View source for Pure devotees know that they are meant to serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead and that all things that exist can be means by which one can serve the Supreme

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[[Category:Pure Devotees]]
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<div id="Other_Books_by_Srila_Prabhupada" class="section" sec_index="3" parent="compilation" text="Other Books by Srila Prabhupada"><h2>Other Books by Srila Prabhupada</h2>
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<div id="Teachings_of_Lord_Caitanya" class="sub_section" sec_index="0" parent="Other_Books_by_Srila_Prabhupada" text="Teachings of Lord Caitanya"><h3>Teachings of Lord Caitanya</h3>
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<div id="TLC23_0" class="quote" parent="Teachings_of_Lord_Caitanya" book="OB" index="29" link="TLC 23" link_text="Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 23">
<div class="heading">Pure devotees know that they are meant to serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead and that all things that exist can be means by which one can serve the Supreme. Because a devotee has been blessed by the Supreme from within his heart, he can see the Supreme Lord wherever he looks. Indeed, he can see nothing else.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:TLC 23|Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 23]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Unless one is freed from the influence of material energy, he cannot understand the Supreme Lord and His different energies. Nor can one who is captivated by the spell of material energy understand the spiritual form of the Supreme Lord. Unless there is realization of the transcendental form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, there is no question of love of God. Unless one can realize the transcendental form of the Supreme Lord, he cannot actually attain love of God, and without love of God there is no perfection in human life. Just as the five gross elements of nature—namely earth, water, fire, air and ether—are both within and without all living beings in this world, the Supreme Lord is both inside and outside this existence, and those who are His devotees can realize this.</p>
<p>Pure devotees know that they are meant to serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead and that all things that exist can be means by which one can serve the Supreme. Because a devotee has been blessed by the Supreme from within his heart, he can see the Supreme Lord wherever he looks. Indeed, he can see nothing else. In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.2.55) the relationship between the devotee and the Supreme Lord is confirmed as follows:</p>
:viṣṛjati hṛdayaṁ na yasya sākṣād
:dharir avaśābhihito 'py aghaugha-nāśaḥ
:praṇaya-raśanayā dhṛtāṅghri-padmaḥ
:sa bhavati bhāgavata-pradhāna uktaḥ
<p>"If a person's heart is always tied to the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord with the rope of love, the Lord does not leave him. Indeed, even if his remembrance is not perfect, he is to be considered a first class devotee." There is an example of this described in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Daśa-skandha (10.30.4). When the gopīs assembled to join the rāsa dance with Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa left them. Consequently the gopīs began to chant the holy name of Kṛṣṇa and, being overwhelmed with madness, began to inquire about Kṛṣṇa from the flowers and the creepers in the forest. Kṛṣṇa is like the sky; He is situated everywhere.</p>
<p>By studying Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, we can obtain information about our eternal relationship with the Supreme Lord, understand the procedure by which the Lord can be attained and receive the ultimate realization, which is love of Godhead. In explaining to Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī how one can achieve the Supreme Personality of Godhead by devotional service, Lord Caitanya quoted a verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.14.21) in which the Lord says that He can be realized only through devotional service executed with faith and love. Indeed, it is devotional service alone which purifies the heart of the devotee and elevates him to the ultimate realization by which he, established in faith, renders service unto the Supreme Lord. Even if one is born in a low family, like a family of caṇḍālas (dog-eaters), one can become filled with transcendental symptoms through realization of the supreme stage of love of Godhead. These transcendental symptoms are described in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.3.31):</p>
:smarantaḥ smārayantaś ca
:mitho 'ghaugha-haraṁ harim
:bhaktyā samjātayā bhaktyā
:bibhraty utpulakāṁ tanum
<p>"When devotees discuss subjects dealing with the Supreme Lord, who can cleanse the heart of His devotee from all kinds of sinful reactions, they become overwhelmed with ecstasy and display different symptoms due to their devotional service." The Bhāgavatam further states: "Due to their spontaneous attachment for the Lord, when they chant His holy names they sometimes cry, sometimes laugh, dance, sing and so on, not caring for any social convention." ([[Vanisource:SB 11.2.40|SB 11.2.40]])</p>
<p>We should understand that Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the real explanation of the Brahma-sūtra, and it is compiled by Vyāsadeva himself. In the Garuḍa Purāṇa it is said:</p>
:artho 'yaṁ brahma-sūtrāṇāṁ
:bhāratārtha-vinirṇayaḥ
:gāyatrī-bhāṣya-rūpo 'sau
:vedārtha-paribṛṁhitaḥ
:grantho 'ṣṭādaśa-sāhasraḥ
:śrīmad-bhāgavatābhidhaḥ
<p>"The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the authorized explanation of Brahma-sūtra, and it is a further explanation of Mahābhārata. It is the expansion of the gāyatrī mantra and the essence of all Vedic knowledge. This Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, containing eighteen thousand verses, is known as the explanation of all Vedic literature." In the very First Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam the sages of Naimiṣāraṇya asked Sūta Gosvāmī how one can know the essence of Vedic literature. In answer, Sūta Gosvāmī presented Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam as the essence of all the Vedas, histories and other Vedic literatures. Elsewhere in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (12.13.15) it is clearly stated that Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the essence of all Vedānta knowledge and that one who relishes the knowledge of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam has no taste for studying any other literature. In the very beginning of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the meaning and purpose of the gāyatrī mantra are also described: "I offer my obeisances unto the Supreme Truth." This is the first introductory verse dealing with the Supreme Truth, which is described in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam as the source of creation, maintenance and destruction for the cosmic manifestation. Obeisances unto the Personality of Godhead, Vāsudeva (oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya), directly indicate Lord Sri Kṛṣṇa, who is the divine son of Vasudeva and Devakī. This fact is more explicitly presented later in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Vyāsadeva asserts that Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the original Personality of Godhead and that all others are either His direct or indirect plenary portions or portions of those portions. Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī has later still more explicitly developed this subject in his Kṛṣṇa-sandarbha, and Brahmā, the original living being, has explained Śrī Kṛṣṇa substantially in his treatise Brahma-saṁhitā. The Sāma Veda also verifies the fact that Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the divine son of Devakī.</p>
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