View source for Sri Bilvamangala Thakur has said, "And as far as liberation is concerned, I think liberation stands at my door with folded hands waiting to serve me"

<div id="compilation">
<div id="facts">
{{terms|"And as far as liberation is concerned, I think liberation stands at my door with folded hands waiting to serve me"}}
{{notes|}}
{{compiler|HanumanIC}}
{{complete|ALL}}
{{first|2017-05-01T02:00:35Z}}
{{last|2017-05-01T02:00:35Z}}
{{totals_by_section|BG=0|SB=0|CC=0|OB=1|Lec=0|Con=0|Let=0}}
{{total|1}}
{{toc right}}
[[Category:Bilvamangala Thakura]]
[[Category:Has Said]]
[[Category:As Far As]]
[[Category:Liberation]]
[[Category:Concern]]
[[Category:Think]]
[[Category:Standing]]
[[Category:Door]]
[[Category:With Folded Hands]]
[[Category:Wait]]
[[Category:Serve]]
[[Category:The Nectar of Devotion Chapter 03 - Eligibility of the Candidate for Accepting Devotional Service]]
[[Category:The Nectar of Devotion Chapters 01 to 51]]
</div>
<div id="section">
<h2>Other Books by Srila Prabhupada</h2>
</div>
<div id="sub_section">
<h3>Nectar of Devotion</h3>
</div>
<div class="quote">
<div class="quote_heading">
Śrī Bilvamaṅgala Thākur has said, "If I am engaged in devotional service unto You, my dear Lord, then very easily can I perceive Your presence everywhere. And as far as liberation is concerned, I think liberation stands at my door with folded hands waiting to serve me." To pure devotees, therefore, liberation and spiritual emancipation are not very important things.
</div>

<div class="quote_link">
[[Vanisource:NOD 3 (1970)|Nectar of Devotion, 3]]
</div>
<div class="text">
However, the perfect spiritual concept of life is complete knowledge of one's constitutional position, and thus one knows enough to dovetail himself in the transcendental loving service to the Lord. One must know that he is finite and that the Lord is infinite. Thus it is not possible to actually become one with the Lord even if one aspires for this. It is simply not possible. Therefore, anyone who has any desire or aspiration for satisfying his senses by becoming more and more important, either in the material sense or in the spiritual sense, cannot actually relish the really sweet taste of devotional service. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī has therefore compared possessing these bhukti (material) and mukti (liberation) desires with being influenced by the black art of a witch: in both cases one is in trouble. Bhukti means material enjoyment, and mukti means to become freed from material anxiety and to become one with the Lord. These desires are compared to being haunted by ghosts and witches, because while these aspirations for material enjoyment or spiritual oneness with the supreme remain, no one can relish the actual transcendental taste of devotional service.

A pure devotee never cares for liberation. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu prayed to Kṛṣṇa: "My dear son of Nanda, I do not want any material happiness in the shape of many followers, nor immense opulence in wealth, nor any beautiful wife, nor do I want cessation from material existence. I may take birth many times, one after another, but what I pray from You is that my devotion unto You may always remain unflinching."

The attention of a pure devotee is so much attracted to glorification of the pastimes, name, qualities, forms, etc., of the Lord that the devotee does not care for mukti. Śrī Bilvamaṅgala Thākur has said, "If I am engaged in devotional service unto You, my dear Lord, then very easily can I perceive Your presence everywhere. And as far as liberation is concerned, I think liberation stands at my door with folded hands waiting to serve me." To pure devotees, therefore, liberation and spiritual emancipation are not very important things.

In this connection, in the Third Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, [[Vanisource:SB 3.25.36|Chapter 25, verse 23]], Kapiladeva has advised His mother, Devahūti, as follows: "My dear Mother, My pure devotees are charmed by seeing My different forms, the beauty of My face, the structure of My body so enchanting. My laughing, My pastimes and My glance appear to them so beautiful that their minds are always absorbed in thoughts of Me, and their lives are dedicated fully unto Me. Although such people do not desire any kind of liberation or any kind of material happiness, still I give them a place amongst My associates in the supreme abode."

This evidence from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam gives assurance to the pure devotee of being elevated to association with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī remarks in this connection that one who is actually attracted by the beauty of the lotus feet of Śrī Kṛṣṇa or His service, and whose heart, by such attraction, is always full with transcendental bliss, will naturally never aspire after the liberation which is so valuable to the impersonalists.

A similar passage is also there in the [[Vanisource:SB 3.4.15|Third Canto, 15th Chapter]], of the same book, wherein Uddhava addresses Lord Kṛṣṇa and says, "My dear Lord, for persons who are engaged in Your transcendental loving service there is nothing worth obtaining from religiousness, economic development, sense gratification or liberation—although happiness from these different sources can be very easily had by them. In spite of such facilities, my dear Lord, I do not aspire to achieve any such results. My only prayer is that I may have unflinching faith and devotion unto Your lotus feet."
</div>
</div>
</div>