If we are not absorbed in kirtan, will we not go back to Godhead?

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Question. It is said by some devotees that and we should not get caught in other activities like temple construction or distribution.
If you want to go back to Godhead, we have to take shelter of Krishna through HINAM SANKIRTAN. But if we feel more inspired to do activities according to our psychophysical nature and serve Krishna accordingly, then does that mean that we will not go back to Godhead? Answer. Not at all.
Yes. The glorification of the Lord is the means for spiritual realization in this world. And yet if we see the PURANARAKADANODITAH, the PURAN for KALIYUGA, the specific book where Krishna has manifested is SHRIMAD BHAGVATAM.
And in SHRIMAD BHAGVATAM, Shukadeva Goswami and Parishad Maharaj don’t do any HARINAM SANKIRTAN in the sense of KIRTAN, of singing. They do KATHA. That is also glorification of the Lord.
And why did they waste their time discussing stories and philosophies? They could have just said ANKIRTAN. For that matter, Mahaprabhu, who Himself taught HARINAM SANKIRTAN and gave 4 specific missions to the Goswamis when they were sent to Vrindavan to re-discover the lost holy places of Vrindavan, to establish beautiful temples over there, to write books establishing the conclusiveness of Bhakti as the ultimate teaching of the Vedic scriptures and to write and demonstrate exemplary behavior of a Vaishnava. Now, we’ll see among these 4 missions, not one of them is just HARINAM SANKIRTAN.
The Mahaprabhu Himself taught HARINAM SANKIRTAN so much that He is known as the Dancing God. But still He recognized that there are many ways of serving Krishna. Actually, Prabhupada, the 7 purposes of His call, there’s not one purpose, 7 purposes.
And one of them is glorification of the Lord. And He did not call, He did not establish an international society for HARINAM SANKIRTAN. It was an international society for Krishna Consciousness.
What that means is that ultimately we want to develop a personal relationship with the Lord and Krishna has not given us gifts which manifest as our psychophysical nature just so that we neglect and reject them and sing His holy names. Glorification of the Lord can be done in many wonderful ways. So those who build magnificent temples for Krishna, are they not glorifying Krishna? Those who, suppose tomorrow a person has scientific ability or that part’s technical ability or some literary ability, that person becomes a great scientist or develops some great technological advancement, they do.
And then they win, say, a big award. Maybe they win a Nobel Prize. And then they talk about bhakti over there.
Talk about bhakti as the means that help them take. Will they not be glorifying Krishna? Yudhishthira Maharaj did not just worship the Lord. He actually sought to perform the Rajasuya Yajna, many aspects of which were not at all centered on direct glorification of the Lord.
A lot of intricate rituals and prior to that he had to conquer the whole world, which is a Herculean task. And yet he did that because he knew through that he could glorify the Lord. So Hare Kirtanad, the glorification of the Lord, can be done in many, many different ways.
And yes, we all need to have time for direct glorification of the Lord by speaking His glories, by singing His glories, by hearing His glories. But there are many, many ways to glorify Him also. And the point is that different devotees connect with Krishna and get His shelter in different ways.
So for some devotees that shelter might come specifically through the process of Harinam Sankirtan alone. And if that happens, that’s wonderful. But that doesn’t mean that is the only way to take shelter of the Lord.
And that doesn’t mean that anybody who’s doing anything else is not taking shelter of the Lord and is not going to go to the Lord. It just means that we recognize that Krishna is infinite and infinitely attractive. And there are many, many ways in which you can attract different devotees and engage them in His service.
So, as long as we are earnestly trying to serve Krishna, we will be growing in our spiritual life and going towards Him, towards devotee attainment.