Unalloyed devotion

Expressions researched:
"unalloyed devotion" |"unalloyed love and devotion" |"unalloyed, pure devotion" |"unalloyed, single-minded devotion"

BG Chapters 1 - 6

BG 2.62, Purport:

Lord Śiva was deep in meditation, but when Pārvatī agitated him for sense pleasure, he agreed to the proposal, and as a result Kārtikeya was born. When Haridāsa Ṭhākura was a young devotee of the Lord, he was similarly allured by the incarnation of Māyā-devī, but Haridāsa easily passed the test because of his unalloyed devotion to Lord Kṛṣṇa.

BG Chapters 7 - 12

BG 8.22, Translation:

The Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is greater than all, is attainable by unalloyed devotion. Although He is present in His abode, He is all-pervading, and everything is situated within Him.

BG 9.1, Purport:

The very beginning of Bhagavad-gītā, the First Chapter, is more or less an introduction to the rest of the book; and in the Second and Third chapters, the spiritual knowledge described is called confidential. Topics discussed in the Seventh and Eighth chapters are specifically related to devotional service, and because they bring enlightenment in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they are called more confidential. But the matters which are described in the Ninth Chapter deal with unalloyed, pure devotion. Therefore this is called the most confidential.

BG Chapters 13 - 18

BG 13.8-12, Translation:

Humility; pridelessness; nonviolence; tolerance; simplicity; approaching a bona fide spiritual master; cleanliness; steadiness; self-control; renunciation of the objects of sense gratification; absence of false ego; the perception of the evil of birth, death, old age and disease; detachment; freedom from entanglement with children, wife, home and the rest; even-mindedness amid pleasant and unpleasant events; constant and unalloyed devotion to Me; aspiring to live in a solitary place; detachment from the general mass of people; accepting the importance of self-realization; and philosophical search for the Absolute Truth—all these I declare to be knowledge, and besides this whatever there may be is ignorance.

SB Canto 1

SB 1.6.19, Purport:

The Lord is completely independent of all obligations. He can simply be bound up by the tie of unalloyed devotion. Nor is He visible or perceivable by our material senses. When He pleases, being satisfied with the sincere attempt of devotional service depending completely on the mercy of the Lord, then He may be seen out of His own accord.

SB 1.7.10, Purport:

Therefore, unalloyed devotion means service to the Lord without desire for the above-mentioned personal benefits. And the powerful Personality of Godhead Śrī Kṛṣṇa can be fully satisfied by such unalloyed devotees free from all sorts of desires for personal benefit.

SB 1.8.17, Purport:

Kuntī is described herein as satī, or chaste, due to her unalloyed devotion to Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Her mind will now be expressed in the following prayers for Lord Kṛṣṇa. A chaste devotee of the Lord does not look to others, namely any other living being or demigod, even for deliverance from danger. That was all along the characteristic of the whole family of the Pāṇḍavas. They knew nothing except Kṛṣṇa, and therefore the Lord was also always ready to help them in all respects and in all circumstances.

SB 1.8.42, Purport:

In the Bhagavad-gītā we can see that Arjuna desired not to fight with his brothers and relations just to satisfy his own personal desires. But when he heard the message of the Lord, Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā, he changed his decision and served the Lord. And for his doing so, he became a famous devotee of the Lord, for it is declared in all the scriptures that Arjuna attained spiritual perfection by devotional service to the Lord in friendship. The fighting was there, the friendship was there, Arjuna was there, and Kṛṣṇa was there, but Arjuna became a different person by devotional service. Therefore, the prayers of Kuntī also indicate the same categorical changes in activities. Śrīmatī Kuntī wanted to serve the Lord without diversion, and that was her prayer. This unalloyed devotion is the ultimate goal of life.

SB 1.9.47, Purport:

The devotees of the Lord are always in the heart of the Lord, and the Lord is always in the hearts of the devotees. That is the sweet relation between the Lord and His devotees. Due to unalloyed love and devotion for the Lord, the devotees always see Him within themselves, and the Lord also, although He has nothing to do and nothing to aspire to, is always busy in attending to the welfare of His devotees.

