---
type: Concept
bundle: bhakti-marga
bundle_version: "0.4.0"
id: prasada
title: "Prasāda — Grace-Gift"
iast: "prasāda"
devanagari: "प्रसाद"
description: "Divine grace and the gift returned by it; serenity of the Lord made tangible. Not blessed food only, not leftovers, not a religious snack, not a reward."
darshana:
  - Bhakti (Vaiṣṇava Vedānta)
school_scope: "Pan-Vaiṣṇava and broadly Hindu; prasāda is both the grace of the Lord (its primary sense) and the sanctified gift that conveys it (its concrete sense)."
text_source: "Bhagavad Gītā 2.64-65 (prasāda as serenity/grace); 18.56, 18.58"
tags:
  - prasada
  - grace
  - mercy
  - tier-3
not:
  - term: "blessed food (only)"
    why: "prasāda often takes the form of sanctified food, but the word names divine grace itself; the food is prasāda because it carries the grace, so defining prasāda as 'blessed food' mistakes the vehicle for the thing"
    instead: "Render prasāda as grace-gift or divine grace; treat the food sense as one form it takes."
  - term: "leftovers"
    why: "framing prasāda as the deity's leftovers imports an idea of remainder and lower status; in devotion, what has been offered and returned is regarded as elevated, charged with the Lord's grace, the most prized portion, not a discard"
  - term: "religious snack"
    why: "this trivializes a sacrament of grace into a customary refreshment; prasāda is received with reverence as a tangible token of divine mercy, not consumed as a treat"
  - term: "reward"
    why: "a reward is earned by merit in a transaction; prasāda is freely given grace (its root is 'graciousness'), unmerited and unbuyable, the opposite of compensation for performance"
related:
  - /concepts/puja.md
  - /concepts/murti.md
  - /concepts/bhakti.md
  - /concepts/sharanagati.md
timestamp: "2026-06-25"
okf_version: "0.2"
license: "CC BY-SA 4.0"
---

# Prasāda — प्रसाद

**Not:** blessed food (only), leftovers, religious snack, reward

Prasāda is divine grace, and the sanctified gift through which that grace is made tangible. Its primary meaning is the Lord's *graciousness* — the serene, freely-given favor that descends on the devotee. Its concrete, everyday meaning is whatever has been offered to the Divine and returned to the devotee bearing that grace: food, flowers, water, sacred ash. The two senses are one: the gift is prasāda because it carries the grace.

## Etymology

From *pra* + √*sad* (to settle, to become clear, to grow serene, to be gracious). *Prasāda* is "clearness, serenity, graciousness, favor." The same root gives the image of muddy water *settling clear*. Prasāda is grace as a settling and brightening: the divine favor that clears and calms the receiving heart. The food called prasāda is named for the serenity-bestowing grace it conveys, not the other way around.

## What It Actually Means

The Gītā gives the inner sense first. In 2.64-65, the disciplined devotee attains *prasāda* — a clarity and serenity of mind in which all sorrows are destroyed and the intellect becomes steady. Here prasāda is a state of grace, not a substance. The devotional life then makes grace tangible: what is offered to the Lord in pūjā (naivedya) is returned as prasāda, now charged with the Lord's favor, and is received and shared with reverence. The same logic covers caraṇāmṛta (the water that has bathed the Lord's feet), flowers, and ash. In every case the material is a *carrier*; the grace is the content.

This is also why prasāda is shared, not hoarded: grace is meant to circulate. To distribute prasāda is to distribute the Lord's mercy, and to receive it is to receive a gift one did not earn.

## Why the Substitutes Fail

"Blessed food" captures only the vehicle and misses the grace that makes it prasāda. "Leftovers" imports remainder and low status, exactly inverting the devotional valuation, where the returned offering is the most prized portion. "Religious snack" trivializes a token of mercy. "Reward" is the deepest error: prasāda is grace, freely given and unmerited; its whole point is that it cannot be earned or bought, which is what makes it grace rather than wages.

## Cross-References
- [Pūjā](puja.md) — the naivedya offered in pūjā returns to the devotee as prasāda
- [Mūrti](murti.md) — prasāda is the grace the Lord, present in the mūrti, returns to the worshipper
- [Bhakti](bhakti.md) — receiving prasāda is itself a devotional act, the acceptance of grace
- [Śaraṇāgati](sharanagati.md) — the surrendered devotee relies wholly on grace (prasāda), not on merit

## Audience Metaphor

Think of a small gift a beloved grandmother presses into your hand as you leave: a piece of fruit from her kitchen, nothing costly. Its worth has nothing to do with the fruit. It is precious because it carries her love, freely given, that you did nothing to earn, and you would never call it her "leftovers" or a "snack." You keep it, or you share it so the love travels further. Prasāda is that gift from the Divine: the fruit is real, but what you have actually received is grace, settling and serene, pressed into your hand by a love you did not buy.

## Citations

1. [Bhagavad Gītā](/references/bhagavad-gita.md) 2.64-65 — prasāda as the serenity of grace that destroys sorrow and steadies the mind
2. [Bhagavad Gītā](/references/bhagavad-gita.md) 18.56, 18.58 — attaining the eternal abode and crossing all obstacles *by His grace* (mat-prasādāt)
3. [Bhāgavata Purāṇa](/references/bhagavata-purana.md) — the sharing of the Lord's prasāda among devotees as an act of communion
