Senior devotees often refuse to serve prasāda as they consider this a
menial service. However, it is an honour and privilege meant for the topmost
devotees only.
In 1982, when I had lived in Sādhu Bābā’s ashram for just 1-2 days there
was a small feast and some devotees from the Prāchin Māyāpur Bazar pushed a
spoon into my hand and asked me to serve. They were very saral, simple - they
never saw a foreigner before. Bābā was sweet and gentle as always. Though
Indian sadhus usually teach sadācāra
by yelling and screaming he gently told me – “Advaitadas, why don’t you put the
spoon down and sit down to take Prasād?”
There is much evidence in Śrīman Mahāprabhu’s pastimes that only the
seniormost devotees served prasāda -
Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Antya 11.84:
svarūpa, jagadānanda, kāśīśvara, śaṅkara; cāri-jana pariveśana kare
nirantara
“Svarūpa Dāmodara, Jagadānanda Paṇḍit, Kāśīśvara Paṇḍit, Śaṅkara Pandit
– these four devotees always served prasāda.”
Śrī Swarūp Dāmodara was probably Śrīman Mahāprabhu’s closest associate
and was His secretary as well.
Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Antya 7.68:
svarūpa, jagadānanda, kāśīśvara, śaṅkara; pariveśana kare, āra rāghava,
dāmodara
“Svarūpa Dāmodara, Jagadānanda Paṇḍit, Kāśīśvara Paṇḍit, Śaṅkara Pandit,
as well as Rāghava Pandit and Dāmodar Pandit served prasāda.”
Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya 12.163-4:
svarūpa-gosāi, jagadānanda, dāmodara;
kāśīśvara, gopīnātha, vāṇīnātha, śaṅkara
pariveśana kare tāhāṅ ei sāta-jana;
madhye madhye hari-dhvani kare bhakta-gaṇa
“Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī, Jagadānanda Pandit, Dāmodar Paṇḍita,
Kāśīśvara, Gopīnātha, Vāṇīnātha and Śańkara distributed prasāda, and inbetween
the devotees chanted the holy names of Hari.”
Śrīman Mahāprabhu Himself served the viraha-feast for Haridās Thākur (Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya 11.199) -
sabāre bosāilā prabhu yogya krama kari'; śrī-haste
pariveśana koilo gaurahari
“One after the other, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu made all the devotees sit
in their proper places. He then began to distribute prasāda with His own divine
hand.”
Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya 3.67 -
prabhu bole — boso tine koriye bhojana; ācārya
kohe — āmi koribo pariveśana
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, "Let Us sit down in these three places,
and We shall take prasāda." Advaita Ācārya said, "I will serve
prasāda."
Who donates money for the prasāda – it matters
Who cooks the prasāda – it matters big time
(see the ācāryas’
explanations of the word prayatātmanā in Bhagavad Gītā 9.26).
Who offers the prasāda – it matters
Who serves the prasāda – it matters
Even on what type of fire the food is cooked – it matters.
In what clothes one cooks the food – it matters.
Whether one eats with the fingers or with knife, spoon and fork – it
matters.
Whether one sits on the floor to eat or at a table – it matters.
Serving prasāda is not ‘mercy of devotional service bestowed upon the
fallen souls’ so that hippies are allowed to serve prasāda on the Sunday Feast.
It will be the distribution of these hippies’ manovṛtti (mentality) to all
guests instead – sex, drugs, rock ‘n roll is infused in the prasāda. One should
not think that ‘prasāda can never be contaminated’- Raghunātha Dāsa Goswāmī
invited Śrīman Mahāprabhu with mahāprasāda from Lord Jagannātha, bought with the
money from his father, who was called ‘vaiṣṇava prāya’, almost a Vaiṣṇava, by
Mahāprabhu, and thus Mahāprabhu proclaimed –
viṣayīra anna khāile molin hoy mana; Molin mana hoilo nahe kṛṣṇera
smaraṇa
(Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Antya 6.278)
“When one eats grains from a sensual person, the mind is polluted, and
when the mind is polluted one cannot remember Kṛṣṇa.”
And that was only a matter of the money with which the prasāda was purchased, let alone the cooking or the serving!
On the other hand, when Śrīmatī Rādhikā served prasāda to Kṛṣṇa, Raghunātha
Dās Goswāmī said ‘rasa sancayaṁ kramāt’ – She infused rasa into the food, prema
rasa. (Vilāpa Kusumānjali – 63)