SB Canto 3

SB 3.3.5, Purport:

Indra thought that Kṛṣṇa was a henpecked husband who only by the will of His wife Satyabhāmā took away the property of heaven, and therefore he thought that Kṛṣṇa could be punished. He forgot that the Lord is the proprietor of everything and cannot be henpecked. The Lord is fully independent, and by His will only He can have hundreds and thousands of wives like Satyabhāmā. He was not, therefore, attached to Satyabhāmā because she was a beautiful wife, but He was pleased with her devotional service and thus wanted to reciprocate the unalloyed devotion of His devotee.

SB 3.5.1, Purport:

Vidura was already perfect due to his unalloyed devotion to the infallible Lord. The Lord and the living entities are all qualitatively the same by nature, but the Lord is quantitatively much greater than any individual living entity. He is ever infallible, whereas the living entities are prone to fall under the illusory energy. Vidura had already surpassed the fallible nature of the living entity in conditional life due to his being acyuta-bhāva, or legitimately absorbed in the devotional service of the Lord. This stage of life is called acyuta-bhāva-siddha, or perfection by dint of devotional service.

SB 3.5.38, Purport:

Devotees worship the Supreme Lord to attain unalloyed devotion to the Lord. The Lord, however, is not worshiped by others, who have no program for attaining love of God, which is the essential aim of human life. Persons averse to a loving relationship with God are more or less condemned by their own actions.

SB 3.29.11-12, Purport:

The word ahaitukī means "without reason." A pure devotee does not render loving service to the Personality of Godhead for any cause or for any benefit, material or spiritual. This is the first symptom of unalloyed devotion.

SB Canto 4

SB 4.24.27, Purport:

The demigods are servants of the Lord, and they are always prepared to help a devotee in all circumstances. Therefore Śrīla Bilvamaṅgala Ṭhākura said that if one has unalloyed devotion for the Supreme Lord, the goddess of liberation is ready to serve him, to say nothing of the gods of material opulences. Indeed, all the demigods are simply waiting for an opportunity to serve the devotee. Thus there is no need for a devotee of Kṛṣṇa to endeavor for material opulence or liberation. By being situated in the transcendental position of devotional service, he receives all the benefits of dharma, artha, kāma and mokṣa.

SB Canto 5

SB 5.18.9, Purport:

Even pure (niṣkāma) devotees pray for some benediction, as instructed by Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu in His Śikṣāṣṭaka:

ayi nanda-tanuja kiṅkaraṁ

patitaṁ māṁ viṣame bhavāmbudhau

kṛpayā tava pāda-paṅkaja-

sthita-dhūlī-sadṛśaṁ vicintaya

(Cc. Antya 20.32, Śikṣāṣṭaka 5)

"O son of Mahārāja Nanda (Kṛṣṇa), I am Your eternal servitor, yet somehow or other I have fallen into the ocean of birth and death. Please pick Me up from the ocean of death and place Me as one of the atoms at Your lotus feet." In another prayer Lord Caitanya says, mama janmani janmanīśvare bhavatād bhaktir ahaitukī tvayi: (Cc. Antya 20.29, Śikṣāṣṭaka 4) "Life after life, kindly let Me have unalloyed love and devotion at Your Lordship's lotus feet."

SB 5.18.12, Translation:

All the demigods and their exalted qualities, such as religion, knowledge and renunciation, become manifest in the body of one who has developed unalloyed devotion for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vāsudeva. On the other hand, a person devoid of devotional service and engaged in material activities has no good qualities. Even if he is adept at the practice of mystic yoga or the honest endeavor of maintaining his family and relatives, he must be driven by his own mental speculations and must engage in the service of the Lord's external energy. How can there be any good qualities in such a man?

SB Canto 6

SB 6.17.31, Translation and Purport:

Persons engaged in devotional service to Lord Vāsudeva, Kṛṣṇa, have naturally perfect knowledge and detachment from this material world. Therefore such devotees are not interested in the so-called happiness or so-called distress of this world.

Here is the distinction between a devotee and a philosopher who speculates on the subject matter of transcendence. A devotee does not need to cultivate knowledge to understand the falsity or temporary existence of this material world. Because of his unalloyed devotion to Vāsudeva, this knowledge and detachment are automatically manifested in his person.

SB 6.19.17, Translation:

Accepting her husband as the representative of the Supreme Person, a wife should worship him with unalloyed devotion by offering him prasāda. The husband, being very pleased with his wife, should engage himself in the affairs of his family.

