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Loving devotion

Bhagavad-gita As It Is

BG Chapters 7 - 12

We should understand that Kṛṣṇa will not accept meat, fish and eggs. We cannot be acting on the level of loving devotion if we offer such foods.
BG 9.26, Purport:

One who loves Kṛṣṇa will give Him whatever He wants, and he avoids offering anything which is undesirable or unasked. Thus meat, fish and eggs should not be offered to Kṛṣṇa. If He desired such things as offerings, He would have said so. Instead He clearly requests that a leaf, fruit, flowers and water be given to Him, and He says of this offering, "I will accept it." Therefore, we should understand that He will not accept meat, fish and eggs. Vegetables, grains, fruits, milk and water are the proper foods for human beings and are prescribed by Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself. Whatever else we eat cannot be offered to Him, since He will not accept it. Thus we cannot be acting on the level of loving devotion if we offer such foods.

Srimad-Bhagavatam

SB Canto 3

The real purpose is to exhibit one's loving devotion to the Lord; the offerings themselves are secondary.
SB 3.29.24, Purport:

There are sixty-four different prescriptions for worship of the Deity in the temple. There are many items offered to the Deity, some valuable and some less valuable. It is prescribed in Bhagavad-gītā: "If a devotee offers Me a small flower, a leaf, some water or a little fruit, I will accept it." The real purpose is to exhibit one's loving devotion to the Lord; the offerings themselves are secondary. If one has not developed loving devotion to the Lord and simply offers many kinds of foodstuffs, fruits and flowers without real devotion, the offering will not be accepted by the Lord. We cannot bribe the Personality of Godhead. He is so great that our bribery has no value. Nor has He any scarcity; since He is full in Himself, what can we offer Him? Everything is produced by Him. We simply offer to show our love and gratitude to the Lord.

SB Cantos 10.14 to 12 (Translations Only)

SB 10.32.20, Translation:

But the reason I do not immediately reciprocate the affection of living beings even when they worship Me, O gopīs, is that I want to intensify their loving devotion. They then become like a poor man who has gained some wealth and then lost it, and who thus becomes so anxious about it that he can think of nothing else.

SB 11.19.5, Translation:

Therefore, My dear Uddhava, through knowledge you should understand your actual self. Then, advancing by clear realization of Vedic knowledge, you should worship Me in the mood of loving devotion.

SB 11.20.8, Translation:

If somehow or other by good fortune one develops faith in hearing and chanting My glories, such a person, being neither very disgusted with nor attached to material life, should achieve perfection through the path of loving devotion to Me.

SB 11.25.10, Translation:

Any person, whether man or woman, who worships Me with loving devotion, offering his or her prescribed duties unto Me without material attachment, is understood to be situated in goodness.

SB 11.27.9, Translation:

A twice-born person should worship Me, his worshipable Lord, without duplicity, offering appropriate paraphernalia in loving devotion to My Deity form or to a form of Me appearing upon the ground, in fire, in the sun, in water or within the worshiper's own heart.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta

CC Adi-lila

CC Adi 1.96, Translation:

The Absolute Truth is Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and loving devotion to Śrī Kṛṣṇa exhibited in pure love is achieved through congregational chanting of the holy name, which is the essence of all bliss.

CC Adi 1.99, Translation:

One of the bhāgavatas is the great scripture Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and the other is the pure devotee absorbed in the mellows of loving devotion.

The conditioned souls exist in different species of life because they are eternally averse to transcendental loving devotion to the Supreme Lord.
CC Adi 2.36, Purport:

The cosmic manifestation is generated by the interaction of the three modes of material nature. The transcendental world has no such material modes, although it is nevertheless full of spiritual variegatedness. In that spiritual world there are also innumerable living entities, who are eternally liberated souls engaged in transcendental loving service to Lord Kṛṣṇa. The conditioned souls, who remain within the material cosmic creation, are subjected to the threefold miseries and pangs of material nature. They exist in different species of life because they are eternally averse to transcendental loving devotion to the Supreme Lord.

CC Adi 4.21-22, Translation:
"If one cherishes pure loving devotion to Me, thinking of Me as his son, his friend or his beloved, regarding himself as great and considering Me his equal or inferior, I become subordinate to him."

