Most of His contemporary biographers have mentioned certain anecdotes regarding Caitanya which are simple records of His early miracles. It is said that when He was an infant in His mother's arms He wept continually, and when the neighboring ladies cried "Haribol!" He used to stop. Thus there was continual utterance of "Haribol!" in the house, foreshowing the future mission of the hero. It has also been stated that when His mother once gave Him sweetmeats to eat, He ate clay instead of the food. His mother asking for the reason, He stated that as every sweetmeat was nothing but clay transformed, He could eat clay as well. His mother, who was the consort of a paṇḍita, explained that every article in a special state was adapted to a special use. Earth, while in the state of a jug, could be used as a waterpot, but in the state of a brick such a use was not possible. Therefore clay in the form of sweetmeats was usable as food, but clay in its other states was not. The lad was convinced and admitted His stupidity in eating clay and agreed to avoid the mistake in the future.
Sweetmeats (Books)
Bhagavad-gita As It Is
BG Chapters 7 - 12
Most often, those who work very hard day and night to clear the burden of self-created duties say that they have no time to hear of the immortality of the living being. To such mūḍhas, material gains, which are destructible, are life's all in all-despite the fact that the mūḍhas enjoy only a very small fraction of the fruit of labor. Sometimes they spend sleepless days and nights for fruitive gain, and although they may have ulcers or indigestion, they are satisfied with practically no food; they are simply absorbed in working hard day and night for the benefit of illusory masters. Ignorant of their real master, the foolish workers waste their valuable time serving mammon. Unfortunately, they never surrender to the supreme master of all masters, nor do they take time to hear of Him from the proper sources. The swine who eat the night soil do not care to accept sweetmeats made of sugar and ghee. Similarly, the foolish worker will untiringly continue to hear of the sense-enjoyable tidings of the flickering mundane world, but will have very little time to hear about the eternal living force that moves the material world.
Srimad-Bhagavatam
SB Canto 2
Studying the whole scheme of disassociation from women, it appears that a woman is a stumbling block for self-realization, and the Lord appeared as Nārāyaṇa to teach the principle of womanly disassociation with a vow in life. The demigods, being envious of the austere life of the rigid brahmacārīs, would try to cause them to break their vows by dispatching soldiers of Cupid. But in the case of the Lord, it became an unsuccessful attempt when the celestial beauties saw that the Lord can produce innumerable such beauties by His mystic internal potency and that there was consequently no need to be attracted by others externally. There is a common proverb that a confectioner is never attracted by sweetmeats. The confectioner, who is always manufacturing sweetmeats, has very little desire to eat them; similarly, the Lord, by His pleasure potential powers, can produce innumerable spiritual beauties and not be the least attracted by the false beauties of material creation. One who does not know alleges foolishly that Lord Kṛṣṇa enjoyed women in His rāsa-līlā in Vṛndāvana, or with His sixteen thousand married wives at Dvārakā.
SB Canto 5
This is the highest stage of devotional service. The Lord is so kind even to a sakāma-bhakta, a motivated devotee, that He satisfies his desires in such a way that one day he becomes an akāma-bhakta. Dhruva Mahārāja, for example, became a bhakta with the motive of getting a better kingdom than that of his father, but finally he became an akāma-bhakta and said to the Lord, svāmin kṛtārtho'smi varaṁ na yāce: (CC Madhya 22.42) "My dear Lord, I am very satisfied simply to serve Your lotus feet. I do not want any material benefits." Sometimes it is found that a small child eats dirty things, but his parents take away the dirty things and offer him a sandeśa or some other sweetmeat. Devotees who aspire for material benedictions are compared to such children. The Lord is so kind that He takes away their material desires and gives them the highest benediction. Therefore, even for material motives, one should not worship anyone other than the Supreme Personality of Godhead; one must fully engage himself in the devotional service of the Lord so that all his desires will be fulfilled and at the end he can go back home, back to Godhead. This is explained in Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Madhya 22.37-39, 41) as follows.
SB Canto 10.1 to 10.13
Mother Yaśodā was agitated by Kṛṣṇa's restless misbehavior. Her house was full of sweetmeats. Why then should the restless boy eat dirt in a solitary place? Kṛṣṇa replied, "My dear mother, they have plotted together and lodged a complaint against Me so that you will punish Me. My elder brother, Balarāma, has joined them. Actually, I have not done this. Take My words as true. Do not be angry and chastise Me."