SB Canto 7

SB 7.4.36, Translation:

Who could list the innumerable transcendental qualities of Prahlāda Mahārāja? He had unflinching faith in Vāsudeva, Lord Kṛṣṇa (the son of Vasudeva), and unalloyed devotion to Him. His attachment to Lord Kṛṣṇa was natural because of his previous devotional service. Although his good qualities cannot be enumerated, they prove that he was a great soul (mahātmā).

SB 7.7.51-52, Translation:

My dear friends, O sons of the demons, you cannot please the Supreme Personality of Godhead by becoming perfect brāhmaṇas, demigods or great saints or by becoming perfectly good in etiquette or vast learning. None of these qualifications can awaken the pleasure of the Lord. Nor by charity, austerity, sacrifice, cleanliness or vows can one satisfy the Lord. The Lord is pleased only if one has unflinching, unalloyed devotion to Him. Without sincere devotional service, everything is simply a show.

SB 7.7.51-52, Purport:

To develop unalloyed love for Kṛṣṇa is the perfection of life. Other processes may be helpful, but if one does not develop his love for Kṛṣṇa, these other processes are simply a waste of time.

dharmaḥ svanuṣṭhitaḥ puṁsāṁ

viṣvaksena-kathāsu yaḥ

notpādayed yadi ratiṁ

śrama eva hi kevalam

"Duties (dharma) executed by men, regardless of occupation, are only so much useless labor if they do not provoke attraction for the message of the Supreme Lord." (SB 1.2.8) The test of perfection is one's unalloyed devotion to the Lord.

SB 7.10 Summary:

The Supreme Personality of Godhead was greatly pleased with Prahlāda Mahārāja for his unalloyed devotion, yet the Lord provided him one material benediction-that he would be perfectly happy in this world and live his next life in Vaikuṇṭha. The Lord gave him the benediction that he would be the king of this material world until the end of the manvantara millennium and that although in this material world, he would have the facility to hear the glories of the Lord and depend fully on the Lord, performing service to Him in uncontaminated bhakti-yoga. The Lord advised Prahlāda to perform sacrifices through bhakti-yoga, for this is the duty of a king.

SB 7.10.8, Purport:

Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.1.11). Anya-abhilāṣitā means "material desire," and śūnyam means "free from." The spiritual soul has spiritual activities and spiritual desires, as described by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu: mama janmani janmanīśvare bhavatād bhaktir ahaitukī tvayi (Cc. Antya 20.29, Śikṣāṣṭaka 4). Unalloyed devotion to the service of the Lord is the only spiritual desire. To fulfill this spiritual desire, however, one must be free from all material desires.

SB Canto 9

SB 9.4.28, Translation:

Being very pleased by the unalloyed devotion of Mahārāja Ambarīṣa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead gave the King His disc, which is fearful to enemies and which always protects the devotee from enemies and adversities.

SB Cantos 10.14 to 12 (Translations Only)

SB 12.10.39, Translation:

Mārkaṇḍeya Ṛṣi, the best of the descendants of Bhṛgu, is glorious because of his achievement of perfection in mystic yoga. Even today he travels about this world, fully absorbed in unalloyed devotion for the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

CC Adi-lila

CC Adi 1.35, Purport:

If one develops love for Kṛṣṇa by Kṛṣṇa conscious activities, one can know the Supreme Absolute Truth, but he who tries to understand God simply by logical arguments will not succeed, nor will he get a taste for unalloyed devotion. The secret is that one must submissively listen to those who know perfectly the science of God, and one must begin the mode of service regulated by the preceptor.

CC Madhya-lila

CC Madhya 8.294, Purport:

Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura gives the following summary of the conversations between Rāmānanda Rāya and Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Rāmānanda Rāya replied to five questions of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and these questions and their replies are recorded in verses 57–67. The first answer is compared to copper, the second to a better metal, bell metal, the third to a still better metal, silver, and the fourth to the best metal of all, gold. But the fifth answer is compared to the most valuable gem, touchstone, because it deals with unalloyed devotion, the ultimate goal of devotional life, and illuminates the preceding four subordinate answers.

