Afterwards Baba walked slowly out of the house, assisted by Adi and Eruch. He stopped near a magnolia tree in the shade and an upholstered chair was brought for him. He began throwing pieces of candy to the men, looking in one direction and throwing in another.
Baba remarked, “This is not a game. It is a link between myself and each lover for the future.” After everyone had caught his prasad, the group gathered in front of Baba, and he began to explain the significance of prasad: It is the gift of God to man. If you eat it with the feeling that it is that, you benefit, but if you eat it as mere candy, it has no meaning. Don’t give the candy to someone else. Eat it immediately.
Afterward, he revealed:
Krishna was the first Avatar to institute the custom of prasad. Once he was in the company of four companions or lovers, and a rishi [sage] who lived in the mountain wildernesses came for Krishna’s prasad. He had been so long in meditation that his eyelashes grew downwards, and ants had made their home on his body. Krishna replied that prasad was for his lovers and no one else. It consisted of laddoos or Indian sweet balls. At last the rishi, who was very intelligent, begged Krishna’s favorite disciple Pendya, who was a cripple, to ask Krishna for him. This Krishna permitted because he was the slave of his lovers, and as a result the rishi gained illumination – not Realization.
–www.lordmeher.org, p4409
May, 1958; Myrtle Beach