Devotional service to the Supreme Lord means
Other Books by Srila Prabhupada
Narada-bhakti-sutra (sutras 1 to 8 only)
The Nārada Pañcarātra defines pure devotional service as follows:
- sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam
- hṛṣīkena hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate
- (CC Madhya 19.170)
"Devotional service to the Supreme Lord means engagement of all the senses in His service. In such service there are two important features: First, one must be purified of all designations, and second, the senses should be engaged only in the service of the Supreme Lord, the master of the senses. That is pure devotional service."
Everyone is now contaminated by various designations in relation to the body. Everyone is thinking, "I belong to such-and-such country; I belong to a certain society; I belong to a certain family." But when a person comes to the stage of pure devotional service, he knows that he does not belong to anything except the service of the Lord.
The symptom of unflinching faith in pure devotional service is that one has overcome the many disruptive desires that impede pure devotional service, such as (1) the desire to worship the demigods, (2) the desire to serve someone other than Kṛṣṇa, (3) the desire to work for sense gratification, without understanding one's relationship with Kṛṣṇa, (4) the desire to cultivate impersonal knowledge and thereby forget the Supreme Lord, and (5) the desire to establish oneself as the Supreme, in which endeavor there is no trace of the bliss of devotional service. One should give up all these desires and engage exclusively in the loving devotional service of the Lord. Except for the service of the Lord, anything done is in the service of illusion, or māyā.
| Page Title: | Devotional service to the Supreme Lord means |
| Compiler: | Rishab |
| Created: | 25 of Jan, 2012 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=1, Lec=0, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 1 |