Chanting and service go hand in hand

It is useless if one just chants Lord’s name without serving others. Vibhishana and Hanuman became friends while searching for Sita. Vibhishana lamented in front of Hanuman, “Hanuman! You are in the divine presence of Rama. You are contemplating on Rama so much so that every cell in your body reverberates with the name of Rama! How lucky you are!! I have been chanting Rama’s name for so many years now, but I have not had the darshan of Rama.” Hanuman taught him thus: “Vibhishana! You chanted the name of Rama like a tape-recorder, have you ever served Rama? Sita had been here for the past ten months; did you look at her atleast? Did you do anything to free her? Is this not Rama’s service? Without working for Rama, without serving him, how can you achieve the essence of Rama by just chanting his name? So along with Lord’s name service is also important. ” ‘Name’ is negative, ‘service’ is positive; the current flows when both the negative and the positive are there. The ‘current’ is one’s will power. One must make proper use of this will power.