Hare Krishna, please accept humble obeisances... 

I have been suddenly worn one round of tulsi neck beads... and I have trouble quitting onion and garlic...(although I've quitted onions and garlic for 3-4 months before wearing it)... I can't take it out too, as anyone who takes out the tulsi kanthi mala after wearing it for some time is considered to be a Visnu-drohi... May I offer any foodstuffs during emergencies to the Lord, after separating the onion and garlic completely, and will the Lord help remove the sins for eating the food mixed with onions and garlics, if I  'beg' Him to remove the sins for offering Him the food and wearing the tulsi kanthi mala while eating the food? (I've followed the 4 regulative principles for the same period of time I began to quit onions and garlic completely,3 to 4 months) 


Please help this insignificant soul... 


Your humble servant, 

Krishna Hari Dasa 


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  • Hare Krishna,please accept humble obeisances...

    Thanks for the answers... I have no more trouble with quitting onions and garlic... 





  • Hare Krsna,

    If you are wearing Sri Tulasi Maharani then make sure you do not consume Onion and Garlic (along with other basic rules). This is the instruction I have been taught. If there is "no alternative", (I am not saying "no control" - there is a difference) then you have no option. An example is if you are staying at home then you should not consume. Simple. (But I do understand and respect the fact that complex situations exists in families, but... this is how it is).

    But in emergency situations where you have no option, Krishna also knows and Devi also knows, example long travel etc., then you have no option. But, practically if you reeeaaalllyyy seee... you do get a small opening/option to avoid or to pre-prepare even for those situations (if you pray, think smartly and "you really want to"!), this is my experience, but may not be true for all.

    We follow the four regulative principles as given to us by our devotees and Lord Krishna Himself to help our spiritual life.  

    As others have posted below - Chanting, etc, which is the perfect method. In addition to this, also try reading the facts as to why it is harmful to consume materially (there are scientific facts, just google it and read and understand why), how it is good for spititual growth (what Krishna has said, what devotees have said, what scriptures say) and the history of onion and garlic from scriptures. Then ask yourself - am I doing the right thing or not? You should get your answer if your goal is aligned to spiritual growth. Moreover, the higher taste of Krishna Prasadam will automatically channelize us to not consuming them. As it is said, where there is light, there is no darkness, automatically.

    The nuclear weapon is constant association with devotees, everything will be automatically taken care of.


    • The part of this post that describes not eating onion is great. Please though, always watch your loving-kindness and the neccesity for it. Don't compare association with devotees (which is extremely important) to nuclear weapons (which Prabhupada so clearly preached against in His books and lectures). I know it just may be a metaphor to you, but it is an incorrect one for the reasons I have pointed out. Keep chanting Hare Krishna, Prabhu, and live your life in full Krishna-Consciousness as a perfect gentleman, so that you will not have any problems. Om Tat Sat Hare Krishna my friend.

      • Hare Krsna,

        Okay prabhu :)


  • Prabhupada Lila

    "Damn your consciousness. You have to preach"


    Harikesa Swami: One time I tried to forcibly put myself back into Prabhupada's association. After about three days of being Prabhupada's secretary in 1976 in August, when he was in New Mayapur, France, Prabhupada asked me to write a letter and I spelled every other word wrong. I'm a horrible speller. He wanted to get rid of me then and there after three days because I was such a terrible speller, and why didn't I use a dictionary? Actually, I had to take a devotee as my editor. He had to edit the whole letter because I was so hopeless. I said to Srila Prabhupada, "But your other secretaries can't spell either! I've seen! Why are you chastising me for not being able to spell, and now kicking me away?" And then he was very insistent. He was chastising me for everything I did. I was getting more and more upset, and I was holding on more and more. "No, I won't go. I refuse." It became a huge battle. "Go away." "No. I won't." And then more and more beating and beating and beating and beating. Finally, at the end of all this beating here in Vrindavana, I came and I said, "I quit! I can't take it any more." He said, "You can't quit. i fire you." Even to the last, "Get out. Go. Serve." I said, "I don't want to go back. There's so many troubles in that place I came from." He said, "I don't care what you do when you go back there. You just sit there in your room and chant Hare Krishna, but stay there." I said, "How can I go traveling alone in the mountains? No strong association. Nobody will go with me. Too dangerous." He said, "Then you go alone. You should be very careful of this so-called strong association." Contradicting again and again everything I said. One time, "There's nothing to eat, Srila Prabhupada!" He said, "Then eat meat if you have to." I said, "But what about my consciousness?" He said, "Damn your consciousness. You have to preach." He just bewildered me. Unbending. He wanted it done. That's all. "Make my books. Distribute my books. Preach. That's all. Don't come back here crawling on the floor, wanting to sit in front of me and wave your fingers." I was typing his books, listening to his latest words in my ears, completely happy. He wants these things. He's very insistent. And because I would probably get all lost in sentimentality, I don't think I would have been able to tolerate Prabhupada's disappearance.