Other Books by Srila Prabhupada

Renunciation Through Wisdom

Through this process of karma-yoga one is freed from the shackles of fruitive results and one's inherent eternal loving devotion for the Supreme Lord gradually manifests.
Renunciation Through Wisdom 1.5:

It is another kind of "dispensation of providence" when the fruits of actions do not bind one. To perform all activities only as a sacrifice for the satisfaction of Lord Viṣṇu is true freedom from the results of activities, or the real art of karma-yoga. Through this process of karma-yoga one is freed from the shackles of fruitive results and one's inherent eternal loving devotion for the Supreme Lord gradually manifests. This type of karma-yoga is also referred to as desireless actions, or naiṣkarmya, or in other words activities performed without expectation of any sense gratification. One who works in this way offers all the results of his actions to the Supreme Lord instead of enjoying them himself.

He always shelters and protects those who accept Him as the Supreme Lord and serve Him with loving devotion, following in the footsteps of past saintly masters.
Renunciation Through Wisdom 2.11:

Lord Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā (9.29),

samo 'haṁ sarva-bhūteṣu
na me dveṣyo 'sti na priyaḥ
ye bhajanti tu mäà bhaktyä
mayi te teṣu cāpy aham

I envy no one, nor am I partial to anyone. I am equal to all. But whoever renders service unto Me in devotion is a friend, is in Me and I am also a friend to him.

One must not misunderstand the meaning of the word samaḥ, "equal." It does not mean that the Lord is impersonal and that He will bless any whimsical act, even unruly behaviour. The Lord is absolutely personal, the reservoir of divine sentiments, the supreme performer of transcendental pastimes. And He is the well-wishing friend of all living beings. But friendship has different degrees of intimacy. Thus the Lord's equal disposition is not without varieties of personalism. In other words, the Lord reciprocates with us according to our intensity of love for Him. In the Gītā (4.11) He says, ye yathā māṁ prapadyante tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham: "As all surrender unto Me, I reward them accordingly." He responds to all the different devotional mellows—servitorship, fraternity, parental affection, and conjugal love. Similarly, he ignores those who disrespect Him by regarding Him as an ordinary mortal. Conversely, He always shelters and protects those who accept Him as the Supreme Lord and serve Him with loving devotion, following in the footsteps of past saintly masters.

Originally defined in a Vaiṣṇava text, these six limbs of surrender pertain to Lord Viṣṇu, or Kṛṣṇa. Ānukūlya means "loving devotion to Lord Kṛṣṇa."
Renunciation Through Wisdom 4.2:

The first word in devotional service is surrender. The only meaning of surrender is to accept that one is a servant of God. Even great scholars and philosophers like Dr. Radhakrishnan will have to perform heaps of austerities and penances before they will yield to the process of surrender. This is the conclusion of Bhagavad-gītā. Dr. Radhakrishnan's explanation of the six limbs of surrender is superficial. Originally defined in a Vaiṣṇava text, these six limbs of surrender pertain to Lord Viṣṇu, or Kṛṣṇa. Ānukūlya means "loving devotion to Lord Kṛṣṇa." The Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu states, ānukūlyena-kṛṣṇānuśīlanaṁ bhaktir uttamā: (CC Madhya 19.167) "One should render transcendental loving service to Lord Kṛṣṇa favorably. That is called pure devotional service."

Correspondence

1972 Correspondence

What matters is that everything is very nicely prepared and offered with great loving devotion; that is wanted.
Letter to Upendra -- Calcutta 19 February, 1972:

So far foodstuffs offered do the needful. Whatever is available and also very nice, that is offerable, as long as no meat, fish, eggs, garlic, onions, or other very objectionable foodstuffs are there. Salads are all right, and there is no condition on which type of rice, the best available under the circumstances, that's all. What matters is that everything is very nicely prepared and offered with great loving devotion, that is wanted.

Page Title:Loving devotion
Compiler:Siddha Rupa, Visnu Murti, Labangalatika
Created:21 of Jan, 2008
Totals by Section:BG=1, SB=6, CC=4, OB=3, Lec=0, Con=0, Let=1
No. of Quotes:15