View source for In other words, anyone who is engaged in devotional service is not in the material condition of life, although he may appear so

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[[Category:In Other Words]]
[[Category:Anyone Who Is...]]
[[Category:Engaged in Devotional Service]]
[[Category:Not]]
[[Category:Material Condition]]
[[Category:Condition of Life]]
[[Category:Although]]
[[Category:May (Might)]]
[[Category:Appear]]
[[Category:The Nectar of Devotion Chapter 12 - Revealed Scriptures]]
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<h2>Other Books by Srila Prabhupada</h2>
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<h3>Nectar of Devotion</h3>
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The normal condition of every living entity is to be engaged in the devotional service of the Lord. From the statement of the Ādi Purāṇa it appears that a devotee is satisfied simply with being engaged in devotional service. He does not aspire for any liberation from material conditional life. In other words, anyone who is engaged in devotional service is not in the material condition of life, although he may appear so.
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[[Vanisource:NOD 12 (1970)|Nectar of Devotion, 12]]
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This statement of the Bhaviṣya Purāṇa gives evidence that by observing different functions in relationship with the Lord one is sure to become pleasing to the Lord. It is said in the Ādi Purāṇa: "A person who is constantly engaged in chanting the holy name and who feels transcendental pleasure, being engaged in devotional service, is certainly awarded the facilities of devotional service, and is never given just mukti (liberation)."

Mukti means liberation from material contamination; when liberated, one does not have to take birth again in the material world. The impersonalists desire to merge into the spiritual existence, to end their individual existence, but according to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, mukti is only the beginning of one's becoming situated in his normal condition. The normal condition of every living entity is to be engaged in the devotional service of the Lord. From the statement of the Ādi Purāṇa it appears that a devotee is satisfied simply with being engaged in devotional service. He does not aspire for any liberation from material conditional life. In other words, anyone who is engaged in devotional service is not in the material condition of life, although he may appear so.

Recitation of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the desire-tree of Vedic wisdom. Veda itself means the aggregate of knowledge. And whatever knowledge is required for human society is perfectly presented in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. There are different branches of knowledge in the Vedic writings, including sociology, politics, medicine and military art. All these and other branches of knowledge are perfectly described in the Vedas. So, as far as spiritual knowledge is concerned, that is also perfectly described there, and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is considered to be the ripened fruit of this desire-fulfilling tree of the Vedas. A tree is honored by the production of its fruit. For example, a mango tree is considered very valuable because it produces the king of all fruits, the mango. When the mango fruit becomes ripened it is the greatest gift of that tree, and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is similarly held to be the ripened fruit of the Vedic tree. And, as ripened fruit becomes more relishable when first touched by the beak of a parrot, or śuka, so Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam has become more relishable by being delivered through the transcendental mouth of Śukadeva Gosvāmī.

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam should be received in disciplic succession without any breakage. When a ripened fruit comes from the upper part of the tree onto the ground by the process of being handed down from a higher branch to a lower branch by persons in the tree, the fruit does not break. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, when received in the paramparā system, or disciplic succession, will likewise remain unbroken. It is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā that the disciplic succession, or paramparā, is the way of receiving transcendental knowledge. Such knowledge must come down through the disciplic succession, through authorized persons who know the real purpose of the śāstra.
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