# Service Attitude *On the proper mood of serving the Supreme Lord* --- ### Service Attracts the Lord > When you are in service attitude, then God is so merciful, He is so pleased, that our tiny efforts to realize Him attracts Him, and He becomes manifested gradually as we make our progress in spiritual service, or devotional service. — [[spoken/1966/660909le.ny|Lecture on Mahā-mantra, New York, 1966]] --- ### What Kṛṣṇa Wants > Ānukūlyena. Anukūla means favorable. What Kṛṣṇa wants, you serve Him. Service means that. Service does not mean "I want something and you give me something." No, that is not service. Service means, "What I want, you must give me. That is service. If I say, "Please give me a glass of water," and if you bring a glass of milk, you can say, "Sir, milk is better than water." No. That is not service. I want water now; you must give me water. That is service. — [[spoken/1972/721017sb.vrn|Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.2.6, Vṛndāvana, 1972]] --- ### Forced or Voluntary > One is being forced to accept Kṛṣṇa as the master, and the other is voluntarily offering service. That is the difference. But nobody is free from the service of Kṛṣṇa. That is not possible. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu's philosophy that eternal servant. Either you accept or not accept, you are servant. You are never equal or greater than God. — [[spoken/1970/700508ip.la|Śrī Īśopaniṣad Lecture, Los Angeles, 1970]] --- ### As a Matter of Duty > A devotee... A pure devotee offers his respect to the Lord not with a purpose, but he knows the Lord is great, I am his eternal servitor with this purpose he offers with love. Similarly, God also loves his devotees more than anyone. So, this is reciprocation of transcendental love. — [[spoken/1966/661128bg.ny|Bhagavad-gītā 9.14–15, New York, 1966]] --- ### Increase Service Spirit > The more you increase your service spirit, the more you increase your dormant love of God. And as soon as you are in the perfectional stage of love of God, you see God always, every moment. Twenty-four hours you can see. — [[spoken/1970/700518ip.la|Śrī Īśopaniṣad, Mantra 13–15, Los Angeles, 1970]] --- ### Must Be Done > Kāryam: "It must be done." Just like Arjuna. Arjuna, for his personal interest, he was not willing to fight. But when he understood that "Kṛṣṇa wants this fighting," then he took it as kāryam: "It must be done. It doesn't matter whether I like it or not, but Kṛṣṇa wants it. Therefore I must do it." — [[spoken/1970/701219sb.sur|Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 6.1.34–39, Surat, 1970]] --- ### Real Vairāgya > Real vairāgya means one who can sacrifice everything for Kṛṣṇa. That is vairāgya. Karma-phala-tyāga—that is karma-yoga. One should give up the result of his fruitive activities to Kṛṣṇa. That is karma-yoga. — [[spoken/1970/701219sb.sur|Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 6.1.34–39, Surat, 1970]] --- ### Spiritualize by Association > Similarly, if you associate with this transcendental incarnation, sound incarnation of God, then you will be gradually godly. You will be godly. You can become godly with God's association, not by any other material, extraneous thing. No. Just like you can have fire only in association with fire, not with water. — [[spoken/1966/660909le.ny|Lecture on Mahā-mantra, New York, 1966]] --- ### Red Hot Iron Rod > Just like the iron rod. Iron rod, you put into the fire. It gets warm—warm, warmer, warmer. And when it is red hot, then it is no longer iron. Iron it is, but it does not act as iron, but it acts as fire. That iron rod which is red hot in association with fire, you can take that rod and touch anything, it will burn. That means it is no longer acting as iron; it is acting as fire. — [[spoken/1966/660909le.ny|Lecture on Mahā-mantra, New York, 1966]] --- ### Executing Order > No, I am lower than you. I am the lowest of the all creatures. I am simply trying to execute the order of my spiritual master. That's all. That should be the business of everyone. Try best. Try your best to execute the higher order. That is the safest way of progressing. — [[spoken/1970/701219sb.sur|Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 6.1.34–39, Surat, 1970]] --- *10 quotes from Śrīla Prabhupāda on service attitude* [[wiki/quotes|Back to Quotes]]