Devotional service is completely spiritual

Lecture by Vasudev Keshav Dasa

Srimad Bhagavatam – 3.2.3

sa katham sevaya tasya
kalena jarasam gatah
prsto vartam pratibruyad
bhartuh padav anusmaran

TRANSLATION

Uddhava thus served the Lord continually from childhood, and in his old age that attitude of service never slackened. As soon as he was asked about the message of the Lord, he at once remembered all about Him.

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Uddhava is a cousin of Lord Krishna and Krishna would accept advice from him as he was a confidentialassociate. Here Uddhava is meeting Vidura, another great devotee of Krishna. Vidura was in the palace of Hastinapura before the battle of Kurukshetra began and he was always counseling Dhritarashtra, his elder brother. Dhritarashtra felt that he was supposed to be the king because he was eldest of the three brothers. Pandu was younger to him and Vidura was still young and was a dasi putra. Dhritarashtra didn’t get the kingdom as he was blind and it went to Pandu and now he was thinking that my sons should get the entire kingdom.

Dhritarashtra had a strong attachment for his son Duryodhana. He couldn’t take in the counseling that Vidura was giving.  His instructions are known as vaidurikam - famous instructions of Vidura. Dhritarashtra was not just blind materially he was also spiritually blind. Supporting the impious act of his dishonest sons was a greater blindness than his physical lack of eye sight. Vidura went on instructing and finally it came to a point where he had to leave the palace of Hastinapura as he was insulted. Prabhupada writes that the main cause was that Vidura could see that Dhritarashtra and Duryodhana were not even willing to agree to the proposal that Krishna had got and they had insulted even Krishna. Taking it to be an arrangement of the Lord, Vidura took this 

Leaving before the battle began he travelled for years together and came to the banks of Yamuna where he met Uddhava. He knew Uddhava is a close associate of Krishna, so very feelingly he asked - please tell me how is Krishna. The battle was over by this time and he wanted to know how things are. When asked about the message of the Lord, Uddhava at once remembered all about Him. The whole purport is about the transcendental service attitude that a devotee should possess towards the Lord. In Nectar of Instruction, Prabhupada writes - advancement in Krishna consciousness depends on the attitude of the follower. Prabhupada defined the word dharma. Dharma doesn’t mean religion; dharma of all of us is to be engaged in some service. Prabhupada writes in the purport, after 58 or 60 we all retire because the body is weak and it cannot do any more service. But on the transcendental plane when we are doing service for Krishna that energy to serve Krishna increases with age.

This proves that devotional service is completely spiritual; it is not on the material platform. In old age though physically we may become weak but in the mind we are very active. The practical example of how the attitude of service should always increase is Srila Prabhupada at the age of 69 left Vrindavan and went to thewestern world for preaching. So devotees also should constantly be meditating - how can I increase my service for Krishna because that is all that we have come here for, we have been rendering service to Krishna in the spiritual world, somehow we fell down. Prabhupada says a devotee should silently be executing his devotional service. Remain engaged in Krishna's service wherever you are, we don’t want recognition from anyone else, we want recognition from Krishna. Uddhava because he was always on the platform of pure devotional service, the moment Vidura asked him about Krishna he just got lost in thinking about Krishna.

Raghava Pandit was an associate of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu; his devotional service was very pure. He would offer many things to the deity and see that they were neat and clean. He had the habit of offering tender coconuts to the Supreme Lord. Though he had a big tender coconut grove, he would get somebody to fetch tender coconuts 20 miles away from a particular tree because they were very sweet. He would keep them in a bucket of water for a cooling effect before offering. After offering he would come out and chant the mantras meditating on Lord Krishna drinking the tender coconut, he would see sometimes after offering that the tender coconut juice was drained out, sometimes it would be there. So Krishna would reciprocate with Raghava Pandit because his devotional service was very pure.

Once it so happened that the servant came in a little late with the tender coconuts and Raghava Pandit was inside the altar. The servant was standing near the door frame and Raghava Pandit noticed that the servant touched his hand to the ceiling of the door frame and he told him that because many people pass through thedoor outside the altar, the dust blown from their feet had touched the ceiling and with the same hand he was touching the tender coconut. So this is unofferable, please get fresh coconuts. This was the pure devotional service of Raghava Pandit.

Bhakti Siddhantha Saraswati Thakur states that Raghava Pandit was on the platform of pure devotional service. This is what a devotee’s mind should be and we should not  judge that, of course in the material platform to think that this is good, this is bad, again there is a catch in that, it is said that -

‘ei bhadra, ei bhalo saba'manodharma'
'dvaite' bhadrabhadra-jnana, saba'manodharma'
'ei bhala, ei manda,'ei saba 'bhrama'

There are two platforms, we are on the material platform and on the transcendental platform for a pure devotee there is nothing good, nothing bad - he may be thinking that he wants to offer his best because he is on the transcendental platform but for us we sometimes should not get too caught up in thinking whether this is good, this is bad. Actually in our conditioned state of affairs whatever is good if we think that it is good it is bad, if we think that this is bad it is ‘ei bhala, ei manda,'ei saba 'manobhrama' means right now in our state it will be difficult for us to judge. We should not try to imitate Raghava Pandit; we should try to follow in their footsteps. How I can perform devotional service with my heart and soul and while performing this devotional service we should conduct ourselves as if we are fools guru more murkha dekhi' karila sasana.

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu always maintained this attitude. Please don’t be on a platform that I am a great devotee; always think yourself to be a fool, I know nothing and somehow Krishna, somehow Prabhupada is engaging me in His service and it is all His mercy that I am being engaged - please don’t take any credit. The greater the fool we remain in front of our spiritual master the greater we progress. Whatever service a devotee is doing he should constantly think that I am worth nothing.

(The above transcripts have been edited for better readability. However they have not been verified and confirmed by the original speaker.)

Sri Vasudev Keshav Dasa is a full-time missionary with ISKCON since 1998. He is presently the Governing Body Commissioner - ISKCON Bangalore Group of Temples and Governing Council Member, ISKCON Bangalore Society.

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