Does devotion need to be exhibited?
Thank you.
So, those people who say that we are constantly remembering God, but they don't do anything externally connected with God directly, and they condemn those who are doing external activities, then you are just showing off, and you are limiting yourself to external activities. You are not doing practical activities. And in any situation, in any relationship, love already has to be expressed through action.
If a husband comes back home after work, and the husband is tired, and the wife says, I love you. A child comes back home from school, and the mother says, I love you. The child says, Mummy, I'm hungry.
I love you. Mummy, I'm hungry. I love you.
Mummy, I'm hungry. I told you I love you. It's fine, but I want food.
No, I love you. You know, that love has to be expressed through actions. So, show any relationship in which love is only in the mind, never seen in actions.
It doesn't work like that. No relationship can be sustained. In fact, many times, people have affection for each other, but they don't express it.
And even a good relationship can go sour because of that. So, there should not just be internal emotion, but there should also be external expression of that emotion. Both are required for a continuation of a healthy relationship.
So, similarly, with respect to our practice of bhakti, it's possible that some people may do their religious activities just for show. Sometimes, some religious activities can be done as exhibition. And Krishna talks about this.
The ungodly people, sometimes they do some charitable activities. Why? They go to the temple, not to take darshan of Krishna. They go to the temple to let everyone have their darshan.
I am such a pious person. I also go to the temple. So, they are not really interested in God at all.
they don't do naam yajna. They do yajna for naam. They do yajna for the sake of name and fame.
They don't do naam yajna. There are people like that. And such people do give religion a bad name.
And now, these are not the only kind of people there are. As I said that, there can be exhibitionism, which is there in religion, but there is also exhibition and there is also expression. So, expression means that in any relationship, affection internally has to be expressed practically.
So, similarly, when we chant, when we dance, when we wear tilak, when we wear a particular garland, that is the way we are striving to express our affection for Krishna. So, now, sometimes, it happens that people, they say that you don't need to worship God. Just do something in this world.
Take care of poor people. Feed them. That's all good.
But, if you feed poor people, if you feed them food, that's okay. Their hunger will be mitigated. But, if you provide them prasad, they will be spiritually also benefited.
The point is that there is manavseva, there is madhavseva. Some people do only madhavseva and don't care for manav. That means they are only worshipping God and don't care for fellow humans at all.
That is not the mood of devotees. People, as devotees, we don't share Krishna with others. And that doesn't mean only philosophy.
We also distribute prasad. We also offer practical help to people whenever it is possible for us. The point is one extreme is that only madhavseva to do.
And there is no need to do manavseva. When Prabhupada was in Australia, at that time, next to the temple, there was a big building and there was a fire. And the fire was there.
The fire security men who had come, they did not have any safety net or something like that. So, the devotees, the next day they were going to have rathyatra. And they had made a big thick cloth to put on the Jagannath card.
So, the devotees took out that cloth and they held it. And the person from the fire, from the upper building, they jumped down. And they were saved.
So then, after that, the next day the newspaper reported. Because in that time, they had the idea that India is filled with Brahmins who are very sanctimonious. Sanctimonious means they are very puritanical.
I don't touch you. I am untouchable. You are like this.
You are like that. So, when they heard that devotees had used this sacred cloth, it was meant for their religious festival for saving a human being. And the newspaper reported in very laudatory terms.
And then they asked Prabhupada, these people use it for this purpose. Can we still use it for rathyatra? Prabhupada said, you can use it. You wash it properly, clean and use it.
The point is that it is not that if somebody says we are going to be so busy in Madhavseva that we can't practically help people. So, Madhavseva and Manavseva should not be considered as two non-intersecting sets. Somebody may say, I will only do Madhavseva and not care about people at all.
But the other extreme is also what? I will only do Madhavseva and not care about Madhava at all. This is also incomplete because people cannot be properly helped unless they become connected with God. According to WHO statistics, there are 800 million people in the world who are undernourished.
Who don't get enough food to eat. But there are 1000 million, that is 1 million people who are obese. So, what that means is more number of people who don't get enough to eat is the number of people who eat too much.
So, the problem is not the shortage of food. The problem is the misdirection of resources. And the same principle applies to everything.
In this world, there is so much there is enough for people's needs. When people are greedy and even if we want to help others if we can help them in a way that tangibly solves their problems, then that is better. So, if people's greed can be removed, then the society will be much more sustainable and the practice of bhakti will become purified of their greed.
Therefore, only Madhavseva alone is enough. What is not due to the Madhavseva that is not going to transform people. Temperate may benefit, but it does not transform people.
About 3-4 years ago, I was at a conference organized by UNESCO out of the 60th anniversary not 7-8 years ago 60th anniversary of the establishment of the United Nations. And there, the head of the India branch of the United Nations had come and he was speaking that in 60 years, the United Nations has almost 67 sister organizations and they have had millions of volunteers all over the world and billions of dollars have been spent. In the 67 areas that they have worked in all the 67 areas, the conditions have become worse.
Whether it is labour rights, whether it is nautical protection, whether it is this or that. So, they have worked hard sincerely but still conditions are not tangibly improved. In some ways they improve, but afterwards they become worse.
So, what we need, material improvement is fine, but material improvement alone is not enough. Martin Luther King said that we live in an age of guided missiles and misguided men. So, we need to have material things, material help which will make externally better, but unless people are internally improved, people alone cannot truly be helpful.
That's why there is a balance of both required. And as devotees, we don't say that Madhava Seva alone while not caring for Mana and we don't say Mana Seva without caring for Madhava. What we do is, we do Madhava Seva by which we purify our hearts and we connect others with Madhava and in that process we serve them.
That way, we and others, everyone can be holistically and sustainably benefited. Thank you. Any other questions? Shall we stop here? Gaurakta Vrindaki Jai.