Text 24] Explanation of Devotional Service 1257
TRANSLATION

My dear Mother, even if he worships with proper rituals and
paraphernalia, a person who is ignorant of My presence in all living
entities never pleases Me by the worship of My Deities in the temple.

PURPORT

There are sixty-four different prescriptions for worship of the Deity in
the temple. There are many items offered to the Deity, some valuable and
some less valuable. It is prescribed in Bhagavad-gita: “If a devotee offers
Me a small flower, a leaf, some water, or a little fruit, I will accept it.”
The real purpose is to exhibit one’s loving devotion to the Lord; the offer-
ings themselves are secondary. If one has not developed loving devotion
to the Lord and simply offers many kinds of foodstuffs, fruits and flowers
without real devotion, the offering will not be accepted by the Lord. We
cannot bribe the Personality of Godhead. He is so great that our bribery
has no value. Nor has He any scarcity; since He is full in Himself, what can
we offer Him? Everything is produced by Him. We simply offer to show
our love and gratitude to the Lord.

This gratitude and love for God is exhibited by a pure devotee who
knows that the Lord lives in every living entity. As such, temple worship
necessarily includes distribution of prasada. It is not that one should
create a temple in his private apartment or private room, offer something
to the Lord, and then eat. Of course, that is better than simply cooking
foodstuffs and eating without understanding one’s relationship with the
Supreme Lord; people who act in this manner are just like animals. But
the devotee who wants to elevate himself to the higher level of under-
standing must know that the Lord is present in every living entity, and, as
stated in the previous verse, one should be compassionate to other living
entities. A devotee should worship the Supreme Lord, be friendly to
persons who are on the same level, and be compassionate to the ignorant.
One should exhibit his compassion for ignorant living entities by dis-
tributing prasada. Distribution of prasada to the ignorant masses of
people is essential for persons who make offerings to the Personality of
Godhead.

Real love and devotion is accepted by the Lord. Many valuable
foodstuffs may be presented to a person, but if the person is not hungry,
all such offerings are useless for him. Similarly, we may offer many valuable
items to the Deity, but if we have no real sense of devotion and no real
