Pure love of God
Srimad-Bhagavatam
SB Canto 3
SB 3.32.22, Purport: Sarva-bhāvena means "in all-loving ecstasy." Bhāva is the preliminary stage of elevation before the attainment of pure love of Godhead. It is stated in Bhagavad-gītā, budhā bhāva-samanvitāḥ: [Bg. 10.8] one who has attained the stage of bhāva can accept the lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa as worshipable. This is also advised here by Lord Kapila to His mother. Also significant in this verse is the phrase tad-guṇāśrayayā bhaktyā. This means that discharging devotional service unto Kṛṣṇa is transcendental; it is not material activity. This is confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā: those who engage in devotional service are accepted to be situated in the spiritual kingdom. Brahma-bhūyāya kalpate: [Bg. 14.26] they at once become situated in the transcendental kingdom.
SB Canto 7
SB 7.9.54, Purport: The words dhīrāḥ sarva-bhāvena do not mean "in whichever way you like." Bhāva is the preliminary condition of love of Godhead.
- athāsaktis tato bhāvas
- tataù premäbhyudaïcati
- sādhakānām ayaṁ premṇaḥ
- prādurbhāve bhavet kramaḥ
- (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.4.16)
SB Cantos 10.14 to 12 (Translations Only)
SB 11.3.31, Translation: The devotees of the Lord constantly discuss the glories of the Personality of Godhead among themselves. Thus they constantly remember the Lord and remind one another of His qualities and pastimes. In this way, by their devotion to the principles of bhakti-yoga, the devotees please the Personality of Godhead, who takes away from them everything inauspicious. Being purified of all impediments, the devotees awaken to pure love of Godhead, and thus, even within this world, their spiritualized bodies exhibit symptoms of transcendental ecstasy, such as standing of the bodily hairs on end.
SB 11.5.33, Translation: My dear Lord, You are the Mahā-puruṣa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and I worship Your lotus feet, which are the only eternal object of meditation. Those feet destroy the embarrassing conditions of material life and freely award the greatest desire of the soul, the attainment of pure love of Godhead. My dear Lord, Your lotus feet are the shelter of all holy places and of all saintly authorities in the line of devotional service and are honored by powerful demigods like Lord Śiva and Lord Brahmā. My Lord, You are so kind that You willingly protect all those who simply bow down to You with respect, and thus You mercifully relieve all the distress of Your servants. In conclusion, my Lord, Your lotus feet are actually the suitable boat for crossing over the ocean of birth and death, and therefore even Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva seek shelter at Your lotus feet."
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta
CC Preface and Introduction
CC Foreword: The first twelve chapters of the Ādi-līlā constitute the preface for the entire work. By referring to Vedic scriptural evidence, Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja establishes that Caitanya Mahāprabhu is the avatāra (incarnation) of God for the Age of Kali—the current epoch, which began five thousand years ago and is characterized by materialism, hypocrisy, and dissension. The author also proves that Caitanya Mahāprabhu is identical to Lord Kṛṣṇa and explains that He descends to liberally grant the fallen souls of this degraded age pure love of God by propagating saṅkīrtana—literally, “congregational glorification of God”—especially by organizing massive public chanting of the mahā-mantra: Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare.
CC Adi-lila
CC Adi 3.14, Purport: The Lord seldom awards pure transcendental love, but without such pure love of God, freed from fruitive activities and empiric speculation, one cannot attain perfection in life.
CC Adi 4.19, Purport: The Lord, by His inherent nature, reveals Himself before His devotees according to their inherent devotional service. The Vṛndāvana pastimes demonstrated that although generally people worship God with reverence, the Lord is more pleased when a devotee thinks of Him as his pet son, personal friend or most dear fiance and renders service unto Him with such natural affection. The Lord becomes a subordinate object of love in such transcendental relationships. Such pure love of Godhead is unadulterated by any tinge of superfluous nondevotional desires and is not mixed with any sort of fruitive action or empiric philosophical speculation. It is pure and natural love of Godhead, spontaneously aroused in the absolute stage. This devotional service is executed in a favorable atmosphere freed from material affection.
