the Gopals line of health snacks in Texas, United States. They are currently selling in prestigious health food stores all over the country at a good profit. Another example from the past was when the German yatra stopped selling books for a few months and began selling prasadam so that the yatra could pay off its 100,000 DM debt to the BBT. They sold dried fruit and nut balls called: “Energy balls” profusely all over Germany to the delight of the public and easily paid off their BBT debt in just two months!

An honest prasadam business like this is a far more respectable occupation than street begging. Sending bhaktas onto the streets of the major cities of the world begging for donations is doing nothing for ISKCON’s reputation. Just think how this must look to the respectable business people in the streets, especially if they have been approached 20, 30 even 40 times.

Articles and Notes

Ideologies & Realities of Fundraising

It is in our everyday human nature to reflect on the ideologies of life. What are the ideologies of fundraising? For ISKCON or Hare Krishna Food for Life, all fundraising practice throughout the world should be conducted within the guidelines of the Vaishnava code of ethics. In other words, according to Srila Prabhupada’s instructions found in the Srimad Bhagavatam and numerous letters to his disciples. As Vaishnava’s and representatives of the Absolute truth, we must be honest in all our endeavors and actually do what we say we are going to do—devoid of duplicity.

The public, specifically our supporters (donors) are demanding accountability. Consider this: we wouldn’t deposit our money with a banking system that wasn’t legitimate. So why believe that society will continue to give to an organization that doesn’t display an adherence to any form of code, or ethical standards in fundraising.

The reality is that donors are looking for that accreditation and registration and are demanding to know exactly where their dollars are going. Unfortunately, in ISKCON a “transcendental money management system,” often prevails. Funds collected for one program are directed into another—and there is nothing really wrong, considering the overall goal is the same—to spread Krishna consciousness. However, in the eyes of the public, such “transcendental money management” is not at all acceptable.

One of the greatest misconceptions that we can have about fundraising practice is to believe that our cause is better than any others, and that this alone is enough! Wrong—fundraising and public perception of fundraising is rapidly changing.

The cause may be wonderful—which it most certainly is. The story may be great; they may all feel great compassion for what we are doing, but unless we can show complete accountability for the path of their dollars and unless our plans of development is well in place and well presented, our story is not going to compete in the big picture.

You see, according to the experts, fundraising is becoming marketing orientated, which ultimately means professionalism is becoming the key word to success.

Large corporations assess between 50–100 applications every week from community-based organizations all believing their cause is the worthiest. The reality is that these organizations are all assessed on their professionalism in presentation, their marketing potential and most importantly their accountability for the dollars that are invested.

Decades ago disability organizations were among the most easily recognized and more topical of the community service organizations. However, in the 21st century we have to compete in a huge pool of very worthy and potentially successful organizations, including the environmental organizations, with their huge publicity potential.

Considering this point, we would be wise to promote—as Mukunda Goswami has recommended—that the world ecological problems are in essence a “spiritual problem” and that Hare Krishna Food for Life is working to correct this situation through its free food distribution program. During an interview in 1991 he said: “In his original charter for ISKCON, Srila Prabhupada states that one of the purposes of ISKCON was ‘... to check the imbalance of values, by even distribution of wealth in the form of food.’ We believe that the root cause of this imbalance is internal—man’s misconception of himself as the supreme proprietor.”

It is easy to see how we have an advantage over other community service groups. Hare Krishna Food for Life is promoting spiritual culture through the practical medium of community service. However, we must actually practice what we preach, otherwise everything will become spoiled.

We should also consider involving our clients in the prasadam distribution and our fundraising programs. Donors will tend to lose interest in our Food for Life program if we don’t learn to involve our clients—who are the real people behind the story. We should also show a well-formulated plan and explain to our supporters how they are investing in the future success of our organization. These are the realities of fundraising we need to understand.

Srila Prabhupada’s Secret weapon

Realizations, Quotations and Visions

“. . . the spiritual master, encourages prasada distribution, remnants of foodstuff distributed to the public. Ours is not dry philosophy, simply we talk and go home. No. We distribute prasadam, very sumptuous prasadam. In every temple, anyone who comes, we can offer prasadam. In each and every temple, we have got already, from fifty to two hundred devotees. And outsiders also, they come and take prasadam. This introduction is also another symptom of guru, prasada distribution” (Srila Prabhupada Lecture on Guruvastakam, September 9, 1973, Stockholm Upsala University).

“Bhaktivedanta Manor should have 50 cows, produce ghee, make prasadam always, every guests should get two puris, some halavah and pakoras--at least that much and talk, a dining room to sit down in. Temple life shouldn’t be dry. Without prasadam it is dry. So always be cooking and have prasadam for guests at any time. A festival every day” (ISKCON in the 70’s Vol. 1 p. 42).

The Food for Life program is an integral part of the sankirtana movement, because primarily Food for Life means “prasadam distribution.” However, there are other reasons, and the following pages will discuss the unique advantage the Food for Life program has over “normal” prasadam distribution and how it can accelerate the spreading of the sankirtana movement.

Why is Food for Life Important?

Indian: What is the importance of prasadam? Importance of prasadam?

Prabhupada: Prasada? Prasada means mercy. Mercy. Prasada means prakrsta rupena sidati. That is prasada means completely satisfied.

Indian: At the end of this, you will give us some prasada. What is the importance of that prasada?

Prabhupada: Oh, that. Yes. prasada. Very good. That prasada is Krishna’s favor. Krishna’s special favor. That is prasada. Prasade sarva-duhkhanam hanir asyopajayate. If we simply eat Krishna prasada, without any culture, we can get spiritual knowledge.” (SP BG lecture, New York, August 12, 1966)

There are many other reasons why the Food for Life program is important and why it should be thoroughly developed and expanded, the following supplement will concentrate on five main points…

Food for Life Helps Book Distribution!

Food for Life Attracts the Support of the Leaders!

Food for Life is Srila Prabhupada’s Desire!

Food for Life Attracts the Media!

Food for Life Has Unlimited Potential!

How Does Food for Life Help Book Distribution?

How does Food for Life practically assist Srila Prabhupada's book distribution mission? In reply we can ask some questions:

Q.      Is there a book distributor anywhere in the world who doesn`t, or has not utilized the fact at some time that we are feeding the needy, to help with convincing people to take a book or give a donation? Why do we tell people that we are feeding the needy? Why do we try to present ourselves as caring, compassionate, socially concerned people?

A.      Because these are the qualities by which the brahmana's work. And these are the qualities in us that the people of the world appreciate the most. Why? Because they show us to be people “of the world.” People that are here to help; people who are worth listening to; people who represent a positive alternative; people who practice what they preach!

This point was recently explained by H.H. Mukunda Goswami: “I would say that if we simply increase book distribution and harinama very vigorously, but we didn’t increase prasadam distribution along with it, then the effect might be as little as 10-20% of what it would be if we had aligned it with a very vigorous prasadam distribution program. . . . The idea is, that as soon as there is contact with a devotee selling a book, or when people see us on harinama—if the identification is there that we are the people feeding the hungry, for example, then they will be much more likely to accept everything else we are presenting. Because in their culture they can immediately understand that feeding the poor is good and beneficial in improving the quality of life.”

Presenting the devotees as saintly people, or social heroes

I think we all have to admit that generally speaking the sight of a shaven headed, saffron robed monk is not a “normal” sight for the common person. The fact is, that our brahminical culture is a very alien concept for the average materialists. People tend to judge a thing on its external appearance. Therefore, what the Food for Life program can serve to do, is cut through the many misconceptions the non-devotees have of what a Vaishnava represents; by presenting our devotees as saintly people or even “social heroes!”

Often there is the criticism, “Your philosophy is wonderful, but what are you actually doing for the community?” Recently I was confronted with this statement by one irate Ukraine gardener who could not at all appreciate the importance of chanting the holy name. He was working hard in the garden when he saw me go past on a japa walk. “Why don’t you people do something. Simply chanting all day. You should be here in the garden. I’m an old man, I shouldn’t be doing this sort of work. You are young, but so lazy—simply praying all day.” Despite his ignorance, the angry gardener had a good point. Yes, we shouldn’t be simply chanting all day. Srila Prabhupada once said, “ Work now, samadhi later.” Of course we all know how important it is to chant the holy name—it is the yuga dharma, after all. However, we shouldn’t be so “out of this world,” that we cannot see the need to “come down” once in a while to practically demonstrate how to serve the Lord. For if we don’t set the example and start practicing what the books preach about, no one will ever take our movement seriously. Thus, the Food for Life program can be presented as ISKCON’s practical demonstration of how the Krishna consciousness movement is helping the individual and society to solve its spiritual and material problems.

Giving FAITH to the faithless

In the Harinama Cintamani, Srila Haridas Thakura explains how by the loud chanting of the holy name, FAITH can be given to the ignorant.

In this regard H.H. Tamal Krishna Goswami said: “Haridas Thakura says that by hearing the holy name (and we may also include prasadam taking) people will be inclined to take up devotional service.” We also learn from Srila Rupa Goswami that sraddha FAITH is the very beginning of spiritual life. Without it, the Bhagavad-gita states, asraddhadhana purusa . . . “One returns again to this material world.” Srila Prabhupada also stated: “One who eats meat cannot understand God.” In the Bhagavad-gita 7.28 Lord Krishna clearly outlines what are the qualifications for one coming to devotional service. And addiction to abominable foodstuffs is not one of them. Srila Prabhupada comments, “. . . As long as a man is sinful, he cannot understand God. The human being’s main business is to understand God and to love Him. But if you remain sinful, you will never be able to understand God—what to speak of loving Him” (Science of Self Realization Chapter 4).

Because everyone is engaged simply duskrtinah, simply sinful activities. Eating everything, doing everything, and they’re life is full of sinful activities. Therefore, to deliver them this prasada distribution is required. Mucyante sarva kilbisaih (Initiation ceremony 1 973).

Therefore, it is essential that the conditioned souls are given the opportunity to get the higher taste of prasada and thus freed from their addiction to foods in the mode of ignorance. It is our duty to provide them this opportunity.

“. . . The attempt must go on to convert unwilling men to become His devotees. Lord Chaitanya has taught a very simple method in this connection. He has taught the lesson for preaching the transcendental message through singing, dancing and refreshment. As such, fifty percent of our income may be spent for this purpose” (SB 1.5.36 purport).

Helping to establish Srila Prabhupada’s books as “Law books”

As the Food for Life program becomes more and more prominent, establishing itself as a reputable, well organized and efficient community service (I am a real optimist), we will automatically witness an increase in credibility for those who are offering this valuable service; namely, the devotees. Then naturally, the culture and philosophy of life we represent will be accepted as well. In fact, it is not too bold to say that when devotees are actually appreciated and the masses are enriched with faith having seen the character and compassionate nature of the devotees, certainly, we shall see Srila Prabhupada’s books being accepted as books of authority, or as he said: “Law books.”

The Krishna consciousness movement is meant for benefiting society and the individual by providing practical solutions to today’s material and spiritual problems. Through the Food for Life program we can conveniently do this by carefully and strategically introducing all other aspects of Krishna consciousness. We simply need to understand that Hare Krishna Food for Life is a by-product of the teachings of His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada, and that, these teachings are the “Law books” for the Food for Life program. By doing this we will be able to nicely present Srila Prabhupada's books as the foundation for a “social-reform program,” or, as the Bhagavatam states: “. . . For creating a revolution in the impious lives of a misdirected civilization.”

So the primary reason for developing and expanding the Food for Life program is that we strongly believe it can dramatically assist Srila Prabhupada’s BOOK DISTRIBUTION mission.

How Does Food for Life Attract the Support of the Leaders?

Srila Prabhupada was extremely enthusiastic to attract the attention of the leaders. In fact, he even stated:

My idea is, I want to draw the attention of the authorities. If they cooperate, then we can push on our movement more vigorously.” We are doing it on a small scale. It is going on. But if we get the support of the authorities, we can push on in a larger scale” (Lilamrta Vol. 6 p. 65).

And another one, which I consider the perfect supporting statement for the Food for Life program:

The Krishna consciousness movement is based on this principle: Chant the Hare Krishna maha mantra at every moment, as much as possible, both inside and outside of the temples, and, as far as possible, distribute prasada. This process can be accelerated with the cooperation of state administrators and those who are producing the country’s wealth. Simply by liberal distribution of prasada and sankirtana, the whole world can become peaceful and prosperous (SB 4.12.10 pp).

The above comment by Srila Prabhupada is obviously a strong support for large-scale prasadam distribution, however, there is another point which should be noted; Srila Prabhupada states “. . . With the cooperation of state administrators. . . .” Now this is exactly where the Food for Life program can be utilized—attracting the attention and support of the authorities. How? Because the Food for Life program represents a reaction to the numerous social problems of which the government is responsible. In other words; “we’re doing their work.” They just have to take notice.

As we mentioned earlier the ISKCON Communications Ministry recently formulated a Mission statement for ISKCON, and it conveniently describes ISKCON as the ideal “welfare” service. It reads as follows:

The Krishna consciousness movement benefits the individual and society by offering practical solutions to today’s material and spiritual problems.

In a famous conversation with Lieutenant Mozee, Srila Prabhupada clearly states how prasadam distribution will help to solve the growing crime problem:

Srila Prabhupada: No. Everywhere. The age we live in is called Kali-yuga, the age of forgetting God. It is an age of misunderstanding and quarrel, and the people’s hearts are filled with dirty things. But God is so powerful that if we chant His holy name we become purified, just as my disciples have become purified of their bad habits. Our movement is based on this principle of chanting the holy name of God. We give everyone the opportunity, without any distinction. They can come to our temple, chant the Hare Krishna mantra, take a little prasadam as refreshment, and gradually become purified. So if the governmental authorities give us some facilities, then we can hold mass sankirtana. Then, without a doubt, the whole society will change. (Science of Self Realization Ch. 6 SP conversation with Lieutenant Mozee)

A “socially acceptable” way of giving people Krishna.

The Krishna culture, philosophy and life-style is not, in the eyes of the common person a very practical answer to the material and spiritual problems of the world. However, through the “socially acceptable” medium of Hare Krishna Food for Life, openings can be made that can enable our Krishna conscious solutions to firmly take root and grow into “socially acceptable solutions.” As Srila Prabhupada would often say, “In like a needle, out like a plough!”

In Australia, and other centers around the world, devotees have been very successful in presenting Krishna consciousness in a “socially acceptable” manner. For example, in Canberra, the capital city of Australia, a Food for Life program has been operating for the last 4 years which is totally supported by government funds, including a $20,000 van every 2 years. Now the amazing thing about this program is that it is nothing short of a full-scale Sunday feast program, with chanting, Bhagavad-gita lecture, book sales and prasadam. The devotees wear full Vaishnava dress and preach Krishna consciousness! Yes, that’s right, they get paid for preaching! How was it possible? They presented Krishna consciousness in a “socially acceptable” way, through the medium of Food for Life.

Government officials even attended this program, and commented how they appreciated the singing and dancing before the feast, as well as the 20 minute “counseling session” (Bhagavad-gita lecture). In this way the Canberra devotees have conveniently presented Krishna consciousness utilizing Food for Life, and have successfully achieved government support. Now that’s, intelligent marketing strategy—utilizing Food for Life to present Krishna consciousness in an attractive way—with a “nice label.” Srila Prabhupada writes,

“The world is most sorely in need of education in Krishna consciousness, but due to the ignorance of the age they are not interested in knowledge of the self. So if by labeling the bottle in some way more to attract them we are still able to teach Krishna consciousness, let us do it (SP letter to Pancaratna, 2nd May, 1974).

Another example is the highly successful Food for Life program operating in the city of Philadelphia USA. Devi Deva prabhu directs this program, which now receives many millions of dollars every year from the state and federal government. They have a prominent four story building in the center of town and are well known and appreciated by the whole city.

Now, please allow us to give a few examples of how Food for Life has effectively captured the attention and support of the leaders in Australia.

How a mayor changed is attitude in minutes

Steve Condous (Mayor of Adelaide, Australia) - This man was the principle factor in having book distribution and harinama banned from the streets of Adelaide, for nearly 7 years. However, after many samples of prasada, and a brief meeting with Mr. Condous, explaining to him our plans for a Food for Life program in his city, he became completely transformed! Not only did he approve of this program, but was more than willing to have the council sponsor a “Mayoral reception” for the program's inauguration.

He immediately instructed his secretary to send out official council gold stamped invitations to dignitaries around town, as well as news releases to the TV, radio and newspapers. And if that’s not enough, the council paid for all of the bhoga and allowed us free use of their Queen Elizabeth dining hall. Wearing a Food for Life apron and garland, the previously unfavorable Mayor gave a speech to the gathering of dignitaries, glorifying the devotees and ISKCON. The local member of parliament and the president of Red Cross was there, along with the local sergeant of police, who later organized a catering engagement for the devotees to serve lunch to the Premier of the state.

Tell me about “Hare Krishna”

Eric Fitzgibbon (Regional Minister) Mr. Fitzgibbon had written two letters of endorsement for the Food for Life program before we had even begun distributing prasadam in the area, even though we had never had any personal contact. I had written to him and had spoken to him twice on the phone and left prasadam and a cookbook at his office with a note, “Happy Cooking and Hare Krishna, Priya.” When I finally managed to get a meeting with him, it turned out that he was more interested in finding out about Krishna consciousness than he was about Food for Life. With the door closed and only myself and him in the office, for the next hour we discussed all aspects of Krishna consciousness, and then Mr. Fitzgibbon purchased a Bhagavad-gita for his daughter.

He is a very wise man…

Stan Neilly (Australian politician) Mr. Neilly attended the opening celebration feast for Food for Life in the Hunter Valley (Australia). He was one of the first to arrive, and amazingly enough, the last to leave! H.H. Indradyumna Swami gave the lecture to a packed hall, and after his talk, Mr. Neilly turned to me and said, “He is a very wise man, I would like to meet him.” Mr. Neilly took home books and videos and later gave a $50 donation on two separate occasions towards the Food for Life program. He also wrote two letters of endorsement.

Can I quote the Bhagavad-gita during my council meetings?

Maree Callaghan (Mayor of Cessnock, Australia) Mrs. Callaghan also attended our opening celebration feast for Food for Life in the Hunter Valley. She happily chanted along with the devotees during kirtana. The next day I visited her at the office and asked if she had considered meditation as a means to combat the stress of management. She explained she hadn’t, but was “very captivated by the chanting last night.” She then agreed to try the chanting and gladly accepted a Bhagavad-gita, stating that she would like to quote from it during her council meetings.

Can I donate?

Bob Carr MP (NSW Premier) Mr. Carr was campaigning in a nearby city to our temple when we offered him a book, as well as information on the local Food for Life program. He happily accepted the book and being a little caught by surprise, offered to donate some money. I naturally agreed, and he handed me $10. Later we wrote him a “thank you” letter and asked if he would care to write a letter of endorsement for the Food for Life program. He did, and that letter was one of the finest we had ever received. It contained five paragraphs, each stating “Hare Krishna.”

*Note: Actually, we received many endorsement letters from leading officials before we had even started our Food for Life program in the Hunter Valley area. In just over 4 months, we received front page articles, radio interview, television reports, and letters from all the influential people in the area, and we had not even served one plate of food yet! Just the concept alone, and fact that FFL already had a history of success in many parts of the world was enough to inspire these dignitaries to not only write letters of endorsement, but attend these public engagements and associate with devotees. This is certainly proof of the power of Food for Life. Back then, 1990, Hare Krishna Food for Life was serving around 40,000 meals a day and yet we were able to generate so much support and interest. Imagine what we can do now, when FFL projects are serving up to 2 MILLION Meals daily! Act locally, but think globally.

The 2 millionth free meal

Special Food for Life events are an excellent way to engage important people in the sankirtana movement, whom would ordinarily be difficult to engage.

November 8, 1990 marked the official serving of the 2 millionth free plate of prasadam in Australia.

The event afforded us an excellent opportunity to involve many dignitaries in the sankirtana movement. We decided to invite 5 special guests: the local member of Parliament for East Sydney, Chief Inspector of Police, the Mayor of South Sydney, President of the Chamber of Commerce, and the Regional Officer for Community welfare. All of the dignitaries were garlanded and greeted by an ecstatic chanting party; escorted by police carrying a palanquin with a huge “2 millionth-meal” fruit cake! But the highlight of the whole event was to see these dignitaries actually wearing Hare Krishna Food for Life aprons and distributing prasadam to the guests! They were in ecstasy. Not only did these important people endorse the Food for Life program, but they practically took part in the yajna!

A question may be raised, “What are the chances of such important people attending a Hare Krishna Sunday feast? Very little I would say. However, it appears that they are more than willing to attend a Food for Life function, praise the devotees and even get involved. Just recently we traveled throughout the former Soviet for the purpose of inaugurating and promoting the Food for Life program. And again, we were delighted to see the genuine enthusiasm of local dignitaries to serve prasadam to the poor people of those cities and the media to report the Hare Krishna movement in an accurate and positive manner.

Recognition of spirituality

One interesting feature of most of the letters we have received is that there is recognition that the Food for Life program is doing more than just “feeding people.”

“The commitment of the Hare Krishna organization goes beyond the need to provide basic requirements such as food. It is a commitment to improve the quality of life…” (Bob Carr, politician Letter, 3 September, 1991).

“The aims of this program are certainly easily reconcilable with basic Christian and humanitarian practice . . .it will not only keep body and soul together, but provide that very necessary boost to individual moral.” (John Price, politician Letter, July 12 1991).

In this regard, Srila Prabhupada comments about the importance of getting the leading men to preach on our behalf:

“…if the leading men can be induced by you to preach on our behalf, then you will be able to speed up the process and actually that is a very great service for Krishna (SP letter to Damodara Jan. 9 1973).

There are numerous other examples of how leading officials in Australia and other countries have become attracted by, and even practically engaged in propagating the sankirtana movement. But space prevents us from mentioning any more. Believe me, with Food for Life you can preach to anyone.

Helping to establish a Krishna conscious government.

In the purport to verse 4.93 Madhya lila in the Chaitanya Caritamrita, Srila Prabhupada strongly declares how prasadam distribution is not only important, but he gives a clue as to how it will play a major role in making the government Krishna conscious:

“The Krishna consciousness movement vigorously approves this practice of preparing food, offering it to the deity, and distributing it to the general population. This activity should be extended universally to stop sinful eating habits as well as other behavior befitting only demons. . . . Since eating is the first necessity in human society, those involved in solving the problems of preparing and distributing food should take lessons from Madhavendra Puri and execute the Annakuta ceremony. When people take to eating only prasada offered to the deity, all the demons will be turned into vaisnavas. When the people are Krishna conscious, naturally the government will be also. A Krishna conscious man is always a liberal well-wisher of everyone. When such men head the government, the people will certainly be sinless. They will no longer be disturbing demons. It is then and then only that a peaceful condition can prevail in society.”

There are two interesting points here: Srila Prabhupada states, “. . .this activity should be extended UNIVERSALLY,” what to speak of worldwide or locally!!! Yes, just imagine, interplanetary prasadam distribution! Don’t laugh, I’m serious. One hundred years ago people could not have imagined the present-day technological wonders we now take for granted. Similarly, one hundred years from now, or even less, who knows how the sankirtana movement will be expanding. After all, Lord Chaitanya desired to save all the living entities, not only the residents of Earth. At least from this statement we should consider the importance of at least doing Food for Life locally.

The other point to be noted; “When the people are Krishna conscious, naturally the government will be also.” In other words, the government can only be a government with the cooperation of the people. What is appreciated by the people, must also be appreciated by the leaders.

In the Bhagavad-gita Lord Krishna explains to Arjuna, yad yad acarati sresthas: “Whatever action a great man performs, common men follow. And whatever standards he sets by exemplary acts, all the world pursues.” So from these two instructions we could easily become somewhat perplexed as to what to do. On one hand, Srila Prabhupada is recommending we should influence the leaders through the masses. And on the other hand, Lord Krishna is telling us that we need to influence the masses through the leaders.

Now here is a solution to this seemingly confusing situation.

Prasadam distribution should be indiscriminate, it is for everyone. However, the unique feature of Food for Life is that it lends a “welfare face” to prasadam distribution, and thus, it deals a very “striking blow” to the leaders of society, whose major responsibility is to give protection to their citizens. So the idea is, we should influence the masses through large scale prasadam distribution, and in turn, we will influence the leaders to appreciate our honest and benevolent endeavors, which in turn, will mean they will give good direction to the masses to respect the teachings of the Krishna consciousness movement.

Influencing the leaders of society

“Your proposals for increasing our popularity and familiarity among influential circles in the USA is very good. You may know that when I was in Los Angeles, I especially wanted to use the new temple to attract some influential persons to our movement. . . . So if we want actually to be successful, we must convince the influential men of your country, then everything will follow automatically . . . .” (SP letter to Syamasundara, 22 Sept. 1970).

If we want actually to be successful. .says Prabhupada

Convincing these leaders, on the basis of “straight-down-the-line” Krishna consciousness will not be easy, although it is indeed possible. However, through the medium of Food for Life, a relationship can be established, whereby they will be favorably influenced. How? Because Food for Life can be easily ‘tailored’ to target just about any social problem there is—and ultimately, as we have mentioned before, these problems are the responsibility of the leaders. So although they may not at first like to, they will be obliged to assist the Krishna consciousness movement. And practically we have seen this happen all over the world.

Food for Life is Srila Prabhupada’s Desire

The Krishna consciousness movement has established its center in Mayapur, the birth-site of Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, to give men the great opportunity to go there and perform a constant festival of sankirtana-yajna, as recommended herein (yajnesa-makha mahotsavah) and to distribute prasada to millions of hungry people hankering for spiritual emancipation. This is the mission of the Krishna consciousness movement (SB 1.13.9 pp).

“If we can continue this philanthropic work to give them enlightenment and food without any discrimination, it will be appreciated by all people.” (Srila Prabhupada, Sri Dham Mayapura magazine).

“…We invite all hungry and naked people to come to us and we will give them food and clothing and Krishna consciousness as well. This will attract the general public and there will never be any shortage of foodstuffs . . . Our temple should be the via media for feeding the poor with food and spiritual knowledge. Our Bombay program should be based on giving Krishna consciousness through the English medium and distribution of prasada without discrimination. This will enhance our prestige and will accelerate our spiritual life as well.” (SP letter to Giriraja, 23 April 1973).

What is the use of a temple if there is no prasadam distribution? (SP letter to Tamal Krishna Maharaja 11 January 1974).

“If we can widely distribute free foodstuffs to the people of India, by giving it out at our centers, as well as our traveling parties to villages, we will win over the whole country and the whole world by this activity on Krishna’s behalf.” (SP letter to Satyajit 16 March 1974).

