One who has become completely freed from all kinds of material desires, jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam (CC Madhya 19.167). Jñāna-karmādy . . . jñāna, cultivation of knowledge, and cultivation of pious activities, that is also on the material field. The pious . . . to become very pious man does not mean that he is a liberated man. He is good man, on the platform of the quality of goodness, but he is not a liberated man. Try to understand.
A good man is not a liberated man. Good man is also conditioned soul. He is bound up by good condition. Just like to become a brāhmaṇa, that does not mean that . . . he has acquired the good qualities, but that does not mean that he is a devotee. You will find in this prayer. You will find many good men, but you will find rarely a pure devotee. So good man is not a devotee. Try to distinguish. Good man is good for this material existence, but devotee is different from good man.
A devotee . . . just like Arjuna. Arjuna is killing, engaged in killing. People may think that, "Oh, Arjuna is not very good man. He is killing his grandfather, he is killing his, what is called, nephews, and devastating the whole family. Oh, he is not a good man." Sometimes comment . . . people comment like that. But Kṛṣṇa says, bhakto 'si priyo 'si me (BG 4.3): "You are My very dear friend." Just try to understand. In the estimation of the material world he is a very good man, er, he is not a good man, because he is killing his own kinsmen. But in the estimation of Kṛṣṇa, he is dear friend and devotee.
So that is the difference between a devotee and good man of this world. A devotee is naturally very good man, but when he acts just like a bad man on behalf of Kṛṣṇa, he does not fall down. He still remains a pure devotee.
So here it is said that yad uttamaśloka-guṇopalambhaka. We have to . . . just like there are some sahajiyas. They think that, "Kṛṣṇa's rasa-līlā is very nice, but Kṛṣṇa's fighting with the demons and killing of the demons, that is not very nice." But they do not know the Absolute Truth, that Kṛṣṇa is as good in any circumstances, either He is enjoying the company of the gopīs or He is killing the demons. That is the Absolute Truth.
So these things should be understood. So any kind of līlā, yad uttamaśloka-guṇānu, līlā, any kind of Kṛṣṇa's activities, if you remember by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, then you are liberated. Immediately you are liberated, from the authoritative description of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Na niṣkṛtair uditair brahma-vādibhiḥ. Brahma-vādibhiḥ, those who are very much anxious to realize Brahman, they have prescribed so many methods, ritualistic methods, but they are not sufficient, because such things cannot elevate a person to the standard of a pure devotee. He may . . .
Just like this arrangement, this Kumbha-līlā arrangement, is a prescription by the Brahmavādīs. There is a prescription that one should go during this time, Māgh-melā, and live in the confluence, on the bank of the confluence of Gaṅga and Yamunā, and at least three days he must live. Then he becomes eligible to enter into the heavenly kingdom. These people who have come here, their ambition is to enter into the heavenly kingdom.
But a devotee does not care for heavenly kingdom. A devotee cares a very fig in any planet within this material world. As Kṛṣṇa says, ā-brahma-bhuvanāl lokān punar āvartino arjuna. Means they know what is the benefit of entering into heavenly kingdom. There is no benefit. Suppose I may get thousands of years' age and I enjoy very high standard of life, woman, money, wine. Just think. But what is the benefit? There is no benefit.
I was very glad to read one article sent by Satsvarūpa in Boston. He has said: "What is this society, family? It is all hellish. We do not wish to live without Kṛṣṇa." Very nice statement. That is real realization. We do not like to live without Kṛṣṇa. So anyone who has realized it that, "Any amount of material happiness is to be kicked out. We don't care for it. We simply care for Kṛṣṇa, how Kṛṣṇa will be happy," that is pure devotee. Ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānuśīlanam (CC Madhya 19.167). Ānukūlyena means favorably. We should simply try to please Kṛṣṇa favorably, not unfavorably.
Just like Kamsa. Kamsa was also Kṛṣṇa conscious, always thinking of Kṛṣṇa, but that was unfavorably. His business was how to kill Kṛṣṇa. He was thinking of Kṛṣṇa, but his business was he was thinking, "How to kill Kṛṣṇa?" That is prātikūla. Prātikūla is not bhakti. When you think of Kṛṣṇa against His desire, against the principle of satisfying Him, that is not bhakti, although that is also Kṛṣṇa consciousness. An enemy of Kṛṣṇa, he is also thinking of Kṛṣṇa. That does not mean that he is Kṛṣṇa conscious. He is Kṛṣṇa conscious unfavorably. Therefore it is not bhakti. You have to act favorably.
So Arjuna became a devotee because he acted favorably for satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa. It was not favorable to the material life, but it was favorable to Kṛṣṇa. That should be your business, how Kṛṣṇa should be satisfied. And therefore naturally it is concluded that, "How I can satisfy Kṛṣṇa?" You have to satisfy His representative.
Therefore we have sung just now, yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādaḥ. If you satisfy His representative, then He is satisfied. Just like in office the proprietor has got a head of a department. If you satisfy that head of the department, the proprietor is satisfied. The report goes to the proprietor that "This man, this clerk, is working very nice," so his promotion, increment of payment, is already there.
So a pure devotee's business is how to satisfy Kṛṣṇa. And as soon as he chants the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, immediately he remembers the whole plan, how to satisfy Kṛṣṇa. Therefore he's a liberated person.