Verse Text
37. atha naivedyāsvādo, yathā pādme—
naivedyam annaṁ tulasī-vimiśraṁ
vīśeṣataḥ pāda-jalena siktam |
yo ’śnāti nityaṁ purato murāreḥ
prāpṇoti yajṣāyuta-koṭi-puṇyam ||160||
Translation
Tasting the food remnants of the deity (verse 86), from Padma Purāṇa: He, who always eats outside the inner sanctum, the remnants of the Lord’s food sprinkled with water from the Lord’s feet mixed with tulasī, achieves the results of one hundred billion sacrifices.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Taking purato murāreḥ to mean “in front of Murāri”, chewing tāmbūla in front of the deity would be forbidden, but regular eating is not forbidden in front of the deity.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
The phrase purato murāreḥ means “from the temple (antaḥpuṛam) of the Lord,” with a verb participle missing. The real meaning is, “after going from or avoiding the temple room of the Lord.” Purataḥ murāreḥ also means, “in front of Murāri”, but such a meaning is rejected since eating in front of the deity is an offense.
Purport (Nectar of Devotion)
Partaking of Prasāda
There is this specific statement in the Padma Purāṇa: “A person who honors the prasāda and regularly eats it, not exactly in front of the Deity, along with caraṇāmṛta [the water offered to the lotus feet of the Lord, which is mixed with seeds of the tulasī tree], immediately can achieve the results of pious activities which are obtained through ten thousand performances of sacrificial rites.”