Prabhupāda: Chant mantra, Hare Kṛṣṇa, and give them prasādam, and everyone will take.
Harikeśa: I think puris and halavā, there isn't a person in the world who doesn't like it.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Anything you'll nicely prepare, tastefully, people will like. (Japa:) Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa. You have learned cooking? I'm asking... Huh? What you have learned? What preparation you can make?
Devotee : Many different kinds of preparations.
Prabhupāda: Tell me something.
Harikeśa: Tell Prabhupāda some.
Caraṇāravindam: Ah... Most of the kitchen preparations (indistinct) one gets in India. Iddlies (indistinct) ...things like that.
Prabhupāda: Oh, he knows so many things. You have learned something? You?
Devotee: Very little. I can cook halavā and puris. Simple things. I can cook sweet rice. Sweet rice I can cook.
Prabhupāda: Sweet rice. That is very sweet for you. (laughs) The Europeans and Americans, they like sweet rice. Is it not?
Harikeśa: Oh yes.
Devotee: I think they like halavā the best, Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: Ācchā? If halavā is made nicely, actually it is best. So prepare all these things. Offer to Kṛṣṇa and devotees, and at last you take. Don't take first. Give all, as much as you like, then you take. Susukhaṁ kartum avyayam (BG 9.2). It is such a nice movement. It is simply pleasing. To execute, it is simply pleasing. And avyayam. Whatever you do is permanent. Whatever little service you have given. It will never be lost. Avyayam. Therefore Nārada Muni says, bhajann apakvo 'tha patet tato yadi. Even if he's not fully matured and falls down, kva vābhadram abhūd amuṣya kim. Where is loss? Whatever he has done, that is permanent. Because that will grow. If the seed is permanently sown, then it will naturally grow. It may take some time, but it will grow. So he's not loser. If he's little careful, then it will grow. Mālī hañā sei bīja kare āropaṇa, śravaṇa-kīrtana-jale karaye... Then the creeper goes, grows, and at last takes shelter of Kṛṣṇa. These are described in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta.
Vipramukhya: When we prepare a feast we should give and give and give, and when no one wants any more then...
Prabhupāda: Up until he comes to this point. Not only this point, but up to this point. Eat as much as you like. We are not miser. You eat. As much you want I shall supply. But don't waste. Eat. Don't waste.
Hari-śauri: This morning you were saying that fasting is very good. (laughter)
Harikeśa: I was just thinking about that.
Prabhupāda: No. Not prasādam. I never said. No, those who want to eat... Fasting... One who has not developed Kṛṣṇa consciousness, for him fasting. And one who takes pleasure, "Oh, it is Kṛṣṇa's pleasure, or Kṛṣṇa's food. I'll take." This is the idea. So we are not devotees, therefore we should first fast. And those who are devotees, they'll take as much as they like. I was telling fasting because I am not a devotee. (laughs) For me fasting is good. If I eat more-atyāhāraḥ. Atyāhāraḥ prayāsaś ca, ṣaḍbhir bhaktir praṇaśyati (NOI 2).
Hari-śauri: If you can appreciate kṛṣṇa-prasādam without filling up to the neck...
Prabhupāda: Yes. It is for the devotee. A devotee can eat. As Caitanya Mahāprabhu was eating. Govinda, his servant complained, "Sir, so many things are lying here and everyone asks, 'Whether Caitanya Mahāprabhu has taken my preparation.' 'Oh yes, He has taken.' So I have to speak so many lies. You don't take. What can I do?" He said, "All right, bring it. Bring it." So He began to eat for one hundred men's foodstuff stocked. He finished. Then He asked, "Any more?" So, now only the bags are there. Everything finished. (laughs) So He ate. Everything, one after another, one after another, one after another. "All right. Bring, bring, bring." So He can eat. We cannot. This water is going there? It is going only one side and not other side? (indistinct)
Akṣayānanda: Śrīla Prabhupāda, is it a sign of advancement in devotional service...
Prabhupāda: Branch?
Akṣayānanda: Advancement. If somebody wants to preach. Is that the sign of advancement?
Prabhupāda: Oh yes.
Akṣayānanda: That's the first sign.
Prabhupāda: When one is very anxious to preach, that is advancement.
Akṣayānanda: And if one is not very anxious to preach, he is not very advanced.
Prabhupāda: Then he should stick to Deity worship very nicely. Following the rules and regulations, cleansing. Śrī-vigrahārādhana-nitya-nānā-śṛṅgāra-tan-mandira-mārjanādau **. This nitya, you take very seriously.
Akṣayānanda: And then when he becomes advanced....
Prabhupāda: Automatically he will be anxious to preach. Automatically.
Akṣayānanda: Ultimately.
Prabhupāda: Not ultimately. Automatically. Just like in a small time, our, that Kṛṣṇa dāsa? He knows English, he knows French, he knows... What does it mean? He has heard it. Now he'll want to speak. That is the natural sequence. If anyone has listened from the authority about Kṛṣṇa, he wants to speak again. That is preaching. Not that "I have listened about Kṛṣṇa, that's all right." No. When he wants to speak to others, that is advancement. That is wanted. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam. That is the test that he has advanced. Nāma, rūpa, guṇa, līlā.