Did Ghanshyam waste his life?

I was avid reader in my college & people would be calling me Novel because I used to read the Novels sitting on the back bench during boring classes.
But one of the most thrilling books read is the 'The Journey Home' book By HH Radhanath Swami. This book is a real life story of the American Boy who in the age of 19 took a historic ride. When the passion for money,honor,sex & worldly things fumes in the heart of most of the youths of this age, this person was searching the deep meaning behind the life, leaving behind the cares and comforts of well to do family in Chicago he was risking his life in search of God.Radhanath Swami in his book 'The Journey Home' writes about his encounter with Ghanshyam Baba in Vrindavan. He came with His Father, Mother all family members on a pilgrimage tour
to Vrindavana. They spent a few days and what the dhama of Vrindavana did to his heart was something wonderful. He became so deeply attached to Vrindavana. Just by being here he became completely detached from everything in life. He saw no other purpose or meaning to existence except surrendering to Sri Radha and Krishna in Vrindavana. So when it was time to go he said I will stay here I will not
leave. Being true to his words he never left Vrindavan for rest o his life. There he lovingly served his deities of their Lordships Radha Gopijanavallabha(The deity form of the supreme lord & his consort) for rest of his life. In 'The Journey Home' book Radhanath Swami narrates his incidents with Ghanshyam Baba, which brings forward his heart melting humility, his devotion & his love.

I was sitting in the hostel room of IIT boy, reading the book, The Journey Home. I read the interaction of Radhanath Swami with Ghanashyam. How Radhanath Swami was moved by the humanity & deep service attitude of Ghanashyam. But this shrude boy could not appreciate the the character of Ghanshyam. He coldly proclaimed I don't appreciate Ghanshyam & I think he wasted his life fanning the deities, fetching water for them & staying in one place for almost all of his life, he should have done something practical for the society. Many people have similar question for the people who choose the path of service to the God as the way of their life. I felt obliged to reply this question & post it here because Ghanshyam represented the age old tradition of devotees who dedicated their Life for the service of the supreme. We will find similar dedicated examples not only in the Vedic tradition but also in all different faiths of the world.

Although Ghanshyam lived his life with natural inclination to serve the Lord without thinking of his personal happiness. I will write how the way of living his life justifies personally for him & socially for others both as per the modern standards of criterion for judging the success of ones life.

Reply:--
1>Personally: Modern philosophy says, if you like to do something & if its fits in the ever changing modern standards of ethical behaviour, don't bother about anything,just do it, keeping in mind underlining principle that every individual has right to become happy, by doing the things he likes.
the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs told following words to a graduating class at Stanford : When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
So simple analysis of how many people will like to do things they are doing on the last day of their life will show there are hardly few people who really want to do that, because current rat race for money,fame,things of this world will make very little sense on the last day of the life when one is going to loose everything of this. Infact The report, based on a Fall 2011 survey of U.S. households conducted for The Conference Board by Nielsen describes survey results in summary as "Workers Less Miserable, but Hardly Happy". So it can be easily seen that very few people in the world would be doing all time they really love to do. And even in those little number of people there would be hardly few, whose goal set for life while doing the things they like to do matches with goal set by scriptures for human life, to develope the loving attachment for the Supreme Lord, to stop the cycle of the birth & death & to reach the supreme abode of the Lord after this life.
But in this case the Ghanshyam baba proves out champion. His only hobby in the life was to serve his beloved deities Radha Gopijanavallabha. He was full time engaged in their service so much absorbed that he had transcended the bodily limits of eating & sleeping. His only goal in life was to render the selfless service to his deities. Scriptures states that if the occupational duty does not produce the loving attachment to the Lord then its merely a waste of time.So in  case of Ghanshyam, there was no conflict in his hobby,his interest, his occupation, his goal of life & the goal set by shastras for the human form of life, everything matched perfectly. And when somebody has such a surety,confidence & coherence in life he is naturally most happy, which he spreads everywhere whoever comes in touch with him.So althought externally looking Ghanshyam lived a life of indigence internally he was experiencing highest treasure of bliss by serving his deities, his life & soul

2>Socially: By living life of total surrender to the Lord, Ghanshyam developed most divine qualities like humility, forbearance & deep service attitude to humanity seeing everybody in connection with his beloved GopijanaVallabha. Now thousands of people go to his place. hear about him & take deep inspiration in their life to develop these divine qualities. When Radhanath Swami took the pilgrimage to his temple with thousands of devotees, everybody was deepy moved in the heart;hearing his natural quality of making sacrifices for the serivce of others.Any materialist even if makes big empire at the cost working very hard & accepting cheating techniques whenever needed,when people see or hear about that, they may respect his possessions but they will despise that person. They can not learn any good quality from his example. So even when Ghanshyan has left his body, he has left behind the enormous treasure of his good character & his divine qualities which are going to inspire innumerable number of people for all time to come. This service is much greater & imperishable by the effect of time. This was scipturally confirmed when day after in morning I was reading the chapter describing the visit of Sudama Brahmana to Krisha in the Krishna book of Srila prabhupada, When Krishna snatched chipped rice from Sudama & he ate that, Lord told to Sudma “I consider that this quantity of chipped rice will satisfy not only Me but the whole creation.” We can understand from this statement of the Lord that When service is rendered to God, its like watering the root of the tree, the water is distributed to all the twigs, branches & leaves to all parts. When service is rendered to God with pure intentions & when He is satisfied everyone being his part & parcel also get satisfaction. So the easiest way to good to do society is to render to service to Krishna. So actually serving his deities, Ghanshyam was doing highest service for the welfare of the humanity, even for whole life he was sitting in his own little place.

Ghanshyams example is symbolic in this case. It applies to anybody who dedicates his life for the service of Lord with pure heart.

Please find the video below in 2 parts in which Radhanath Swami describes his association with Ghanshyam Baba. Radhanath Swami starts talking about Ghanshyam after some minutes in first video.

http://www.radhanathswamivideo.com/tag/ghanshyam-baba