Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 5.2.13
Ūti· What drives us to actDevotees Receive the Lord’s Food Remnants
“My dear friend, what do you eat to maintain your body? Because you are chewing betel, a pleasing scent is emanating from your mouth. This proves that you always eat the remnants of food offered to Viṣṇu. Indeed, you must also be an expansion of Lord Viṣṇu’s body. Your face is as beautiful as a pleasing lake. Your jeweled earrings resemble two brilliant sharks with unblinking eyes like those of Viṣṇu, and your own eyes resemble two restless fish. Simultaneously, therefore, two sharks and two restless fish are swimming in the lake of your face. Besides them, the white rows of your teeth seem like rows of very beautiful swans in the water, and your scattered hair resembles swarms of bumblebees following the beauty of your face.”
What the purport teaches
- The devotees of Lord Viṣṇu are also His expansions, called vibhinnāṁśa. The purport distinguishes them as devotees who receive His food remnants.
- Devotees eat prasāda, the remnants of food offered to Lord Viṣṇu. The scent of sacrificial ingredients therefore emanates from them as well as from the Lord.
- Because of Pūrvacitti’s pleasing scent, Āgnīdhra considered her an expansion of Lord Viṣṇu. He also compared her beautiful face to a lake decorated with fish, swans, lotus flowers and bumblebees.
Try this today
When eating prasāda today, pause to remember that it is the Lord’s food remnants.
Ask yourself
How can I receive prasāda with greater appreciation for its connection with Lord Viṣṇu?
Carry the question through the day, then answer it in your own words before sleep.
The study points, practice and question are short summaries drawn from Śrīla Prabhupāda's translation and purport. Read the full purport to go deeper.