“You have written that chanting, dancing and book distribution are going on nicely. Prasadam distribution should also be introduced. This will make the program even more effective.” (SP letter to Hridayananda Maharaja, 2 November 1976).

“He [the grhastha] should provide the necessities of life even to the dogs and the lowest creatures. . . . Whatever a grhastha may possess he should equally distribute to all living entities, without discrimination. The best process is to distribute prasada.” (SB 7.14 introduction).

In the following letter, Srila Prabhupada clearly expresses his desires to all the temple presidents. All temple presidents please take note; this is meant for you:

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 halavah 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 takes, 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 Krishna, and be happy. Everything is being supplied by Krishna, Krishna 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 Krishna is providing and maintaining everyone, then why should we be misers. This means losing faith in Krishna and thinking that we are the doers and suppliers. We are confident Krishna will supply! Let the whole world come, we can feed them. So please do this nicely, begin at once (SP to all temple presidents 18 January 1977).

It is interesting to note that this is one of the last instructions Srila Prabhupada ever gave on prasadam distribution. By the tone of this letter, we can definitely see how enthusiastic he was about prasadam distribution.

How ISKCON’s prasadam distribution began

(Excerpt from a lecture by H.H. Jayapataka Swami. Place and date unknown)

It was the second or third international Mayapura festival. We had just finished the four story building which is today known as the Lotus building. Srila Prabhupada had invited several devotees from all over the world for the inauguration of this mandir. On this occasion we had a big feast. After the feast Prabhupada took prasadam and then a little rest. But his rest was disturbed by the howling of dogs and he got up. Prabhupada said, “Bring all the sannyasis, bring the GBC immediately! Bring them!”

Usually if Prabhupada wanted to say something he would say, “Bring my secretary.” But in Mayapura he would call everyone. He would want everyone to hear what he was saying. At that time the devotees were just ‘recovering’ from a big feast. When Prabhupada called, all the devotees came down rushing, “What is Prabhupada calling for? What’s happening?” They saw Prabhupada intently looking out of the windows with tears in his eyes—he was crying! They looked out and saw a big pile of leaf plates thrown at the back of the temple after the feast. There were about fifteen dogs, and about fifteen to twenty boys and girls, little kids between eight and fourteen years, picking through the leaves and fighting off the dogs. They were eating the leftovers and licking the leaves. They were ordinary village children who were basically clean but poor.

Prabhupada was silent and everyone was astonished as to what Prabhupada was trying to communicate. Then Prabhupada revealed his mind, “How hungry they must be! They are picking the prasadam from the pile—they must be so hungry! We must arrange for their prasadam! If you want to make this a mandir, a house of Krishna, then you must see that within 10-mile radius, no one goes hungry. That will be your success. Krishna is everyone’s father. How can the son go hungry in the presence of the father? Immediately arrange to distribute prasadam.”

When Prabhupada wanted something done immediately, it meant the next day was too late. But anyway, we could not get it together before the next day. We just had a big tent in those days, and since Prabhupada wanted prasadam distribution, we cooked some khichuri, and in this way we started to distribute prasadam.

Prabhupada said that if we could have a prasadam distribution center at every 10 square miles throughout India, then we could transform the whole of India. People would become so grateful to ISKCON that they will all definitely accept Lord Chaitanya’s movement—it will be the most important movement, and they will follow very strictly. Simply by prasadam distribution, all the effects of Kali Yuga can be stopped.

“The 10-mile radius” quote

Unfortunately, the famous “no one within a ten-mile radius of a Hare Krishna Temple should ever go hungry,” quote was never recorded. However, in the following two room conversations, which took place in Bombay in 1977, Srila Prabhupada does refer to this quote:

Ramesvara: I would personally like to use it for the food program.

Prabhupada: Yes. Book we are getting.

Ramesvara: So that’s the answer then.

Prabhupada: And we are not taking any profit. Neither the seller, neither the author is taking any profit. So there is enough money. You haven’t got to pay either to the seller or to the writer, then why not spend the whole income? No profit. So we save income tax. And whatever little excess is there, (indistinct), advertise or pay some grhasthas some pocket expenses. In this way make it meet. No profit. By our arrangement there is no question of profit but even there is profit, we should pay the grhasthas some expenditure. He has. . . . Family man there is. . . . In this way, make always no profit. I was doing from the very beginning (indistinct), then I began to sell books. I was working, I was selling, I was collecting, I was spending, going to the printer, everything. Forcing (indistinct) I was publishing. Work nicely. If I don’t force (indistinct), they’ll not give me the concession rate, still I am doing. So I think this book department (indistinct) all right, you don’t require to invest. But whatever income you’ll get from this record business, spend it for giving prasadam. So we have got so many centers, they will feed.

Ramesvara: But they. . . . That way a whole new. . . .

Prabhupada: Therefore, I started Mayapura this prasada distribution. And it is coming to be successful. People are, politicians are appreciating that here is Hindu-
Muslim unity.

Ramesvara: All the devotees will appreciate this then. That the records now, the money is going to be used for food relief.

Prabhupada: Yes. And we can increase. The same thing (indistinct) in the farm, in the village, “Come on, any number, I shall feed you. Come here, chant Hare Krishna, and take prasadam.” And we shall increase the quality of the prasadam. They will be very much pleased to come and chant. That I want. I am interested in these rascals (indistinct). Fighting amongst them. What can we do? You can go for some time, see what is the reason you have come. . .elderly person, he will come. (indistinct) younger brothers (indistinct) but that he has no power to do. Misunderstanding there will be, after all it is the material world. You go and see why (indistinct). I used to think like that. In all our temples the prasada distribution should be so random (?), that within ten miles nobody should remain hungry. There are many persons in India, they are half time hungry. So if you distribute prasadam, “Come over here. You are hungry, take prasadam. If I cannot supply daily, I’ll supply at least two days, three days weekly.” And they’re coming. You have seen Mayapura (indistinct). A big prasada distribution hall. Regular two thousand are coming (indistinct). And Hindu, Muslim, they’re sitting down. No (indistinct).

Hari-sauri: Is there any reason why we just distribute on a Saturday and Sunday?

Prabhupada: Oh, (indistinct) we can distribute every day.

Hari-sauri: Let them come every day.

Prabhupada: Yes. This is (indistinct). Otherwise (indistinct). Let them eat. They can eat. (Room conversation, January 13, 1977)

Five days earlier there was another conversation:

Prabhupada: Otherwise I’ll not give to Govinda. Income tax officer will take: “Govindaya namah.” If you distribute prasadam of Govinda among the poor men. . . . We have got already in Mayapura. Increase that. There is. . . . They are drum beating, that “Anyone who is hungry, please come and take prasada.”

Giriraja: That they accept as charitable. They want charitable.

Prabhupada: Yes.

Giriraja: So what could be more charitable than feeding?

Prabhupada: No, you keep always kitchen, and by drum beating, that, “Anyone hungry within this area, or anywhere, come here. Take chapatis, roti,” and distribute prasadam. That is in our program.

Mr. Asnani: I shall go what Prabhupada says, nearest to our village, within ten miles, five miles, two miles.

Prabhupada: That I ask you. Do that. Why it is stopped, I cannot understand.

Mr. Asnani: And even the Ottomans.

Prabhupada: Yes. I’ll give money. . . .

Mr. Asnani: I’ll distribute your papers to the Muhammadans in their language.

Prabhupada: Let them chant, dance, and take prasada, go away. That’s all. No philosophy. Everyone will come. Chant, dance, and take prasadam (Room conversation January 8, 1977).

Prasadam distribution is “an act of love”

In the Srimad Bhagavatam there are numerous quotes, but the following statement says it all:

“This gratitude and love for God is exhibited, by a pure devotee who knows that the Lord lives in every living entity. As such, temple worship necessarily includes distribution of prasada. . . . Distribution of prasada to the ignorant masses of people is essential for persons who make offerings to the Personality of Godhead.” (SB 3.29.24 pp).

Srila Prabhupada has explained that the sankirtana movement runs on (2) tracks, Bhagavat viddhi (book distribution, Harinama and preaching), and Pancaratriki viddhi (deity worship, which “necessarily includes prasadam distribution”). Both tracks are important.

We should also understand that Krishna consciousness is synonymous with personalism. Devotees are “personalists.” In other words, they know perfectly well how to offer the proper respect to all living entities, seeing them as part and parcel of the Supreme Lord.       

In his Upadeshamrta, Srila Rupa Goswami explains that one of the ways by which love is demonstrated is through giving and receiving prasada. And in his purport to this verse Srila Prabhupada states:

“Even in ordinary social dealings, these six types of dealings between two loving friends are absolutely necessary. For instance, when one business man wishes to contact another businessman he arranges a feast in a hotel, and over the feast openly expresses what he wishes to do. He then enquires from his friend how he should act, and sometimes presents are exchanged.”

In this way, we can understand that prasadam acts as a “communication tool” in expressing our love and concern for another person.

Many Sankirtana devotees around the world will testify to the value of distributing prasadam while introducing Prabhupada’s books. It can mean the difference between selling a book and some poor conditioned soul missing a rare opportunity to engage in Krishna’s service. Of course there are many factors involved in determining why someone doesn’t take to Krishna consciousness, but it is possible that they were not able to appreciate the devotee's love and concern, due to some inexperience or lack of communication skills on the part of that devotee. However, with the “weapon” of prasada, there is practically a 100% certainty that the devotee's efforts will be appreciated and a book sold. Because the plain fact is: “prasadam speaks all languages.”       

Food for Life as our “frontline” program

Not only did Srila Prabhupada recognize the value of prasadam distribution, and the power of welfare, but leading professionals as well!       

In 1991, as part of ISKCON Communications research and planning, many leading Public Relations firms (Communication Firms) were consulted to give professional advice and guidance to ISKCON. The unanimous advice they all gave was that ISKCON should place Hare Krishna Food for Life as their number one “frontline” program. The reason they gave was that the Food for Life program represented the single most attractive feature of everything the Krishna consciousness movement had to offer society.

Unfortunately, although a large sum of money was spent in gaining this professional advice, practically speaking, no dramatic action has been initiated. The Food for Life program still remains a badly misunderstood and “half-baked” program.

Helping to build our good reputation

We build a good reputation by being consistently good over a long period of time, and by practicing what we preach. However, there is another way by which ISKCON can build its reputation, and that is by working in cooperation with other reputable organizations.

As a minority group (in the material world), we should recognize the need to cooperate with not only our own members but members of other organizations as well, if we are to make a substantial impact on society. The art is how to “blend in” without becoming influenced in a negative way, or minimizing our principles of purity. “Go fishing but don’t get wet,” said Prabhupada. We believe that Food for Life is the perfect “blending agent,” whereby devotees can successfully infiltrate mainstream society with Krishna consciousness and gain much needed public acceptance and facilities, through working with established religious and/or community organizations.

Food for Life can “enter like the snake”

Srila Prabhupada gives the analogy of the snake eating the field mice and taking over its home. “We enter like the snake,” said Prabhupada. “We take over their facility and use it for Krishna.”

“This is called ajagara vrtti. Ajagara vrtti means that the mouse, they make a hole in the field for his living comfortably. You know? You have seen the holes in the field? And the ajagara, the big snake, they take advantage of this holes. They enter into it and eat the mouse, and live comfortably. So the mouse makes the comfortable place for the snake. The snake business is to enter and live comfortably. So our business is like that. You sudras, you make all the advantages, and we take simply, go there. (Laughter) That’s all. That is our business. You construct house, nice house, and we enter. That’s all.” (SB lecture SB 1.7.6 May 31, 1974).

The material society has developed all the facilities necessary for spreading the Krishna consciousness movement. There is no need for us to “reinvent the wheel.” In other words, Srila Prabhupada did not expect that establishing a Krishna conscious society would require that we build our own Hare Krishna hospitals and police stations. No. His idea was to create a class of brahmanas that could lead the masses and intelligently engage them in the service of Krishna. We believe that the Food for Life program can act as a catalyst to initiate such a situation.

One example we can give in this regard is in relation to many of the Food for Life programs operating in Australia. One in particular, the Cessnock Food for Life is starting a new trend. The devotees operate their program directly out of the local Police youth club (see: Appendix VII). The police provide their kitchen, regular donations of food, the use of the club whenever the devotees need it—as well as their REPUTATION! The perception of the devotees in this country town is excellent. “. . . They are working with the police; therefore, they must be good people” the local people are saying.

*Note: Please refer to “Vyasa puja homage” from Food for Life Australia to Srila Prabhupada 1992

Food for life gives sadhu sanga

Srila Prabhupada explains the responsibility of devotees to give sadhu sanga to the fallen conditioned souls, and once again, the potency of prasadam:

“…all our devotees in the ISKCON community should become pure vaisnavas, so that by their mercy all the people in the world will be transferred to Vaikunthaloka, even without their knowledge. Everyone should be given a chance to take prasada and thus be induced to chant the holy names of Hare Krishna and also dance in ecstasy. By these three processes, although performed without knowledge or education, even a dog went back to Godhead.” (CC Antya lila 1.32 pp).

Our Food for Life program is one of the many ways in which devotees can give their association to the non-devotees, especially those whom would ordinarily be difficult to approach through other methods. In this regard there is a very nice instruction from Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura about the power of sadhu sanga:

In the scriptures devotional service and pious activity are considered fortunate. Pious activities can be divided into three categories:

1) Pious activities that awaken one’s dormant Krishna consciousness are called Bhakty-unmukhi sukrti.

2) Pious activities that bestow material opulence are called Bhogonmukhi sukrti

3) Pious activities that enable the living entity to merge into the existence of the Supreme are called Moksonmukhi sukrti

“The last two awards of pious activity are not actually fortunate. Pious activities are fortunate when they help one to become Krishna conscious. The good fortune of Bhakty-unmukhi is attainable only when one comes in contact with a devotee. By associating with a devotee willingly or unwillingly, one advances in devotional service, and thus one’s dormant Krishna consciousness is awakened.” (CC Madhya lila 22.45 pp)

Fulfilling the prophesy—“In every town and village.”

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has declared that the sankirtana movement will spread to every town and village throughout the world. However, it was only until Srila Prabhupada came to the West that this prophesy became fully appreciated and realized. Now, does this necessarily mean that ISKCON will establish a temple in every town and village? Maybe not, but there is no reason why a Food for Life program could not be operated in every town and village across the globe.

After all, Srila Prabhupada did states:

“…eating is the first necessity in human society. . . .” (Madhya lila 4.93 pp). And interestingly enough in a letter to Subhavilasa in England Srila Prabhupada wrote: “From the farms we should get sufficient foodstuffs and these can be sent to be used at our restaurants. Along with the restaurants there can be “Bhaktivedanta Reading Room” where all my books can be kept and people can come and sit comfortably and read. The people will like these restaurants and reading rooms. They will take them as non-sectarian.” (SP letter March 16, 1977).

The point to note here is that Srila Prabhupada was well aware of the tendency for the general masses to shy away from temples and churches. And therefore he could see the value of spreading Krishna consciousness through restaurants with reading rooms, “they will take it as nonsectarian.”

The next phase of our movement

While serving as secretary to Srila Prabhupada, His Holiness Satsvarupa Goswami’s was asked to inform all the devotees of Srila Prabhupada’s latest preaching plans. The letter was written on 18 June, 1974 and begins:

The other day His Divine Grace revealed in detail his plans for Hare Krishna restaurants, which can be opened anywhere in the world. After his talk most recently, he told me to see that this information is disseminated to all the devotees. He described it as ‘the next phase of our movement.’ Please therefore make a newsletter of the information that follows for all-ISKCON distribution.

“Our Krishna conscious farms, like New Vrindavan, are producing much ghee. This ghee should be distributed at a fee to the different centers, and once restaurants begin opening, the ghee will be one of their prime materials. Other supplies such as vegetables, grains, etc., can be obtained locally.”

The restaurants could be cafeteria-style. The food is kept out on counters, and people approach in a line with a tray and take what they want. Prabhupada proposed that “there should be one charge and that if a person takes more than another person, he is not charged more — as much as you like for a certain fee. But there should be no waste. A person should take what he can eat.”

One devotee, hearing this, said, “Prabhupada, I think people will be carrying samosas home in their pockets,” “No,” he said, “it is a business. Only what they can eat. But they don’t get charged more for eating more, like in a hotel, where immediately there is a bill if you eat more.”

“We can also make home deliveries. Food is cooked fresh, and as it is taken, more fresh batches are put on the counter. Always fresh. There will be about twenty sweet preparations, and twenty salty preparations like samosas (made with potatoes, peas, cauliflower, white flour, and ghee) and kacauris, etc. The vegetable preps must be served hot. Everything should be so clean that not even a single fly should be seen. After the first batch of prasadam is made, it will be offered to Lord Chaitanya with arati, then the prasadam for the rest of the day will be considered offered. Smoking, of course, is prohibited in the restaurant. Tapes can play of our kirtanas. The idea is that people who will not come to our temples will come and eat at our restaurants and will be eating prasadam and hearing. Also it will engage men, our devotees, in varieties of pursuits — not that without engagement men should eat in our temples in the name of devotional service. Hare Krishna Restaurant!” The name, Srila Prabhupada said, “should also be fully registered so that others may not imitate.”

“Foods cooked in ghee, foods cooked in water, all the standard varieties will be there. Foods cooked in ghee are especially wonderful and healthful. People should come and be relaxed, eat, and talk relaxed. See how nice Krishna consciousness is. There will be a small book and record store in the restaurant. Devotees will do all the work in the restaurant. We can even import an expert Indian cook if necessary. At the end of the day everything must be thoroughly washed down, and no leftovers. No prasadam will be given away free. At a certain hour, at the end of the day, the leftovers can be sold half price or some even given away. But the venture has to be an economically profitable business.”

“Start out the business small and train up men in one restaurant. Then you can expand gradually. You can give them nice drinks. Masala milk, made with small quantities, of ginger, saffron, pepper, and cinnamon, can be served hot, and cold juices. No tea is served. Yogurt can be made from hot milk and, when drunk as whey, it is very good for digestion.”

Letter of November 9, 1975 to Tusta Krishna:

“It is a very good idea for people to come to our vegetarian restaurant and take so many nice things, especially the paneer, fried cheese, and sandesa, kaucauri, rasagulla, samosa, and in this way forget their meat-eating. If you make a soup like fried paneer with asafetida and ginger, this will replace lobster soup nonsense. Of course, we are not interested in giving them vegetarian food; we are wanting to give them prasadam. Then gradually they will become devotees.”

Letter of July 10, 1975 to Guru Krpa das:

“I want that all householders be engaged in managing these restaurants.”

Letter of August 16, 1974 to Batu Gopala das:

“Regarding the restaurant, you should not name it as you have suggested but `Hare Krishna Restaurant.’ That should be the name. In each restaurant there should be the picture of Lord Chaitanya, and the food should be offered and distributed to the respected customers. There should also be tape recorder playing the sankirtana in mild voice.”

Observation by Mukunda Goswami concerning a letter written by Tamal Krishna Goswami while he was serving as Srila Prabhupada’s secretary.

Srila Prabhupada’s support of prasadam distribution, and specifically restaurants, for spreading Krishna Consciousness is clearly indicated in His instructions which came in this letter, dated March 22, 1977. At the time this letter was dictated, Srila Prabhupada’s health was eighty per cent gone, being seven months before His passing. Because of the timing, we may consider these instructions as an important, long-term strategic policy for spreading Krishna Consciousness.

The letter was addressed to Ramesvara Maharaja and included Prabhupada’s explicit instruction to be sure that “the general topics of the letter are to be distributed to all GBC members.” In paragraph two of the letter we find the following passage:

“Srila Prabhupada has suggested that rather than opening any more temples in the U.S. that we open combinations of reading rooms and restaurants. After the local people frequent these, then we can open temples. These reading rooms and restaurants will be appreciated by the public as not being sectarian. Our farms can supply the foodstuffs and those who work in the restaurants should be able to eat as much as they like.”

Elsewhere in the letter Srila Prabhupada indicates how this program will counteract negative publicity and enable the public to see ISKCON’s “cultural position.”

How Does Food for Life Attract the Media?

The Krishna consciousness was established on the principle of “yukta vairagya.” According to Srila Rupa Goswami, real renunciation entails utilizing everything in the service of Krishna. In the Teachings of Lord Chaitanya, Srila Prabhupada takes this principle of yukta vairagya to the very extreme. In the introduction he explains that the members of the Krishna consciousness movement are even willing to use missiles in the service of Krishna!

In this degraded age of Kali, the non-devotees are effectively spreading maya through advanced media technology. Similarly, we should spread the purifying message of Krishna consciousness utilizing the same modern techniques—and this is exactly where the Food for Life program can set the pace. How? Because Food for Life is a very attractive media topic. It’s a “human story.” It involves real life circumstances. It is newsworthy!

A great medium for propagation

We should be proud of ISKCON’s achievements and firmly believe in the power of prasadam distribution and benefits of Krishna consciousness. The fact is that the Krishna consciousness movement is filled with “living examples” of transformed lives. Literally tens of thousands of people have been cured of some type of mayic addiction. Now, isn’t that amazing? We have an extremely high rate of success. And we should be PROUD of this success. Not for ourselves, but for Srila Prabhupada and Lord Krishna. This process actually works! We are doing the best work and therefore we should BOLDLY shout out: "The Hare Krishna devotees are saving the world with this Food for Life program.", "Krishna consciousness can solve all social problems.", "Srila Prabhupada is the founder of this wonderful service." This is what it means to propagate, and the Krishna consciousness movement is all about propagation. Propagation of three primary things: Spiritual culture (Harinama), Transcendental knowledge (Prabhupada’s books) and spiritual and material welfare (Hare Krishna Food for Life).

Srila Prabhupada often cited the example of how the communists were able to spread communism in India. “We must make a large propaganda program for Krishna consciousness by distributing these books everywhere, all over the world” (SP letter to Ramesvara 21 December 1974). Yes, we should propagate, but only as much as we are willing to “practice what we preach.” If we are actually distributing prasadam as Srila Prabhupada so much desired, then we can and must vigorously propagate this activity.

Without a doubt, Food for Life is an ideal program to publicize—the media loves it. And they have the power to help us change the attitudes of the public.

“The hand that rules the press, the radio, the screen and the far-spread magazine, rules the country.” (Learned Hand, memorial address by Justice Brandeis, 12/21/42)

One phone call and a fax

I have personal experience of just how interested in Food for Life the media can be. We hadn’t started our FFL program in Newcastle, Australia, and yet simply by promoting the fact that we were going to, was enough to attract many newspaper articles, television reports, and radio interviews. The first article came when I sent out a fax stating how we were going to open a free food kitchen in the city. I hadn’t had much experience with writing news releases; there were spelling mistakes and it was not properly addressed. However, I followed up with a phone call and to my surprise a reporter began asking me for more details about the proposed new kitchen. We talked for ten minutes and the next day a front-page article appeared in the biggest newspaper in the city.

“But if you eat and if you distribute that sort of prasada to the public, you are doing great service and the public is getting spiritual consciousness, God consciousness. Just establish, just propagate this everywhere. In the hospital, in the charitable societies, in industrial places, everywhere distribute this prasada and chant this Hare Krishna. Just see what is the result. You want peace? These are the process of peace.”

Only 10-20% of what it needs to be

Unfortunately, in this area as well, there doesn’t appear to be a concerted effort by devotees around the world to either promote the Food for Life program, or use it as a means for cultivating the authorities. Either, the devotees are not aware of the importance of this program, or, there is a very poor attitude towards the whole operation, from cooking, to distribution, to cleanliness and finally publicity.

In an interview, director of ISKCON communications, H.H. Mukunda Goswami stated, “Food for Life without publicity is only 10–20% of what it needs to be.”

The point here is that devotees must understand the value of this Food for Life program to promote ISKCON. Rather than see Food for Life as some less important service that you get the new bhaktas to take care of, or as a way to “get rid of the excess prasada.” We should see prasadam distribution (Food for Life) as an integral part of the sankirtana “preaching formula.”

Food for Life Has Unlimited Potential

The Food for Life program is amazingly flexible. Practically there is no limit to the different ways in which this program can be utilized to promote various aspects of Krishna consciousness. All it requires is a little broad vision.

Food for Life farms

The basic purpose of all our farming communities is to provide food for our devotees and our preaching programs. Now, why not a Food for Life farm? Not only are we providing food for the needy, but we are working hard to grow the food ourselves. And as well, the food is of the highest quality—grown without the use of artificial fertilizers or machinery. It is grown “organically,” and by traditional “self-sufficient” Vedic methods. And, it is all done with LOVE, because no one gets a salary on a Hare Krishna farm! “What a story!!!” What a practical way to present the Vedic life-style in an easily ‘digestible’ form.       

The benefits of combining these two programs are unlimited. One obvious ‘fruit,’ is that money collected for the Food for Life program can be justifiably utilized in developing and maintaining these farms and the devotees living on these farms. After all, the “volunteer Food for Life laborers” also need to eat, as well as be clothed. They also require shelter and health care, etc., Actually it is quite feasible that such a joint program could help solve many of our financial problems. As long as we do what we say we are doing, that is.

However, in order to successfully execute this merger, it will be necessary to broaden our own understanding of the Food for Life program, as well as the general community. We will need to educate the devotees, as well as the public. Food for Life should not simply remain a “free-food program,” and nothing more. We should see it as a convenient means to present all aspects of the Krishna consciousness movement. And why not, prasada distribution is one of the “angas” that eventually lead us to KRISHNA.

Food for Life Dynamic farming project

$120,000 grant!!!

One interesting story about Food for Life farms: In 1993 the devotees at the New Gokula farming community in Australia were successful in receiving a $120,000 grant from the federal government for their “Dynamic farming project,” which provided employment for ten young people on their farm to grow organic vegetables for the Food for Life program. The grant was used for wages, as well as to buy seeds, and gardening equipment, etc. Not only was this new program fantastic PR, but the farm was beautified, the deities and devotees were consequently well fed, and in the process, they gave 10 people a taste of Krishna consciousness life.

Krishna’s R.A.Y. of hope!

Following on from this employment project, we could feasibly develop an attractive retreat program for the youth, that could not only provide employment, but act as a rural educational academy. We could call it the Rural Academy for Youth, or Krishna’s RAY of hope. Such a program would revolve around a typical day on an ISKCON farm with a slightly modified morning program and work in the fields. The young people would learn basic living skills, Vedic philosophy, varnasrama, cow protection, bullock utilization, plant-based nutrition, relaxation, mantra meditation, cooking, cleanliness, etc.

We have done extensive research in the area of government funding for such a project and the availability is high. The fact is that many welfare experts readily agree that rural programs for wayward (unhappy) youths are the most effective in terms of long-term reform. Srila Prabhupada thought so as well,

“I am very glad to learn that all the members there are doing very nicely, and living happily. I hope that New Vrindavana will give shelter to so many unhappy men of this country and they will be happy by working there, and living there in good association of devotees…” (SP letter to Kirtanananda, September 1968).