CC Adi 4.21-22, Purport: Those who are spontaneously devoted to the Lord and have no aims for material gain are called attracted devotees. They are spontaneously attracted to the service of the Lord, and they follow in the footsteps of self-realized souls. Their pure devotion (śuddha-bhakti), manifested from pure love of Godhead, surpasses the regulative principles of the authoritative scriptures. Sometimes loving ecstasy transcends regulative principles; such ecstasy, however, is completely on the spiritual platform and cannot be imitated.
CC Adi 4.26: The informal language used between lover and beloved is indicative of pure affection. When devotees worship their beloved as the most venerable object, spontaneous loving sentiments are observed to be lacking. A neophyte devotee who follows the Vedic instructions that regulate those who lack pure love of Godhead may superficially seem more exalted than a devotee in spontaneous love of Godhead. But in fact such spontaneous pure love is far superior to regulated devotional service. Such pure love of Godhead is always glorious in all respects, more so than reverential devotional service rendered by a less affectionate devotee.
CC Adi 4.68, Purport: The product of the hlādinī-śakti is love of Godhead, which has two divisions—namely, pure love of Godhead and adulterated love of Godhead. Only when the hlādinī-śakti emanates from Śrī Kṛṣṇa and is bestowed upon the living being to attract Him does the living being become a pure lover of God. But when the same hlādinī-śakti is adulterated by the external, material energy and emanates from the living being, it does not attract Kṛṣṇa; on the contrary, the living being becomes attracted by the glamor of the material energy. At that time instead of becoming mad with love of Godhead, the living being becomes mad after material sense enjoyment, and because of his association with the qualitative modes of material nature, he is captivated by its interactions of distressful, unhappy feelings.
CC Adi 4.165, Purport: All such good acts are performed basically for one’s own sense gratification, for no one can sacrifice his personal interest while discharging these much-advertised moral and religious principles. But above all this is a transcendental stage in which one feels himself to be only an eternal servitor of Kṛṣṇa, the absolute Personality of Godhead. All acts performed in this sense of servitude are called pure love of God because they are performed for the absolute sense gratification of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. However, any act performed for the purpose of enjoying its fruits or results is an act of sense gratification. Such actions are visible sometimes in gross and sometimes in subtle forms.
CC Adi 4.70, Purport: The author of Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta advises everyone to give up all engagements of sense gratification and, like the gopīs, dovetail oneself entirely with the will of the Supreme Lord. That is the ultimate instruction of Kṛṣṇa in the Bhagavad-gītā. We should be prepared to do anything and everything to please the Lord, even at the risk of violating the Vedic principles or ethical laws. That is the standard of love of Godhead. Such activities in pure love of Godhead are as spotless as white linen that has been completely washed. Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura warns us in this connection that we should not mistakenly think that the idea of giving up everything implies the renunciation of duties necessary in relation to the body and mind. Even such duties are not sense gratification if they are undertaken in a spirit of service to Kṛṣṇa.
CC Adi 4.195, Purport: By looking at the beautiful gopīs Kṛṣṇa becomes enlivened, and this enlivens the gopīs, whose youthful faces and bodies blossom. This competition of increasing beauty between the gopīs and Kṛṣṇa, which is without limitations, is so delicate that sometimes mundane moralists mistake these dealings to be purely amorous. But these affairs are not at all mundane, because the gopīs’ intense desire to satisfy Kṛṣṇa surcharges the entire scene with pure love of Godhead, with not a spot of sexual indulgence.
CC Adi 4.220, Translation: Lord Caitanya appeared with the sentiment of Rādhā. He preached the dharma of this age—the chanting of the holy name and pure love of God.
CC Adi 9.13-15, Purport: Paramānanda Purī established a small monastery behind the western side of the Jagannātha temple, where he had a well dug to supply water. The water, however, was bitter, and therefore Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu prayed to Lord Jagannātha to allow Ganges water to come into the well to make it sweet. When Lord Jagannātha granted the request, Lord Caitanya told all the devotees that from that day hence, the water of Paramānanda Purī’s well should be celebrated as Ganges water, for any devotee who would drink it or bathe in it would certainly get the same benefit as that derived from drinking or bathing in the waters of the Ganges. Such a person would certainly develop pure love of Godhead.