The gopīs would say, "If You dance, my dear Kṛṣṇa, then I shall give You half a sweetmeat." By saying these words or by clapping their hands, all the gopīs encouraged Kṛṣṇa in different ways. At such times, although He was the supremely powerful Personality of Godhead, He would smile and dance according to their desire, as if He were a wooden doll in their hands. Sometimes He would sing very loudly, at their bidding. In this way, Kṛṣṇa came completely under the control of the gopīs.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta
CC Adi-lila
Of the ten purificatory processes, niṣkrāmaṇa is one. Formerly, especially in Bengal, the higher castes observed four months after the birth of a child as a quarantine. At the end of the fourth month, the mother could see the sun rise. Later the higher castes, namely the brāhmaṇas, kṣatriyas and vaiśyas, observed only twenty-one days as a quarantine, whereas the śūdras had to observe thirty days. For the sections of society known as kartābhajā and satīmā, the mother of the child was immediately purified after the quarantine by the throwing of hari-nuṭa, small pieces of sweetmeat, in saṅkīrtana. Śacīdevī and Jagannātha Miśra, with the newborn child, were honored by Sītā Ṭhākurāṇī. Similarly, while Sītā Ṭhākurāṇī was returning home, she was also honored by Śacīdevī and Jagannātha Miśra. That was the system in respectable families of Bengal.
One day while the Lord was enjoying His playful sports with the other little children, mother Śacī brought a dish filled with fused rice and sweetmeats and asked the child to sit down and eat them.
“Fused rice, sweetmeats and all other eatables are but transformations of dirt. This is dirt, that is dirt. Please consider. What is the difference between them?
In His childhood the Lord was profusely decorated with gold ornaments. Once upon a time, when the Lord was playing outside His house, two thieves passing on the street saw the opportunity to rob Him. Therefore they took Him on their shoulders, pleasing Him by offering Him some sweetmeats. The thieves thought they would carry the child to the forest and then kill Him and take away the ornaments. The Lord, however, expanded His illusory energy upon the thieves, so much so that instead of carrying Him to the forest they came right back in front of His house. When they came before His house they became afraid because everyone from the house of Jagannātha Miśra and all the inhabitants of that quarter were busy searching for the child. Therefore the thieves, thinking it dangerous to remain, went away and left Him. The child was brought within the house and given to mother Śacī, who was in great anxiety, and she became satisfied. This incident is also very elaborately explained in the Ādi-khaṇḍa of Caitanya-bhāgavata, Third Chapter.
Without the permission of the girls, the Lord would take the sandalwood pulp and smear it on His own body, put the flower garlands on His neck, and snatch and eat all the offerings of sweetmeats, rice and bananas.
According to the system of worship, when something is offered to deities outside one's home, it is generally not cooked food but raw rice, bananas and sweetmeats. Out of His causeless mercy, the Lord would snatch the offerings from the girls and eat them, admonishing the girls not to worship the demigods but to worship Him.
CC Madhya-lila
There were soft cakes made with mung dhal, soft cakes made with ripe bananas, and soft cakes made with urad dhal. There were various kinds of sweetmeats, condensed milk mixed with rice cakes, a coconut preparation and every kind of cake desirable.
In two places there were earthen pots filled with another preparation made with yogurt, sandeśa (a sweetmeat made with curd) and banana. I am unable to describe it all.
Various foods and sweetmeats, as well as other kinds of presentations, were brought there. I am unable to describe all these.
After the bathing ceremony was finished, incense and lamps were burned and all kinds of food offered before the Deity. These foods included yogurt, milk and as many sweetmeats as were received.
Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī then brought some excellent sweetmeats and, standing before the Lord, offered them to Him.
These servants of Lord Jagannātha take care of the Lord from the day of the Snāna-yātrā up to the time the Lord is carried from the throne to the Ratha car. In the Kṣetra-māhātmya these dayitās are said to come from the śabaras, a caste that keeps and sells pigs. However, among the dayitās there are also many who come from the brāhmaṇa caste. Those dayitās coming from the brāhmaṇa families are called dayitā-patis, or leaders of the dayitās. The dayitā-patis offer food such as sweetmeats to Lord Jagannātha during the anavasara, the resting period after Snāna-yātrā. They also make the early-morning offering of sweetmeats daily. It is said that during the anavasara Lord Jagannātha suffers from fever and that the dayitā-patis offer Him an infusion of drugs represented by fruit juice. It is said that in the beginning Lord Jagannātha was worshiped by the śabaras and was known as the Deity Nīla Mādhava. Later, when the Deity was established in the temple, the Lord became known as Jagannātha. Because the Deities were taken from the śabaras, all the śabara devotees were elevated to the position of dayitās.
There were hundreds of different types of sweetmeats like manoharā-lāḍu, sweets like amṛta-guṭikā and various types of condensed milk.
There were lotus-flower sugar, a kind of bread made from urad dhal, crispy sweetmeats, sugar candy, fried-rice sweets, sesame-seed sweets and cookies made from sesame seeds.
There were sugar-candy sweetmeats formed into the shape of orange, lemon and mango trees and arranged with fruits, flowers and leaves.