Such a program could well be the way to introduce the Varnasrama system into mainstream society, whereby the devotees are accepted as the brahmanas, whose duty is to engage all others according to their guna and karma, in service to Krishna. What we refer to as Varnasrama would be understood by the layman as a rural-based Academy and retreat for alternate, health conscious people.

During some room conversations Srila Prabhupada explained his concept for ISKCON farms:

Prabhupada: Now, my project is that we shall actually give them food, shelter and. . . .

Ramesvara: Cottages, little cottages.

Prabhupada: And cloth, whatever primary necessities and simple living, and let them chant.

Ramesvara: They chant and also work the fields.

Prabhupada: So they, in the beginning, if they are not working. . . . They’ll work. We shall supply food, everything. And that. . . . That is well beginning. (Room conversation, January 21, 1977)

Prabhupada: No, we say, “You are embarrassed. You come to us. Live with us. You get your food, and whatever service you can do, that’s all right. Come here.” That’s all. We’ll send in one of our farms or in temple. Let him be trained up. And if he is actually serious, then have engagement. There is no difficulty. And if you want that `I shall work in this way,’ that is not possible. “You have to work in our way.” Then there is unlimited opportunity (Room conversation, Allahabad, January 13, 1977).

The Krishna consciousness movement is therefore establishing various farms, especially in America, to show how to be happy and content with minimum necessities of life and to save time for self-realization, which one can very easily achieve by chanting the maha-mantra—Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare (SB 8.19.2 pp).

Fundraising with Food for Life

The potential of raising large amounts of money through the Food for Life program cannot be overestimated. Charitable organizations in the developed nations amass billions of dollars every year from donations. For example, the last year collected US $660 million in donations from the American public! And in Australia, during their annual “door-knock appeal,” more than A$30 million was collected in one day! How is this possible? The major factor would have to be their excellent REPUTATION. They have worked for years on strengthening their reputation. Similarly, if ISKCON hopes to achieve such support from the public, we must first address the need to build our reputation. And Food for Life is one of the ways to do just that. (Please refer to fund raising in the Food for Life manual.)

Book distribution through Food for Life

Recently in Australia the New South Wales Charities department approved of a very revolutionary amendment to the Hunter Valley Food for Life constitution. The new amendment is in relation to the Aims and Objectives of the service and reads as follows:

To promote the ancient Vedic food culture of India and to distribute appropriate literature and give discourses on the subject matter in schools, colleges and social clubs.

This new amendment helps to broaden the activities that Hunter Valley Food for Life program can legally participate in. They have not been duplicitous. Rather, they have presented the facts as they are, but in an honest and palatable way. This amendment naturally means that funds collected for their Food for Life program can be legally utilized for book distribution and public lectures. However, this should not be misunderstood. As we mentioned earlier, Food for Life should mean primarily, free food (prasada) distribution, but our welfare activities needn’t stop there. Food for Life can help to facilitate that message.

The new amendment is also a major step forward in demonstrating the value of the Food for Life program for expanding and facilitating ISKCON’s preaching. As well as the new amendment, the Hunter Valley constitution includes Aims and Objectives in relation to “provision of accommodation” and “healthy life-style training programs,” on their farming community. In this way they are successfully positioning their whole program (ISKCON and Food for Life) as a community service and more importantly, charitable.

Concluding Words

In conclusion, we would like to make it very clear that in presenting this essay on Hare Krishna Food for Life, our intention is in no way to minimize the importance of book distribution as the primary means for spreading the sankirtana movement. Book distribution will always remain the basis of all our preaching endeavors, as Srila Prabhupada so much desired.

Our objective in presenting the above quotes and thoughts on Food for Life, is to inspire devotees (especially the leaders) around the world to also recognize the Food for Life program as an essential preaching tool for spreading Krishna consciousness and that a concerted effort be made by all ISKCON leaders to properly organize, coordinate and expand this program to its maximum potential. Now we would like to make some proposals.

Proposals

1)      That all GBC's, gurus, sannyasis and temple presidents encourage the development and expansion of the Food for Life program in their respective temples and preaching zones.

2)      That the Food for Life program be recognized as an essential preaching tool for spreading the Krishna consciousness movement.

3)      That a national Food for Life conference be held in each yatra to establish coordination and strategies for the development, proper management and expansion of Food for Life.

4)      That all temple presidents take responsibility for training the respective devotees in all aspects of prasadam distribution and Food for Life services. From cleanliness, cooking, presentation, distribution methods, health regulations, etiquette in service, as well as basic knowledge of the history and activities of Food for Life worldwide; Food for Life’s relationship to ISKCON and the Vedic culture.

5)      That all temple presidents make a concerted effort to observe “Feed the World Week” (Oct 15-21).

6)      That all Temple presidents, sannyasis and GBC's protect ISKCON’s reputation by policing all forms of illegal collecting in the name of Food for Life.

APPENDIX

Diet for a New America

by John Robbins

Highlights from one of the most groundbreaking books published on the topic of hunger
and nutrition.

Nutrition

Number of US medical schools: 125

Number of US medical schools with a required course in nutrition: 30

Training in nutrition received during four years of medical school by an average US physician: 2.5 days

How frequently a heart attack strikes in the US: Every 25 seconds

How frequently a heart attack kills in the US: Every 45 seconds

Most common cause of death in the US: Heart attack

Risk of death by the average American man: 50%

Risk of heart attack by the average American vegetarian man: 15%

Starvation

How frequently a child dies of starvation: Every 2 seconds

Number of people who will starve to death this year: 60,000,000

Pounds of potatoes that can be grown on 1 acre of land: 20,000

Pounds of beef that can be produced on 1 acre of land: 165

Number of people who could be adequately fed by the grain saved if Americans reduced their intake by 10%: 60,000,000

Environment

Historic cause of demise of many great civilizations: topsoil depletion

Percentage of original US topsoil lost to date: 75

Amount of US cropland lost each year to soil erosion: 4,000,000 acres

Percentage of US topsoil loss directly associated with livestock raising: 85

Number of acres of US forest that have been cleared to create cropland to produce a meat-centered diet: 260,000,000

How often an acre of US trees disappears: Every 8 seconds

Amount of trees spared per year by each individual who switches to a plant-based diet: 1 acre

Water supply

The US Livestock industry uses more than half of all the water used in the US.

The quantity of water used in the production of the average cow for slaughter is enough to float a destroyer.

Water needed to produce 1 pound of wheat: 25 gallons

Water needed to produce 1 pound of meat: 2500 gallons

Cost of common hamburger meat if water used by the meat industry was not subsidized by US taxpayers: $35 per pound

Current cost for pound of protein from wheat: $1.50 (Figures assessed in 1988)

Sewage

Production of excrement by total US population: 12,000 pounds per second

Production of excrement by US livestock: 250,000 pounds per second

Sewage system in US cities: common

Sewage system in US feedlots: none

Where feedlot waste often ends up: In our water

Toxins

The meat industry doesn’t want us to know that a mere ounce of dioxin could kill 10 million people.

The USDA tells us: Our meat is inspected

The USDA doesn’t tell us: Less than 1 out of every 250,000,000 slaughtered animals is tested for toxic chemical residues.

Total Development Fundraising Program

by Guruttama das

Synopsis

This report gives a chronological sequence of steps necessary to implement a Total Development Fundraising Program.

This program combines all the different elements of an ISKCON community in a harmonious and satisfying working relationship. The program is not only financially progressive but also incorporates the understanding that we must also preach in order to function as a well-balanced Krishna Conscious community.

Introduction

Any community that has a common project to work for works much more efficiently and produces more enthusiastic response from all its members.

However, there are many projects within ISKCON that unfortunately suffer due to a lack of professional expertise, although the spiritual enthusiasm may be there. We can either develop the qualifications ourselves by completing courses and so on, or hire professionals. The latter is very expensive and we become too dependent on others, and the former is very time consuming and impractical.

A possible solution may be to concentrate on projects that are as much as possible within our range of expertise, and as these projects become successful we can branch out and seek more professional help and learn ourselves.

Plant-based meals are definitely within our expertise; we already have many successful restaurants throughout the world. Hare Krishna devotees can out-cook any non-devotee in plant-based food. As a movement that is our expertise. We don’t have to seek outside help, and we don’t need to do courses. It’s already there all over the world.

Prasadam distribution, if done properly, can by itself raise money without too much trouble. So it is already financially viable, but then on top of that as a bonus we can raise huge amounts of money as a charity. Just in Australia alone the public donates an estimated $2 billion a year to all kinds of charities. So there is a piece of that cake for us.

Modern fundraising does require expertise and professional help, but once it is set up this help is needed less and less until we can do it all ourselves.

Prasadam distribution and fundraising go perfectly hand in hand and this powerful match has the ability to revolutionize ISKCON because once we know the ropes we can apply the same fundraising principles to the many well-wishers of our movement and the Indian community. These people can donate to farming projects, gurukulas, goshallas or the building of a new temple and so on. In this way we will see our “Food for Life” donor file gradually change into a “Friends of Lord Krishna” donor file.

Most of the good publicity that was generated in Australia during the 1980s was mainly due to a very small Food for Life program out the back of the Kings Cross temple in Sydney. Only 150 meals a day were distributed, and it cost the Sydney Temple practically nothing to run. We can just imagine the good reputation ISKCON would get if all of the temples around the world seriously endeavored to distribute large amounts of prasadam to the local community. If the good publicity and improved reputation was then followed up by a well-timed mail out asking for support, the effect would be profound.

1)      Book distribution would really take off because at all of our public prasadam events lots of people would become attracted and encouraged to take the books.

2)      Devotee recruitment would be enhanced because we would have immediate service for anyone who may come; to grow food, help cook and help distribute all the prasada (With a more sophisticated project it would be harder to engage the unskilled people).

3)      The farms would also play an integral part in providing the raw materials for the program such as milk products, fruit, and vegetables.

A full-scale Hare Krishna Food for Life program would tie together book distribution, devotee recruitment, preaching, prasadam distribution, the farm, and the grihastha community all in one happy knot. This is what a total development plan must provide—all the different sections of the community fully involved and engaged.

Case Statement

A case statement is a carefully planned document containing information and facts from research that can be used in cultivating and seeking gift support.

It is prepared on the basis of timely and careful analysis and evaluation of all relevant fundraising considerations. This document is used continuously and is updated regularly and is the foundation of the whole organization. It incorporates the constitution, code of ethics, history of the Food for Life Program, short- and long-term goals, financial, managerial, and staffing assessment, mechanics of delivery of service, organizational planning, development, and evaluation.

Research

Professionals usually do the marketing plan in different ways. They use processes such as focus groups, which are small groups of people who are considered representative of a larger cross section of the community. An open discussion is ensued where a mediator stimulates conversation and tests their responses. Telephone and mail surveys as well as street surveys are usually done as well.

However, our situation is unique. We already have many devotees going out every day meeting people from all walks of life. Our sankirtana devotees could quantify people’s responses as they approach them to sell books about such issues as vegetarianism, and find the results within a given area. This data properly organized and statistically processed would provide invaluable information for determining marketing strategies.

Does the public think that feeding people is necessary?

Before a manufacturer ever puts a product on the market, they try to find out what the consumers are going to think of it. By knowing what is important to the consumer it enables the manufacturer to understand what are the positive and negative qualities of the product. This helps the marketing people understand how best to promote it in the advertising and selling campaign.

For us the principle is the same, although the methods may be different. For example, many people may think that there are no hungry people in your city, and that there is no need for a free food service; the money could be spent better in youth training programs or childcare. Therefore, this attitude has to be counteracted by informing the public with statistics and case studies to show them that we are fulfilling a definite need and that we should be supported.

The public may also have misconceptions about the benefits of plant-bases meals and the Hare Krishnas in general. So research has to be done to find out what the public thinks of ISKCON and our Food for Life service.

What are the best areas for prasadam distribution?

The neighborhood we live in is going to determine the type of prasadam we will distribute and the methods we are going to use. For example, it’s not a good idea opening up a free or budget style restaurant in an affluent area or a trendy restaurant in a poor area. We can go about it two ways: we can first find suitable premises and then do some research in the area to see what is the most suitable style of restaurant, or we can envision the distribution techniques and then do the necessary research to find the right area.

Positioning

Positioning is the most crucial step. A strategic campaign may not achieve the desired result because it simply was swallowed up by the multitude of appeals and competitive charities.

A good example of positioning was Gaura Gopal’s “Free the Soviet Hare Krishnas” campaign in 1986. Combining the theme of “Year Of Peace” with the Krishna Kids and some nice music positioned the campaign in people’s minds as something very unique.

Not long after this, Tripadi das, the Sydney temple’s Communications Officer, expertly coincided a news release of the Kings Cross Food for Life program with the sudden cuts in government welfare spending. The Hare Krishnas were viewed as “social heroes.” This intelligent positioning generated more than 20–30 favorable interviews and reports in the national media.

Positioning means that the fundraiser has to read the newspapers every day to find the potential combination that will really make the cause sensational. He is perpetually looking for earthquakes, floods, tidal waves or anything that will attract the attention of the media and the potential donor.

Testing

Before spending large amounts of money on major campaigns, testing is usually done first. A pilot program is undertaken to give an idea of the real thing. For example, instead of trying to raise half a million dollars for your temple renovation or farm, we first raise $20,000 for something immediately essential, like new fencing, or $20,000 for opening a new preaching center, etc.

Development

The professional approach to fundraising will mean research, planning development strategies, investing in, and implementing, carefully integrated programs of fundraising activities that will include donor acquisition, donor renewals and consolidation, capital programs, corporate and trusts submissions, special events, and bequest promotion. Srila Prabhupada has used the analogy of the right medicine, which is equally applicable here. The right mix of ingredients in a prescription medicine will keep the patient (our fundraising effort) alive … The wrong program might kill the “patient.”

It’s not just a matter of doing a mail out or running an appeal—modern fundraising is a true profession involving many skills.

It all has to do with understanding the donor pyramid. The process is to find first-time donors, then retain their support and interest so as to progressively involve them and move them up the donor pyramid to the point where they might ultimately make a bequest in their will.

Donor acquisition

The best way to get a gift is to ask someone face to face. There are many people close to this movement, Indians, devotees less involved in regular ISKCON activities, and others who have only to be asked before they start giving.

However, it won’t be long before we start to deal in larger lists of names and the best way to ask these people to give is through the mail.

Direct mail acquisitions programs cost money. Just how much depends upon what we put in the package, how good our list is, and how persuasive we have been in our appeal.

Donor acquisition results in Australia range from 0.5 per cent to 4.0 per cent response. The difficult concept to grasp is the high cost of donor acquisitions, and of course the fact that in the first year of fundraising activity very little will be raised as profit. But it is important to make this investment to acquire new donors.

Donor renewals

Once a donor is acquired, the next important exercise is to have them give a second time. Usually it is done through newsletters, accompanied by another request. Initial renewal results in Australia range from 45 per cent to 60 per cent response rate.

Renewals don’t just happen. There are skills employed in making it pleasant and easy for the donor to keep giving. The goal is to retain donors for as long as possible.

With 1000 donors we can look for $10,000 profit for the second year and 5,000 donors can guarantee a cash flow of $50,000 per year. Simply put, it’s a 10:1 return. Costs at renewal stages can as low as 10 per cent each and every time we appeal to our regular donors. It is in the stages of renewal that we begin to unlock and gain perpetual support.

Donor consolidation

A donor who has given twice is ready to be upgraded. Again, using the mail we ask for a slightly higher gift than before. Responses are lifted from 60 per cent to 80 per cent as a cumulative effect throughout the year. Multiple giving becomes evident.

Still using the mail, we try to sort out those donors from our file who are really committed to our cause. These donors are consolidated into a Major Gift club. They may receive a special newsletter, have special luncheons and are seen as an elite.

Personal solicitation

At this stage the emphasis shifts from direct mail to personally moving people up the donor pyramid. This is best done by personal contact. Once we have a list of donors, it makes sense to pick out the large givers and make them feel special and appreciated. If we have a donor panel of 1000 people, usually the top 200 donors will be giving about 80 per cent of the total fundraising income. So with these people we are planting “seeds” within the heart that inspire them to make special Capital Gifts, and perhaps one day to make a bequest.

Capital gifts

The sources of capital gifts are generally governments, corporations, philanthropic trusts, and individual donors. In fact, most of the funds will come from individuals.

It is important that the request for a capital gift from major individual donors is done on a face-to-face basis. Using the case statement and after properly informing the donor of your capital needs, you then offer that person the chance to make a pledged gift over three to five years. Deferred gifts also develop at this point where someone promises you a certain amount in the future, when their dividend comes in or when they receive superannuation payments.

Bequest promotion

People’s Wills are the apex of the donor pyramid. With the population growing old, people in their late sixties or seventies will numerically double within 20 years or so. For the charities that have been developing this program for three to five years or so, present statistics show that about one-third of all fundraising income can be generated each year from these gifts. For example, the National Heart Foundation in Australia collected $350,000 in 1986 from bequests alone.

Finances

Hand in hand with the preaching, the financial side is very important. Extremely meticulous accounts must be kept, especially with regards to “public” money collected as gifts. A chartered accountant is required by law to periodically audit the Food for Life accounts. Efficient management is when we know where every cent is going. That’s the way Srila Prabhupada managed in India.

There are basically four different financial groups. There is the prasadam distribution, temple maintenance, devotee maintenance, and BBT. The BBT is relational to the temple finances; however, there is a trend around the world to completely separate the two. This happens by the collectors who are selling books to give directly to the BBT. Devotee maintenance can also be related to temple finance as some temples may pay rents for full-time grihasthas and so on, but these two are also being separated more and more.

The grihastha devotees who are involved full time operating a Food for Life program may be able to draw wages from the program for their own maintenance. It is also possible to apply to government departments for wages for these devotees—there are numerous schemes. This is very significant, as it means the grihastha can find work within the movement and at the same time maintain themselves as well as have security.

The devotees trained in fundraising for the Food for Life program also have scope for charging consultancy fees to other temples, and to sell fundraising paraphernalia such as artwork and past successful campaigns.

The economic base can be solidly established in this total development program, and thus solve a tendency for devotees to drift away from this movement due to economic problems.

Manpower

Initially labor is the most expensive part of the program. Engaging some people on a devotional basis can minimize the fees of professionals. Generally, however, it is better to give them some remuneration otherwise the work could be sloppy and unreliable.

There are other sources such as students and retired people who will charge reasonable fees. Students, who can add the work to their portfolios, often do artwork; however, the work has a risk of being amateurish.

Professional

It is a myth that fundraising should have no costs. It just does not work that way. There are such large sums of money involved that when some good cause has to be financed quickly, they have to organize their fundraising. They have to spend money to let the public know they have a problem and ask for help. They have to employ experts to tell them how it is best done. They have to have staff to receive donations and thank people.

Management

Management is best done by someone who has undergone training with a professional institute of fundraising. There are short courses available (a few days), which would enable them to pick up the necessary skills quickly. By being a member of a professional institute this devotee could regularly attend conventions and seminars to keep up to date. It is also essential that they have a basic understanding of all the different skills of printing, accounting, graphic design, computers, public relations, letter writing, etc. It may be desirable they do courses to become qualified in these other fields as well.

This person works under the direction of the temple council and temple president, and must have a desire to stay in that service for at least five years.

Special Events

Special events such as concerts, dinner programs, art unions, raffles, walk-a-thons (maybe a chant-a-thon!), are becoming a very interesting way to involve many people in a charity. There is also scope for using our regular festival days as ways to raise funds.

Public Relations

Public relations is the deliberate, planned, and sustained effort to establish and maintain mutual understanding between an organization and its publics. Success in public relations depends on recognizing, defining, and reaching all the groups relevant to your organization.

So if we want to be professional and avoid wasting money, if we want to be efficient and want to have impact through our communications—we will realize that there is no homogenous general public out there, but a gathering of people, each with their own likes and dislikes, their beliefs and their commitments and with varying degrees of interest in Food for Life or Hare Krishna. A sure fire blunder is to embark upon a public relations program that is meant to say all things to all people in some sort of “shotgun blast” of publicity. In this highly competitive age, that will not work.

The approach that will work is to have the ability to communicate the right things at the right time in the right way to the right people. This “rifleshot” technique demands that we apply our thinking and our skills to pick out our various target groups and reach them with messages that are designed just for them.

Newsletters to donors

The newsletter does not have to be elaborate, but it’s essential. It only has to be a few pages, preferably large with clear photos and very simple and straightforward text. The aim of a newsletter is to inform all the people above the Renewal Donor stage of what we are doing with their money. It may be possible to have a separate one for the Indians.

Annual reports

A bit like a newsletter but a little slicker, showing the achievements for that year. Mainly aimed at your major gifts donors and upwards. This is the time to report a summary of the year’s successes and financial report, specifically the profit and loss statement.

“Come see” tours

Involvement is a crucial stage with all your donors, but especially with anyone above the Major Gifts stage. The Three I’s are Interest, Inform and Involve. These three I’s have to be constantly rotating before the major donors. We have to interest them in what we are doing then inform them. Involvement then comes naturally, depending on our presentation and what kind of relationship we have with our Major Donors. The relationships have to be very friendly.

We can take people (the major donors and higher) around to see our Food for Life centers or new developments and maybe even involve them in determining the direction of some of our projects.

Yoga Retreat

Our Major Gifts donors can receive special facilities and rooms on your farm (if there is one). They can even buy rooms and let us use them for the rest of the year. They will just come out for the holidays, just like at the Krishna-Balaram mandira and Mayapur.

Devotees

Public relations within the community of devotees is just as important as general PR. PR firms say that internal communication is even more important than external. Also, if this total development project is very widely advertised amongst the devotees, it will be a source of inspiration for the whole movement, attracting many old devotees to participate again.

Evaluation

Evaluation is a very important part of any project as there is a lot to be learned from hindsight. But it has to be done scientifically to be effective, with all variables under control and all quantities carefully measured. We measure by analyzing the number of books distributed; number of prasadam plates distributed; the amount of media coverage; and financial feasibility (dollar return).

Dollar return means that every dollar you spend in your fundraising campaign comes back. In acquisition mailing, for example, you are lucky if you get one dollar back. Whereas in a bequest program you will get thousands of dollars back for your one-dollar investment.

Preaching

The evaluation of the preaching efficiency is not only devotees made, but also people joining your congregation, becoming life members, or people that join the donor file for temple projects separate from Food for Life.

Conclusion

Considering all these points, the Food for Life program is obviously very feasible. Most of the individual parts of the program have been demonstrated to work within this movement already. Now the expertise is required to orchestrate all the different parts, making them work together in harmony.

Riga Food for Life Report: How FFL Helped Build a Reputation

Report dated: 1995

Latvia has a population of 2.5 million. There are presently two temples. The main one located in the heart of Riga was started in 1990. Fifty devotees live in the establishment. The initial response to ISKCON was good. Many people visited the temple and festivals, such as Rathayatra held annually. However, after a short period of time opposition to “a new eastern religion,” began to build. One lady in particular, a disturbed parent of a young member, began a campaign that nearly closed the movement down.

In the spring of 1990, a young girl began regularly visiting the temple. She was a student of music in the Lutheran seminary, and her mother didn’t appreciate her new interest in Krishna consciousness. So disturbed was the mother that she began beating the young girl. The girl ran away from home and moved into a flat with a school friend. She continued to practice Krishna consciousness despite the protesting of her mother. Seeing the situation near hopeless, the irate mother approached the media with the plea, “Please help me to save my daughter from a satanic sect.”

A vigorous campaign in the press, television and radio aroused other mothers, who then got together to stage a lively demonstration in front of parliament house. Suddenly, the Hare Krishna movement was viewed as a “destructive cult” that broke up families. ISKCON Riga decided to take the matter to court, charging one major newspaper for misrepresentation and slander. Unfortunately, ISKCON Riga lost the court case at the beginning of 1993. During 1992, bad media articles continued to circulate and with the loss of the court case, the future looked bleak. The temple was struggling to pay the rent; the public began to despise the devotees; and the council was threatening to move the devotees out.

However, back in the spring of 1992 the Riga temple started a Food for Life program. The service began humbly with plain porridge alone, distributed to 50–60 elderly people coming to the temple. During the winter of 1993, the program began to pick up momentum; the word was out that the Hare Krishna’s were giving free food. Soon more than 200–300 people began to queue up to receive their portion of hot porridge, bread, vegetables, and tea. To control the increasing numbers, a registration system was introduced. The recipients now had to produce documents to prove their validity. They each received a numbered card, which indicated at what time of the day they could receive their free meal.

In the spring of 1993, the program had expanded to 700–800 people a day, with the queue stretching down the main street of the city. The public and council began to take note. Then His Holiness Gopal Krishna Goswami visited Riga and represented Hare Krishna Food for Life as an international coordinator. He met with the mayor of Riga and soon after the mayor wrote a very favorable recommendation letter for the program.

The large crowds of people coming to receive their free meal soon became unmanageable. The only solution was to locate the service to the side of the temple in the carport. The renovated carport became the new Food for Life servery. At the same time, it so happened that the program had reached a milestone—the serving of the 100,000th free meal. The mayor came as the honored guest to serve the meal and the local media covered the event in newspapers and television. Public opinion began to change.

With the assistance of the city district mayor, ISKCON Riga was granted a five-year lease on the temple building and free rent until 1996. Favorable media articles appeared in the press, and food donations increased to the extent where the temple didn’t need to buy any bhoga, and there are enough donations of money to cover all running costs to the temple.

One year earlier it had been a completely opposite story.

At the time of writing, ISKCON Riga has distributed 190,000 free meals, making it the largest free food distribution center in the country. Six days a week up to 500 people are served; however, the actual amount of meals is calculated to be up to 1200 every day, as many people are taking home 3–4 servings for family members. To manage the operation, six devotees working full-time are required. The program caters for people of four disadvantaged categories: 1) pensioners; 2) invalids; 3) big families; and 4) unemployed. The distribution begins at 4pm and continues until 8pm.

Weekly the program receives weekly donations of grapes, oranges, bananas, pears, potatoes, tomatoes, beans, rice, carrots, and even sugar. Since spring, there has been $3000 in cash donations to the program, as well as cooking equipment and even building materials. However, the best result has been the overwhelming appreciation from the public. Practically everyone in Riga now recognizes Hare Krishna as the “people who are helping society.” There was not a single bad media report during 1993, and the relationship with local government officials is now excellent.

The latest addition to the program was the opening of a non-profit vegetarian restaurant for low-income earners. City officials officially opened the program on the 30 September 1993. Along with the new restaurant, a clothing “give away” service and discount shop were opened. The next phase of the program is to apply for overseas food and cloth donations.