CC Madhya 15.154, Purport:

The word prabhu, or master, indicates that the Lord is to be continuously served by His devotee. The original prabhu is the Lord, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Nonetheless, there are many devotees attached to Lord Rāmacandra, and Murāri Gupta is a vivid example of such unalloyed devotion. He never agreed to give up Lord Rāmacandra's worship, not even upon Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's request.

CC Madhya 19.203, Translation and Purport:

"In the stage of kevalā (unalloyed devotion) a devotee does not consider the unlimited opulence of Kṛṣṇa, even though he experiences it. He takes seriously only his own relationship with Kṛṣṇa."

When a devotee reaches the stage of pure, unalloyed devotion, especially in friendship with Kṛṣṇa, he forgets the Lord's opulences, although he sees them, and he considers himself equal to Kṛṣṇa. There is no question of actually comparing oneself to Kṛṣṇa, but because the devotee is so advanced in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he is able to behave with Kṛṣṇa as he would with an ordinary man.

CC Antya-lila

CC Antya 7.47, Purport:

Although this greatly pleased the gopīs and other residents of Vrajabhūmi, Vṛndāvana, Uddhava saw that the gopīs were severely afflicted by their separation from Kṛṣṇa. Their hearts were so disturbed that their minds were sometimes deranged. Observing the unalloyed devotion and love of the gopīs for Kṛṣṇa, Uddhava desired to become a creeper, a blade of grass or an herb in Vṛndāvana so that sometimes the gopīs would trample him and he would receive the dust of their lotus feet on his head.

Nectar of Devotion

Nectar of Devotion 14:

If we are engaged in the execution of all the items of devotional service, as was Mahārāja Ambarīṣa, then the perfection of devotional service is guaranteed from each one of these items. With the first complete engagement, one becomes automatically detached from material contamination, and liberation becomes the maidservant of the devotee. This idea is confirmed by Bilvamaṅgala Ṭhākura. If one develops unalloyed devotion to the Lord, liberation will follow the devotee as his maidservant.

Nectar of Instruction

Nectar of Instruction 3, Purport:

Devotional service is not a matter of sentimental speculation or imaginative ecstasy. Its substance is practical activity. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, in his Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu (1.1.11), has defined devotional service as follows:

anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ

jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam

ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānu-

śīlanaṁ bhaktir uttamā

(CC Madhya 19.167)

"Uttamā bhakti, or unalloyed devotion unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, involves the rendering of devotional service in a way that is favorable to the Lord. This devotional service should be free from any extraneous motive and devoid of fruitive karma, impersonal jñāna and all other selfish desires."

Nectar of Instruction 6, Purport:

Avyabhicāriṇī bhakti means unalloyed devotion. A person engaged in devotional service must be free from material motives. In this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, one's consciousness must be changed. If consciousness is aimed toward material enjoyment, it is material consciousness, and if it is aimed toward serving Kṛṣṇa, it is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. A surrendered soul serves Kṛṣṇa without material considerations (anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.1.11)). Jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam: unalloyed devotional service, which is transcendental to the activities of the body and mind, such as jñāna (mental speculation) and karma (fruitive work), is called pure bhakti-yoga.

Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead

Krsna Book 8:

When the best of the Vasus, named Droṇa, and his wife Dharā were ordered to increase progeny by Lord Brahmā, they said unto him, "Dear father, we are seeking your benediction. When we take birth again within the universe, may the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa in His most attractive feature of childhood absorb our whole attention. May our dealings with Him be so powerful that simply by hearing of these childhood activities of His, anyone will very easily cross over the nescience of birth and death." Lord Brahmā agreed to give them the benediction, and as a result the same Droṇa appeared as Nanda Mahārāja in Vṛndāvana, and the same Dharā appeared as mother Yaśodā, the wife of Nanda Mahārāja.

In this way, Nanda Mahārāja and his wife, mother Yaśodā, developed their unalloyed devotion for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, having gotten Him as their son. And all the gopīs and cowherd men who were associates of Kṛṣṇa naturally developed their own different feelings of love for Kṛṣṇa.

Krsna Book 60:

"You sent your messenger inviting Me to kidnap you, and when you found that there was a little delay in My arriving on the spot, you saw the whole world as vacant. At that time you concluded that your beautiful body was not fit to be touched by anyone else; therefore, thinking that I was not coming, you decided to commit suicide and immediately end that body. My dear Rukmiṇī, such great and exalted love for Me will always remain within My soul. As far as I am concerned, it is not within My power to repay you for your unalloyed devotion to Me."

