116 The Nectar of Devotion
not offered to Krsna is actually renunciation. And by such renuncia-
tion one is able to satisfy the demands of the senses.

The impersonalists who try to avoid everything material may un-
dergo severe austerities, but they miss the opportunity of being en-
gaged in the service of the Lord. Thus their renunciation is not suf-
ficient for perfection. There are many instances where, following such
artificial renunciation without any contact with devotional service,
the impersonalist again fell down and became attracted to the ma-
terial contamination. There are many supposed renouncers even at
the present moment who officially become sannyasis or renouncers
and outwardly claim that spiritual existence is truth and material
existence untruth. In this way, artificially they make a show of re-
nunciation of the material world. However, because they cannot
reach the point of devotional service, they fail to achieve the goal and
again come back to material activities, such as philanthropic work,
political agitation, etc. There are many instances of so-called sann-
yadsis who gave up the world as untruth, but again came to the ma-
terial world because they were not seeking their real repose at the
lotus feet of the Lord.

One should not give up anything which can be utilized in the ser-
vice of the Lord. That is a secret of devotional service. Anything that
can be utilized in advancing Krsna consciousness and devotional ser-
vice should be accepted. For instance, we are using many machines for
the advancement of our present Krsna consciousness movement, ma-
chines like typewriters, dictaphones, tape recorders, microphones and
airplanes. Sometimes people ask us, “Why are you utilizing material
products if you condemn the advancement of material civilization?”
But actually we do not condemn. We simply ask people to do what-
ever they are doing in Krsna consciousness. This is the same principle
on which, in the Bhagavad-gita, Krsna advised Arjuna to utilize his
fighting abilities in devotional service. Similarly, we are utilizing these
machines for Krgna’s service. With such sentiment for Krsna, or Krsna
consciousness, we can accept everything. If the typewriter can be
utilized for advancing our Krsna consciousness movement, we must
accept it. Similarly, the dictaphone or any other machine must be
used. Our vision is that Krsna is everything. Krsna is the cause and