Thus with great care and attention Rāghava Paṇḍita prepares spinach, other vegetables, radishes, fruits, chipped rice, powdered rice and sweetmeats.
Other preparations included a very delicious churned curd and a variety of sandeśa sweetmeats. Indeed, all the various eatables available in Bengal and Orissa were prepared.
CC Antya-lila
The Lord said, "Last year in the month of Pauṣa, when Nṛsiṁhānanda gave Me varieties of sweetmeats and vegetables to eat, they were so good that I felt I had never before eaten such preparations."
‘I come to your home again and again to eat all the sweetmeats and vegetables you offer.
Raghunātha dāsa brought chipped rice, yogurt, milk, sweetmeats, sugar, bananas and other eatables and placed them all around.
When the shopkeepers of many other villages heard about the festival, they arrived there to sell chipped rice, yogurt, sweetmeats and bananas.
"Offer the Govardhana stone eight kauḍis worth of the first-class sweetmeats known as khājā and sandeśa. If you offer them with faith and love, they will be just like nectar."
Raghunātha dāsa then began offering the costly sweetmeats known as khājā, which Govinda, following the order of Svarūpa Dāmodara, would supply.
At last he found a fault. "How can a person in the renounced order eat so many sweetmeats?" he said. “If one eats sweets, controlling the senses is very difficult.
Rāmacandra Purī could find no faults in the character of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, for He is situated in a transcendental position as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Ants are generally found everywhere, but when Rāmacandra Purī saw ants crawling in the abode of the Lord, he took it for granted that they must have been there because Caitanya Mahāprabhu had been eating sweetmeats. He thus discovered imaginary faults in the Lord and then left.
Ants generally crawl about here, there and everywhere, but Rāmacandra Purī, imagining faults, criticized Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu by alleging that there had been sweetmeats in His room.
Damayantī powdered coriander and anise seeds, cooked them with sugar and made them into sweetmeats in the shape of small balls.
She made sweetmeat balls with dried ginger to remove mucus caused by too much bile. She put all these preparations separately into small cloth bags.
She made many sweetmeats in the shape of balls. Some were made with powdered coconut, and others looked as white as the water of the Ganges. In this way she made many varieties of long-lasting sugar confections.
She made long-lasting cheese, many varieties of sweetmeats with milk and cream, and many other varied preparations, such as amṛta-karpūra.
When the Lord was a boy, He would visit the house of Parameśvara Modaka again and again. The confectioner would supply the Lord milk and sweetmeats, and the Lord would eat them.
“At home Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī had made various types of sweetmeats from milk and sugar, such as gaṅgājala, amṛtakeli, pīyūṣagranthi, karpūrakeli, sarapūrī, amṛti, padmacini and khaṇḍa-kṣīrisāra-vṛkṣa. She had then brought them all for Kṛṣṇa.
Other Books by Srila Prabhupada
Teachings of Lord Caitanya
It has also been stated that two thieves stole away the lad from His father's door with a view to purloin His jewels and gave Him sweetmeats on the way. The lad exercised His illusory energy and deceived the thieves so that they went back toward His own house. The thieves, for fear of detection, left the boy there and fled.
Nectar of Instruction
As for the urges of the tongue, we all experience that the tongue wants to eat palatable dishes. Generally we should not allow the tongue to eat according to its choice, but should control the tongue by supplying prasāda. The devotee's attitude is that he will eat only when Kṛṣṇa gives him prasāda. That is the way to control the urge of the tongue. One should take prasāda at scheduled times and should not eat in restaurants or sweetmeat shops simply to satisfy the whims of the tongue or belly. If we stick to the principle of taking only prasāda, the urges of the belly and tongue can be controlled.
Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead
There were many waterfalls on Govardhana Hill, and their flowing made a nice sound. Kṛṣṇa heard them as He looked into the caves of the hill. When the rainy season was not ended completely but was gradually turning to autumn, sometimes, especially when there was rainfall within the forest, Kṛṣṇa and His companions would sit under a tree or within the caves of Govardhana Hill and enjoy eating the ripened fruits and talking with great pleasure. When Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma were in the forest, Mother Yaśodā used to send Them some fruits, sweetmeats and rice mixed with yogurt. Kṛṣṇa would take them, sit down on a slab of stone on the bank of the Yamunā, and call His friends to join Him. While Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma and Their friends were eating, they watched the cows, calves and bulls. The cows appeared to be a little tired from standing with their heavy milk bags. By sitting and chewing grass, they became happy, and Kṛṣṇa was pleased to see them.
| Page Title: | Sweetmeats (Books) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, Mayapur |
| Created: | 16 of Mar, 2012 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=1, SB=4, CC=31, OB=4, Lec=0, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 40 |