God seeks not your wealth but your love, forgotten through illusion of ownership and separation.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.9.11 — August 17, 1968, Montreal 680817SB-MONTREAL [53:04 Minutes] Prabhupāda: Govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi. [devotees chant responsively] naivātmanaḥ prabhur ayaṁ nija-lābha-pūrṇo mānaṁ janād aviduṣaḥ karuṇo vṛṇīte yad yaj jano bhagavate vidadhīta mānaṁ tac cātmane prati-mukhasya yathā mukha-śrīḥ [SB 7.9.11] [The Supreme Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is always fully satisfied in Himself. Therefore when something is offered to Him, the offering, by the Lord's mercy, is for the benefit of the devotee, for the Lord does not need service from anyone. To give an example, if one's face is decorated, the reflection of one's face in a mirror is also seen to be decorated.] Now in the previous verse it has been explained that neither any material opulence nor a qualified brāhmaṇa with twelve high qualification can satisfy the Lord simply by such acquisition.
One can satisfy the Lord simply by love and devotional service. Why? Doesn't He not... Then why so much opulence is created in erecting nice temple or churches, and so much money is expended?
Does it not satisfy the Lord? Why they are spending so much money? The modern economist says that this is unproductive investment. Because if you construct a very big temple... Just like in India we have got many temples, especially in South India, each of them is just like a fort, very big fort.
There is a temple in Raṅganātham, it is a few miles' temple. There are seven gates. Very big temple. Many other temples. Similarly, in your country also there are many nice churches.
I have traveled all over America, and I have seen very big churches. Here also, in Montreal, there are many big churches. So why they are spending so much money, although the modern economist will say it is nonproductive investment? So this church building or temple building or mosque building is coming down from time immemorial. People are investing their money, hard-earned money.
They do not know. They do not know how much productive that is. Therefore in this godless civilization they have stopped building nice, decorated... In Vṛndāvana there is a temple of Govindajī that was seven-storied. Four stories was broken by Aurangzeb on political grounds.
Still, three stories are still remaining. If somebody goes there, he'll see how wonderful workmanship is there in that temple. So does it mean that those kings or rich men, they were all fools? Simply at the present moment we are very intelligent?