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Vegetarian cooking lesson 13, Swamiji is preparing Mahaprasad - Suji Halwa

A traditional cooking demonstration for preparing Mahāprasād, or Halwā, a sacred offering.

"We prepare this with great love, bhakti, and devotion. Please accept this prasāda and bless us."

"You see, as the halwā is getting ready, soon to be offered to God, it becomes different."

The cook guides viewers through the process of making the sweet dish from semolina, ghee, sugar, nuts, and raisins, emphasizing the devotional context. Throughout the preparation, which includes toasting the semolina to an almond color and adding hot water, the importance of offering the food to God is stressed. The session concludes with the cooked halwā being placed on a ritual plate, adorned with flowers, and offered with the chanting of mantras.

Filming location: Vép, Hungary

Welcome, everyone. Today, we are going to prepare Mahāprasād. This is done every day, on every full moon day, or every Monday. We call it Halwā or Shera. This is a very traditional Prasāda. Always, after cooking, we have to offer it to the Gurudev or to God. So, let us begin. First, we have here 50 grams of ghee. When the ghee becomes hot—this is a little more than 50 grams—we add 100 grams of sujī, or semolina. This sujī is made from white flour. The sujī goes into the hot ghee. We shall mix it until it turns a little brown, like an almond's color. It will take a little time. We use about 70 grams of ghee. When the ghee in the pot is hot, we put the sujī inside. According to taste, we add 50 grams of brown sugar. Then, just 10 chopped almonds and about 10 to 20 raisins. These are added before the offering. Before eating, we prepare for the pūjā with pure cotton. We make a one-week... yes, with the hand like this, we turn it both ways. We make it a little flat so that it doesn't... The ghee for the altar or for pūjā is pure ghee—about 2 teaspoons. It depends; if you want the light burning longer, then you put in more ghee. The mixture has turned a little brown, but it is still not ready. Then we prepare hot water, about 150 grams. The hot water is ready. So, we have 100 grams of sujī, brown sugar, ghee, 10 chopped almonds, and 10 to 15 raisins inside. And then comes the daichi seeds. Only about one or two grams will go in, just a trace. This is traditional for every temple, for every household, for every altar. During the cooking, it is best that we sing a bhajan or some kīrtan. "Please bless us and our good health. We prepare this with great love, bhakti, and devotion. Please accept this prasāda and bless us with your divine blessing, that we all live long and healthy in this kitchen, in my house, in my ashram, in my temple. May thy divine prasāda be offered every day at cooking time." You see, the semolina has turned into sujī, into a brown color. That's now right, so we put in about 150 grams of hot water. At the same time, we put in the 50 grams of sugar, also the almonds, cardamom, and raisins. Now we stir until the halwā should not stick to the spoon. The water is absorbed by the sujī or evaporates as steam. You see, as the halwā is getting ready, soon to be offered to God, it becomes different. We take some flowers for the pūjā, for the Dīpak. Flowers come here for the pūjā. You may observe the color is brown, not too brown as if burnt. It looks like an almond's color. Now it will release ghee. So when ghee begins to come out from the sujī, then it is ready. You see, it is almost ready. Nothing should stick to the halwā pot or pan. It still takes a few minutes more. Śrīman Nārāyaṇa Nārāyaṇa, Lakṣmī Nārāyaṇa Nārāyaṇa, Jaya Jaya Rāma, Jaya Rāma, Jaya Jaya Rāma, Śrī Jaya Rāma, Jaya Rāma. It is ready to be put on the pūjā thālī. You can see the sujī releasing ghee, and it doesn't stick. It is ready for the offering to the Lord. We place some rose petals on the prasāda offering with the flowers. Now we light our dīpak with the mantra, and we offer. So the halwā is ready; the prasāda is ready to offer to the divine deity, to God. "Subhaṁ karoti kalyāṇam, ārogyaṁ dhana... Śaṁpāla, śatruvade vināśai, dhīra namaskute. Deep jyoti parabrahma, deepam sarve moharam, deepanam sajade sarvam sandhya, deepam sarav satyam. Śubhaṁ karoti kalyāṇam, ārogyaṁ dhanaṁ sampadā, śatruvadha vināśāya, dhīraṁ namaskṛte." So we say, love this Lord God. And have the sādhanā with us. Thank you. That was the halwā. Bless you. In the name of Ālāpurī Siddhi Pīṭha Paramparā, Om Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ.

This text is transcribed and grammar corrected by AI. If in doubt what was actually said in the recording, use the transcript to double click the desired cue. This will position the recording in most cases just before the sentence is uttered.

The text contains hyperlinks in bold to three authoritative books on yoga, written by humans, to clarify the context of the lecture:

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