Renunciation Through Wisdom

Renunciation Through Wisdom 2.6:

The word nitya means "daily," "regularly," or "constantly." Those who meditate constantly on Lord Kṛṣṇa's lotus feet can easily attain Him. As Lord Brahmā states in the Brahma-saṁhitā (5.33),

advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam

ādyaṁ purāṇa-puruṣaṁ nava-yauvanaṁ ca

vedeṣu durlabham adurlabham ātma-bhaktau

govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

"I worship Govinda, the Primeval Lord, who is inaccessible to the Vedas, but who is obtainable by pure unalloyed devotion of the soul, who is without a second, who is not subject to decay, is without a beginning, whose form is endless, who is the beginning, and the eternal puruṣa, yet He is a person possessing the beauty of blooming youth."

Renunciation Through Wisdom 2.13:

Those who surrender to Lord Kṛṣṇa, who repose their unflinching faith in the personal form of the Supreme Lord, offer him their mental and physical activities, along with everything else. With unalloyed, single-minded devotion unencumbered by desires for empirical knowledge, fruitive activity, or severe austerities, they worship and meditate on the eternal, beautiful, two-handed form of Lord Kṛṣṇa playing a flute. Such pure devotees, their hearts saturated with love for Kṛṣṇa, quickly and easily transcend the cycle of material existence, for Lord Kṛṣṇa personally helps them. The merciful Lord promises to reciprocate with each one according to his degree of devotion.

Renunciation Through Wisdom 3.2:

What will soon be discussed is that the kṣetra-jña is completely different from the kṣetra and its transformations. But to properly understand the knowledge concerning the kṣetra and the kṣetra-jña, one must first cultivate at least twenty good qualities listed in the Bhagavad-gītā (13.8-12):

"Humility; pridelessness; nonviolence; tolerance; simplicity; approaching a bona fide spiritual master; cleanliness; steadiness; self-control; renunciation of the objects of sense gratification; absence of false ego; the perception of the evil of birth, death, old age, and disease; detachment; freedom from entanglement with children, wife, home and the rest; even-mindedness amid pleasant and unpleasant events; constant and unalloyed devotion to Me; aspiring to live in a solitary place; detachment from the general mass of people; accepting the importance of self-realization; and philosophical search for the Absolute Truth—all these I declare to be knowledge, and besides this whatever there may be is ignorance."

Renunciation Through Wisdom 3.2:

There is one quality among the twenty qualities Kṛṣṇa lists that is especially noteworthy, and that is mayi cānanya-yogena bhaktir avyabhicāriṇī: "Constant and unalloyed devotion to Me (Kṛṣṇa)." The other qualities are required to cleanse the consciousness. Once the mirror of the mind is purified and the blazing fire of material existence extinguished, constant and unalloyed devotion to Lord Kṛṣṇa begins to appear on the horizon of the heart.

Renunciation Through Wisdom 3.2:

It is interesting to note that once constant and unalloyed devotion to Lord Kṛṣṇa blossoms in the heart of a person, the other nineteen qualities automatically manifest in him. As mentioned in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (5.18.12), yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavaty akiñcanā sarvair guṇais tatra samāsate surāḥ:

"All the demigods and their exalted qualities, such as religion, knowledge and renunciation, become manifest in the body of one who has developed unalloyed devotion for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vāsudeva."

Renunciation Through Wisdom 3.2:

By patiently collecting ten, twenty, thirty rupees daily, one will someday have a million rupees. But if one comes upon a million rupees all at once, one does not have to endeavor separately to collect ten, twenty, or thirty rupees and waste valuable time. Similarly, when one develops unalloyed devotion to Lord Kṛṣṇa, all the other above-mentioned qualities automatically adorn that person without extra effort. On the other hand, one who leaves aside unalloyed devotion to Lord Kṛṣṇa and tries to cultivate the other nineteen qualities separately may temporarily receive wealth and honor, but he will become unqualified for achieving the highest goal.

Renunciation Through Wisdom 3.2:

It is futile to make an external show of good qualities like humility and nonviolence while disrespecting the Lord's lotus feet and denouncing the process of devotional service. Such so-called good qualities may be of some material value, but ultimately they are useless and temporary. In fact, the nineteen other qualities combine to make a throne from which unalloyed devotion may rule. These qualities are various limbs of the Absolute Truth, and everything outside this absolute knowledge is nescience.

