Serving the Devotees Is Serving God
Narada teaches that loving service to the devotees of God is dearer to the Lord than service offered to Him directly.
The tradition holds that the Lord is more pleased by service rendered to His devotees than by worship offered to Him alone, for love of God naturally extends to love of those who love Him. To serve the saints — to feed them, shelter them, attend to their needs — is counted among the highest acts of devotion. This teaching guards against a self-enclosed piety that loves God in the abstract while neglecting His lovers in the flesh. It binds the vertical love of God to the horizontal love of the community of the devout. The devotee learns that the surest way to the beloved's heart is through care for the beloved's friends. In serving the lovers of God, one quietly serves God Himself.
Greater than worship of the Lord is the worship of the Lord's devotees.
The teaching that serving God's lovers surpasses direct worship parallels the Gospel identification of Christ with 'the least of these,' in which love of God is shown to be inseparable from love of His people.
Srimad Bhagavatam
Written about in
- What the Narada Bhakti Sutras say about friendship
The tradition holds that service to God's lovers pleases Him more than worship offered to Him alone — feeding them, sheltering them, attending to what they need. It is a deliberate guard against loving God in the abstract while neglecting the people who love Him.