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Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudev.

 

Lord Krishna declares in Bhagavad Gita verse 9.26 and 27

 

"If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit or water, I will accept it. Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer or give away, and whatever austerities you perform—do that, O son of Kunti, as an offering to Me."

Every day we offer bhoga to the Lord. But we should always remember that we should not do it mechanically. If we do it in mechanical manner then Lord  will not accept it. During the initial days we do it with lot of care. But some times as the years go on we become careless. For example, when we are in the initial days of learning to drive, we will be very alert and careful. But over the years when we become so comfortable in driving, we do it so casually and even while driving we keep thinking about something else. We may or may not reach the correct destination when we drive like that, but in case of spiritual process, we should never make it a ritual. Devotional service is a process by which are dealing with Supreme Person. So we should never become callous, inconsitent or careless in our sadhana. 

 

In his wonderful purport to above verses His Divine Grace says, "Bhakti is mentioned twice in this verse in order to declare more emphatically that bhakti, or devotional service, is the only means to approach Krishna. No other condition, such as becoming a brahmana, a learned scholar, a very rich man or a great philosopher, can induce Krishna to accept some offering. Without the basic principle of bhakti, nothing can induce the Lord to agree to accept anything from anyone. Bhakti is never causal. The process is eternal. It is direct action in service to the absolute whole... The offering should be made with an attitude of love. Krishna has no need of food, since He already possesses everything that be, yet He will accept the offering of one who desires to please Him in that way. The important element, in preparation, in serving and in offering, is to act with love for Krishna.

 

In this regard we came across a nice pastime of Lord Balaji. Few hundred years ago there lived a devotee called Kurumbarutha Nambi in South India. He was poor potter and was illiterate as well. But he had lots of love for Lord Balaji. He had to work all day long for his living. Due to his poverty he was not able to travel to Tirumala to have darshan of the Lord. So he made a Deity of Balaji using clay and used to worship the Lord at his home, every night after his day's work. Since he was poor he could not get flowers. So he used to make flowers out of clay and offer the same to the Lord. There was another South Indian king by name Thondaiman who used to worship the Lord Balaji in Tirumala with golden flowers. Whenever the king went in the morning to worship the Lord, he found some clay flowers. When he was wondering how the clay flowers had come there, then Lord Balaji told him that they were the flowers which were offered by Kurumbarutha Nambi. Since he had offered with love, the Lord had accepted the same.

 

So it doesn't matter whether the flower is made of gold or clay, whether one is king or pauper, whether one is great scholar or illiterate, Lord accepts the offerings when they are done with true love. He is omniscient and He very well knows how much we have and how much we are holding back without offering to Him. He is bhaava graahi janardana. Since He is the real owner of everything we possess and we are just trustees, be it food, family members, wealth etc, we should always remember that everything is gift from Krishna and so we should use them nicely and offer them in service of Lord with love.

 

Thank you very much.

Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva,

Sudarshana devi dasi.