Sri Isopanisad

Sri Isopanisad 12, Purport:

Such mental speculators do not know that the Absolute Personality of Godhead is Kṛṣṇa, that the impersonal Brahman is the glaring effulgence of His transcendental body, or that the Paramātmā, the Supersoul, is His all-pervading plenary representation. Nor do they know that Kṛṣṇa has His eternal form with its transcendental qualities of eternal bliss and knowledge. The dependent demigods and great sages imperfectly consider Him to be a powerful demigod, and they consider the Brahman effulgence to be the Absolute Truth. But the devotees of Kṛṣṇa, by dint of their surrendering unto Him and their unalloyed devotion, can know that He is the Absolute Person and that everything emanates from Him. Such devotees continuously render loving service unto Kṛṣṇa, the fountainhead of everything.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.2.6 -- Hyderabad, November 26, 1972:

Suppose if I take my dress out of my body, my real senses are there. So similarly, when we become free from the designation of this material body and we come to the pure stage of original, spiritual senses, that senses when applied to the service of the supreme master of senses, God, that is called bhakti. Yato bhaktir adhokṣaje. So, if we actually want peace or happiness, yayātmā suprasīdati, without any designation, then that peace and happiness can be achieved. Otherwise it is not possible. So long we remain designated, it is not possible to come to that stage of pure, unalloyed devotion to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Lecture on SB 1.15.33 -- Los Angeles, December 11, 1973:

Ekānta-bhakti means unalloyed devotion. This is the secret of devotional life. Even God is not physically present, a devotee can be very much exalted by devotional service. That is the teaching of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

Lecture on SB 3.25.41 -- Bombay, December 9, 1974:

What Kapiladeva is saying, Sāṅkhya philosophy, means unalloyed devotion to the Lord. That is Sāṅkhya philosophy. There is another Sāṅkhya philosophy. He also imitated the name of Kapila, but he is atheist Sāṅkhya philosophy. But here we should remember Sāṅkhya philosophy originally propounded by Kapiladeva, the son of Devahūti.

General Lectures

Lecture -- Seattle, September 30, 1968:

Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, śrīmad-bhāgavatam amalaṁ purāṇam. The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, it is spotless description of understanding how to love God. There is no other description. From the beginning it is teaching how to love God. Those who have studied Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the first verse in the First Canto is janmādy asya yataḥ, satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi (SB 1.1.1). The beginning is that "I am offering my unalloyed devotion unto the Supreme, from whom everything has emanated."

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- February 6, 1976, Mayapura:

Dayānanda: But what about the persons who may be a little bit devoted but who have not achieved that unalloyed devotion?

Prabhupāda: Kaniṣṭha-adhikārī. They are not devotees, but they are called bhaktābhāsa. There is some signs of bhakti. Actually they are not bhakta. Bhaktābhāsa. Ābhāsa. Ābhāsa means a simple, a little light.

Morning Walk -- March 25, 1976, Delhi:

Guru dāsa: Nara-priya(?) do not know śāstras. They know unalloyed devotion.

Prabhupāda: No, that is the nature. A child generally abides by the order of the parent. They are playing. The parent says, "Don't do it! Sit down!" Immediately sit down. That is the nature. So why don't you break your nature, that "My duty is to carry out the order of the supreme father?" Then you are safe.

1976 Correspondence

Letter to Mr. Raja Sajid Husain -- Los Angeles 4 June, 1976:

Without God Consciousness, nobody can be ethical. In the Vedic literatures, we find this verse:

yasyasti bhaktir bhagavaty akincana

sarvair gunais tatra samasate surah,

harav abhaktasya kuto mahad-guna

manorathenasati dhavato bahih.

(SB 5.18.12)

"All the demigods and their exalted qualities, such as religion, knowledge, and renunciation, become manifest in the body of one who has developed unalloyed devotion for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vasudeva. On the other hand, a person devoid of devotional service and engaged in material activities has no good qualities. Even if he is adept at the practice of mystic yoga or the honest endeavour of maintaining his family and relatives, he must be driven by his own mental speculations and must engage in the service of the Lord's external energy. How can such a man possess any good qualities?"