Can eating the food served by a devotee reform a sinner?

Shri Bharath Krishna asked: I was watching the movie "Shri Datta Darshanam" after learning from my fellow-devotee, Veena Datta, that the story of this movie was given by You. In this movie, the devotee, Vishnu Datta, serves food to a crow which sits on a tree, in front of his home, everyday. One day, the crow, which was actually a rākṣasa (demon), appears in its original form, seeing which Vishnu Datta gets scared. That rākṣasa tells Vishnu Datta that on eating the food served by Vishnu Datta everyday, all his demonic qualities are gone and that he has been relieved from the curse that he was under. Later in the movie, this same rākṣasa helps Vishnu Datta in finding Lord Datta. I wonder how merely eating the food served by Vishnu Datta changed the qualities of the demon? Vishnu Datta did not preach any spiritual knowledge to the demon who was in the form of a crow. Even if Vishnu Datta had preached to the crow, the crow, being a bird, would not have understood anything. Qualities can only change through knowledge. Could you please clear this confusion of mine, Swamiji?

Swami replied: Firstly, I did not give the story of that film. But I can still clarify your doubt. It is true that the food given by a good devotee has a small effect of developing devotion in the person who eats it. Of course, real devotion comes from true spiritual knowledge alone. The demon in the form of the crow had the power of grasping knowledge. It was not an ordinary crow, which, being just a bird, cannot understand any knowledge. The demon in the form of a crow would hear the spiritual knowledge preached by Vishnu Datta to others. Through that knowledge, the sinner-demon became a devotee of God Datta and attained realization.

| Shri Dattaswami | rakshasa