New York Times Article

The New York Times News Service

December 12, 1995 Tuesday, BC cycle

SECTION: INTERNATIONAL, page 4

LENGTH: 828 words

HEADLINE: RUSSIA JOURNAL: KRISHNAS BAKE BREAD IN ONE OF

RUSSIA’S BROKEN CITIES

BYLINE: By MICHAEL SPECTER

GROZNY, Russia. It is never hard to spot the relief workers spread among the desperate people of this shattered city: they are the ones in the white Land Cruisers with bold, colorful flags flying from the hoods. They wear Gore-Tex hiking boots, carry satellite phones in their day packs, and usually report to headquarters in Geneva, Paris, or Bonn.

Except, of course, for the crew based in Boarding School No. 1. They mostly dress in pumpkin-colored balloon pants and wear sandals even in the coldest weather. If they need to make a phone call, they stand in line at a telephone point like everyone else. The men shave their heads and the women keep theirs covered. They are up every morning by 3:30 to chant and pray, and they have plenty to pray about with the heavy fighting that often occurs in their neighborhood each night, the residue of a Russian counterinsurgency campaign that began on Dec. 11, 1994.

There may be places in the world where simply seeing a bunch of Hare Krishna members would make people turn tail and run. But Grozny isn’t one of them. Here, they have a reputation like the one Mother Teresa has in Calcutta: it’s not hard finding people to swear they are saints. In a city full of lies, greed, and corruption, the Krishnas deliver the goods. Each day, they serve more than 1,000 hot meals, as many as any organization in the city. “Whatever they do, God helps them do it,” said Raisa Malocheva, 72, who was in Grozny every minute of the last year, when it has practically been leveled. “They are the only people left in my life I can rely on.” At least two dozen people waiting for lunch applauded when she spoke. There are no hard sells from the Krishna team in Grozny. It wouldn’t do them any good.

“These people have been through enough,” said Viktor Makarov, a slight, 31-year-old Krishna member from St. Petersburg who has been living in Grozny for six months. “They are destroyed. They hardly need us telling them to look on the bright side.”

Working in a makeshift kitchen with ingredients they drag around town in a 10-year-old discarded Russian ambulance, Krishna members serve simple vegetarian meals and bake what some people consider the best bread in Grozny.

“I know what Americans often think of us,” Makarov said. “They think we are some sort of annoying cult. But we are not. Our goals are all spiritual. If people want to learn more about us, that is great. But usually they just want food. And that’s the reason we came here.”

Unlike New York or Chicago, or even Moscow, where most of Russia’s several thousand Krishna members are based, this is not a city where they would feel comfortable wandering the streets banging tambourines and dancing.

There are no temples here, or meetings to discuss the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. There is just the rule that the members of the sect must live by: no people within 10 miles of their residence should go hungry.

The job is never easy. The school is in the eastern side of the city, and fighting continues there each night. There are no windows and few doors in the abandoned shell in which Grozny’s entire cadre of 12 Krishna members spend most days and nights. There is only enough electricity to power a few dim light bulbs.

“At first I was in shock,” said Shula Vasiny, 28, a former banker who said she gave up her life of increasing success in St. Petersburg to find something more spiritually meaningful.

“I would wake up at night and it was like I was in the forest in the middle of a huge thunderstorm. There was lightning, and thunder. But there was never any rain. You could see people shooting at each other. We learned to stay down low. And everyone leaves us alone.”

The building in which they work looks like most others around it: it is blackened, badly shelled, and surrounded by debris. Inside, guests quickly take off their shoes and breathe in the deep, rich—and totally incongruous—smell of baking bread. There are seven ovens, which only work when power permits, and many huge racks to cool the loaves.

For some reason, this place has become a “Russian” kitchen. Most of the refugees in Grozny are ethnic Russians with nowhere else to go. The Krishnas say they have no politics other than trying to please God and serve anyone who asks, but they are all from St. Petersburg and most people who ask are Russian.

The future has started to seem grim for the Hare Krishnas of Grozny. The central administration has threatened to take their ambulance away. Without it, they won’t be able to buy flour. They haven’t heard from their bosses in Moscow for months. A local merchant recently demanded rent on the shelled, hollow building they use to keep hundreds of people alive. And the war isn’t getting any friendlier.

“Every job has its ups and downs,” said Makarov, whose sense of optimism sometimes makes even his colleagues laugh. “I intend to be here when Grozny is a city people want to live in again.”

Utility is the Principle

Dear Priyavrata Prabhu,

Please accept my respectful obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!      

Already for almost two years I haven’t seen you. Since our last meeting with you in Moscow a lot of events happen in our FFL here. We are still trying to do best pushing forward this glories service for the satisfaction of Srila Prabhupada. Of course we have a lot of success and a lot of problems as well. And there is a great need of your help and loving advice. Particularly I have one question regarding the university program in Moscow.

Srila Prabhupada in his instructions about prasadam distribution program often emphasized that there should be chanting of Hare Krishna and prasadam distribution in the large scale. And Srila Harikesa Swami once told us that people should know that we are Hare Krishnas; they should see that we are devotees. So now we have some cases when some big people invite us to their organization to distribute our food there and are even ready to pay for that a lot of money, but their strict condition is that nobody should know that we are religious people, we should represent ourselves as vegetarian organization not Hare Krishna. In Moscow State University there is 33,000 students and we have opportunity to make huge prasadam distribution, but only with above-mentioned condition.

What do you think about that case particularly and about Hare Krishna FFL without Hare Krishna in general. Please help us with your advice.

Please forgive me for all my past offenses and my horrible English in this letter.

Sincerely yours,

Kali-krt das

April 22, 1997, Moscow.

Dear Kali-Krta prabhu,

Of course it is best that people know that we are devotees. Why? So that they can be even more purified by thinking kind thoughts of Krishna and Krishna’s devotees. However, it is not always practical and desirable. Why? Because there are many envious people who hate Krishna and Krishna’s devotees. Therefore, devotees will disguise themselves, as they do on book distribution, just so that more people (including the demons) may get a chance to receive Krishna’s mercy. The principle is: PRASADA DISTRIBUTION or BOOK DISTRIBUTION or HARINAM DISTRIBUTION, and the details are how you go about that. This will vary according to time, place and circumstance.

There is the ideal situation, and there are the practical realities of spreading Krishna consciousness in a hellish world where there is danger at every step. We are spiritual warriors, remember.

                                    Ys, Priyavrata das

                                    FFL Global Director

Our Human Responsibility

Our Human Responsibility – Practical Solutions to World Hunger

By Paul Rodney Turner. Originally published January 1999. Updated March 2012)

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than one billion people in the world live in poverty today. Jeremy Rifkin, author of Beyond Beef: The Rise and Fall of the Cattle Industry, comments:

Increased poverty has meant increased malnutrition. On the African continent, nearly one in every four human beings are malnourished. In Latin America, nearly one out of every eight people goes to bed hungry each night. In Asia and the Pacific, 28 percent of the people border on starvation, experiencing the gnawing pain of perpetual hunger. In the Near East, one in ten people are underfed.

The World Food Programme (WFP) reports:

“There are 1.02 billion undernourished people in the world today. That means one in nearly six people do not get enough food to be healthy and lead an active life. Hunger and malnutrition are in fact the number one risk to the health worldwide — greater than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. Among the key causes of hunger are natural disasters, conflict, poverty, poor agricultural infrastructure and over-exploitation of the environment. Recently, financial and economic crises have pushed more people into hunger.

As well as the obvious sort of hunger resulting from an empty stomach, there is also the hidden hunger of micronutrient deficiencies which make people susceptible to infectious diseases, impair physical and mental development, reduce their labor productivity and increase the risk of premature death.

Hunger does not only weigh on the individual. It also imposes a crushing economic burden on the developing world. Economists estimate that every child whose physical and mental development is stunted by hunger and malnutrition stands to lose 5-10 percent in lifetime earnings.

Among the Millennium Development Goals, which the United Nations has set for the 21st century, halving the proportion of hunger people in the world is top of the list. Whereas good progress was made in reducing chronic hunger in the 1980s and the first half of the 1990s, hunger has been slowly but steadily rising for the past decade.

Indeed, despite the noble efforts of the WFP and tens of thousands of individuals, World hunger remains a grave problem. The compelling truth is this: never before in human history has such a large percentage of our species—nearly 20 percent—been malnourished. Each year, between 40 million and 60 million people around the world die from hunger and related diseases. Sadly, the toll is heaviest on the world’s children.

Malnutrition

In his forward to UNICEF’s 1998 “State of the World’s Children” report, Secretary General Kofi Anan spells out a simple but most unassailable truth: “Sound nutrition can change children’s lives, improve their physical and mental development, protect their health, and lay a firm foundation for future productivity.”

Over 200 million children under the age of five in developing

countries are malnourished. For them, and for the world at large, Kofi Anan’s message is especially urgent. Malnutrition contributes to more than half of the nearly 12 million deaths of children under five in developing countries each year, and malnourished children who survive often lose precious mental capacity.

The report goes on to explain that 30 years ago, the idea that specific nutrients could help treat specific diseases smacked of “fringe science.”

Today, however, through clinical trials and studies, the fringe is edging closer to the mainstream, and malnutrition’s link to the poor growth of children and adolescents, low-birthweight babies, and a child’s capacity to resist illness has been established scientifically. “It is thus reasonable to argue,” the report states, “that in the global fight to reduce childhood death and illness, initiatives to improve nutrition may be as powerful and important as, for example, immunization programs.”

The right to good nutrition

However far reaching the benefits of nutrition may be from a clinical viewpoint, ensuring good nutrition is also a matter of international law. The right to proper nutrition is most emphatically proclaimed in the UN’s 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child. Under the Convention, virtually every government in the world recognizes the right of all children to the highest attainable standard of health, specifically including the right to good nutrition.

Under the Convention’s pre-eminent guiding principle, good child nutrition is a right because it is in the “best interests of the child.” Article 24 of the Convention specifies that States must take “appropriate measures” to reduce infant and child mortality, and to combat disease and malnutrition through the use of technology and the provision of adequate, nutritious foods and safe drinking water. In this light, every human being on the planet is responsible for alleviating child malnutrition, based on international law, scientific knowledge, practical experience, and basic human morality.

Hunger in a world of plenty

The theme for the large international gathering at the United Nations World Food Summit in Rome in 1996 was “Hunger in a world of plenty.” United Nations representatives and non-government organizations (NGOs) from around the world met to discuss ways to solve this global crisis, which continues to escalate and challenge the conscience and sustainability of humankind in the 21st century. The meeting’s secretary general, Dr. Kay Killingsworth, explained that the problem was not insufficient food production but inequitable distribution. “The result is that the food does not reach the needy.” (See: Guardian UK John Vidal, Aug 23, 2004)

Making our lives expressions of our spirit

John Robbins, author of the best-selling Diet for a New America, writes: “The existence of so much hunger in the world is a reality we cannot deny. It is a reality that challenges us deeply: it asks us to become more fully human.” Robbins argues that the world hunger problem is not only the responsibility of the United Nations, but of every human being on the planet. “When we remember those who are without food,” says Robbins, “something is awakened within us. Our own deeper hungers come to surface—our hungers to live fully, to bring our lives into alignment with our compassion, to make our lives expressions of our spirits.”

Greed not scarcity

The Vedic scriptures of India provide us with some insight into the nature of compassion and spirituality:

“Everything animate or inanimate being that is within the universe is controlled and owned by the Lord. One should therefore accept only those things necessary for himself, which are set aside as his quota, and one should not accept other things, knowing well to whom they belong.”

By divine arrangement, Mother Nature supplies the needs of all living entities. Overcome with insatiable greed, however, modern society blindly pillages the earth of valuable resources, and thus robs billions of people in developing countries of their God-given quota of food.

This statement is clearly corroborated by the fact that more than one-third of all grain produced in the world is being fed to cattle and other livestock. It appears, therefore, that the solution to world hunger lies beyond the boundaries of expensive and exhausting humanitarian efforts by a few NGOs and that the root cause needs to targeted, namely, greed. For too long individuals and wealthy nations have taken more than their fair share of the Earth’s resources and now must completely cease their selfish gluttony.

Furthermore, when we recognize the equality of all beings, we will naturally want to share the bounty of the earth with others and give up all selfish tendencies. The most damaging expression of selfishness is the growth of factory farming. Vast tracts of land are now needed to grow crops to feed the billions of animals being raised for food each year. According to scientists at the Smithsonian Institute, the equivalent of seven football fields of land is bulldozed every minute, much of it to create more room for farmed animals. Of all the agricultural land in the U.S., nearly 80 percent is used in some way to raise animals—that’s roughly half of the total land mass of the U.S.10 More than 260 million acres of U.S. forest have been cleared to create cropland to grow grain to feed farmed animals. Furthermore, to service the growing demand of animal agriculture, over 35% of all grain production in the world is fed to livestock and not humans.

A worldwide mission to feed and educate

Food for Life started in India, after the founder, Swami Prabhupada proclaimed to his yoga students that no one should go hungry within a ten-mile radius of a temple. Since that time, over two billion free plant-based meals have been served to the needy on six continents. Food for Life has emerged as the largest vegan food relief program in the world! Food for Life’s mission—to bring about peaceful and prosperity through the liberal distribution of pure plant-based food prepared with loving intention—is thus advanced through a twofold strategy:

1. Feeding programs

Food for Life operates feeding programs through the following distribution channels.

Lunch meals to school children

Budget restaurants

Emergency relief

Shelters (homeless, single women and men)

College feeding programs

Cultural festivals

Food for Life currently operates feeding programs through all of the above distribution channels.

2. Education

Public Discourses

Distribution of Literature

Networking with other NGOs

Social Media

Food Yoga

Food for Life is a conscious organization with the vision that the world’s problems can be solved by spiritual solutions. Specifically regarding world hunger, Food for Life maintains that when the people of the world recognize the spiritual equality of all beings, they will learn to share equally in the bounty of the earth, and only then will they experience genuine peace and prosperity.

Equal vision

In its efforts to eradicate world hunger, Food for Life trains its volunteers to be selfless, humble, compassionate, equipoised, and broad minded enough to understand the needs and concerns of the world they live in.

In fact, Food for Life volunteers often risk their own lives to help those in need. Throughout the fighting in Grozny, Chechnya, for example, Food for Life volunteers cooked and served hot vegan meals to desperate civilians in the war-torn city. More than one million meals were served during the 20-month conflict. New York Times correspondent Michael Specter visited the Krishna devotees at their kitchen in Chechnya and wrote of them:

“…here they have a reputation like the one mother Teresa has in Calcutta: it’s not hard finding someone to swear they are saints.”

These volunteers showed tolerance and compassion above and beyond the call of duty, demonstrating true equanimity and a deep understanding of their human responsibility. The jewel of India’s spiritual wisdom, the Bhagavad-gita describes equanimity as a natural expression of one’s spiritual wisdom. The Sanskrit term Sama darshinah is used, which translates as “equal vision”, and the Gita describes it as that which separates the truly wise person from the fool.

Food for Life believes that food, so central to the survival of every culture on earth, holds the key to real peace and prosperity. What better way to express that understanding than by educating people on the value of spiritual equality and the selfless sharing of karma-free pure food?

Conclusion

We at Food for Life Global strongly believe that it is the responsibility of every human being on the planet to take action to eradicate malnutrition, which is killing upwards of 12 million children every year. This position, long held by many leading vegetarians, was confirmed by the United Nations 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Since 1974, Food for Life has been committed to the practical response of establishing feeding programs in more than 60 countries throughout the world. However, our resources are very limited; sadly, we are losing the race against world hunger. We therefore call out in earnest to all people around the world to accept this human responsibility. It’s time for real action. Establish feeding programs in your area, and make concerted efforts to educate the public about the global benefits of a plant-based diet, and more importantly, embrace this concept of spiritual equality as a permanent solution to world hunger. The children of the developing world are depending on you.

Food for Life: in Theory and Practice

Krishna Dharma das

One objection to Food for Life frequently encountered from devotees and non-devotees alike is that the program is simply an attempt to win public favor. We are not really interested in helping people but are trying to manipulate public opinion by performing a high-profile charitable service. For devotees, this objection is also rooted in the doubt that, as a spiritual organization, ISKCON should not be concerned with mundane welfare work and, of course, we should certainly not be trying to manipulate people’s minds by doing something we don’t really believe in ourselves. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to answer this objection and to establish Food for Life as a program deserving as much credibility as both harinama and book distribution. It is divided into two sections: the philosophical basis of the program from Srila Prabhupada’s writings, and some practical aspects and benefits of Food for Life.

Perhaps it would be appropriate to begin with a few words about the name ‘Food for Life.’ For devotees, the name should be synonymous with prasadam distribution. However, the fact that the perfectly acceptable program of prasadam distribution has been given the name Food for Life is perhaps where the doubts begin. It seems to indicate an attempt to manipulate opinion and win favor with the public. Well, in a sense, that’s true—we are trying to highlight prasadam distribution. However, although that has the benefit of winning public support—and I doubt if anyone will say that this is in itself a bad thing—there are also other good reasons for it. By giving it an identity of its own, we make prasadam distribution into something that can be easily accepted by everyone. The public may view it as a welfare program, but does that matter? As long as we ourselves do not lose sight of what ‘Food for Life’ actually is, then there should be no problem. If the public is watching us perform devotional service and they appreciate that service, for whatever reason, then surely this is most desirable. In addition, by having a division of ISKCON that is dedicated to distributing food to the needy, we can open many doors in society and thus greatly expand prasadam distribution. Obviously we want everyone to get prasadam and not just the ‘needy’; but we have to start wherever we can and continue from there—‘In like a needle and go out like a plough.’ In addition, although I do not have access to a computer database of all Srila Prabhupada’s instructions, I have fully researched his main writings and will therefore support my position with quotes taken from these, namely Bhagavad-gita, Srimad Bhagavatam and Caitanya-caritamrta. I know that Srila Prabhupada gave many instructions about prasadam distribution in both his lectures and his conversations.

I would now like to talk about the philosophical basis of Food for Life. I have divided this into five headings that I will deal with individually.

Prasadam distribution is a fundamental strand of preaching

This statement will probably not attract much argument, if any at all. We all know how important it is to distribute prasadam. Where would the Sunday Feast be without a feast? Could we contemplate any festival without big prasadam distribution? Would we ever turn anyone away from our temples without offering prasadam? Obviously not. Indeed, the Bhagavad-gita states that: “Any sacrifice performed without distribution of prasadam is considered to be in the mode of ignorance.” (Bg. 17.13). But is there a need to make prasadam distribution a separate program, outside of our normal preaching at meetings and festivals, etc.?

There are several quotes that appear to support this. For example, in the Srimad Bhagavatam we find the following instruction: “Temple worship necessarily includes distribution of prasadam. One should exhibit compassion for ignorant living entities by distributing prasadam. Distribution of prasadam to the ignorant masses of people is essential for persons who make offerings to the Personality of Godhead.” (SB 3.29.24 purport). This quote appears in the significant context of instructions on Deity worship. Lord Kapila has stated that Deity worship is not pleasing to Him if it is performed by a person ignorant of His presence in everyone’s heart. In his purport, Srila Prabhupada confirms that the way to recognize the Lord’s presence is the hearts of others is by giving them prasadam. By the qualification “ignorant masses,” Prabhupada gives a clear indication that we should be going out to the people with that prasadam. The preceding purport also contains the following instruction: “Distribution of prasadam, even to the ignorant masses of people and to animals, gives such living entities the chance for elevation to Krishna consciousness.” (SB 3.29.23 purport).

The Fourth Canto similarly states: “In this age, distribution of prasadam has replaced distribution of money. No-one has sufficient money to distribute, but if we distribute Krishna prasadam as far as possible, this is more valuable than the distribution of money.” (SB 4.9.24). This appears in the context of descriptions of the great sacrifices performed by Dhruva Maharaja. Sacrifices are complete only after charity has been given and here Srila Prabhupada instructs that this charity should be prasadam distribution. Later in the same Canto, we find this statement: “Somehow or other everyone can manage to perform such a yajna (sankirtana) and distribute prasadam to the people in general. That is quite sufficient for this age of Kali. The Hare Krishna Movement is based on this principle: chant the Hare Krishna mantra at every moment, both inside and outside of the temples, and, as far as possible, distribute prasadam. This process can be accelerated with the help of the state administrators and those who are producing the country’s wealth. Simply by liberal distribution of prasadam and sankirtana, the whole world can become peaceful and prosperous.” (SB 4.12.10).

These various instructions indicate the significance of prasadam distribution as a fundamental preaching tool. Of course, the ideal situation is also to perform sankirtana and there are ways that kirtana can be incorporated into Food for Life. However, even if we cannot engage these “ignorant masses” in sankirtana, we can at least give them prasadam. By the purifying effect of the prasadam, their inclination to chant the holy name can thus be awakened.

Prasadam distribution is our secret weapon

Srila Prabhupada himself coined this phrase, and there is an interesting purport in the Chaitanya-Chari amrita that nicely illustrates it: “The Krishna consciousness movement vigorously approves this practice of preparing food, offering it to the Deity and distributing it to the general population. This activity should be extended universally to stop sinful eating habits as well as other behavior befitting only demons. A demoniac civilization will never bring peace within the world. Since eating is the first necessity in human society, those engaged in solving the problems of preparing and distributing food should take lessons from Madhavendra Puri and execute the Annakuta ceremony. When the people take to eating only prasadam offered to the Deity all demons will be turned into Vaishnavas.”

Prabhupada goes on to say that due to this there will be Krishna conscious leadership and thus peace in society. (Peace resulting from distribution of prasadam was also mentioned in the purport quoted above from the Fourth Canto). If it is presented nicely in an appropriate manner, hardly anyone will object to taking prasadam. As we are satisfied that the taking of prasadam is in itself purification, we do not have to feel the need to overtly preach at the same time. We can simply hand out prasadam and let that do the preaching from within. The result in society will be as Prabhupada describes: there will be no more “disturbing demons” as leaders and the threat of wars and oppression will thus recede. Prasadam is therefore a secret weapon, with the power to neutralize the enemy without their even knowing how it has happened.

Prasadam distribution is giving people Krishna

Every devotee knows that the remnants of food left by the Lord are considered non-different from the Lord. By giving people prasadam, therefore, we are actually giving them Krishna. Yesam tv anta gatam papam jananam punya karmanam (Bg 7.28). In addition, by offering prasadam to people we are also giving them pious credits on the transcendental platform; this means, for example, they will be able to gain some understanding of our books. Thus prasadam distribution will also enhance the effect of book distribution. In fact, a point of interest in this regard is the following verse spoken by Lord Brahma in the Tenth Canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, Athapi te deva padambujam-dvayam-prasaa lesanugrhita eva hi. (SB 10.14.29) Unless a person receives the mercy of Krishna, specifically referred to here as prasadam, he will not be able to understand knowledge about Krishna (janati tattvam bhagavan manhimno); even if he studies the Vedas for a very long time ’na canya eko ’pi ciram vicinvan).

Also worth mentioning is the case of Narada Muni, who, by once taking the remnants of food left by great sages, became engaged in devotional service, Ucchista-lepan anumodito dvijaih sakrt sma bhunje tad-apasta-kilbisah. (SB 1.5.25). This pastime also indicates the importance of ensuring prasadam is properly offered.

Prasadam distribution is grihastha dharma

There is a famous story of a grihastha who asked Srila Prabhupada about the specific duties of grihastha ashrama. Prabhupada replied that before taking prasadam, the grihastha should stand on the doorstep and call out for any hungry man to come and share his food. In fact, Srila Prabhupada was simply giving a practical definition of the duties of grihastha ashrama that are given in the Shastra. We find many instructions in this regard; the instruction cited above is found in the Chaitanya-Chari amrita, Madhya 3.41: “According to Vedic principles the householder, before taking lunch, should go outside and shout very loudly to see if there is anyone without food. In this way he invited people to take prasadam.”

Further in this purport, Prabhupada also interestingly states, “Thus [because of the above] the householder’s life is called grihastha ashrama.” As we know, the essence of the religious duties for householders is charity, and this takes practical shape in the form of prasadam distribution. As quoted above (SB 4.9.24), Prabhupada states that distribution of prasadam replaces the distribution of money in this age, and also has greater value. In the purport to Srimad Bhagavatam 4.12.10, Srila Prabhupada talks about sankirtana-yajna for householders, stating that they should, “distribute prasadam to the people in general. Somehow or other everyone can manage this.” Regarding to whom prasadam should be given, the following are specifically mentioned: “Dogs, fallen persons and untouchables including candalas (dog eaters) should all be maintained with their proper necessities which should be contributed by the householders.” (SB 7.11.14).

Sometimes Food for Life is criticized for “targeting the bums and destitutes on the street and this is not good because you’re just encouraging them to be bums,” but the previous quote specifically mentions that these people should be maintained by the grihasthas. In the Seventh Canto there are several statements regarding the importance of prasadam distribution by householders. “Factually, according to the instructions of Srimad Bhagavatam, every grihastha is a great communist who provides the means of living for everyone. Whatever a grihastha may possess, he should equally distribute to all living entities, without discrimination. The best process is to distribute prasadam. Whatever money a grihastha accumulates by the grace of God, he should spend in five activities. Namely worshipping the Supreme Personality of Godhead, receiving Vaishnava’s and saintly persons, distributing prasadam to the general public and all living entities, offering prasadam to his own self.” (SB 7.14, introduction).

Perhaps a point worth considering in this regard is that Srila Prabhupada specifically refers to five kinds of sacrifice. In traditional varnasrama-dharma, this is karma kanda, not really appropriate for the Vaishnava’s. However, Srila Prabhupada has given us a purely transcendental process that focuses on offering prasadam to different types of living beings. In fact, there is no such emphasis on any other kind of service for grihasthas anywhere in Srila Prabhupada’s books. Clearly he considered this to be very important.

Prasadam for distribution must be nicely offered

I wanted to emphasize this point as Srila Prabhupada has some very specific things to say in this regard. Food for Life prasadam is often not considered as needing to be of such high quality. After all, some may think that beggars can’t be choosers—they should all be grateful for anything at all. However, I feel this attitude is a little mistaken. For a start, surely any contact a person has with our movement should be memorable. Taking first-class prasadam is certainly that, but there are also statements in our books specifically dealing with this: “To distribute to all living entities, the process is that we must first offer prasadam to the brahmanas and the Vaishnavas, for the demigods are represented by the brahmanas.” (Note here how Srila Prabhupada obviates the offering to the demigods by saying that the brahmanas represent the demigods). “In this way the Supreme Personality of Godhead who is situated in everyone’s heart will be worshipped. This is the Vedic system of offering prasadam. Whenever there is a ceremony for distribution of prasadam, the prasadam is offered first to the brahmanas, then to the children, then to the old men, and then to women, and then to the animals like dogs and other domestic animals.” So the point here is that it should be done in a particular way. Certainly that would fulfill these instructions and also facilitate the distribution of first-class prasadam endued with great spiritual potency.

