The whole principle of devotional service is that devotional service is never a mechanical process where one does so many rounds or one performs an x number of Parikramas and well, so many plates of prasadam taken, and that at the end of life, we have a little notebook, and at the gates of the spiritual world we pull it out, like a passport!(Maharaja mimics a person speaking in a self-righteous tone:)
"27 full Govardhan parikramas right. 3 Vraja mandals, a couple of Navadvipa mandals" you know, like, so many Sunday feasts, and everything is recorded there and it's like our passport!
Well, I don't know, it might help, a little book like that - still, the Lord doesn't count like that! He really looks at the heart and He sees that a devotee is really making sacrifices, is really going out of his way for the pleasure of the Lord.
Like we read in the Adi Lila chapter 4 about the internal mood of the Lord and there the mood of the gopis is described and it is very nice, because it is said that pure love is that, that even though there are so many good reasons to give it up, one still doesn't give it up - that's pure love.So that is very nice. So the gopis, they had that mood, and that's a devotee's mood, you know:
In spite of struggle, in spite of everything, got to continue this service!
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, CC seminar Vrndavan 2003)