CC Madhya-lila
CC Madhya 1.251, Translation: At Jagannātha Purī, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu performed chanting and dancing unceasingly. Thus He enjoyed the pastime of saṅkīrtana. He manifested His causeless mercy, pure love of God, to everyone, including the lowest man.
CC Madhya 2.48, Purport: Unalloyed love of Kṛṣṇa is just like a big sheet of white cloth. Absence of attachment is compared to a black spot on that white cloth. Just as the black spot is prominent, so the absence of love of Godhead is prominent on the platform of pure love of Godhead.
CC Madhya 6.263, Translation: Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya replied, “The awakening of pure love of Godhead, which is the result of devotional service, far surpasses liberation from material bondage. For those averse to devotional service, merging into the Brahman effulgence is a kind of punishment.”
CC Madhya 7.29, Purport: The personal associates of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu sometimes behaved contrary to regulative principles out of intense love for the Lord, and because of their love Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu Himself sometimes violated the regulative principles of a sannyāsī. In the eyes of the public, such violations are not good, but Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was so controlled by His devotees’ love that He was obliged to break some of the rules. Although accusing them, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was indirectly indicating that He was very satisfied with their behavior in pure love of Godhead.
CC Madhya 8.216, Translation: “‘Although the dealings of the gopīs with Kṛṣṇa are on the platform of pure love of Godhead, such dealings are sometimes considered to be lusty. But because they are completely spiritual, Uddhava and all the other dearmost devotees of the Lord desire to participate in them.’
Other Books by Srila Prabhupada
Teachings of Lord Caitanya
Teachings of Lord Caitanya 1 : Just as an ordinary materialistic businessman thinks of nothing else when he is absorbed in his business, a pure devotee, when engaged in the service of the Lord, does not think of anything beyond that engagement.
If one is so absorbed in the rendering of service, he can be understood to be elevated to the highest position of bhakti. By such transcendental loving service alone can one surpass the influence of māyā and relish pure love of Godhead. As long as one desires material benefit or liberation, which are called the two witches of allurement, he cannot relish the taste of transcendental loving service to the Supreme Lord.
Teachings of Lord Caitanya 28 : Rāmānanda Rāya could understand the motive of Lord Caitanya; therefore he stated that attainment of pure love of Godhead is the highest perfectional stage. There is a very nice verse in Padyāvalī which is said to be composed by Rāmānanda Rāya himself. The purport of the verse is: "As long as there is hunger in the belly and one feels like eating and drinking, one can become happy by taking anything eatable. Similarly, there may be much paraphernalia for worshiping the Supreme Lord, but when that is mixed with pure love of Godhead, it becomes an actual source of transcendental happiness."
Nectar of Devotion
Nectar of Devotion 2: The three categories of devotional service which Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī describes in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu are listed as devotional service in practice, devotional service in ecstasy and devotional service in pure love of Godhead. There are many subheadings in each of these categories. Generally it is understood that in the category of devotional service in practice there are two different qualities, devotional service in ecstasy has four qualities, and devotional service in pure love of Godhead has six qualities.
Nectar of Devotion 2:Here is a general description of devotional service given by Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī in his Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu. Previously, it has been stated that devotional service can be divided into three categories—namely devotional service in practice, devotional service in ecstasy and devotional service in pure love of God.
Nectar of Devotion 2: Here is a general description of devotional service given by Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī in his Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu. Previously, it has been stated that devotional service can be divided into three categories—namely devotional service in practice, devotional service in ecstasy and devotional service in pure love of God.
Nectar of Devotion 2: In the Nārada-pañcarātra the regulative principles of devotional service are described as follows: "Any activities sanctioned in the revealed scriptures and aiming at the satisfaction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead are accepted by saintly teachers as the regulative principles of devotional service. If one regularly executes such service unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead under the direction of a bona fide spiritual master, then gradually he rises to the platform of serving in pure love of God."
