Srila Gurudeva: we will see that any devotee is sitting in hari-katha and he is falling asleep. What is this nonsense? If hari-katha is going on, we will see that anyone is not hearing and walking here and there in the distance and chanting ‘Hare Krsna Hare Krsna.’ But he is only thinking, “My mother is ill. Should I go to India or should I go to England where she is? ‘Hare Krsna Hare Krsna.’”
Only the hands are moving beads, but the heart and mind are not absorbed in Krsna. This kind of harinama will not do. It is better to use this body in any seva so that any sukrti may come. That class of harinama cannot make any sukrti even. You are moving the beads with your hand but you are only thinking of so many mundane things. What is this? Don’t do like this. If anyone is reading Srimad-Bhagavatam sincerely and he is saying that, “Oh, Krsna has taken birth from the womb of Yasoda and a very beautiful child came out,” then Krsna will sit there and hear all these things. Krsna will be so happy that, “Oh, this ignorant boy is speaking such good hari-katha.” Then Krsna will ask that person very eagerly, “What happened next?” And tears will come in the eyes of Krsna.
Why? If Radhika is hearing that hari-katha, even though she knows everything and She is perfect, but yet if anyone will speak hari-katha, then She will come there and she will hear and tears will come in Her eyes. But tears will not come in our eyes. Those who are so advanced, they will be very happy and their heart will be melted if they will hear hari-katha from anyone. Even if a mayavadi is speaking hari-katha, he will think, “Oh, thank you, thank you. Even being a mayavadi, you are glorifying my Krsna. Krsna should be merciful to you.” But those who are neglecting hari-katha, they are very ignorant. So you should try to serve, to cook vegetables, and preach so much.
Nowadays I am seeing that we are not preaching so much. During the time of Svamiji, there was so much nagara-sankirtana with so much inspiration. Distributing so much. All the little girls like Vrndavana Vilasini, at the age of sixteen, being so beautiful like a rose, she used to go to distribute at airports. They were distributing so much. If anyone came to ridicule them, no harm. Nowadays there is no sankirtana, no big distributions, nothing. They are not even hearing hari-katha. They are doing nothing. What will be the result of this? You will be sick and negative. You should try to do all these things. We should preach like at the time of Svamiji.
[Spoken by Srila Gurudeva on December 5th, 1998, Malaysia, published as part of the Bhakta Bandhav Anthology, Volume 25]