This hopefully establishes something of the philosophical import of prasadam distribution in our movement. Of course, we can find many more statements from Srila Prabhupada; I have not quoted any of his letters, conversations or lectures. However, it is still obvious that the program is of paramount importance to our preaching.

Stress the spiritual aspect

We should be very confident about telling people about the spiritual benefits of prasadam. After all, we are a spiritual movement and they are obviously going to understand that we have some kind of spiritual program, even while giving out food. As mentioned above, we should first of all make it clear that prasadam distribution is itself preaching as far as we are concerned. In other words, it is not just a front to enable us to proselytize as soon as the opportunity arises; there are no obligations imposed by us on recipients of our food. We should, however, try to explain how prasadam has a spiritually purifying effect, both on the individual and ultimately on society itself. For example, we can point out that shortages and scarcity in society are ultimately caused by man’s greed, and how through his exploitation of the earth he has created various imbalances in nature.

Government support

As I have already mentioned, it is possible to obtain government support for this program. Indeed, it is a particular instruction of Srila Prabhupada’s that this program should have such support. In the Srimad Bhagavatam, Fourth Canto, verse 12.10, he states that the leaders should support this program of prasadam distribution. Such support is also mentioned in Chaitanya-Charitamrita, Madhya-lila, when referring to the Annakuta ceremony. In some areas they are already receiving such support. For example, there are surplus schemes in America and the European community. They have mountains of food, especially butter, which is given by the ton. Last year we obtained nine tons of this butter; we went out on to the street with a van and handed out blocks of it to people (after it had first been offered, of course), which the public greatly appreciated. Your local council or MEP will be able to tell you how to obtain such surpluses.

Targeting

The question is: to whom are we going to give food? Everyone needs prasadam, so where do we start? In most places we go to the homeless and the destitute to begin with because they are usually the most accessible. They are certainly the most receptive to prasadam. Your first step therefore, therefore, is to identify where the primary need exists. Usually in the so-called developed countries, a certain class of people will be found on the streets. These people are usually easy to find, as they tend to congregate in certain areas. In large cities such as London, where there are large numbers of homeless, there is no shortage of customers for free food. It is also very good public relations because it is such a problem. It has gone beyond the capacity of Social Services to cope with and they’re looking to the charity sector to help them out. In doing this, we can also gain support from the government. It is therefore intelligent to go to the homeless to begin with because everyone recognizes that there’s a need there. In many programs prasadam is given out from a van or a truck. Homeless people in cities will generally congregate in one particular place. If not, you may give them the impetus to do this by going regularly to the same place with the prasadam. Do not be too impatient: you may find there are only three people there on the first day. However, if you tell those three people, “We’ll be back tomorrow,” the next day here will be six people, the following day several more. Therefore, don’t give up after only one or two days if there are not many people. Keep going and you will probably find that they eventually start coming if you have identified that there is a particular need in the area of your own town.

Distributing within the community

Even if there is not a homeless problem in your area, there will almost certainly be needy groups living in the community, particularly the elderly. These people are often neglected by their families and are in very impoverished. As this is also a recognized area of need, it will again attract a lot of sympathy and support. The best way to begin helping in this area is to approach other charities that are directly involved in looking after the aged and work with them. In England, for example, there are charities called Help the Aged and Age Concern. You will have to work in conjunction with such organizations for a period of time. It’s no good thinking that they are immediately going to trust you; due to our religious convictions they will suspect ulterior motives at first. However, if you demonstrate sincerity and a desire to give out prasadam with no strings attached, they will gradually come to accept you. They usually won’t give you addresses of individuals within the community because they have to protect them. However, they may take the food and distribute it themselves, and as you win their confidence they may eventually allow you to go directly into the community and distribute.

There are also many families who, for one reason or another, have had to leave their home—they couldn’t afford the mortgage repayments, the wife is kicked out by the husband who was beating her, and so on. In these cases, you can also approach Social Services and ask them for information on this section of the community. Some may cooperate; others may refuse to admit there’s a problem that they’re not dealing with. Again, other charities will usually help. Charities network and cooperate with each other, so we must also learn how to do this. We can gain support in this way as there are certain agencies specifically set up to give financial support to charities. You can obtain information on such sources through directories of grant-giving bodies or local government representatives.

Students are another target area as they nearly always short of money. You can either distribute to individual student hostels or from a fixed location—for example, somewhere on campus that the student union allows you to use on a regular basis. It doesn’t necessarily have to be daily; it could be weekly to start with— even this will have a good effect on the public’s perception of ISKCON. For instance, in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, there was a problem with the anti-cult people but we had members of the community coming forward and supporting us. They made very positive statements about us because of the Food for Life program, even though distribution only takes place a couple of times a week. However, this small effort won important support when it really mattered.

Prasadam distribution can also be undertaken at events such as music festivals. There are thousands of people there, and you can give out vast amounts of prasadam, in addition to selling books and chanting the holy name. However, Food for Life means free, or heavily subsidized, food. In my opinion, food sold for profit should not be advertised as Hare Krishna Food for Life.

Fixed location

Perhaps the best way to distribute prasadam on a regular basis is from a fixed site, such as a restaurant or café. In addition, there is far less stigma attached to going to a café than getting food off a truck on the street. A donation box can be made available, and people can retain their self-esteem by giving something towards their meal if they desire. Alternatively, a small charge can be made for all they can eat. An example of this can be found in Australia, where several budget restaurants have been opened offering unlimited prasadam for 50 cents or a dollar. This has resulted in tremendously good public relations. In England, whenever we meet an Australian on the street, they are immediately favorable, often saying, “Oh, Hare Krishna, I ate some of your food and it was delicious.” They will know us as being strongly committed to free or subsidized food distribution. Prasadam is a big thing in Australia and has certainly won a lot of public and government support. We have recently adopted this idea in Manchester, UK, and it has been very successful. We have a shop with two rooms; one containing tables and chairs in which free prasadam is served and the other selling devotional items. We are hoping that this idea could be tied into the grihastha dharma. A pertinent problem our movement faces now is engaging and maintaining grihasthas. Having a small preaching center where free prasadam is distributed together with an outlet selling prasadam, books, incense, and so on is something that I believe grihastha couples could do quite easily.

Summary

As I have demonstrated, there are many ways to get a Food for Life program started. Even if all of the above is beyond your capabilities, you can still invite guests to eat your own prasadam. Srila Prabhupada would often refer to his own father who would always have two or three or even more guests for dinner. So where there’s a will, there’s a way—you can always find some way to distribute prasadam. However, I should emphasize that it must be done in a compassionate mood. It is real preaching to give a person prasadam, a great mercy of the Lord, and should not be considered as just a public relations exercise. Most importantly, try to make the prasadam as first class as possible. It really makes a difference when the food is very tasty, hot, nicely offered, nicely served and, if possible, in vast quantities.

This article is based on a lecture given at the Second European Communications Seminar, NJNK, January 1992.

101 Reasons to be a vegan

by Pamela Rice (http://www.vivavegie.org)

1. The federal-level Animal Welfare Act does not apply to farmed animals, despite the name. And many state anticruelty statutes for livestock were conveniently stripped of any teeth in the 1980s and 1990s, just as large-scale intensive farming was getting a foothold. The Humane Slaughter Act does not apply to chickens, which represent over 95 percent of all farmed animals, and, in any case, is rarely enforced. The Twenty-eight Hour Law says that livestock may not be confined in a vehicle or vessel for more than 28 consecutive hours without being unloaded, fed, watered, and given rest. This law is not effectively enforced and does not apply to birds. Farm cruelty is not regulated at the federal level; at the state level it is dealt with as a criminal offense. But local police rarely monitor it, let alone obtain a warrant to step onto a private farm. Since the majority of states specifically exempt “common,” “customary,” “normal,” or “accepted” farming practices, there is essentially nothing to stop the institutional cruelty that is all-pervasive on today’s farms.

2. Major studies in England and Germany have shown that vegetarians are about 40 percent less likely to develop cancer compared to meat eaters. In the U.S., studies of Seventh Day Adventists have shown significant reductions in cancer risk among those who avoided meat. Studies at Harvard have shown that meat eaters have about three times the risk for colon cancer as those who rarely eat meat. Clues to why? Meat is high in saturated fat and animal protein. It’s devoid of fiber. It contains certain carcinogens (HCAs and PAHs), formed as meat is cooked at high temperatures. Red and processed meats especially are linked to cancer risk, notably colorectal cancer and cancers of the esophagus, lung, pancreas, stomach, endometrium, and prostate. On the other hand, plant foods are rich in antioxidants and other anti-cancer compounds.

3. The world’s total meat supply was 71 million tons in 1961. By 2007, this amount had quadrupled. In parts of the developing world, meat consumption rose by sevenfold in just the past 20 years. By 2050, when world population is projected to rise by 30 percent, production of agricultural crops will need to increase by up to 100 percent, thanks to another doubling of world meat consumption. Such a prospect is truly sobering, since meat production plays a dominant role in just about every environmental problem on the planet.

4. World fishing has brought 29 percent of fish species to utter collapse, that is, to generally 10 percent of historical levels. A 2006 report predicted that essentially all wild edible fish will be gone from the ocean by 2048. Still, local supermarkets display plentiful supplies. And global catches continue to stay stable, though made up from fish at lower trophic levels. How can this be? According to a 2010 study, fish stocks would have long ago crashed outright if not for the industry’s steady plunder of new fishing grounds, primarily in the southern hemisphere. A 2011 report from the International Programme on the State of the Ocean warned that ocean life is at high risk of entering an unprecedented phase of extinction. We must ask, what shall we say to our descendants when the fish are all gone?

5. Incredibly, 81 million Americans live with some kind of cardiovascular disease, thanks to the standard American diet. Heart disease alone costs the U.S. economy over half a trillion dollars per year. But hope is far from lost. Studies show that 82 percent of those who changed to a low-fat, low-processed food vegan diet were able to reverse their CVD symptoms entirely. Virtually all heart diseases are a function of animal-based and processed foods, including bottled vegetable oils. Keeping stress levels down is important as well.

6. Cattle today are typically “finished” in excrement-replete feedlots. Cow feces is the carrier of the deadly E. coli strain O157:H7, which sickens 73,000 Americans every year. Thanks to breakneck line speeds of 400 animals per hour at the slaughterhouse, caked-on manure will migrate to edible portions during dehiding. A single ground-beef patty may contain the flesh of hundreds or even thousands of animals. The USDA has a zero-tolerance policy for the O157:H7 strain. However, there are six other E. coli strains that infect 30,000 people every year as well, but few public health labs in the country test for them.

7. A U.S. meat-inspector-turned-whistleblower testified in 2010 that pigs in the slaughterhouse where he worked were being shackled and bled out while still conscious, and the animals were regularly being unloaded from trucks so aggressively they were forced to trample one another. Considered a troublemaker, the inspector was harassed and then shunted off to another plant where conditions were even worse. Meanwhile, a U.S. Government Accountability Project survey of USDA inspectors across the country confirmed that enforcement of the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act is woefully lax. Inspectors often err on the side of inaction when confronted with a violation. And only about one percent of the Food Safety and Inspection Service budget had been designated for enforcement of the HMSA.

8. A tiny percentage of all the water on Earth is potable, that is, fresh. About 70 percent of this precious store is used in agriculture. Yet, because of increasing meat consumption, global water demand is forecast to go up by 40 percent by 2030. It’s important to realize that half of all the world’s cultivated grain is fed to livestock. So, when people hear the word “agriculture,” they largely need to think animal agriculture. Production inputs for a single hamburger amount to 634 gallons of water, 25 times that needed for the equivalent in wheat.

9. In what is still the most comprehensive investigation of diet and lifestyle ever conducted, The China Study found that the consumption of surprisingly small amounts of animal protein is linked to chronic disease. The many findings from this grand epidemiological study are especially compelling because they allowed meaningful comparisons between populations with similar genetic backgrounds yet with nonhomogeneous diets. All in all, The China Study provides the ultimate vegan vindication.

10. Poultry-line work is difficult, dirty, and dangerous. Generally, no one stays on worker payrolls for more than a year. Companies simply refuse to offer higher wages and better working conditions. Laborers work in a milieu of flying fatty fleshy pieces, roaring racing conveyors, and the constant fear of fellow employees wielding sharp knives in close quarters. Thirty thousand knife motions per day by one employee is not uncommon. Nearly 15 percent of workers face debilitating injuries on the job each year, mostly because of repetitive trauma of the wrists and fingers.

11. Today, more meat is produced on fewer farms. No trend in agriculture is more all-pervasive than this. Hundreds of thousands of small operations have been put out of business while industry concentration has placed total control in the hands of a few kingpins who dictate production methods. Traditional price discovery is no longer in play. Prices are set by an entrenched vertically integrated supply-chain, controlled by supermarkets, packers, and processors, forcing farmers and ranchers into low-profit contract arrangements for which they have no say. Pig and poultry growers, in particular, have been relegated to surf-like status. Down the line, animals are transformed into production units, the environment near farms and slaughter plants is destroyed, and the consumer is left with a product laced with health and contamination risk.

12. We humans share 99 percent of our DNA with chimps—with mice, cows, dogs, and daffodils, 90, 80, 75, and 33, respectively. Scientists are asking all new questions, and they’re discovering that animals, including farmed animals, have high-level cognitive and communication abilities. Animals express a full range of emotions: fear to curiosity to glee. They will express compassion and act proactively to rescue or even nurse an individual from another species. Some animals are artists. The roots of morality (fairness awareness) go well beyond the human milieu. In a specific sense, pigs can readily understand the concept of a mirror. Sheep can recognize 50 specific sheep from two years’ prior when presented front- and side-view images; they prefer a happy human face to a sad one. And a cow will experience “eureka moments”—kicking up her heals and tossing her head when she discovers that a lever will allow her into a pasture.

13. The chemical process that converts atmospheric nitrogen into fertilizer is considered by some to be the most important discovery since the advent of agriculture. In 1905 it ushered in a world of food and feed in great abundance, allowing man to not only feed himself to excess but his livestock as well. Indeed, the discovery allowed humans to become habitually carnivorous. Unfortunately, it also brought a surfeit of “nutrients” into the environment. The water, air, and land across the globe are choking under their polluting burden. Dead zones, harmful algae blooms, and acidification are everywhere on Earth. Climate change must be counted as a consequence as well.

14. Genetics is as important a component of today’s intensive farming as drugs and confinement hardware. The animals themselves, right down to their DNA, must stand up to the rigors of the industrial process, both in life and in carcass form. They must produce and reproduce quickly and do so on minimal feed. And the particular output that they unwillingly give forth must please the consumer in texture, taste, uniformity, convenience, and price. Today, mutant genes that would never have survived in the wild are cultivated in the laboratory to monstrous ends. Entire herds and flocks will be comprised of animals with nearly identical genes.

15. In 2006, the Food & Agriculture Organization/U.N. surprised the world with a report (Livestock’s Long Shadow) declaring that livestock production contributes 18 percent of the world’s human-caused greenhouse gases, noting that all the world’s transport vehicles contribute just 13 percent. Soon after, Worldwatch Institute said that 18 percent was a gross under-assessment, with 51 percent being closer to the mark.

16. Historically, manure never presented a problem for farms. It was part of a closed, multi-use operation where everything was utilized. That’s all changed. According to a 1997 USDA report, America’s farms generate 1.37 billion tons of livestock waste every year, which equates to 5 tons for every American. Such gargantuan quantities of manure came about for one reason: the trend toward farm specialization. By-product has no purpose on farm sites anymore; it becomes pollution.

17. Industrial agriculture is environmentally unsustainable in terms of water, topsoil, and fossil-fuel. It turns arable land into desert and forest into eroded wasteland. Yet, the level of meat production—the hidden purpose for industrial agriculture—grows steadily across the globe. And worse, tragically, while half of the world’s harvest is fed to animals, approximately 925 million people worldwide (1 in 7) are undernourished. No matter the species, feed to-flesh conversion is wastefully inefficient—beef, 8:1; pork, 3.5:1; chicken, 3:1; and farmed fish, 2:1. Just as with guns and butter, the world must choose. Feed human beings. Or feed animals to feed a select number of human beings.

18. American farmers administer 29 million pounds of antibiotics to their livestock each year. The drugs are routinely given in low doses to healthy animals to promote faster weight gain on less feed and to counter the effects of typically crowded and unsanitary conditions. The amount represents eight times the antibiotics taken by humans. Giving antibiotics to livestock has increased steadily since the 1940s, despite warnings from scientists that the practice puts human health at risk. Bacteria mutate to acquire antibiotic resistance, potentially nullifying the effectiveness of the antibiotics humans need to fight disease.

19 Dietary fiber is the indigestible part of food that absorbs water in the intestines, bulks up, and nudges on vital processes. Only plant-derived foods contain it. Each person should consume a minimum of 35 grams of fiber per day. Otherwise, one risks the onset of constipation, colitis, colon cancer, and hemorrhoids. Just look up the diaries of the famed Lewis and Clark. Their 19th century expedition was rife with frostbite, dehydration, sunburn, boils, colds, and flu. But the worst of it was the never-ending constipation, due to a diet of mostly wild game. Today’s meat-loving Americans, ingest only about 12 grams of fiber per day.

20. Feedlot meat is a product of the oil age and a driver for the oil wars. When cheap oil is gone, cheap meat will be history. A pound of beef takes three-quarters of a gallon of oil to produce. A 1,250- pound steer essentially embodies a whopping nine barrels of oil. About 40 calories of fossil fuel are needed to produce a single calorie of beef protein. By comparison, only 2.2 calories of fossil fuel are required to produce 1 calorie of plant protein.

21. Fishers today employ trawlers, dredgers, longlines, and driftnets with the help of sonar, GPS, and satellites. The fish don’t stand a chance. The world’s long liners, for example, set 1.4 billion hooks every year. Their lines could encircle the world 550 times. The mouth of the largest trawler net can accommodate thirteen 747 jets. Global fishing capacity could actually haul in the current world catch times four. Add to this, a quarter of the harvested fish is estimated to be “bycatch,” that is, from non-targeted species. It will be shoveled off ship decks, back into the water—stressed, mutilated, or dead.

22. To satisfy humanity’s ravenous appetite for frogs’ legs, a billion frogs are taken from the wild each year. The collective pillage is helping to classify amphibians as a whole the most threatened animal group on Earth.

23. Two facts contradict the conventional wisdom. Osteoporosis is rare in Japan where people eat almost no calcium-rich dairy products; and osteoporotic fractures are highest where people eat the most dairy products, namely in the U.S. and Europe. New research tells us that the best way to reduce the risk for osteoporosis is, in fact, to eat more alkalinizing fruits and vegetables and less acidifying animal protein, cereal grains, and coffee.

24. The dairy industry has an unrelenting need: a steady supply of lactating cows. This requires constant impregnation—typically via artificial insemination. Surplus female calves and all male calves must go somewhere. Witness your typical veal stockyard auction: hundreds of one day-old calves penned together—prodded, confused, terrified, often subject to brutal weather conditions, each desperately crying for his or her mother, destined for bob veal (slaughtered immediately) or fancy veal (reason #94). Some will be lame or sick (reason #79). Such a fate!

25. Diabetes rates in the U.S. are among the highest and fastest growing in the world. A new clue to why could very possibly indict a common practice on America’s industrial farms: recycling. Cow and chicken fat is fed to pigs and chickens, dead chickens and chicken litter (including manure) is fed to cattle, and meat and bone meal is fed back to the chickens, and on and on. Meanwhile, with each feeding cycle, highly toxic substances called POPs (persistent organic pollutants, such as PCBs and Organochlorine pesticides) are getting more and more concentrated in the mix. It’s long been known that POPs are everywhere in the environment and lodge specifically in animal fat. Now, industrial agriculture is creating a toxic food chain that never ends. Alas, studies show a strong link between the onset of diabetes and POPs.

26. A 2009 Oxford University study discovered that vegetarians and vegans had body weights 3–20 percent below those of meat eaters. These researchers had previously discovered that the lowest weight gains over time could be found in people with high intakes of carbohydrate and low intakes of protein. Some years earlier, a Swedish study of 55,000 women and a British study of 65,000 men and women both found vegans to have lower BMIs (body mass index) and to suffer less often from obesity. Vegan food tends to be lower in calories by volume, and it usually contains abundant dietary fiber and so satiates quicker. Early in 2011, President Bill Clinton announced he had lost 24 pounds by switching to a low-fat, near-vegan diet.

27. A 2006 U.N. report declared livestock production worldwide accounts for 70 percent of all agricultural land and 30 percent of the land surface of the planet. Grazing occupies 26 percent of the ice-free terrestrial surface of the planet. About 20 percent of the world’s pastures and rangeland (73 percent of dry pastures and rangeland) have been degraded to some extent, mostly through overgrazing, compaction, and livestock-specific erosion.

28. The American Dietetic Association states that “vegetarian…or vegan diets, are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and may provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases. Well-planned vegetarian diets are appropriate for individuals during all stages of the lifecycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence, and for athletes.” No argument here.

29. A New York Times story about a rural Idaho family describes an increasingly common situation. The Kudlows drank from a private well at one time but now spend $150 a month on bottled water. They live within two miles of 30,000 feedlot dairy cows. The animals generate as much sewage as a medium-sized city, but, as is typical, treatment of the manure is not required. Bacteria, pathogens, and pharmaceuticals associated with feedlots contaminate the water. Nitrate levels six times those set by the EPA as safe were detected. The federal Clean Water Act remains silent about groundwater pollution, and state agriculture departments tend to side with the polluters.

30. Broiler chickens—those raised for meat—are incubated and hatched by machine by the millions. Each is mechanically conveyed from hatchery to shipping box and eventually into massive windowless sheds with tens of thousands of other chicks for grow out. None will ever know his or her mother’s protective wing. Naturally programmed to seek a pecking order in small flocks, the birds are kept perpetually stressed. Meanwhile, thanks to intensive single trait selection and antibiotics, their bodies will grow rapidly to five pounds in 45 days, an accelerated rate that results in heart and painful orthopedic disorders. Flip-over and other diseases and infections from ammonia-soaked air cause five percent to die before slaughter—about 2,000 birds per shed. Those that live go to slaughter with their baby blue eyes. A chicken in the 1950s grew to three pounds (market weight of the time) in 84 days.

31. Clean-out is a humongous process that takes place between herd or flock deliveries at today’s factory farms, a process that operators would rather consumers never see. First, the excrement must be removed with bulldozers to dumpsters or mini-mountains outside. Then starts the intense, meticulous process of scraping, power washing, and disinfecting. The animals, while resident in the barns, must be protected by strict measures of “biosecurity,” so fragile are their immune systems. Disease outbreak is a constant threat. Like a quarantine ward, outsiders must shower up and walk through disinfectant before entering a room full of animals.

32. Today, gigantic open-air cesspools or holding pits of urine and feces are typically situated adjacent to or beneath barns that hold thousands and even millions of factory-raised animals. They emit more than 160 volatile compounds contributing to an overwhelming stench—one that cannot be compared to every day farm odor. It will hammer you like nothing you’ve ever experienced. Abundant dust at such facilities conveys toxic gases, endotoxins, and pathogens many miles away. Particles of manure, feed, soil, and bacteria can lodge in the lungs. And endotoxins can inflame respiratory tissues and trigger asthma, bronchitis, and allergies.

33. A British study in 2002 involving 11,000 meat eaters, fish eaters, vegetarians, and vegans showed non-meat eaters, especially vegans, to have a lower prevalence of hypertension (the arterial disease that causes high blood pressure) than meat eaters, largely, it was concluded, because of differences in body mass index. The study echoed other peer-reviewed studies in the 1980s. Plant products generally contain less fat and sodium and have no cholesterol at all. Vegetables and fruits are also rich in potassium, which helps lower blood pressure.

34. Humans eat animals, but what are the animals eating: rendered parts of their own species, manure contaminated with hormones and antibiotics, and roughage in the form of plastic pellets, just to name a few. We’ve all heard of grain-fed beef, but this rapid growth-promoting diet sickens the animals with bloat and liver abscesses; veterinary drugs must be administered. Europe has suffered several disturbing continent-wide dioxin-in-feed crises. Then there’s the massive amounts of plastic trash that is contaminating the oceans. Its microscopic poisons inevitably travel up the food chain.

35. In 2010, new FDA rules went into effect that require egg producers with 50,000 or more laying hens to establish measures to control rodents able to pass salmonella on to the birds. They also establish testing requirements for poultry houses and eggs. The rules theoretically prevent up to “79,000 illnesses and 30 deaths” per year. But the rules were instituted slightly too late to counter a salmonella outbreak, which turned into a recall of a half-billion eggs. An inspection found chicken manure piled 8 feet high, brown excrement seeping through foundations to the outside, access doors to pits bulging out from the weight of chicken waste, mice in laying houses, and massive infestations of flies and maggots.

36. Less than one percent of the world’s water is suitable for agricultural use and human consumption. Yet, to feed a seemingly uncontrollable desire for meat, countries around the world have given in to profligate pumping of trillions of gallons of aquifer water annually. Tables are dropping by 3–20 feet per year in countries such as China, India, Iran, Pakistan, and Yemen. In some cases, wells are half a mile deep. Under Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas, the fossil water table is down by 100 feet. Since over-pumping is a global phenomenon, key shortages could occur all at once, creating a sudden and potentially disastrous episode of food scarcity.

37. The USDA’s new food diagram (ChooseMyPlate.gov) recommends nearly half of one’s diet consist of fruits and vegetables. Amazingly, the meat group no longer exists; we now have the protein group, which could imply soy or other legumes. Unfortunately, the diagram still has a blue circle for dairy, a class of foods that at best are a poor nutrition source (see #43). Nutrition expert Marion Nestle said it best: “Why do we have a milk group? Because we have a National Dairy Council.”

38. Defined in terms of manure output, 1,000 head of cattle, 700 dairy cows, 125,000 broiler chickens, and 2,500 grow-out pigs are all “equivalent” minimums for CAFO designation (confined animal feeding operation). The U.S. has about 19,000 CAFOs, and each has its own manure pit. A typical one may be several acres and 22 feet deep. These “lagoons” can and will rupture. Iowa, alone, has had 700 manure spills over the last 15 years. One massive breach in North Carolina in 1995 spewed 22 million gallons into the New River, killing 10 million fish.

