Aspiration (Lectures)

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aspirable |aspirant |aspirants |aspiration |aspirations

Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Pure devotion means without any aspiration of any kind of material gain. Or even spiritual gain.

Lecture on BG 2.1 -- Ahmedabad, December 6, 1972: According to the order of Kṛṣṇa, Arjuna, Kṛṣṇa placed the chariot in between the two soldiers, two phalanxes of soldiers. Senayor ubhayor madhye rathaṁ sthāpaya me acyuta [Bg. 1.21]. Arjuna was respectful to Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa has accepted to be charioteer, inferior position than Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is on the chariot, sitting on the throne, and, uh, Arjuna is sitting on the throne, and Kṛṣṇa has taken the inferior position, driving the chariot. So this is very nice position for devotional service. Those who are not devotees, they aspire to become Kṛṣṇa. Their aspiration is to merge into the existence of the Supreme, or to become one with Kṛṣṇa. But in devotional service it is not the desire of the devotee to become one with Kṛṣṇa, but sometimes to make Kṛṣṇa as the order-carrier of the devotee. To become one with Kṛṣṇa, it may be a very great position. But to become the, I mean to say, command, commander of Kṛṣṇa, that is another thing. That position is greater than to become one with Kṛṣṇa.

So there are five kinds of liberation. Sāyujya, the first liberation is supposed to be sāyujya, means, to become one with the Supreme. The Māyāvāda philosophers, monists, they aspire after sāyujya-mukti. But the devotees, Vaiṣṇavas, they do not aspire after sāyujya-mukti. Their, for them, there are other, four kinds of mukti: sārūpya, sālokya, sārṣṭi, sāmīpya. And those who are still further advanced, they do not want any kind of mukti, neither of these five kinds of muktis. Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He prays, na dhanaṁ na janaṁ na sundarīṁ kavitāṁ vā jagadīśa kāmaye [Cc. Antya 20.29, Śikṣāṣṭaka 4]. This is pure devotional prayer. The devotees does not approach the Supreme for any material gain. Pure devotion means without any aspiration of any kind of material gain. Or even spiritual gain.