Annadana is Maha Daan. Lord Krishna is extremely pleased to bless a devotee who renders even a little service to Him. Of all the charities, the charity of food is considered supreme. It is mentioned in the Garga Samhita that one who distributes food in charity becomes free from the three kinds of debts and goes to the transcendental abode of Lord Vishnu. In the Varaha Purana, Srivaraha says, “One who gives food, gives all that is worth giving in this world”. Lord Krishna says in the Bhavishya Purana, “The world, both animate and inanimate, is sustained by food. The giver of food is the giver of life and indeed of everything else. Therefore one who is desirous of well-being in this world and beyond should make special endeavors to give food…”

Prasadam has the spiritual potency to gradually elevate our materially polluted consciousness towards God consciousness. Therefore prasadam distribution is an integral part of devotional service. Srila Prabhupada, the founder-acharya of ISKCON, mandated that prasadam (food sanctified by offering to the Supreme Lord) should be distributed from all ISKCON temples.

Srila Prabhupada says:

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Our philosophy is, if anyone comes, let him take prasadam, chant Hare Krishna and be happy. Everything is being supplied by Krishna. Krishna is not poor, so why should we deny them? This should be done at any cost. There is no difficulty; it simply requires nice management… We are confident. Krishna will supply! Let the whole world come, we can feed them.