What is devotional service?

Devotional service, as it is referred to in the Bhaktivedanta tradition, is made up by all those free and voluntary activities which the bhakta, or person who dedicates his entire life to a spiritual quest, carries out by offering them in a devotional attitude to God and to whom he has chosen as his own spiritual guide, that means his Guru.

Such activities are carried out, after an accurate aforethought choice, in the terms and ways which he feels most suitable for himself, in order to foster his ethical and spiritual development and to support society with a contribution to the common well-being in a spirit of selflessness and solidarity.

In fact, devotional service is the most important tool which can guarantee a permanent connection of the individual consciousness with the cosmic consciousness: when consciousness is connected to God, it goes beyond the dualism of good and evil, of excitement and depression or of elation and dejection. In this way even the mind gets firmly connected to God, and so the willpower is strengthened and becomes determined.

Bhagavad-Gita II.50:

“A man engaged in devotional service rids himself of both good and bad actions even in this life. Therefore strive for yoga, which is the art of all work”.

Matsyavatara das