In his last class on Bhagavatam Guru Maharaj tells the story about Narada`s previous birth. Narada asked saintly persons for their food remnants and became a devotee. I was wondering how important was the fact that sages gave their permission? Normally nobody cares what happens to their food remnants and in ancient times it was probably quite normal that servants ate leftovers. But I have a feeling that there was something special to it.
This is Guru Maharaja`s answer for my question, during the last Swami call (I`m giving the sense, not literal transciption since recording is not always understandeble):
"I think it is rather smaller point. If you wanna get anything out of it, it seeks to illustrate the nice mood and qualities of Narada that came in him as a result of his association with the devotees. He was just polite young boy, submissive. He (might be seen?) as a sadhaka in such a way that we might understand what is a good example of the student, of the disciple, of the sadhaka... respectful and so forth. That is for the most part what you can get from the idea that he asked permission.
But other than that the idea is... I think Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura in his commentary said that he ate a piece of rice that was stuck on their plate to emphasize that one small grain of rice had extraordinary effect.
I think there was some cause for hesitation perhaps in circumstance like that... Let`s say for example that sages teach that we should take the food that was offered to Krishna. This is what they teach: offer your food to Krishna and take the remnants. They probably didn`t teach him to take the remnants of the Vaishnavas but that thought came in him as a result of good association. So he asked for confirmation, asked whether his insight, inclination, realization for Vaishnav seva was in line with what they were actually teaching. They would not be inclined to allow someone eat their remnants necessary but seeing that kind of quality, that faith in him, that that would be good for him, they blessed him and gave him permission."