On November 1st, one of the leaders of the Salt Lake City Krishna Temple, Sundari Priya Devi Dasi, spoke to a group of about 30 authors (many of whom are professors at Utah universities) on the topic of “Nourishing Your Soul through Conscious Eating.” 

The author group is part of the larger National Society of The Sons of Utah Pioneers, whose membership includes both genders. “They had recently been learning about Hinduism & wanted to hear from a practitioner,” said Sundari Priya, “So in coordination with Shannon, one of their leaders, we created a Lunch and Learn program.”

She continued, “I spoke about how food can be seen through the categories of goodness, passion & ignorance and how we can each elevate our consciousness, nourish our soul, and nurture our families by simply consciously cooking with higher taste & purpose.”

Attendees had many excellent questions and comments. They remarked that they had never associated karma with food. The authors were offered copies of the book “The Higher Taste: A Guide to Gourmet Vegetarian Cooking and a Karma-Free Diet,” “Bhagavad Gita As It Is,” and “Chant and Be Happy.”

With the help of Lalita Mataji, Sundari Priya served a full prasadam meal with rice, dal, mixed vegetables, sweet oats, and roti. Many attendees expressed interest in enrolling in cooking classes. 

Visit to the Spanish Fork Temple

Many from the Salt Lake meeting later traveled south to tour the iconic Spanish Fork temple, where Caru Das and Vaibhavi Devi Dasi hosted them for a tour and lunch prasadam. “The Q&A in the temple room was amazing,” said Caru Das, “Several also joined in the kirtan. These were highly intelligent visitors who found the precepts and practices of Krishna Bhakti compelling. As it says in the Sri Caintanya-Caritmarta, śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya-dayā karaha vicāra, vicāra karile citte pābe camatkāra – ‘If you are indeed interested in logic and argument, kindly apply it to the mercy of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. If you do so, you will find it to be strikingly wonderful’ (CC Adi 8.15).”

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