Nectar of Devotion 19: When one's desire to love Kṛṣṇa in one's particular relationship becomes intensified, this is known as pure love of Godhead. In the beginning a devotee is engaged in the regulative principles of devotional service by the order of his spiritual master. When one thereby becomes completely purified of all material contamination, there develops an attachment and taste for devotional service. This taste and attachment, when gradually intensified in the course of time, becomes love. The word love can be actually applied only in relationship with the Personality of Godhead. In the material world, love is not applicable at all. What goes on under the name of love in the material world is nothing but lust. There is a gulf of difference between love and lust, like the difference between gold and iron. In the Nārada-pañcarātra it is clearly stated that when lust is completely transferred to the Supreme Godhead and the concept of kinship is completely reposed in Him, such is accepted as pure love of God by great authorities like Bhīṣma, Prahlāda, Uddhava and Nārada.
Nectar of Devotion 19: In the next stage, under the guidance of the spiritual master, the devotee executes regulative devotional service, and as a result of such activities, he becomes freed from all unwanted occupations. When he is freed from unwanted occupations, his faith becomes steadily fixed, and he develops a transcendental taste for devotional service, then attachment, then ecstasies, and in the last stage there is pure love of Godhead. These are the different stages of the development of pure love.
Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead
Krsna Book 47: Uddhava did not deliver to the gopīs the written message brought from Kṛṣṇa, but he personally read it to them. The message was very gravely written, so that not only the gopīs but all empiric philosophers might understand how pure love of God is intrinsically integrated with all the different energies of the Supreme Lord.
Renunciation Through Wisdom
Renunciation Through Wisdom 2.4: As Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā (9.25) yānti mad-yājino 'pi mām: "One who worships Me attains My supreme abode." The jñānī, or one who knows things as they are, is the fourth type of pious man, and he is superior to the other three kinds. He attains a higher result because his devotion is mixed with knowledge. Like Sanaka Ṛṣi, he attains the devotional mellow of neutrality. Moreover, because the Lord and His pure devotees shower their causeless mercy upon him, a jñānī devotee can also achieve pure love of Godhead, as in the case of Śukadeva Gosvāmī. When devotion mixed with fruitive desires becomes free from those fruitive desires, it is automatically transformed into devotion mixed with knowledge. The result of practising this devotion mixed with knowledge is mentioned above.
Renunciation Through Wisdom 2.13: Lord Kṛṣṇa grants genuine transcendental understanding, buddhi-yoga, to those devotees who experience spiritual satisfaction and divine bliss through constant devotional service; gradually their specific devotional attitude increases to the point where they can relish pure love of God.
Renunciation Through Wisdom 5.1: At present we are in the period of Vaivasvata Manu, in the twenty-eighth cycle of the four millenniums, and it is the Kali-yuga. This Kali-yuga is very special, however, because Lord Caitanya appears in this age in His original form and propagates the esoteric science of pure love of Godhead. All this we learn from the scriptures. We have great expectations that this science of pure love of Godhead will be propagated world-wide in the immediate future.
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Lecture on BG 6.6-12 -- Los Angeles, February 15, 1969: Caitanya Mahāprabhu says like that: āśliṣya vā pāda-ratāṁ pinaṣṭu mām [Cc. Antya 20.47]. "Either You embrace me or you trample me down on Your feet. Or You never come before me, I become brokenhearted without seeing you. Still I love You." That is pure love of God. When we come to that stage of loving God, then we'll find, oh, all, full of pleasure. As God is full of pleasure, you are also full of pleasure. That is the perfection.
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
Lecture on SB 7.9.12 -- Montreal, August 19, 1968: Anyone who is engaged in unalloyed devotional service to the Lord, without any reservation—avyabhicāriṇi, not adulterated, simply pure love of Godhead, ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānuśīlanam [Cc. Madhya 19.167], favorably—how God will be pleased. With this feeling, if one is engaged in devotional service, māṁ ca vyabhicāriṇi bhakti yogena yaḥ sevate... If anyone is engaged in that way, then what is his position? Sa guṇān samatītyaitān [Bg. 14.26]. There are three qualities of the material nature, namely goodness, passion and ignorance. He at once transcends. Sa guṇān samatītyaitān brahma-bhūyāya kalpate [Bg. 14.26]. Immediately he is spiritually identified. Immediately.
