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Devotional service means activities performed for the pleasure of the Lord, with devotion, and ultimately without any desire for personal gain. 

 

In the Nectar of Devotion, Chapter 14, the nine different kinds of devotional service that Prahlada Maharaja enumerates in Srimad-Bhagavatam (7.5.23-24) are mentioned as follows: hearing, chanting, remembering, serving, worshiping the Deity in the temple, praying, carrying out orders, serving Krishna as a friend; sacrificing everything for the Lord (surrendering to the Lord). 

 

Honouring prasadam is also considered devotional service because it offers us the opportunity to remember the Lord by tasting His remnants. Even if taken without being aware that it is prasadam, it will still purify the fortunate soul, including animals or insects, who receive the Lord’s mercy in the form of foodstuff offered to him.

 

If a soul is fortunate enough to be born in the house of a devotee, he or she begins indirectly devotional service by taking Krishna prasadam through his/her devotee mother while still in the womb.  

 

Srila Prabhupada explains in the purport of BG (6.41): “The yogi who falls after a short period of practice (…) is sent back again to this planet, to take birth in the family of a righteous brahmana vaisnava (...)”.  

 

It is the responsibility of parents to seek for the wellbeing of their devotee children; by providing the ways for them to continue their path of devotional service.  

 

To bring children closer to Krishna Consciousness, parents need to understand their mind and the way they relate to the world. Young children experience the world through play. It is the duty of devotee parents and teachers to provide the means for devotee children to do play about the Lord. 

 

Vygotsky (Wen Tzuo, 2007) mentioned that children construct new knowledge through social interactions with other peers and adults. The author considered that social interactions are the foundation for children to build new skills and acquire new understanding.  

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