Food for Life is Part of Lord Caitanya’s Mission

Sometimes the Hare Krishna Food for Life program has been used in mundane ways, and sometimes even proper spiritual use of Food for Life has been criticized as mundane. Part of the answer to this controversy lies in the purport Srila Prabhupada wrote to the tenth text in the twelfth chapter of the Fourth Canto of Srimad Bhagavatam. Here he writes, “The Krsna consciousness movement is based on this principle, and, and far as possible, both inside and outside of the temple, and, as far as possible, distribute prasada. This process can be accelerated with the cooperation of state administrators and those who are producing the country’s wealth. Simply by liberal distribution of prasada and sankirtana, the whole world can become peaceful and prosperous. Also, the Isopanisad invocation reads: “The Personality of Godhead is perfect and complete, and because He is completely perfect, all emanations from Him, such as this phenomenal world, are perfectly equipped as complete wholes. Whatever is produced of the Complete Whole is also complete in itself. Because He is the Complete Whole, even though so many complete units emanate from Him, He remains the complete balance.” From this verse, one can infer that it is primarily avarice that causes apparent food shortages from time to time. “The earth has enough for everyone’s need, but not enough for everyone’s greed,” is a maxim attributed to Gandhi.”