(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 7 May 2013, Simhachalam, Germany, Srimad Bhagavatam 9.6.41-42)
Question: Maharaja, our services and chanting are all absolute because our ultimate aim is to please Krsna. So, why does it matter what proportion you do? Why couldn’t one just do service or just read if it is all absolute?
Yeah, it is all absolute but it is not a mechanical process; all the activity that we are engaging in, is transcendental. Still, by making special endeavours, one can attract special mercy. The thing that attracts the Lord is when we engage in service; and the thing that attracts the Lord the most is when we are not only concerned with our own benefit but also with the benefit of others. So, that is where one can get mercy very quickly.
Therefore although all service is absolute, it doesn’t mean that it all attracts equal mercy of the Lord. Because it is the age of kali and because this is the particular age of kali where Lord Caitanya appeared and the Lord himself has a desire to deliver the conditioned souls. It is obvious that anyone who seriously starts to assist the Lord in that way is priya-krttamah (Bhagavad-gita 18.69), that he is most dear to the Lord.