    Even to this day I cannot stand to see a picture of Prabhupada's disappearance. I cannot stand to hear descriptions of Prabhupada disappearing. I don't watch Yadubara's movie because of this, and he doesn't like that, but I just can't stand it. I don't know. I'm too sentimental. I can't stand it. Prabhupada knew me perfectly; he dealt with me in a completely unique way just to circumvent that sentimentality and make me attached to his instructions. Prabhupada dealt with each and every one of us so perfectly. Every single devotee. So uniquely. No one can say they have a complete picture of Srila Prabhupada. You can't even know one small feature, because in each and every circumstance, how Prabhupada dealt with everybody was so unique and marvelous - just like Krishna. You cannot know Krishna fully. His glories are unlimited. You can see in Prabhupada's dealings how he's manifesting more and more of his energies, his saktis, making devotees do things that are inconceivable all over the world. Inconceivable things.

    Reference: Srila Prabhupada Nectar by Harikesa Dasa

    Source: https://www.srilaprabhupadalila.org/topic/preaching/quot-damn-your-...

    Srila Prabhupada Lila
  • Hare Krishna  Prabhu ,

                            We should Focus on Incresing our Japa Rounds and Intencifing our sadhana rather Than worrying about leaving Onion n Garlic Initially. Many People think Spirituality is having a No onion n Garlic diet which is not so , the Core and prominent entity is Japa, sankirtana & Book reading. Offer Nuts like Kismis to krishna with tulsi keep them in a box and add them to the food you eat that way everything becoms Prasadam. This is Authentic system. which can be followed when House members are not disposed favorably to have a no onion n garlic diet .

     Your Servant

  • Prabhuji has raised a very pertinent point which I am also facing, of not being able to quit onion and garlic on account of family compulsions

  • I have yet to see evidence of where in the Gita it says garlic and onion is not permitted. The only chapter where it mention certain food types is in Chapter 17 text 9.

    "Foods that are too bitter, too sour, salty, pungent, dry and hot, are liked by people in the modes of passion. Such foods cause pain, distress, and disease." taken from Gita as it is.

    Now you can say onions are bitter, but so is ginger and citrus fruits like grapefruits, oranges, lemons, limes etc, so clearly we shouldn't be eating or offering those either..

    Then take pungent foods, yes garlic is pungent, but only if it's NOT cooked, I have not known anyone to eat raw garlic along with meals.

    Then take dry, hot food, like dried red chillies, hot chillies, should we stop eating and offering that also? I have seen many dishes in iskcon temples prepared with these in them as prasadam.

    And finally, it says such foods cause pain, distress and suffering, can we really say eating a little of onion and garlic and all the above foods mentioned causes pain, distress and suffering?

    What the Gita is saying avoid food that you know causes harm and some 2,500 years who knows what they were eating, today, we can class drugs into that category, tobacco, cannabis etc and even coffee, yet everyone seems to be drinking coffee. So generally speaking a little bit of common sense is needed also i.e. eating a whole raw onion along with several gloves of raw garlic is definitely not going to do you any good.


    • I personally take on Prabhupada's view on it. However, it is not easy for all devotees to completely give up onions and it does not disqualify them from devotional service. I believe it is perfect to keep onions out of Krishna Prasadam, especially in the Temple. Here is what Prabhupada says: https://vaniquotes.org/wiki/Onion

      Onion - Vaniquotes
      • Yes understood and that's fine, but the point I was making is that the view is subjective and probably based on different diets hundreds or thousands of years ago, they may have been eating raw onion and garlic, who really knows. So it is important to understand why it says that in the Gita and not use it to target specific foods.


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