So Sūta Gosvāmī said, nārthasya dharmaikāntasya kāmo lābhāya hi smṛtaḥ, don't spend your hard-earned money for sense gratification. Then one may say that, "After all, we have got this body, and we have to eat, we have to sleep. And because we have got senses, the senses must be a little bit satisfied." No. Kṛṣṇa says . . . Sūta Gosvāmī says, it is not that you shall stop.
That is already explained. I, the other day: nirbandhaḥ kṛṣṇa-sambandhe. You eat in relationship with Kṛṣṇa. Just like here, in this temple, what we are doing? We are also cooking. Others are also cooking at house. Then what is the difference? The difference is that we are cooking for Kṛṣṇa; others, those who have no Kṛṣṇa consciousness—I don't say everyone—they are cooking for themselves. Just like the hotel. In a hotel they are cooking for the customer palatable dishes. So that is the difference.
But Rūpa Gosvāmī says that, "Dovetail with Kṛṣṇa consciousness." That is yukta vairāgya. Because in this human life we require to develop jñāna and vairāgya. So if we dovetail our activities for Kṛṣṇa's service, that is yukta vairāgya. So here also it is said that nārthasya dharmaikāntasya kāmo lābhāya hi smṛtaḥ. We should not earn money for sense gratification.
Then kāmasya na indriya-prītiḥ lābhaḥ jīveta yāvatā. You must have sense gratification—eating, sleeping, mating—but as far as you can maintain your body very nicely. Not that voluntarily you shall starve. No. Just like these boys, these girls, are we . . . we are not starving, but our eating kṛṣṇa-prasādam means just to live nicely for executing Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
We are not meant for going to the cinema or for other sense gratification purposes, but because we have got this body, there is no question that we shall stop eating. We eat prasādam, kṛṣṇa-prasādam, and that is very palatable. Kṛṣṇa-prasādam . . . Kṛṣṇa should be offered all first-class preparation because Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Lord. But if we haven't money to supply Him nice thing, the Kṛṣṇa will be satisfied, as Kṛṣṇa says:
- patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ
- yo me bhaktyā prayacchati
- (BG 9.26)
Kṛṣṇa wants that you offer Him something with devotional love, that's all.
Kṛṣṇa is not hungry. Kṛṣṇa is ātmārāma. He is self-sufficient. He does not require. He is producing food for us. That's a fact. We get so many fruits and flower. We don't manufacture it in the factory; neither it is possible. It is Kṛṣṇa's manufacture. It is Kṛṣṇa. Raso 'ham apsu kaunteya prabhāsmi śaśi-sūrayoḥ (BG 7.8). By His action of different energies these things are produced. Why? These things are produced for whom? For Kṛṣṇa? No. For us. Eko bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān, He is maintaining us.
So is it not our duty to offer Him first, "Sir, You have supplied so many nice things. You take first, then we shall . . ."? This is bhakti. It is just like worshiping Mother Ganges with Ganges water. You have all seen that those who are devotees of Mother Ganges, they go in the Ganges water, and after taking bath, takes little water from the Ganges River and again pour it with some mantra. Now from the river Ganges if you take, say, one pound of water, and if you pour it again, one pound, then what is the loss and gain? But you become, by using the Ganges water in that way, you become a devotee of the Mother.
Similarly, what we can offer to Kṛṣṇa? Everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa, and if in the store of Kṛṣṇa there are millions and millions of tons of fruits and flower, if you take one or two of them and offer to Kṛṣṇa, so what is Kṛṣṇa's loss? And if you offer one fruit to Kṛṣṇa, what is His gain? Kṛṣṇa is not concerned with your offering and not offering, but if you offer, it is for your interest. It is for your interest, so Kṛṣṇa will recognize, "Here is a devotee."