Who is Hosting Whom? Guest-Host Relations in Eucharist and Prasada

This comparative theological essay explores the dynamic interplay of guesting and hosting in (Reformed Protestant) Christian and (Vaishnavite) Hindu understandings of Eucharist and prasada. In both cases there is a delicious reversal of expectation of who is guest and who is host. Yet the direction of the roles and their reversals are inverted: in Vaishnava Hinduism, devotees welcome Vishnu as guest and make him welcome, even as they are also ultimately guests themselves; in Christianity, the devotees are guests, and they learn from that experience how to be hosts. In both cases, guest-host relations facilitate mutual relationship, even union, between humanity and God. For both, guesting and hosting are important for distinguishing between deity and devotee—and also for crossing that line of distinction.