The Gift of Parshad

An Extract

Parshad is something personal. It should remind us of the teachings, of the master. It should create love and devotion. It’s a link between the disciple and the master. If we eat parshad, we always think of the master, of the teachings. From that point of view, it is very beneficial. But if you just take it as a ritual – that perhaps it will have some medicinal effect or some spiritual effect because you are eating it – then you are deceiving yourself. It depends on with what attitude you take the parshad. Your attitude helps.

We often exchange gifts with our friends. You don’t value the gifts according to their price. You value them according to the love with which they are given to you because the gift reminds you of the giver, his qualities, his friendship, his love, his concern about your welfare. So that reminder of his love, of his qualities, of his concern about you – that matters, not the gift itself.…

Similarly, when we take parshad as a gift from the Father, as a gift from the master, it should remind us of the master, the teachings, love and devotion for the Father, and it should give us the strength to follow the teachings, live in the teachings and devote ourselves to our meditation. Then parshad has advantages.

If you just take it as a candy or a sweet, then it is just a sweet and nothing else. So you have to take it with faith, and that faith helps you to live in the teachings. And if you give it to relatives, it is meaningless to them because they will not have that faith. So it will just be candy for them. Actually, parshad is meant for those to whom it is given. It is not given to be distributed to others. It is a personal treasure which we should always try to cherish as personal property.…

Actually, it is personal. It is for the individual to decide what he wants to do with it. Generally, it reminds you of the person who gave it to you. It is between the one who takes it and the one who gives it. Its value is in their contact – the parshad reminds us of that contact. You present a flower to your beloved. What is particular in that flower which is not in the rose garden? The whole garden is full of flowers, but why does that flower become precious for you? Because it is between the giver and the one to whom it is given. That contact is beautiful. The contact is more important than the flowers. You can always get flowers from any garden.