39. Aquaculture manifests all the environmental drawbacks of industrial agriculture on land, and then some. Fish farmers crowd the animals in cages, forcing a heavy reliance on genetics and pharmaceuticals. Catastrophic mortalities from disease, natural disaster, and even power failure are ever-present concerns. The animal wastes present costs that producers tend to externalize onto the environment and the public. Feed-to-flesh ratios range between 3 and 15 pounds to one. Over 50 percent of the world’s fishmeal is used in aquaculture, an obvious stressor on wild fish stocks. Numerous instances exist of farmed fish escaping into the wild, corrupting the genetic purity of native species and spreading disease.

40. In the mid-1990s, when people were going crazy about Mad Cow Disease, they wanted to get everything having to do with the cow out of their lives. But when they asked, “where’s the beef?” they learned, it’s everywhere! Cow fat makes cookies and salty snacks taste rich and lipstick glide smoothly. Cow proteins are in shampoo. Collagen, extracted from hides, balms wounds and puffs lips. Gelatin, made from hides and bones, is found in ice cream, gummy candies, and marshmallows. Add to these, cows are in paints, floor wax, asphalt, chewing gum, upholstery, juices, wines and beers, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and brake fluid. A huge meat industry translates into a hugely annoying by-products industry.

41. An undercover employee video of a massive sow gestation facility revealed breeding pigs crammed inside crates so small they could hardly move. (Typically, such conditions continue over the course of repeated pregnancies.) In frustration, many sows had bitten their bars till blood dripped from their mouths. Half-dead pigs were seen thrown into dumpsters. Premature piglets were strewn in manure pits below stall slats. The company, Smithfield, the largest pork producer in the world, had pledged three years’ prior that such conditions would be phased out.

42. Twelve hundred head of cattle—a relatively small feedlot—produce 54 tons of manure every 24 hours. Faced with so large an accumulation, producers everywhere are apt to just let the stuff pile up and be tamped down by the cows. The piles, however, can actually spontaneously ignite due to the natural composting process. Once a manure fire starts, it’s hard to extinguish. It’s nothing but a huge densely packed mound of solid fuel. And it will spew a mighty stench of polluting particulate for miles and for months.

43. It’s a given that cow’s milk is a staple in the American kitchen. But most of the world gets along fine without it. Indeed, it’s a foreign substance to the human body linked to childhood diabetes, anemia in infants and children, iron-deficiency, constipation, allergies, cramps, diarrhea, osteoporosis, obesity, heart disease, cancer, and zits. It’s laden with saturated fat and cholesterol and may contain artificial hormones, pesticides, and antibiotics. The claim that it is a good source of calcium is a dubious one. Cow’s milk is for calves.

44. Worldwide, fishers receive about $34 billion per year in government subsidies, which naturally encourages overcapacity and unsustainable fishing practices. The U.S. spent $246.7 billion on farm subsidies between 1995 and 2009, much of it on corn and soybean price supports that lower the cost of feed and increase the supply of low-cost meat. Less than one percent of U.S. subsidies goes to fruits and vegetables. “Conservation” subsidies often go to U.S. farmers to help them with manure management. Less than 1% of subsidies to fruits & veggies in general, subsidies to the meat industry can be outright or carefully buried in the budget. Lists of them can go on and on. But the greatest perk to the meat industry of all is that which is entirely hidden from view: the exemption from animal welfare laws (see #1).

45. According to the World Wildlife Fund, so-called Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing describes a complex but organized criminal activity that is professionally coordinated and truly global (see #98). A pirate vessel may seemingly be owned by a company in the Caribbean but really be owned by someone in Spain. It might have a Russian skipper and a crew from the Philippines or mainland China. Its flag, that of Togo. The ventures use various strategies to evade apprehension and avoid laws, all to disguise the origin of the illegal catches. IUU fishing undermines efforts to actually manage dwindling fish stocks. Ultimately, it’s the result of a ravenous world demand for fish.

46. Approximately 38 million cattle, calves, and sheep; 117 million hogs; and 9 billion chickens are slaughtered for food every year in the U.S. These numbers do not include hundreds of millions of livestock (mostly chickens) who die from stress and disease before transport to the slaughterhouse. Farms regularly bury, incinerate, landfill, and compost the carcasses, often polluting the environment and potentially spreading disease in the process. Rendering is thought to be less environmentally invasive, although the processing plants emit odor and deadly gasses such as hydrogen sulfide. About 47 billion pounds of raw animal material per year—mostly inedible trimmings from the slaughterhouse but also roadkill and shelter animals—is boiled, centrifuged, siphoned, and refined into 18 billion pounds of soap, pharmaceuticals, personal care products, chemicals, and animal feed. Stray ingredients, such as cattle ID tags, insecticide patches, syringe needles, flea collars, euthanasia drugs, pesticides, and Styrofoam trays (from unsold supermarket meats), regularly get into the rendered mix.

47. Man has long threatened species and ecosystems with elimination—in recent decades to an alarming degree. Hunting alone is responsible for 23 percent of all known cases of animal extinction since 1600. A sting operation at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport found 134 passengers on 29 incoming flights over a period of 17 days to be smuggling in fish or meat from livestock and wild animals. The researchers found 11 different illegal “bush meat” species, including Nile crocodiles, red river hog, primates, porcupines, and pangolins. It is estimated that over 11,000 pounds of contraband bush meat passes through the airport in luggage each week. Twenty-five percent of all primate species today are at risk of extinction.

48. Fruit is richly imbued with health-giving phytochemicals, antioxidants, vitamins, and fiber. Fruit is indeed synonymous with life. The human hand is a dexterous appendage fashioned by nature to perfection for picking, holding, peeling, and conveying these foods to the human mouth. Apples, avocados, blueberries, cranberries, flax, grapes, kiwis, prunes, and nuts of all kinds are some of the most nutritious foods you can eat. Each tends to specialize in specific health-giving attributes, such as lowering cholesterol, preventing kidney stones, or inhibiting inflammation.

49. Roots, stems, and leaves, just like fruits (see #48), are sources for anti-aging and anti-cancer properties. Vegetables contain chemicals that protect them from disease as they grow, and these can be passed along to the humans who eat them. Broccoli, carrots, garlic, greens, kale, and sweet potatoes, respectively, fight cancer, improve lung function, fight flu, clot wounds, counter depression, and protect eyes. The deeper the color of the veggie, the more protection you’ll receive.

50. Nine billion broiler chickens per year go through America’s factory-farm system. In highly concentrated, dust-filled, toxic environments, they suffer leg, lung, heart, and respiratory disorders. Terrified, they are sent to slaughter where they are painfully shackled upside down by their legs, which have already been bruised and broken by the gathering process. The electrified trough stuns just enough to conveniently immobilize the birds, but not nearly enough to dull pain. Some birds miss the trough and the knife altogether and are burned to death in the scald tank where feathers are loosened.

51. Agriculture pollutes more than 100,000 miles of rivers and streams and 2,500 square miles of inland lakes in the U.S. Since 80 percent of America’s grain is fed to livestock (vs. 50 percent, worldwide; see #8), agriculture in the U.S. must be thought of as primarily animal agriculture. Just three days’ worth of our nation’s chicken dinners produce over a billion pounds of litter and manure. The “nutrients” inevitably get into the environment. The Chesapeake Bay is just one example. Only 10 percent of it contains adequate levels of dissolved oxygen during the summer months because of algae blooms “nourished” by chicken and dairy operations in the watershed. Shorelines become so inhospitable that some animals will literally leap out of the water to breathe during episodes now dubbed “jubilee.”

52. Beef cattle are best suited to moist climates, such as those in Europe where their ancestors evolved. But ranchers in America’s West continue the destructive tradition of grazing their animals on the nation’s most arid land. Grazing destroys ecologically regenerative riparian zones. According to a 2006 U.N. report, “the livestock sector may well be the leading player in the reduction of biodiversity…as well as one of the leading drivers of land degradation, pollution, climate change, overfishing, sedimentation of coastal areas, and facilitation of invasions by alien species.”

53. Undercover videotapes of chicken plants show it every time: employees caught inflicting egregious cruelties upon the birds, essentially out of boredom or frustration. Workers at a Pilgrim’s Pride plant in West Virginia in 2004 were seen “tearing beaks off, ripping a birds’ heads off to write graffiti in blood, spitting tobacco juice into birds’ mouths, plucking feathers to ‘make it snow,’ suffocating a chicken by tying a latex glove over its head, and squeezing birds like water balloons to spray feces over other birds.” Workers made a game of throwing chickens against a wall. In mid-2008, workers at a Gemperle Enterprises farm in California were videotaped stepping on chickens or twisting their necks and inflicting protracted acutely painful deaths. According to one veterinarian, “There are multiple shots of moribund chickens with ailments ranging from broken limbs to abscessed cloacae to illnesses so severe the birds are unable to open their eyes or stand.” The video showed hens being stuffed as young pullets into file-drawer-sized cages only to be retrieved months later for the throat slitter when “spent”—barely recognizable as birds or being alive.

54. When the meat industry imprisons massive numbers of animals in cramped, stress-inducing confinement, it provides the perfect breeding ground for deadly pathogens that infect the meat. Technologies to kill these pathogens have become big business. We have trisodium phosphate, acidified sodium chlorite, hypochlorite, bacteriocins, iron chelating compounds, electrolyzed oxidizing water, chlorinated hot water, organic acids, steam chambers, hot water dips, lactic acid dips, high-pressure processing, UV and pulsed light, copper ions, electrostatic spraying systems, and irradiation. Such a waste!

55. Bestiality is integral to today’s farming operations. Numerous Web sites instruct in the craft of artificial insemination of pigs, turkeys, and cows. AI for pigs follows. Collection (male): “Allow the boar to mount the dummy (hobby-horse-type furniture). ...Grab and extend the penis to display the erection. ...With your strong hand, gently massage sheath back and forth until he starts to thrust. ...Never allow your grip to relax, particularly during ejaculation, which on average requires 5 to 6 minutes. ...Sperm is collected in a ‘vagina’ or lined plastic cup.” Insemination (female): “The stockperson must mimic some of the stimulation normally provided by the boar, i.e. back pressure and flank and udder rubbing. ...The head of the catheter is inserted into the vulva and gently pushed forward and upward. ...Contractions will suck the semen out of the flat pack.”

56. Every year in the U.S., 30 million head of cattle are fattened in feedlots with nearly all receiving growth-promoting synthetic hormones. Downstream, researchers have recorded disturbing anomalies. In one study, wild female fish were observed to display male traits and wild male fish were observed to display female traits. Needless to say, the reproductive capacities in these fish became grievously compromised. A university investigation found multi-drug-resistant bacteria was more than three times greater in streams near factory farms than in streams not impacted by the farms.

57. Heavy demand for animal-based foods has brought giant meat processors, such as Smithfield, IBP, Murphy, Tyson, and Purdue, to the marketplace. Each of these companies has bullied its way to enormity in recent decades. But none has committed crimes so terrible as DeCoster Egg. Examples include: stinking barns full of filth and chicken carcasses left to rot (in one case, 100,000 chickens burned to death in a fire); a nearby town plagued by beetles (the company brought them in to tackle its massive fly infestation); discrimination against Mexican workers (a lawsuit was actually brought by the Mexican government); employees forced to live in slave-like barracks (a slew of labor and OSHA violations were reported as well); several massive and deadly salmonella outbreaks; and, of course, animal cruelty.

58. Cold, hard cost analysis will show you that it is more profitable to maintain one cow than four, if one cow gives as much milk as four. Indeed, after just a few decades of selective breeding, exactly this kind of “efficiency” exists. Today’s cow yields a staggering 9 tons of milk per year. A cow’s udder can weigh as much as a full-grown man, causing painful leg problems. The cows must endure tremendous stress. Five hundred gallons of blood have to circulate through a cow’s udder to provide the nutrients for a single gallon of milk. It takes 350 udder squirts to accumulate a gallon, as well.

59. More than 95 percent of animal cloning attempts fail. Horrible out-comes, such as oversized heads, twisted limbs, bloated fetuses, malformed internal organs, and faulty immune and respiratory systems are the norm. Some 6,000 animals alive today are the product of cloning, not including the failures. The technology is a radical departure from conventional trait selection, which has already made farmed animals into freaks. In 2008, the FDA declared that cloned meat was safe to eat. Soon it will be in markets everywhere, without identifying labels.

60. Necessarily excessive cultivation of feed grains to supply flesh foods to a meat-eating world has, with its exorbitant fertilizer needs, transformed coastal areas into “dead zones”—one of the world’s greatest emerging environmental challenges. A scientific inquiry in 2006 found that a nationwide dietary shift in America away from grain-fed beef to vegetarianism could reduce total land and fertilizer demands of Mississippi Basin crops by over 50 percent, with no reduction in total production of human-food protein. Ultimately, such a change could diminish the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico—the third largest in the world—to small or non-existent.

61. Thousands of domesticated animal breeds in poor countries are today at risk of extinction. The threat: commercial breeds imported from industrialized countries genetically fashioned for intensive production. The new breeds require high-tech management techniques and costly inputs such as high-protein feed, medication, and climate-controlled housing. But, as the price for oil creeps higher, these industrial breeds will no longer be viable. Meanwhile, the old breeds with local immunities that tolerated local weather conditions may by this time be extinct. In Europe, half of all breeds of domestic animals that existed in 1900 are gone. Worldwide, 30 percent of breeds are classified as endangered and critical.

62. The U.S. federal government spends about $60 million per year to exterminate coyotes, mountain lions, wolves, and other predator species from the American landscape, because they are considered nuisance animals by privately owned ranches. The program, Wildlife Services, employs highly toxic poisons (Compound 1080 and sodium cyanide M-44), aerial gunning, steel-jawed leg hold traps, and other inhumane kill methods, often indiscriminately. Non-target wildlife—some threatened and even endangered—get caught in the cross hairs. In some cases, the government spends more money on the program than any losses that might otherwise have been incurred. And, by the USDA’s own statistics, most livestock losses do not come from predation but from weather, disease, illness, and birthing problems. Non-lethal methods to ward off unwanted animals exist, but ranchers generally don’t consider them.

63. Worldwide, 60 billion animals are processed for human consumption each year, not counting fish. Most are transported at least once in their lives. Filthy, crowded, cramped, noisy, and terrifying conditions over extended periods are the norm. Stress and crowding facilitate the transmission of disease. Some animals are forced on numerous trips as owners respond to favorable prices. Cull animals, by definition, are “spent.” Their transport experiences are particularly cruel. International commerce in live animals—with shipping distances often over a thousand miles—is routine.

64. Virtually all of America’s 280 million egg-laying hens are relegated to tortured lives in cramped battery cages (48–77 square inches) until “spent,” about 12 months. Debeaking— a painful procedure—is a standard industry practice employed to mitigate pecking damage between cage mates. Today’s hen has been selectively bred to lay an egg nearly every day, about 12 times the natural rate. Depending on market conditions, a farmer may elect to force-molt the birds—sometimes repeatedly—to eke out a renewed laying cycle. To this end, the hens are kept in darkness and starved for 5–14 days.

65. Up to a third of U.S. cows are dosed with the genetically engineered dairy hormone rBGH, which boosts milk production by 10–40 percent. The drug tends to give the cows mastitis, a painful udder infection, prompting farmers to administer antibiotics. The FDA approved rBGH in 1993 after just one small, initially hidden, study by the manufacturer. Health Canada eventually learned and revealed the study’s questionable results, itself putting forth other significant issues. The EU, Japan, Australia, and Canada all outlaw the use of rBGH. Labels stating “rBGH-free” are prohibited in the U.S.

66. Around 60 percent of human pathogens are transmissible from animals; among new diseases, the rate is about 75 percent. Scientists theorize that humans are more and more acquiring animal diseases because increasingly larger flocks and herds are being kept closer to larger and larger human populations. Scientists are spotting one new disease roughly every four months. Most are insignificant; others, such as SARS, bird flu, Nipah Virus, and Mad Cow Disease are grave indeed.

67. Protein is readily obtained by vegans, particularly when there is plenty of variety in the diet. Tempeh, seitan, veggie burgers, beans, and whole grains, such as quinoa, are good sources. Iron can be obtained with a vegan diet. Good sources include cooked soybeans, blackstrap molasses, lentils, tofu, cashews, dried apricots, and dark leafy veggies. Meat sources of iron more easily allow absorption, but vegans are more apt to get iron’s companion nutrient, vitamin C. Zinc can be obtained from a vegan diet. Good sources include sprouted seeds, grains, legumes, tempeh, and sourdough breads. New research actually suggests that high amounts of iron in the blood are associated with atherosclerosis and free-radical damage. Zinc overdoses can lead to nausea, vomiting, headaches, fatigue, and diarrhea.

68. One answer to today’s ocean fish plunder and the many crashed populations of fish across the globe is a now time-tested solution: marine reserves. Relatively tiny areas of the ocean bear this designation today. But everywhere fishing is placed off limits (e.g.: The North Sea during World War II and Cape Canaveral after the Challenger disaster), fish populations rebound in spectacular displays. In a sobering indication of the scope of the damage, biologists are proposing banning fishing from, no less, a third of the ocean in a system of marine reserves, monitored by naval patrols and GPS.

69. A seemingly endless list of diseases and infestations afflict animals raised for human consumption. Just to name a few: Marek’s disease, Nipah virus, Swine flu, Newcastle Disease, Poult Enteritis and Mortality Syndrome, H5N1, Johne’s Disease, Pseudorabies, Mad Cow Disease (MCD), Bluetongue, Foot & Mouth Disease (FMD), Swine Fever, Flipover Syndrome, and Screwworm. An entire industry is there to help farmers and ranchers battle them all. Pharmaceuticals will be administered productionline style, sometimes haphazardly, often preemptively. Vets hope for the best. It’s often more cost-effective to just destroy an entire flock or herd. Catastrophic regional outbreaks (e.g.: MCD, FMD, H5N1, & Nipah virus), which do happen periodically, will require state intervention often on a massive scale involving thousands of government workers called into a grisly task of mass extermination.

70. Methyl mercury is formed when inorganic mercury—primarily from coal-fired power plants—is transformed by microorganisms in the environment. Exposure causes irreversible damage to the central nervous system and is tied to mutations and cancer. Official health warnings tell women intending to someday become pregnant to avoid eating certain top-predator fish, species that lodge the poison in their bodies in great concentrations. About 60,000 U.S. children are born each year at risk for neurological development problems due to methyl mercury overexposure in the womb.

71. Every U.S. presidential administration in recent decades has been dedicated to coercing trading partners to open markets to American meat. In a typical, if not robotic, statement, U.S. trade representative Ron Kirk told the Meat Export Federation in 2009 that he was using every legal tool at his disposal to keep pork markets open despite a swine flu outbreak at the time. He also noted that he’d continue to help reverse or mitigate trade bans because of Mad Cow Disease and hormones in beef.

72. In 2001, an entrepreneurial company said it had developed a way to neutralize deadly E. coli in meat: ammonia injections! The company declared the process safe, especially for trimmings often susceptible to contamination and otherwise relegated for use in pet food. The meat might stink of ammonia, but those trimmings offer savings as filler for hamburger patties. The USDA approved the process and for a while even stopped bothering to test meat from the company that utilizes the technique. Sure enough, samples kept coming up positive for E. coli and salmonella. Nonetheless, ammoniated trimmings continue to legally be sold in fast-food chains, grocery stores, and to the National School Lunch Program.

73. Except for the llama/alpaca, all 13 of the world’s large domesticated animals originated in Eurasia. The pig, cow, sheep, goat, and others must, therefore, all be considered invasive species to the New World. And, of all that were transplanted into the Americas, none becomes more feral more easily or reproduces more rapidly or better survives the wild than the hog. Today, wild-hog populations exist in at least 35 U.S. states. They are considered by some to be a problem and even a menace to farms and public parks. But their numbers continue to grow and expand, thanks to escapees from overturned trucks transporting hogs to the slaughterhouse (about 60 per year, nationwide, involving some 10,000 hogs).

74. Okinawa is home to the longest lived people in the world, having the highest percentage of its population living to 100 years old. For one thing, the country treasures its old people. Regular exercise and sensibly sized meals also play a part. But how Okinawans eat also factors in significantly: low fat and primarily vegetarian. Most of the diet consists of vegetables, tofu, and miso with very little meat and fish. It’s a sad fact that in the 1980s Okinawa’s sons and daughters adopted the fast-food diet, which has ushered in the current era where parents oftentimes outlive their children.

75. Russia and Japan remain treaty less because of fishing disputes in the southern Kurile islands. The Russians even killed a man in 2006 when they fired upon a Japanese fishing boat in the area. In 2010, the Libyans sprayed bullets on an Italian fishing boat after chasing it across the Mediterranean. And the Canadians once fired on a recalcitrant Spanish fishing boat in the Outer Banks of Newfoundland, later bringing the illegal driftnets they confiscated to the U.N. North Korea regularly aims gunboats at fishers from South Korea interloping in its fertile waters. These two countries are technically still at war, so such incidents can at any time result in renewed hostilities.

76. Large concentrations of pesticides, fertilizers, and farm chemicals are seeping into America’s aquifers, thanks to roughly 165 million acres of corn and soybeans that are planted per year primarily to feed the livestock to regularly bring meat to America’s dinner plates. Some towns in the Midwest have consequently come to rely on their neighbors for fresher, though expensive, supplies of water. But a recent boom in cattle and pig operations has poisoned these stores as well, prompting plans for government-subsidized pipelines to link towns with major rivers. With the demand for meat continuing unabated, such plans of action have become strangely logical.

77. The consumption of fish is gutting the oceans of its biodiversity and threatening consumers with mercury and highly toxic persistent organic pollutants (POPs). But aren’t the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish vital to human health? Yes, but much better sources exist. Fish, just like every food of animal origin, strains the kidneys with animal protein (see #9), adds cholesterol and saturated fat to the blood, and lacks fiber for proper digestion and colon health. The best sources for omega-3 fatty acids are plant-based foods, including green leafy vegetables, walnuts, hemp, chia seeds, and ground flaxseeds.

78. Farmed animals endure branding, castration, debeaking, dehorning, desnooding, ear notching, mulesing (skinning of sheep hind ends), pinioning (wing-joint removal), tail docking, teeth cutting, and tongue removal, among other painful mutilations. The operations are commonplace and performed routinely on a mass scale. They’re done to increase productivity and/or to compensate for severe overcrowding and stressful conditions. In order to perform these procedures, laborers typically employ restraint not anesthesia.

79. When a cow is unable to walk to her own slaughter, red flags need to go up. It’s a warning that an advanced stage of Mad Cow Disease could have set in. U.S. law prohibits these animals, known as downers, from entering the food chain. Such signs, however, were blatantly and habitually ignored at a large-scale California slaughterhouse with repeated incidences captured on undercover videotape. When the footage became breaking news in 2008, it led to the largest beef recall in U.S. history, 73,500 tons! Stock hands were shown inflicting unspeakable cruelties on non-ambulatory animals, prodding them to slaughter. Later, it was learned, over a quarter of the suspect meat had already been consumed via the National School Lunch Program.

80. Industrial factory production best describes farming today. Sentient life is conveyed and processed using the batch method—tight confinement of the “raw ingredients” by the tens of thousands and even millions. But things can, and do, suddenly go horribly wrong and more often than one would imagine—think hurricane, snowstorm, flood, tornado, heat wave, mechanical breakdown, electrical failure, disease, or fire. The April 2011 tornadoes that hit Alabama, for example, demolished 200 chicken houses containing 3.2 million birds, which all had to be destroyed. News accounts of such events are typically short and local, concentrating on the economic losses to the farmers.

81. A diet rich in animal fat is associated with hormonal cancers. The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine warns that daily meat consumption triples the risk of prostate enlargement, regular milk consumption doubles the risk, and failure to consume vegetables regularly nearly quadruples the risk. According to the Cancer Project of PCRM, vegetarian and vegan diets tend to be low in circulating levels of Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1). Clinical case studies have shown that those subjects with the highest levels of IGF-1 had a 3.5-fold increase in breast cancer risk, compared to those with the lowest. Also, according to PCRM, the process of breaking down lactose (milk sugar) into galactose makes cow’s milk a risk factor for cancer of the ovaries.

82. According to overwhelming scientific evidence, fish feel pain. They also feel psychological distress and memory of that distress. Fish grieve and experience physical affection as well. They’re smart, too, remembering certain predators for long periods of time. Other studies have proven that crustaceans, which are typically cooked by being boiled alive, also feel pain.

83. Farmed-animal disease can span entire regions and even across continents. When one is particularly contagious and any existence of it puts a country’s disease-free export status in jeopardy, unfathomable numbers of animals may be designated to be destroyed. Emblematic of this scenario was the United Kingdom’s Foot & Mouth Disease outbreak in 2001. As many as 10 million cattle, sheep, and pigs were exterminated and incinerated as a buffer, though only 2,030 animals ever contracted the disease. Cost borne by UK taxpayers: £8.5 billion ($13.5 billion).

84. Today’s enormous factory farms generate vast amounts of volatilized ammonia, which is then redeposited on the earth where it can damage the ecological stability of forests. On surface waters, it contributes to eutrophication, a key human stressor on coastal ecosystems; algae blooms and mass fish kills can be the result. Ammonia toxins and volatile organic compounds are associated with deadly particulate pollution as well. In California’s San Joaquin Valley, emissions from the region’s 2.5 million dairy cows mix with mountain-trapped car exhaust to create a smoggy soup you can just about cut with a knife. Asthma is a major problem for the area’s children.

85. An important decade-long study by the National Cancer Institute looked at the diets of more than 500,000 people aged 50 to 71, and showed that those who ate the reddest and processed meat carried the highest risk of premature death from all causes, including heart disease and cancer. The study illustrated in its 2009 report that if its numbers were extrapolated out into society as a whole over the course of a decade, the premature deaths of one million men and half a million women could be prevented.

86. The “chickenization” of the beef market is a trend that has mostly run its course. Inconceivably, only four firms control over 80 percent of all the cattle slaughtered in the U.S. today. We actually have 200,000-head feedlots— as unfathomable as that is. Meanwhile, between 1980 and 2010, the number of U.S. cattle ranchers went down from 1.6 million to 950,000—at the same time product output increased. Those who favor the trend—as do all who shill for oligarchistic control—argue using the word “efficiency.” But an oligarchy is an oligarchy, and with it power of the people to advocate for animals, workers, and the environment is utterly smashed. (See #11.)

87. Swedish researchers announced in 2008 that a gluten-free vegan diet full of nuts, seeds, fruits, and vegetables appears to offer protection against heart attacks and strokes for people with rheumatoid arthritis. These ailments, as well as clogged arteries, tend to show up together. According to the researchers, “these findings are compatible with previous results of vegetarian/vegan dietary regimens in non-rheumatoid arthritis subjects which have shown lower blood pressure, lower body-mass index, and lower incidence of cardiovascular disease.” They added, those on the vegan diet had lower levels of C-reactive protein, a compound that indicates inflammation, which is tied to heart disease.

