Can Eating the Food Served by a Devotee Reform a Sinner?

[Shri Bharath Krishna asked: I have got this second question after watching the movie "Shri Datta Darshanam". I have learned from Veena Datta that the story of this movie was given by you. In this movie, Vishnu Datta was serving food to a crow sitting on a tree before his home. As he kept on serving, one day that crow takes its original form of a Rakshasa seeing whom Vishnu Datta got scared. That Rakshasa tells him that by eating the food served by Vishnu Datta all his demonic qualities were gone and he is been relieved from the curse. Later this rakshasa helps Vishnu Datta in finding Lord Datta. From this incident I have got a doubt that how by eating just the food served by Vishnu Datta qualities changed? He didn't preach any spiritual knowledge to the crow and even if he did, crow doesn't understand because an animal can't get any knowledge. Qualities can be changed only by knowledge know. That's where I got confused. Please clarify this doubt of mine swamiji.]

Swami replied: Regarding the second question, I didn’t give the story to that film. But, I can clarify your doubt. It is true that the food given by a good devotee has some little effect towards devotion. Of course, real devotion comes from true spiritual knowledge only. The demon in the form of crow is having the power of grasping knowledge since the crow is not a real bird, which can’t understand the knowledge. The crow is hearing the spiritual knowledge preached by Vishnudatta to others and became devotee of God Datta by which the sinner-demon got realization.

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