All Services Accepted: Non-devotees Need Not Apply

[krsna]

 

 

“Please continue your very good service, and do not feel any feeling of uselessness. It is true that Krsna has given some the opportunity to serve Him by nice writing, some by good business ability, some by nice cooking, and so on, but these various services are all accepted equally by Krsna. On the transcendental plane, one service is as good as another. There is no question of higher or lower. We are very tiny, and so we cannot really do very much. Simply we can engage our time and energy, and that is all Krsna sees. He sees this boy or girl is spending his time in My service and He is pleased. I hope you are both well.”

 

 

– Letter to Hamsaduta dasa and Himavati-devi dasi, March 3, 1968

 

 

“So there is no question that one activity is more important than another or that Deity worship is more important than sankirtana. But one individual may be able to perform one activity more satisfactorily than another, so to him that activity will be more important. But in general we cannot say that any of the nine processes is more important than the others, except that if hearing, chanting, and remembering are there, that is the most vital consideration for the general class of men in this age. Service to the Deities, as you are asking me, begins whenever you remember Them and offer all your services by remembering Them at the same time. All activities, words, everything should be offered as service to the Deities, and this offering with remembering will gradually increase as you practice it.”

– Letter of June 16, 1976

 

“Don’t think that if one is engaged in the Deity worship, and if one is engaged in the gardening work there is a distinction. No. The one who is working as a gardener, he is as good as the one who is dressing the Deity. Because it is the absolute plane, there is no difference between them, just like in the material world if one is working as a manager and another is working as a menial servant, there is a difference of pay, or a difference of service. No, in the spiritual world there is no such thing. In the spiritual world even a small ant is serving Krsna. If by chance there is an ant and a flower is thrown onto the lotus feet of Krsna, and if the ant kisses the lotus feet of Krsna, he is as good as the pujari. This is the spiritual world.”

 

– Lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.1.1

 

Letter to Hamsaduta dasa and Himavati-devi dasi, March

3, 1968; letter to Prajapati dasa, June 16, 1976; lecture in Hawaii, June 8, 1975.