Last night Sri Swami Vishwananda went into the kitchen and cooked for us all, and here is Bhagyshri's report:
'When He walked into the kitchen, Swami opened his arms, saying: "Bhagyshri im here!" This made me laugh and immediately set the mood for our cooking session.
The night before Swami came to the kitchen office and we sat together planning the menu. I was the secretary writing down his dictations, sometimes giving my input, but he was the chef.
Going through the cookbook, we decided on Halim, Kitcheree, Fried Potato Balls, and Cheese Sticks for the dinner the next night.
First when he came, he was silent, never speaking over the food. Even he wanted to wear a kitchen net, that no hair would come in the food. Of course he did it for us, setting an example of how it should be. But then.....the fun began! We danced and laughed, Swami making jokes and everyone laughing. Even we burnt the food, but Swami just laughed and said thats the flavor and in fact, it was delicious.
Krishna got his food, on his beautiful plate, filled by Swamis hand, delivered to the temple. Annapurna, at the very end of cooking, when all people had been served, there was a little bit of kitcheree left in the pot. Swami began to scrape the last bits making it into a ball and then said to offer it to Annapurna. For me, this was really symbolic...the Mother always feeds her children first, making sure all are filled, accepting whatever is left.'