88. Cardiovascular disease, obesity, and diabetes are totally preventable for at 95 percent of us just by changing our diets and lifestyles. These afflictions are even reversible. Heart and blood-vessel diseases kill more people worldwide than all others combined. To end the insanity, all it takes is a nutritionally balanced low-fat vegan diet (including regular omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin B12), regular exercise, and stress management. The researcher who proved these statements, Dean Ornish, put it best: “I don’t understand why asking people to eat a well-balanced vegetarian diet is considered drastic while it is medically conservative to cut people open or put them on powerful cholesterol-lowering drugs.”

89. Factory-farm lagoons emit plethoric amounts of toxic gases, most notably carbon dioxide, ammonia, methane, and hydrogen sulfide. All together they cause headaches, shortness of breath, wheezing, excessive coughing, and diarrhea for workers and residents nearby. When the contents of lagoons are periodically sprayed onto fields, ostensibly as fertilizer, harmful substances spread into the air. Hydrogen sulfide is especially dangerous even at low levels. Its effects range from sore throat to seizures to irreversible brain damage to comas and even death. Hydrogen sulfide is also a sickening feature of the several hundred rendering plants that today dot the nation (see #46).

90. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is one of today’s emerging superbugs, sometimes called a flesh-eating bacteria. Antibiotics are useless against it. By 2005, MRSA was killing more than 18,000 Americans a year, according to the CDC. One strain of the infection gaining strength on Dutch and U.S. farms (ST398) seems to freely jump between pigs and people. Episodes start with a pimple, then grow into a saucer sized rash, highly tender to the touch. With the rampant overuse of antibiotics in hospitals and on farms, bacteria such as these will continue to emerge (see #18).

91. The trend today is for egg producers to attach tiny porches to their barns to give the semblance of “outdoor access” for their birds. They’re able to label the eggs as “free range” or “organic” in order to charge more for the product. Though the birds live cage-free, they rarely go outside. Most importantly, the confinement inside is intense, with a single building typically containing a colossal mass of up to 85,000 birds. Approximately 80 percent of the organic eggs on the market are produced in this way, according to a 2011 report. The term “free-range” for chicken eggs actually has no legal definition in the U.S.

92. A study of 49 island countries found 55 percent of their coral reefs overfished. To sustainably harvest the million metric tons of fish taken annually from the islands, 30,000 square miles more reef—or the equivalent of nearly four Great Barrier Reefs— would be needed. Demand for reef fish is largely coming from Hong Kong traders, who are now supplying a burgeoning market in Mainland China. Reef fish take 5 to 10 years to reach breeding age and so are particularly vulnerable. Fish are captured live with cyanide, which, of course, destroys the coral in the process. Three quarters of the fish die before getting to market.

93. Eighty percent of seafood sold in America is imported, primarily from developing nations such as China, Indonesia, and Costa Rica. At the federal level, America’s Food and Drug Administration inspects less than two percent of it. And few states have testing programs at all. One that does, Alabama, rejects up to 50 percent of what it sees, typically for the presence of antibiotics, parasiticides, fungicides, veterinary drugs, poisons in general, and just plain filth. In 2007, Alabama’s agriculture commissioner visiting China found fish being farmed in sewage.

94. Male calves are just a by-product to the dairy industry. If not immediately slaughtered, kept for breeding, or sent to a factory farm for standard fattening, they will be raised for “fancy veal.” To this end, each calf will be torn from his mother just after birth and locked away in an immobilizing stall until slaughter. Each will be kept in darkness except for feeding time. The diet will be devoid of roughage. Excessive doses of hormones and antibiotics promote growth and artificially prolong life. Results after 16 weeks: a nearly full-grown but thoroughly sickly animal driven insane from every frustration and privation but with flesh as tender, white, and pasty as a newborn’s.

95. The meat industry is always quick to cover itself about the risks for pathogens that are inherent in what it sells. It‘s very careful not to guarantee a germ-free product. Raw flesh, it says, must be handled properly and cooked thoroughly. Good, in theory. In fact, when using an ingenious study, Utah State University researcher Janet Anderson discovered that your every day home food preparer is amazingly lax when handling uncooked meats. Simple kitchen practices that could prevent cross-contamination were not employed 24 percent of the time. Undercooking meat was found to be the norm.

96. Mitsubishi is today accused of overfishing bluefin tuna and then hoarding thousands of tons of them in deep freeze. The Japanese mega-conglomerate is suspected of not only racing the species to extinction, it plans to profit wildly as and when that takes place. Sustainable commercial hauls have been set at 22,000 tons per year, but the actual catch is nearly three times that. Mitsubishi admits to controlling 35 to 40 percent of it. Bluefin is one of the world’s most endangered fish and is expected to go commercially extinct as early as 2012.

97. If you buy chicken, you’re supporting a system of serfdom and gladiator economics. Those who actually grow out the birds are part of a draconian contract system, where 100 percent control resides with the company: Tyson, Perdue, Sanderson, Pilgrim’s Pride. Growers are typically required to regularly spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on capital expenditures, which bury them in perpetual debt. Once a year in a contest of sorts, grower is pitted against grower, and, as always, some will be forced into bankruptcy.

98. As long as crashing fish stocks are not taken into account, the money benefits of illegal fishing still outweigh the costs and risks. As much as 40 percent of landed fish is illegal in certain fishing regions. Many developing countries—where the world’s fish is increasingly derived—simply cannot afford to police their own coastlines. Some say so-called Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing has been curtailed with recent regulation. Catch certificates must be presented at most docks. But without airtight oversight and compliance worldwide, conservation efforts amount to almost nothing.

99. To produce foie gras, male ducks are force-fed a stomach-gorging cup of corn pellets three times a day with a 15-inch feeder tube. This torturous process goes on for 28 days until the ducks’ livers, from which the pâté is made, bloat grotesquely to 10 times normal size. Mortalities are high due to disease, intense stress, and burst stomachs. Activist undercover video has shown row upon row of birds panting incessantly for air in the days just leading up to slaughter. So cruel are the practices that foie gras production is outlawed in fifteen countries.

100. Over a period of 21 years, the German Cancer Research Center sponsored a telling epidemiological study involving 60 vegans, 1,225 vegetarians, and 679 “health-conscious” non-vegetarians who said they ate only moderate amounts of meat. In the end, there were 41 percent fewer deaths among the study participants compared with the general population. And the vegetarians had a 30 percent lower risk of dying from coronary heart disease compared to the non-vegetarians.

101. A 112-page U.N.-backed report in 2010 enumerated several top priorities for protecting the environment. Along with curbs on fossil fuel use, it said, world farming practices needed an overhaul and urban consumers needed to convert to vegetarianism. But why stop at them? We now have all the reasons. It’s time to get hip and go veg, wherever you are!

SERVING VEGETARIAN FOOD TO THE WORLD’S HUNGRY

The following article appeared in the Vegetarian Voice, (Winter 98), the quarterly magazine of the North American Vegetarian Society.

AN INTERVIEW WITH PAUL TURNER (Priyavrata dasa)

Twenty-five years ago, at the Krishna temple in Mayapur, West Bengal, Srila Prabhupada saw a group of village children fighting with dogs for leftovers behind the temple. He cried at the sight of these hungry girls and boys, and vowed at that moment that no one within ten miles of the temple would ever go hungry again.

The next day, a free food program was born, and thousands of meals made up of khichuri (a rice, bean and vegetable stew) were served to hungry people in the area. A few years later, the program spread around the world and became known as Hare Krishna Food for Life (FFL), which now operates in more than sixty countries. Food for Life has been described by the New York Times as having a reputation like the one Mother Theresa has in Calcutta. It has become the largest vegan/vegetarian food relief program in the world, serving at the bare minimum fifty thousand meals every day.

Serving food to needy people is Food for Life’s greatest task, but the organization has other components, too. Food for Life grows a lot of its own food by operating 36 farms around the world, and it invites people of all ages to these farming communities to learn about sustainable agriculture, vegetarian cooking, and simple living.

Food for Life also runs shelters where people can stay for one day to many months and receive assistance from counselors and nurses, as needed. One such program is located in Philadelphia and is supported by ten million dollars in government grants from the federal and state departments. At the Food for Life “Education Centers” around the world, Food for Life members serve hot meals, teach about health, offer drug counseling, and encourage participants toward a vegetarian diet.

During this year’s Vegetarian Summerfest, Food for Life Global Director Paul Turner lectured on how to spiritualize food, and gave a slide presentation of Food for Life’s achievements to a large plenary crowd. Turner also spoke with Vegetarian Voice about the art of spiritualizing food, aspects of Indian culture that motivated the Food for Life program, and the newly inaugurated Feed the World Day that took place on October 15.

Vegetarian Voice: How does Food for Life differ from other food relief programs?

Paul Turner: The most obvious difference is that there are not many vegetarian relief organizations around, and to my knowledge we are the largest vegetarian/vegan [food relief] organization in the world. If there are vegetarian food relief programs, they are usually on a local or national level; none are international, like Food for Life.

Besides that, the average relief program consists of canned, prepackaged, or precooked foods, and the people involved usually just slap something together and hand it out. In our program, however, we take the time to prepare a nutritious meal for our public and try to serve it as nicely and politely as we can. We really try to give that love and this is highlighted by the fact that the food we serve is sanctified.

VV: What are some of the beliefs associated with sanctified, or spiritualized food?

PT: First of all, we have to appreciate that there is some superior energy, or Person, or whatever your belief is, that is in control, and who owns all of the things which we use for our pleasure and happiness in life. This includes our wealth, fame, beauty, and even our body, which we must give up at the end of life, whether we like it or not! We will not be able to take even one cent with us. Everything we apparently possess is really just on loan. What do they say? “Borrowed plumes.”

So we first have to get things into perspective and see just how insignificant we are in this world. This point can be better appreciated when we accept that at every point in our life, regardless of our social status, we are serving. If we are not serving the boss, we are serving our mother, our children, our senses, our body, animals, or the government. Therefore, we have to understand that we are servants by nature, and that our position in this life is to try to perfect this innate service attitude by directing it toward God, the supreme master.

Having grounded and humbled ourselves in these thoughts we can then more easily accept that food is a blessing of God. It is truly miraculous how an apple tree is producing so many apples, and within each apple there are so many seeds that can produce another apple tree. It’s incredible! Material scientists have so much knowledge and expertise, but they cannot produce one apple seed and yet God is producing billions of them every day!

So having accepted that we are insignificant, and that there is a greater power that is providing for us, we should conclude that we are not the true proprietors and that food, like everything that comes to us, is nothing less than a blessing. The very least we can do then is to acknowledge those blessings by saying, “thank you very much” from the core of our hearts. Even better is to take the extra endeavor to offer those blessings back to God as a gift. There is no reason why we can’t prepare a complete meal and offer it to God as a gift of love, just as a child may offer a mother a finger painting. Although the mother doesn’t require it, out of love, she accepts the love behind the gift and is pleased.

VV: How do you sanctify food?

PT: There are two important principles here: 1) There has to be a change of consciousness, as we have just explained, and 2) We must be willing to make a sacrifice.

We have to prepare food with humility, coupled with an attitude of selfless service, as opposed to enjoyment. In the Hare Krishna temples and our Food for Life kitchens all of our cooks are trained to meet the highest standards of cleanliness while cooking, to the point where they will not taste or even think about eating the food while they are preparing it. This is because they are cooking the meal not for themselves, but for the pleasure of God who created it. And He should be the first to taste it, so a portion is offered to Him on silver plates before anyone else partakes.

The simplest way to offer food is to arrange a portion of the food on a plate reserved for sanctifying food, and to humbly ask, “Please, Lord (whoever you understand that to be), accept this food. Please bless this food; please taste it; it is yours.” If you want, you can add to this by including temple rituals, such as ringing a bell, burning incense, or even setting up a spiritual alter in your home. You can also include chanting mantras or psalms, as we do in our Krishna temples around the world.

After about five minutes, that portion of food can get mixed in with the rest and be served to those eating.

VV: Can any food be sanctified?

PT: No. Foods that cause pain, distress, and disease, or are decomposed and unclean are not offerable to God. These include meat, fish, eggs, and a few vegetarian items such as garlic, onions, and tea or coffee containing caffeine. The ancient scripture of India, the Bhagavad-gita declares that food can be categorized into three areas: goodness, passion, and ignorance. Only foods in goodness can be sanctified. Such foods are healthful, juicy, and fresh and consist of plants, fruits, grains, and pulses, etc. In other words, non-violent foods, typical of what vegetarians and vegans eat. All these things can be sanctified.

VV: Why does Food for Life serve only vegetarian food?

PT: There are so many vegetarians in India; it is part of their culture and Food for Life is a revival of India’s culture of hospitality. In India, people protect and worship cows, and have an understanding that animals are our brothers and sisters. The cow is often referred to as “Mother.” Animals are souls, like you and I, which happen to be living in non-human bodies during this lifetime. According to the ancient Indian scriptures the monkey, cow and tiger are the animal species that precede human birth. All souls are evolving through the different species and human life is a special opportunity to become spiritually awakened. Unfortunately, most people waste this opportunity pursuing the animal propensities of eating, sleeping, mating and defending.

VV: How are karma and reincarnation related to the spiritualization of food?

PT: Karma means work or action and usually refers to a specific reaction to the way we have acted in this life and in previous lives. Through reincarnation, our souls take another body. The type of body we get in our next life is determined by the way we act now. This karmic reaction can include the environment in which we are raised, the parents that we have and various other conditions surrounding our life such as wealth, fame, beauty, etc. Nothing happens by chance. Everything is arranged according to our karma. In other words, “as you sow, shall you reap.”

Our lives are molded in specific ways so that we can learn specific lessons and have the opportunity to make spiritual progress from those experiences. It may take one lifetime; it may take many lifetimes to reach spiritual perfection. It really depends on each individual and how he or she responds to those reactions or experiences. There is one thing for sure, though, we always have the choice to respond positively or negatively to those experiences.

The purpose of the human body is to reawaken our spiritual ego. Once we have learnt our lessons and cleansed ourselves of karma and materialistic ego, there is no longer a need to be reincarnated into another body. The awakened soul then returns to the spiritual world. Incidentally, it is believed in Indian culture that if someone kills a cow, then the number of times they must be reborn to rid themselves of the associated karma is equivalent to the number of hairs on that cow!

When we make the sacrifice to sanctify our food, we rid it of any karma that it might contain due to the negative attitude or actions of those who grew, picked, or cooked it. Sanctification of food can begin as far back as the soil. If you plant a seed with love, grow that food with love, harvest it, store it, and prepare it with love, and then sincerely offer that food in the form of a meal to God, you can be sure that that food will taste amazing!

VV: Previously you mentioned India’s culture of hospitality. What role does that play in the Food for Life program?

PT: Hospitality is a very important part of Indian culture, and the act of serving free, vegetarian food is one aspect of that tradition. It is very normal for every day people in India to welcome others into their home, and to give them food, or at least a glass of water.

In fact, there is a principle of etiquette in Indian culture called atithi Narayan, which means that person who comes unexpectedly atithi to your home, you should treat them like God Narayana. And that’s the unexpected guest, what to speak of the invited guest! Food for Life is a revival of that culture to the non-Indian-world. It is this principle of hospitality that drives our programs.

VV: Is this why some Food for Life programs serve meals to people not experiencing food shortages, for example on university campuses?

PT: Yes. We have university programs because we know that ultimately, everyone is “spiritually poor.” We all need spiritual nourishment and therefore Food for Life’s policy is to feed everybody, because in doing so, we automatically feed the poor people. However, this is not to say that in times of crisis we minimize the needs of the suffering to cater for the mass. Many of our programs focus on specifically helping the underprivileged.

Aside from that, serving free sanctified vegetarian meals is one of the main outreach programs of our Hare Krishna temples. The greatest motivating factor for our members is that when people eat this food, they get spiritual nourishment and are benefited not only in this lifetime, but the next as well.

FEED THE WORLD WEEK, OCTOBER 15-21

Last year marked the Centennial of the Food for Life founder, Srila Prabhupada. As an offering to him, Food for Life inaugurated Feed the World Day. On this day every year, it is hoped that people all over the world will help cook and serve karma-free vegetarian meals to the hungry.

“Let’s all do this. We can make a big impact on the world, and have a lot of fun!” said Food for Life Global Director Paul Turner. “When you take a plate of hot vegetarian food and give it to someone who really needs it, it’s so much ecstasy.” He recalls giving out food in war zones where people were totally dependent on the Food for Life meals, and seeing little girls and boys fill up plastic bags and tin cans with food to bring back to their parents. He explains, “You know you are doing something really important and it brings more pleasure than eating the biggest feast.”

Everyone is invited to help celebrate Feed the World Day, by cooking or serving a karma-free vegetarian meal to the needy. Either do it on your own, get involved with one of the Food for Life centers or approved Food for Life programs around the world.

Christian Vegetarian Association

What would Jesus Eat ... Today?

As Christians, we hold that the general principles Jesus encouraged, such as love, compassion, humility, and charity are eternal. We believe that if Jesus were among us today and witnessed the wastefulness, environmental destructiveness, human health hazards, and animal mistreatment inherent in modern animal agriculture’s methods, he would choose to abstain.

(Please see VEGETARIAN LIVING for more information.)

Questions and Answers about Vegetarianism for Christians

Is vegetarianism biblical?

The Bible depicts a peaceful, vegetarian world at the Creation and at the end of time. God found everything in Eden “very good,” and gave all animals (and humans) a vegetarian diet (Genesis 1:29-30). Several prophecies, such as Isaiah 11:6-9, foresee a return to this vegetarian world, where the wolf, lamb, lion, cow, bear, snake, and little child all co-exist peacefully. Christian vegetarians believe we should strive towards the peaceful world Isaiah envisions; to try, in our own limited ways, to follow Christ’s mission, expressed in the Lord’s Prayer: “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew, 6:10, RSV).

Revelation 21:4 says that a time will come when death will be no more, making flesh consumption impossible. Jesus says that God feeds the birds of the air (Matthew 6:26) and does not forget sparrows (Luke 12:6). In Luke 14:5, Jesus asserts that anyone would rescue his ox from a well, even on the Sabbath, which presupposes compassion for animals, as does Luke 13:15.

Genesis 1:26 describes humankind’s “dominion,” which sages and scholars have understood as stewardship, partly because Genesis 1:29–30 forbids harming other creatures. Since modern animal agriculture squanders scarce resources and contributes to environmental degradation, vegetarianism shows respect for Creation. The Bible describes God’s concern for humankind, and it follows that we should choose diets that help preserve human life. Knowing the link between animal consumption and several major human killers, including heart disease and several cancers, a vegetarian diet seems very reasonable. Indeed, Paul says, “Do you know that your body is a temple of the Holy spirit within you, which you have from God? (1 Corinthians 6:19)

Jesus preaches, “For I was hungry and you gave me food ... as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.” (Matthew 25:35, 40) Yet, while many millions die of hunger annually and many more suffer malnutrition, worldwide one-third of all grain is fed to animals being raised for slaughter; in the US, the proportion is nearly three-fourths. It is ironic that vegetarians, who are often accused of caring about animals more than humans, encourage a diet that helps feed humans, not animals.

Didn’t God give people permission to eat meat?

Genesis 9:2-4 describes God giving Noah permission to eat meat, but there is no command that we must eat meat nor does this mean meat-eating is God’s highest ideal. Similarly, there is no prohibition of slavery in the Bible, though it clearly does not agree with the highest biblical ideal. Throughout the Bible, people are encouraged to use their own free will to decide whether or not they will behave according to God’s highest ideal.

Didn’t Jesus eat meat?

Some biblical accounts suggest that he ate fish; however, not all Christian vegetarians agree on this point. Many Christian vegetarians believe that Jesus would be a vegetarian today.

And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed ... and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food.” (Genesis 1:29)

Didn’t God put animals here for our use?

The Bible relates that only plant products, not animals, were originally intended to be our food (Genesis 1:29). Genesis 2:18–19 relates, “Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him’ ” and God then created animals. According to this passage, animals were made as Adam’s companions and helpers, certainly not his supper. Indeed, Proverbs 12:10 teaches, “A righteous man has regard for the life of his beast,” while the Psalmist maintains that “The Lord is good to all, and his compassion is over all he has made.” (Psalms 145:9)

The Hebrew scriptures describe all creatures, human and nonhuman, as having the same essence. Genesis 2:7 and 2:19 use the exact same Hebrew word, nefesh, to describe humans and animals, yet, incredibly, translators have called nefesh “soul” (KJV) or “being” (RSV) for humans and “creature” for nonhumans. Widespread disregard for animals among Christians derives in part from misleading translations.

The Bible describes God’s concern for animals repeatedly (Matthew 10:29, 12:11–12, 18:12–14) and forbids cruelty (Deuteronomy 22:10, 25:4). Importantly, five times after the flood God makes a covenant with animals as well as with humans. All creatures share in the Sabbath rest (Exodus 20:10, Deuteronomy 5:14). The Bible describes animals praising God (Psalms 148:7–10, 150:6), shows animals present in eternity (Isaiah 65:25, Revelation 5:13) and affirms that God redeems animals (Psalms 26:6, Ephesians 1:10, Colossians 1:20). Animals and humans look to God for sustenance (Psalms 104:27-31, 147:9, Matthew 6:26, Luke 12:6) and deliverance (Jonah 3:7–9, Romans 8:18–23). Nevertheless, Christianity has often ignored animal concerns, but this is largely due to non-Christian thought. Early Christians were influenced by the Greek philosopher Aristotle (284–322 BC), who concluded that humans may exploit animals because animals lack rationality and therefore lack sensation. Modern science has confirmed what the biblical narrators appreciated-animals can experience pain, as well as pleasure, and they have their own kind of intelligence. Clearly, animals have a nefesh (soul), and merit our compassion and respect.

If God wanted us to not harm animals, why was the Temple sacrificial system established?

Many Christian scholars see God’s acceptance of Hebrew sacrificial practices as special concessions to their limited understanding of how to relate to God. Several prophets, including Isaiah, Jeremiah, Micah, Amos, and Hosea, objected to sacrifice, others emphasizing that God prefers righteousness. Indeed, Jesus twice quoted Hosea (6:6), saying, “I desire mercy and not sacrifice.” (Matthew 9:13, 12:7)

During the Messianic Period, will the Temple sacrificial service be restored?

Revelation 21:22 says that there will be no temple, and 21:4 says that death will be no more. Therefore, many Christian scholars believe that there will be no more sacrifices, or any killing of animals.

All go to one place; all are from the dust, and all turn to dust again. Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of beast goes down to the earth?
(Ecclesiastes 3:20–21)

Does vegetarianism equate animal and human life?

Vegetarianism simply reflects reverence for Creation. Jesus says, “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God … Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.” (Luke 12:6-7) This passage suggests that humans are more valued by God than animals, but God has compassion for all creatures (Psalms 145:9). After all, Genesis describes God declaring the entire vegetarian Creation as “very good.” We can have compassion for animals, and allow them to live full and normal lives, without equating animal and human life.

What about the passage in which Peter is instructed to “kill and eat” all creatures?
(Acts 10:13, 11:7)

Many Christians, reading on, find that this passage is not a literal instruction to consume flesh. Peter, pondering this vision's meaning, concluded, “God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean.” (Acts 10:28) However one interprets this passage, it does not require that we consume meat today.

… all things were created by him [God], and for him (Colossians 1:16)

Should we accept meat as a gift, given that 1 Timothy 4:4 says, “everything created by God is good”?

There is no biblical evidence that God wants people to eat meat. And in large quantities it is a plague, contributing to heart disease, cancer, and other diseases.

Have many Christian saints and leaders been immoral in not advocating vegetarianism?

We should not judge those who may have eaten meat, owned slaves, or done other things that we believe are not God’s highest ideals for humankind. We should simply do the best we can to express Christ’s love, compassion, and peace. Throughout history, many people in ignorance have done hurtful things while concurrently showing great love and compassion in other ways.

Have there been many vegetarian Christians?

Many Christians have received the Gospel as encouraging vegetarianism. Several early Christian groups, including the Nazarenes, Ebionites, Elchasaites, Ossaeans, Cathars, and the Bogomils, encouraged vegetarianism. Since then, the Trappist, Benedictine, and Carthusian orders have advocated vegetarianism, as have Seventh-Day Adventists. In the 19th century, members of the Bible Christian sect established the first vegetarian groups in England and the US.

Vegetarian Christians have included Basil the Great, John Chrysostom, Tertullian, Origen, Clement of Alexandria, John Wesley (Methodism's founder), Ellen G. White (a Seventh-Day Adventist founder), Salvation Army co-founders William and Catherine Booth, Leo Tolstoy, and Albert Schweitzer.

Why aren’t more Christians vegetarians?

The most important reason is lack of awareness. If everyone saw the rough treatment, crowded conditions, and general misery of animals on factory farms, and then looked into the terrified eyes of animals at slaughterhouses, many more would become vegetarians. Some might still eat meat, but even then it would be because they didn’t recognize the suffering or they incorrectly believed that meat is “necessary” for good health. Other effects of modern animal agriculture, such as resource depletion and the consequent environmental damage, are not so readily apparent.

Don’t laws ensure farm animal welfare?

In many countries, including the US, animals on farms are specifically exempted from all human legislation. At the slaughterhouse, “human slaughter” laws are weak and poorly enforced.

Instead of advocating vegetarianism, shouldn’t we seek reforms?

There are many ways to promote compassion, and many vegetarians are seeking reforms. While we carry out whatever public mission we feel is appropriate, we believe that people should be aware of the many negative effects of animal-based diet and agriculture, and we feel compelled to be vegetarians ourselves.

Would animals overrun the earth if everyone became vegetarian?

No. There are many species we don’t eat, and they haven’t overrun the earth. Human exploitation of the earth, in part to feed vast quantities of grain to livestock, is increasing daily, and this is the chief reason for the environmental crises. As the demands for animal-derived foods gradually decreases, fewer animals will be bred. In the unlikely event, that many animals needed homes, compassionate people would find compassionate solutions. Such people already care for formerly farmed animals (see http://www.farmsanctuary.org).

What would happen to butchers, cattle ranchers, and other who depend on animal agriculture for a livelihood?

The abolition of slavery was difficult for former slaveholders; in a similar way, those dependent on animal agriculture may experience hardship when the world finally realizes that vegetarianism is necessary and desirable. Fortunately, job displacement for non-animal foods will grow as demand for meat falls. If necessary, retraining or even outright support for those inconvenienced by this transition might be appropriate.

Why should we be so concerned about animals when there are so many critical problems related to people today?

Virtually all contemporary social problems are interconnected. Indeed, vegetarianism expresses compassion towards humans as well as animals, since it results in healthier people, helps feed the hungry, and promotes a cleaner, more sustainable environment.

