"There is the following statement in regard to assisting the Lord as a servant. After many, many thousands of births, when one comes to understand that he is an eternal servant of Krsna, one can deliver others from this universe. If one simply continues to think that he is an eternal servant of Krsna, even without performing any other process of devotional service, he can attain full success, for simply by this feeling one can perform all nine processes of devotional service."
Srimad-Bhagavatam 7:5:23-24
"In the opinion of the karmis (fruitive workers), offering the results of karma is called servitorship. But according to Vaisnava acaryas like Rupa Gosvami, servitorship means constant engagement in some kind of service to the Lord.
In the Skanda Purana it is said that those who are attached to ritualistic activities, the four orders of social life and the four orders of spiritual life, are considered devotees. But when devotees are actually engaged in offering service to the Lord directly, these must be bhagavatas, or pure devotees. Those who are engaged in fruitive activities, or prescribed duties according to the four orders of social and spiritual life, are not actually pure devotees. But still, because they are offering the result to the Lord, they are accepted as devotees. When one has no such desire, but acts spontaneously out of love of God, such a person must be accepted as a pure devotee. The conditioned souls who have come into contact with the material world are all more or less desirous of lording it over material nature. The system of varnasrama and the prescribed duties under this system are so designed that the conditioned soul may enjoy in the material world according to his desire for sense gratification and at the same time gradually become elevated to spiritual understanding. Under these prescribed duties of varna and asrama there are many activities which belong to devotional service in Krsna consciousness. Those devotees who are householders accept Vedic ritualistic performances as well as the prescribed duties of devotional service, because both are meant for satisfying Krsna. When householder devotees perform some Vedic ritualistic duties, they do so to satisfy Krsna. As we have previously discussed, any activity aiming at satisfying the Supreme Personality of Godhead is considered devotional service.
Srila Rupa Gosvami describes one who is fit for becoming engaged in devotional service. He says that persons who are neophytes and who have developed a little love of Godhead are not interested in the activities of sense gratification, in proportion to their devotion. But if there is still some attraction for sense gratifying activities, then the result of such activities should be offered to Krsna. This is also called engagement in the service of the Lord, with the Lord as the master and the worker as the servant.
In the Naradiya Purana there is a statement of how this servitorship is transcendental. It is said there that a person who is constantly engaged in devotional service by his body, mind and words, or even a person who is not practically engaged but is simply desiring to be so, is considered to be liberated."
Nectar of Devotion, Chapter 11
"It is stated in the Visnu-rahasya, "Any person who can arrange for service to the Lord in the same way that a king is given service by his attendants is surely elevated to the abode of Krsna after death." Actually, in India the temples are just like royal palaces. They are not ordinary buildings, because the worship of Krsna should be performed in just the way that a king is worshiped in his palace. So in Vrndavana there are many hundreds of temples wherein the Deity is worshiped exactly like a king. In the Naradiya Purana it is stated, "If a person stays in the Lord's temple even for a few moments, he can surely achieve the transcendental kingdom of God."
The conclusion is that those who are rich men in society should construct beautiful temples and arrange for the worship of Visnu, so that people may be attracted to visit such temples and thereby be offered the opportunity of dancing before the Lord or chanting the holy name of the Lord, or else of hearing the holy name of the Lord. In this way, everyone will be given the chance to elevate himself to the kingdom of God. In other words, even a common man, simply by visiting such a temple, will be able to attain the highest benedictions, not to mention the devotees who are constantly engaged in the service of the Lord in full Krsna consciousness.
In this connection, there is a statement in the Fourth Canto, Twenty-first Chapter, verse 31, of the Srimad-Bhagavatam, wherein King Prthu says to his subjects, "My dear citizens, please note that the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Hari, is actually the deliverer of all fallen, conditioned souls. No demigod can perform this act of delivering the conditioned souls, because the demigods themselves are conditioned. A conditioned soul cannot deliver another conditioned soul. Only Krsna or His bona fide representative can deliver him. The Ganges water which is flowing down from the toe of Lord Visnu falls upon the earthly planet and other planets and thereby delivers all the conditioned sinful living entities. So what need is there to speak of the deliverance of persons who are always engaged in the service of the Lord? There is no doubt about their liberation, even if they have stocks of sinful activities from many, many births." In other words, a person who is engaged in the worship of the Deities can minimize his stock of sinful reactions coming from many, many previous births. This process of worshiping the Deity has already been described, and one should try to follow these rules and regulations seriously."
Nectar of Devotion, Chapter 9
Bhaktivedanta Book Trust. HDG A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada.