General Lectures
Lecture -- Gorakhpur, February 17, 1971: All big, big yogis, there may be, but a person who is always absorbed in thought of Kṛṣṇa within himself, he is greater than all such big, big yogis. Greater than the greatest yogi. Yoginām api sarveṣāṁ mad-gatenāntarātmanā. Mad-gata means his life is so molded that he cannot stay without thinking of Kṛṣṇa. Mad-gata. He has become absorbed. That is samādhi. Mad-gatenāntarātmanā śraddhāvān. Not for artificial makeshow, but śraddhāvān, with faith and love. Śraddhāvān bhajate yo māṁ sa me yuktatamo mataḥ.
But how this stage can be attained? This stage can be attained only by persons who have developed pure love of God. Just like... It is very easy to understand. If you love somebody, always you'll think of him.
Correspondence
1968 Correspondence
Letter to Sivananda -- Los Angeles 4 December, 1968: The answer to your second question is that when one becomes accustomed to inoffensive chanting, then his fruit is that he is promoted to the stage of pure Love of Godhead, or prema. This prema is the perfectional stage of consciousness and the most blissful by very far.
1970 Correspondence
Letter to Professor J. F. Staal -- Los Angeles 30 January, 1970: The scope of the Krishna Consciousness Movement is Universal. The process for regaining one's original spiritual status or eternal life full with bliss and knowledge, is not abstracted dry theorizing. Spiritual life is not described in the Vedas as theoretical, dry or impersonal. The Vedas aim at the inculcation of pure love of God only, and this harmonized conclusion is practically realized by the Krishna Consciousness Movement or chanting Hare Krishna Mantra.
Letter to Himavati -- Los Angeles 26 April, 1970: It appears that you are on the attachment platform, this is very good. The next platform is ecstasy, and then pure love of God. So stick to your duties at the present moment, and when it is convenient you can go with the Sankirtana Party, but never neglect the Arcana regulation at any cost. If you have no time, you are not required to go with the Sankirtana Party.
Letter to Gerald -- ISKCON Akash Ganga Bldg; 89 Bhulabhai Desai Road; Bombay-26 India: I am very glad that you are inquisitive to know the science of Krsna consciousness and you are already practically experiencing the awakening of transcendentally blissful love of God Krsna by the simple chanting of His Holy Names. This awakening of pure love of God is the ultimate perfection of all bona fide religious principles including Christian, Judaic, Mohammedan, Hindu, etc. Just as it is recorded that Lord Jesus Christ said that the first commandment is that one should love God with all his heart, and soul and mind. Similarly Krsna instructs that everyone should surrender unto Him in Love. Lord Jesus says that the first thing is to develop your love for God. Krsna is God. Krsna says to love Him only. So what is the difference between the original teachings of Lord Jesus Christ and Krsna?
1971 Correspondence
Letter to Bhutatma -- Delhi 5 December, 1971: So the work is in your hands. Let me be free now to translate books, that is my desire. You become very responsible and convinced of this our Krishna philosophy and if you maintain your purity then you will convince everyone else with this philosophy, that is our mission. Kindly assist me to please Lord Caitanya in this way, by spreading Krishna Consciousness or pure love of God, and know it for certain that by this work you shall very very soon go back to Home, back to Godhead.
1972 Correspondence
Letter to Chaturbhus -- Bombay 21 January, 1972: Lord Caitanya met Moulana in Sara, U.P., not at Allahabad. His process was to take a quotation from the Koran and convince the Moulana that Krishna Consciousness or pure love of Godhead in mood of selfless devotional service is the ultimate goal of life.
Letter to Caturbhuja -- Mayapur 28 February, 1972: You enquire about the mode of goodness, and why such people do not worship Krishna. Actually, this is not the final stage, one has to go further ahead to suddha sattva. In the material mode of goodness there are sometimes tinges of the modes of passion and ignorance, but in the suddha sattva stage there is only pure love of God or pure mode of goodness, that is the difference.
| Page Title: | Pure love of God |
| Compiler: | Siddha Rupa, Visnu Murti |
| Created: | 03 of Jan, 2008 |
| No. of Quotes: | 42 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=4, CC=16, OB=12, Lec=3, Con=0, Let=7 |