Blessed are the merciful (Matthew 5:7)

Since animals eat each other, what’s wrong with humans eating animals?

What animals do should not dictate human morality. Other animals may have to eat each other to live, but humans have a choice. We may or may not be able to bring about a perfect, peaceful world where the wolf and the lamb live side by side (Isaiah 11:6–9). We do believe that vegetarianism expressed the peace of Christ.

Are humans naturally predators and therefore carnivores?

While human can digest flesh, and it is likely that our ancestors did consume small amounts of meat, our anatomy much more strongly resembles that of plant-eating creatures. For example: like herbivores (but unlike carnivores), our colons are long and complex (not simple and short); our intestines are 10–11 times longer than our bodies (not 3–6 times longer); our saliva contains digestive enzymes (unlike carnivores); and our canine teeth are short and blunted (not long, sharp, and curved); and our molars are flattened with nodular cusps (not sharp claws).

The millions of healthy vegetarians (who tend to outlive nonvegetarians) demonstrate that it is not necessary to eat meat.

How would a Christian vegetarian celebrate holidays such as Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas?

Vegetarians celebrate these holidays fully and joyously without consuming animals. Numerous cookbooks offer tasty vegetarian meals, from quick and easy to complex and elegant.

Should a Christian also abstain from eggs, milks, leather, wool, and other animal products?

The place to start is by becoming a vegetarian. Of course, no one can be perfect. For example, there are virtually unavoidable trace animal products in many consumer goods, including cars. However, we should do what we can, even if we can’t do everything. If you have become a vegetarian, you are making a compassionate choice that expresses a faith in God’s creative goodness. Many vegetarians, aware of the cruelties associated with other animal products, eventually choose not to consume them.

How can I witness to the peace of Christ through diet?

We should always remember that Christians strive to follow Christ’s example of pure love and compassion, and most Christians would prefer that their diets not hurt animals, squander scarce resources, and harm their bodies. We need to show fellow Christians, in a loving and compassionate way, that non-animals foods are tasty, convenient, and nutritious. The Christian Vegetarian Association has many ideas on how to promote vegetarianism within your congregation.

History of the Meals on Wheels Program

Today’s Elderly Nutrition Programs in the US trace their roots back to Great Britain during World War II (1939.)

During the Blitz, when German planes bombarded English soil, many people in Britain lost their homes and subsequently their ability to cook meals for themselves. The Women’s Volunteer Service for Civil Defense responded to this emergency by preparing and delivering meals to their disadvantaged neighbors. These women also brought refreshments in canteens to servicemen during World War II. The canteens came to be known as “Meals on Wheels.” Thus the first organized nutrition program was born.

Following the war, the US embarked on its own experimental meal program.

What began as a single small program serving seven seniors has grown into hundreds of local home delivered and congregate meal programs that serve millions of elderly, disabled, or at-risk persons across the country.

The first US home-delivered meal program began in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in January of 1954.

At the request of the Philadelphia Health & Welfare Council, and funded by a grant from the Henrietta Tower Wurtz Foundation, Margaret Toy, a social worker in Philadelphia’s Lighthouse Community Center, pioneered a program to provide nourishment that met the dietary needs of homebound seniors and other “shut-ins” in the area who otherwise would have to go hungry. As is the case today, many participants were people who did not require hospitalization, but who simply needed a helping hand in order to maintain their independence. Most of the volunteers were high school students, who were dubbed “Platter Angels.” The Platter Angels would prepare, package, and deliver food to the elderly and disabled throughout their community.

The daily delivery consisted of one nutritionally balanced hot meal to eat at lunchtime and a dinner, consisting of a cold sandwich and milk along with varying side dishes.

In an effort both to cover costs and to maintain the elders’ sense of dignity, the program charged a fee ranging from 40 to 80 cents per day based on the individual’s ability to pay. The delivery was so efficient that seniors often would jokingly complain to volunteers if the meal arrived only a few minutes off schedule. Had there been no Lighthouse program, many of the seniors would have had to remain in the hospital simply to ensure they received the nutrition needed to regain their strength. The task of identifying those who were truly in need of home-delivered meals was more difficult than preparing and delivering the meals themselves.

As stated, the program was set up to help a very specific element of the community; it fed those who, without the service, would otherwise go hungry. The Philadelphia Lighthouse turned to the Visiting Nurse Society (VNS), the Philadelphia Department of Public Assistance, or hospital social services to refer potential clients who were eligible for services. These agencies were able to locate prospective participants, since the lists of names of recently released hospital patients were readily accessible to them. Another successful method of identifying eligible members was through concerned neighbors who provided the names of needy seniors in their communities.

Columbus, Ohio, was the second city in the US to establish a community-based meals program.

Building on the model set forth in Philadelphia, a federation of women’s clubs throughout the town to inform them of possible participants for the meal service. Then a group of “inspectors” from the associated women’s clubs visited the persons on the list. The inspectors evaluated whether or not the seniors had the ability to pay for the meals and charged on a sliding scale, from 80 cents to $2 a day. In Columbus, all the meals were prepared by local restaurants and delivered by taxis during the week. On weekends high school students filled the posts.

The city of Rochester, New York, began its home-delivered meal program in 1958.

It was originally a pilot project initiated by the New York Department of Health and administered by the Visiting Nurse Service. The Visiting Nurse Service charged participants fees ranging from 50 cents to $1.85 per meal for dues and the Bureau of Chronic Diseases and Geriatrics of the New York Department of Health paid for the remaining costs. Eventually, cities nationwide followed with similar programs.

WAYS FOR A SMALL GROUP TO HAVE A BIG IMPACT

(by the Farm Animal Reform Movement (FARM))

www.farmusa.org

Don’t expect your audience to come to you, go to them.

Great American Meatout Free Food Tasting at a Busy Book store on a Sunday Afternoon: In 1998, we fed more than 300 people and gave out free literature. In addition, many vegetarian cookbooks were purchased that day. We set up a table with the cookbooks and other information books that we recommended to make sure they were as vegan as possible. It was the biggest event ever at our local Barnes & Noble, and our biggest event ever, too.

Feed radio station DJs: We fed DJs at four radio stations three meals in one day. We got to speak on the radio about 9 times, and the DJs raved about vegetarian food. Many thousands of people heard these messages, which were heard during morning drive time, lunchtime, and afternoon drive time. This took a total of three people to take the food and feed the DJs, as well as food donated from one restaurant, food donated by one chef, and food prepared by prepared by two of the three people who took the food to the DJs. It is very important that any food you feed to media people be incredibly delicious.

Parades: We have marched in the Saint Patrick’s Day Parade for a few years now. We borrow fruit and vegetable costumes that belong to the hospital. There are five or six costumes, and the kids watching the parade love to guess what we are: “Look, there’s a carrot!” This past year we received a donation of 200 cartons of rice milk, and the vegetables pushed wheelbarrows full of individual rice milk cartons. We were so surprised when we were practically trampled by children for that rice milk immediately upon beginning the parade. It was all gone in 30 seconds; I’m not exaggerating! As we marched past the grandstand at the end of the parade, the announcer read off a narrative that we provided telling who we are. While we march, we tell kids to eat their fruits and veggies if they want to live long, and be strong, and other such slogans. Since the theme is Irish, one of our signs said, “What makes the Irish Great? All the Potatoes on Their Plate!” Other signs said, “If you carrot all about your health, give peas a chance”, while another said, “Eat green, keep your arteries clean!” Kids and adults love reading our signs. This was all done in great fun with a very positive approach.

Voluntary Organizations: The American Cancer Society (ACS) and the American Heart Association (AHA) are called the “voluntaries” (so is the American Lung Association, but diet isn’t a main issue for them). They often have events that attract hundreds of people and which are a natural place to promote vegetarianism, and there are plenty of ways to get involved. In addition, they have teams of volunteers who work on projects year round, such as the Cancer Education Team, which you can volunteer to be on—and make an impact. ACS Relay for Life: Each year the ACS puts on the Relay for Life event, a 24-hour walk to raise money for cancer. We have offered to provide a chef and a booth next year that will have veggie burgers and veggie dogs, as well as salads. We will try to get the burgers and dogs donated from the companies that manufacture them. We will try to get the buns donated from a local bakery, and we will try to get the condiments donated from the area’s health food stores. The salad will come from a local organic farm, and I’m pretty sure they will donate it. Then we will give away the food for free, or charge for it and give the money to the ACS, with the agreement that the money will be used for nutrition education, not animal research. Hundreds of people attend this event and our presence will cause them to associate vegetarianism with Cancer Prevention and to see vegetarianism as much more mainstream. We will also have posters and educational materials at our booth. The new ACS dietary guidelines really encourage a vegan diet, or at least we can say that a vegan diet is a perfect example of the new dietary guidelines. Additional activities at this event could be to get a group of vegetarians to be a Relay Team for the event. Everyone could have matching t-shirts with a good message about cancer and diet. T-shirts can be made easily and cheaply. All you need is a computer with a color printer and a t-shirt. Make your design on the computer, print it out in color, and take it to Kinko’s or a similar copy center and they will put it on your t-shirt pretty inexpensively. Then while walking around the track hundreds of people read your message!

AHA Eat to Your Heart’s Content: This is a yearly fundraiser featuring area chefs and low-fat foods. Each year there are at least six vegan food items at this event. Several years Club Veg has had an information table with plenty of free literature and books for sale. People pay about $25 and come in and eat samples of everything. It’s a fancy event. One year, we even arranged for Ken Bergeron (you know, the guy who is cooking all of our food here) to be their feature Guest Chef, with no charge to them. We paid Ken to come here and do a Chef’s workshop in conjunction with this event. How did we pay Ken? We went around and asked people for money. It’s not too hard to impress people with Ken’s credentials.

Hospitals need Speakers: Hospitals regularly set up continuing education seminars or “grand rounds” meetings for doctors and other health professionals. There are a number of nationally known health professionals specializing in a plant-based diet (that’s what I tell the hospitals, and they do know that we are a vegetarian group) who will come and speak for expenses only. If not too much is going on in town at the time, it’s not too hard to get a hotel to donate a room in exchange for some publicity or listing as a sponsor. In our town one of the hotels is owned by a vegetarian, who is married to a doctor—so I think we are set on hotels from now on! But we did get several other hotels to donate rooms with no special connections before we found out about the hotel owned by the vegetarian.

Radio and TV Talk Shows Need Speakers: Call many months in advance and offer to do a show.

Community and Civic Groups Need Speakers: Contact them at the end of the school year, and tell them you’d like to get on the schedule for the upcoming year.

Community College, Ys, and other Adult Education “Fun” Programs need Classes and Teachers: I taught for many years at the hospital’s Wellness Center, the Y, and at a Community College. The class was on vegetarianism. In some, students received a catered dinner and a talk on vegetarianism; other classes were cooking classes—I just happened to talk much of the time on vegetarian issues. If you are going to do this, make sure you understand the issues. There is nothing worse than spreading misinformation, and it happens a lot at the local group level.

Write an article for your newspaper: Some papers have special health sections, but other sections of the paper that would be great to get an article in would be the food page, the teen page, or the business page to feature a local restaurant that offers vegetarian dishes.

Be health oriented and stay positive.

I have found the following approaches to be very inclusive, and believe it is the major reason for the success of our group.

By promoting health rather than animal rights, we can appeal to almost all people. By promoting animal rights, unfortunately, we are appealing to a much smaller number. However, once people change for health reasons, they become less defensive about animal issues. It’s not that we never mention animals or the environment—we do, just not in our newsletters or other promotional literature.

We always say we’re not pushy, and our goal is to teach people about vegetarianism and encourage people to eat that way more often. It is a big fear when you are asking to speak to a group or to the media that you will be this pushy person. Show them up front that you are promoting health, not bad feelings.

Always diffuse the defensiveness by saying, “You don't have to eat this way, it’s your choice. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing, but the more you do it, the better you’ll feel.”

After all, for most of us here, our goal is to reduce animal suffering. It doesn’t matter if 10 people become vegetarian or 20 people cut their animal consumption in half, the result is the same.

Hidden Animal Ingredients

Ingredient

What It Is

Its Use

Albumin

The protein component of egg whites. Albumin is also found in animal blood, milk, plants, and seeds.

To thicken or add texture to processed foods.

Anchovies

Small, silvery fish of herring family.

Worcestershire sauce, Caesar salad dressing, pizza topping, Greek salads.

Animal shortening

Butter, suet, lard (see lard below).

Packaged cookies and crackers, refried beans, flour tortillas, ready-made pie crusts.

Carmine (carmine, cochineal, or carminic acid)

Red coloring made from a ground-up insect.

Bottled juices, colored pasta, some candies, frozen pops, “natural” cosmetics.

Calcium stearate

Mineral typically derived from cows or hogs

Garlic salt, vanilla, meat tenderizers, salad dressing mixes.

Capric acid (decanoic acid)

Animal fats

Added to ice cream, candy, baked goods, chewing gum, liquor and often not specified on ingredients lists.

Casein (caseinate)

A milk protein. It coagulates with the addition of rennin (see rennin below) and is the foundation of cheese.

An additive in dairy products such as cheese, cream cheese, cottage cheese, and sour cream. Also used in adhesives, paints, and plastics.

Clarifying agent

Derived from any number of animal sources.

Used to filter wine, vinegar, beer, fruit juice, soft drinks.

Gelatin

Protein from bones, cartilage, tendons, and skin of animals, Most commercial gelatin is a byproduct of pig skin.

Marshmallows, yogurt, frosted cereals, gelatin-containing desserts, molded salads.

Glucose (dextrose)

Fruits or animal tissues and fluids.

Baked goods, soft drinks, candies, frosting.

Glycerides (mono-, di-, and triglycerides

Glycerol from animal fats or plants.

Processed foods, cosmetics, perfumes, lotions, inks, glues, automobile antifreeze. Used as emulsifier.

Isinglass

Gelatin from air bladder of sturgeon and other freshwater fish.

Clarify alcoholic beverages and in some jellied desserts. Rarely used now.

Lactic acid

Acid formed by bacteria acting on the milk sugar lactose. Imparts a tart flavor.

Cheese, yogurt, pickles, olives, sauerkraut, candy, frozen desserts, chewing gum, fruit preserves, dyeing and textile printing.

Lactose (saccharin lactin, D-lactose

Milk sugar.

Culture medium for souring milk and in processed foods such as baby formulas, candies and other sweets, medicinal diuretics, and laxatives.

Lactylic stearate

Salt of stearic acid (see stearic acid below).

Dough conditioner.

Lanolin

Waxy fat from sheep’s wool.

Chewing gum, ointments, cosmetics, waterproof coatings.

Lard

Rendered and clarified pork fat. Often fat from abdomens of pigs or the fat around the animal’s kidneys.

Baked goods.

Lecithin

Phospholipids form animal tissues, plants, lentils, and egg yolks used to preserve, emulsify, and moisturize food.

Cereal, candy, chocolate, baked goods, margarine, vegetable oil sprays, cosmetics, and ink.

Lutein

Deep yellow coloring from marigolds or egg yolks.

Commercial food coloring.

Myristic acid (tetradecanoic acid)

Animal fats.

Chocolate, ice cream, candy, jelled desserts, baked goods.

Natural flavorings

Unspecified, could be from meat or other animal products

Processed and packaged foods.

Oleic acid (oleinic acid)

Animal tallow (see tallow below).

Synthetic butter, cheese, vegetable fats and oils, spice flavoring for baked goods, candy, ice cream, beverages, condiments, soaps, and cosmetics.

Palmitic acid

Animal or vegetable fats.

Baked goods, butter and cheese flavoring.

Pancreatin (pancreatic extract)

Cows or hogs.

Digestive aids.

Pepsin

Enzyme from pigs’ stomachs.

With rennet to make cheese.

Propolis

Resinous cement collected by bees.

Food supplement and ingredient in “natural” toothpaste.

Rennin (Rennet)

A coagulating enzyme obtained from a young animal’s stomach, usually a calf’s stomach.

Rennin is used to curdle milk in foods such as cheese and junket—a soft pudding like dessert.

Royal jelly

Substance produced by glands of bees.

“Natural foods” and nutrient supplements.

Sodium stearoyl lactylate

May be derived from cows, hogs, animal milk, or vegetable-mineral sources.

Used in cake, pudding, or pancake mixes, baked goods, margarine.

Stearic acid (octadecenoic acid)

Tallow, other animal fats, and oils.

Vanilla flavoring, chewing gum, baked goods, beverages, candy, soaps, ointments, candles, cosmetics, suppositories and pill coatings.

Suet

Hard white fat around kidneys and loins of animals.

Margarine, mincemeat, pastries, bird feed, tallow.

Tallow

Solid fat of sheep and cattle separated from the membranous tissues.

Waxed paper, margarine, soaps, crayons, candles, rubber, cosmetics.

Vitamin A (A1, retinol)

Vitamin obtained from vegetables, egg yolks, or fish liver oil.

Vitamin supplements, fortification of foods, “natural” cosmetics.

Vitamin B12

Vitamin produced by micro-organisms and found in all animal products; synthetic form (cyanocobalamin or cobalamin on labels) is vegan.

Supplements or fortified foods.

Vitamin D (D1, D2, D3)

D1 is produced by humans upon exposure to sunlight; D2 (ergocalciferol) is made from plants or yeast, D3 (cholecalciferol comes from fish liver oils or lanolin.

Supplements or fortified foods.

Whey

Watery liquid that separates from the solids (curds) of milks in cheese-making.

Crackers, breads, cakes, processed foods in cheese-making.

Source: The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Being Vegetarian by Suzanne Havala, M.S., R.D., F.A.D.A., Food Lover’s Companion by Sharon Tyler Herbst, The Vegan Sourcebook by Joanne Stepaniak, M.S.Ed.

SAMPLE Food for Life Constitution

1. THE ORGANIZATION

Prasadam distribution is one of the essential functions of India’s ancient Vedic culture of hospitality that the international plant-based food relief organization known as Food for Life (FFL) was founded upon.

FFL is non-sectarian and was established as a charitable relief agency when A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, decreed that the whole world can become peaceful and prosperous by the liberal distribution of prasad (sanctified food) and sankirtan (group prayer). FFL's honorary workers consist of volunteers from the community.

2. SANCTIFIED FOOD

Sanctified food, or prasadam, is food that comes from fruits, vegetables, seeds, grains, pulses and nuts that have been prepared under the strictest standards of purity with a mood of selfless love. When portions of this food are then offered in prayer to God, the food becomes sanctified and its subsequent consumption becomes a spiritual experience. The free distribution of prasadam is a traditional practice that has been going on for thousands of years in cultures all over the world.

3. OBJECTIVES

The objectives of FFL are:

1) To distribute prasadam to everyone indiscriminately, with no distinction as to race, creed, color, religion, sex, community or nationality, both as a practical application of the ancient Vedic culture of hospitality and as a means of providing everyone the experience of prasadam.

2) To eradicate hunger and malnutrition by distributing prasadam to the poor, underprivileged, homeless, distressed and disadvantaged, particularly in places where natural or man-made disasters have brought hardship and starvation.

3) To establish Food for Life Cultural Centers that offer free or inexpensive vegan meals along with sharing knowledge of India’s food culture.

4) To increase awareness of FFL’s charitable food relief activities and encourage widespread public support through prasadam distribution to school and university students, and people attending cultural and sporting festivals and other large public events.

5) To establish Rural Academies for Youth (RAY) where people from the ages of 16-25 can be trained in bhakti yoga, animal care, and sustainable agriculture according to India’s Vedic tradition.

6) To provide sustenance for volunteer helpers engaged full or part time in an honorary capacity in the preparation and distribution of prasadam and associated activities.

7) To distribute prasadam by the best means available in the circumstances prevailing at the time, including:

Food kitchens

Mobile delivery vans

School lunch delivery

Partnering with other agencies

Street carts and stalls

Public Festivals, concerts, and conferences

Restaurants

Sunday Feasts at ISKCON centers

Commercial restaurants

Public and private catering

Cooking classes

Temporary kitchens in emergency situations

To encourage all people to adopt a pure plant-based diet as the most appropriate and responsible one for a modern civilized community and a sustainable planet and to give public discourses and distribute literature in support of these ideals.

About Food for Life Global

Food for Life Global – Americas Inc.

3911 Concord Pike
#8030 Wilmington,
DE 19803 
EIN: 36-4887167

Humanitarno društvo FFL Global – Europe

Usnjarska cesta 9, 1241 Kamnik, Slovenia 
Registration number 4077911000 (matična številka) 
TAX ID Nr. 28209397 (davčna številka).

Phone: 

USA: +1 202 407-9090 
EUROPE: + 386 70 333 108 
AUSTRALIA: +61 2 8006 1081 
SOUTH AMERICA: +57 320 485 5971

Skype: FFLGLOBAL

www.FFL.ORG

Project Leaders

Paul Turner (Priyavrata Dasa), International Director

Ales Erbeznik, European Office Director

Goals

To support plant-based (prasadam*) meal distribution to the disadvantaged, malnourished and victims of disaster (natural or manmade), wherever there is a need in the world.

To help establish pure food prepared and served with loving intention as a viable means to create peace and unity in the world.

To produce promotional and training materials for the development of Food for Life projects worldwide.

To represent Food for Life to the government, media and public through public lectures, newspaper articles, the Internet, and through mail.

To promote a food culture of hospitality based on spiritual equality

To raise funds on behalf of Food for Life projects worldwide and to support them with grants

To coordinate and sponsor emergency vegan relief efforts conducted by Food for Life volunteers

Background on the Food for Life Project:

The distribution of sanctified plant-based meals has been and will continue to be an essential part of India’s Vedic culture of hospitality from which Food for Life was born.

Since its inception in the early 1970s, Food for Life has tried to liberally distribute pure plant-based meals (prasadam) throughout the world with the aim of creating peace and prosperity. The Food for Life Global office, directed by Paul Turner, facilitates the expansion, co-ordination and promotion of prasadam distribution throughout the world.

FOOD FOR LIFE is a nonprofit organization, bringing food and life to the needy of the world through the liberal distribution of pure food prepared with love. The project started in 1974 and today Food for Life is active in more than 60 countries worldwide.

Up to 2,000,000 meals daily!

With volunteers serving up to 2,000,000 free plant-based meals daily from free food restaurants, mobile kitchens, to schools and to disaster areas, Food for Life is the largest vegan food relief in the world.

Community Based

Food for Life Global’s volunteers are made up of the socially conscious public. Food for Life Global is a non-sectarian organization. Everyone is welcome to participate in our community projects.

Summary of Food for Life Global Achievements:

Produced Food for Life Friends Newsletter (Since 1991).

Facilitated the acquisition of millions of dollars in grants and donations to support FFL projects worldwide since 1995.

Published Food for Life Training manual (260-page instructional manual).

Published FFL Quickstep Guide to starting a program.

Designed numerous promotional and educational materials for the charity.

Designed and developed Food for Life website.

Produced Prasadam Sevaya music CD.

Produced training/promotional supplements to FFL manual, guidelines, videos, music CD, flyers, prospectus, posters, etc.).

Conducted over 100 training seminars in 29 countries and regions of the world.

Inaugurated Feed the World Week.

Represented FFL at world vegan and vegetarian conferences.

Authored articles for magazines and newspapers.

Director, Paul Turner, was elected a Council Member of IVU (International Vegetarian Union in 1999).

Coordinated and supporting numerous disaster relief projects, including the Tsunami of 2004, Gujarat earthquake, Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita, Haiti earthquake, Japan Tsunami, Ecuador earthquake, Colombian mudslides, Mexico earthquake, etc.

How Can You Help?

1) Please send donations to:

Paypal: donate@fflglobal.org

Checks: Make Checks Payable to A Well-Fed World

US Registered 501C-3 Corporation. EIN #: 27-0865905

Please note on the check: For FFLG Vegan Food Relief

3936 S. Semoran Blvd #271
Orlando, FL 32822 USA

2) Become a member of Food for Life Global for only $10/month

3) Please communicate with us: Send in photos, news clippings and stories of your Food for Life program.      

4) Subscribe to the FFL Friends Newsletter at www.ffl.org.

5) Become an advocate and help spread awareness of Food for Life on social networking sites or download advocacy materials as www.ffl.org.

About the Author

Priyavrata das joined ISKCON in 1983 at the Bhaktivedanta Ashram in Colo, NSW, Australia. His first service was preparing and serving meals at one of the pioneer FFL projects in the world, Gopals free restaurant in Parramatta, NSW, Australia. Although he did numerous services, including a stint at the head pujari at the North Sydney temple, his passion was prasadam distribution. In 1989, he was asked to develop a new FFL project for the New Gokula farm project and this led him on a journey to discover what Prabhupada had said about prasadam distribution.

In 1990, he launched Hare Krishna Food for Life Newsletter that was distributed to temples around Australia. Soon after meeting Mukunda Goswami in India, he was encouraged to make this newsletter an international project. For the next few years, while running his own Food for Life project knows as Hare Krishna Food for Life Hunter Valley, Priyavrata wrote and printed the Food for Life International Newsletter and sent them to temples around the world.

In 1993, Mukunda Goswami convinced Priyavrata to leave Australia and join him in setting up the official headquarters for Food for Life, known as Food for Life Global.

The charity was officially founded in August 1995 in Potomac, MD, USA and continued to serve the devotee community until 2014 when the offices were moved to Slovenia, Europe.

Priyavrata das has been serving the mission of Food for Life since those early days, raising over $1 million USD to support prasadam distribution, giving public lectures at vegetarian and animal rights conferences, training devotees and promoting the mission and work of FFL volunteers through social media and the official FFL website, www.ffl.org

Notes

[←1]

Some of the information for this section was taken from Nutrtition.org.uk

[←2]

To learn more about the Rainbow Festival visit: http://www.krishnacamp.com/

[←3]

More on milk is discussed in the chapter on the dairy industry.

[←4]

Grape seed extract can be purchased at whole food markets and is natural and safe. Grape seed extract is a natural plant substance that has a concentrated source of oligomeric proanthocyanidins (OPC). These anti-oxidants help protect cells from free radical damage and also promote healthy circulation. Grape seed extract is rich in polyphenols, a compound that’s high in antioxidants. Grape seed extract is also anti-bacterial and anti-viral.

[←5]

Hot water can break up the rice.

[←6]

Brown rice has 3.5g of fiber for the same serving size. In all other aspects, Basmati is as good as brown rice.

[←7]

Source : Chef Brian Johnson (Chef-recipes.com)

[←8]

The kind of ghee referred to here applies to the purest form of ghee produced from the pure milk of protected cows. Ghee that is produced from commercial dairy cows is contaminated and therefore should be used with caution. It should not be placed on par with the pure milk and ghee that is glorified in the holy scriptures of India.

[←9]

Source: http://www.organicfood.co.uk

[←10]

Monsanto is the world’s largest provider of agricultural products and genetically modified seeds.