B H A K T I (DEVOTIONAL SERVICE). part 11.

In Bhagavad-gītā the Lord Himself said, "One can understand Meonly through devotional service." In beginning His teaching of theBhagavad Gītā, the Lord said to Arjuna, "Because you are My devotee,I shall teach these secrets to you." Vedic knowledge means ultimatelyto understand the Supreme Lord, and the process of entering intoHis kingdom is devotional service.In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Lord Kṛṣṇa says, "My dear Uddhava, for personswho are seriously engaged in My service, the cultivation of philosophicalspeculation and artificial renunciation are not very favourable. When a personbecomes My devotee he automatically attains the fruits of the renunciationof material enjoyment, and he gets sufficient knowledge to understand theAbsolute Truth." That is the test of advancement in devotional service.A devotee cannot be in darkness, because the Lord shows himspecial favour and enlightens him from within.In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam the Lord further instructs Uddhava, "My dear friend,the profits derived from fruitive activities, austerities, the culture of philosophicalknowledge, renunciation, the practice of mystic yoga, charity and all similarauspicious activities are automatically achieved by My devotees — those who aresimply attached to Me by loving service. These devotees have everythingat their disposal, but they desire nothing outside of My devotional service.One should not give up anything which can be utilized in the service of the Lord.That is a secret of devotional service. Anything that can be utilized inadvancing Kṛṣṇa consciousness and devotional service should be accepted.(The Nectar of Devotion).There is a story in the Skanda Purāṇa about a hunter who was converted intoa great devotee under the instruction of Nārada Muni. When the hunter becamea perfect devotee, he was not prepared to kill even an ant. Parvata Muni, a friendof Nārada's, saw the wonderful transformation of the hunter by devotional serviceand remarked, "My dear hunter, your unwillingness to kill even an ant is not veryastonishing. Any person who develops the devotional attitude has all the goodqualities automatically manifested in his person. A devotee is never a causeof distress to anyone."Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī said that there are nine different kinds of devotional service,which are listed as hearing, chanting, remembering, serving, worshiping the Deityin the temple, praying, carrying out orders, serving Kṛṣṇa as a friend and sacrificingeverything for Him. Each and every one of these processes is so powerful that ifanyone follows even one single one of them, he can achieve the desired perfectionwithout fail. For example, if one is attached simply to hearing about the Lord andanother is attached to chanting the glories of the name, both will achievetheir desired goal in devotional service.(The Nectar of Devotion).There are concrete examples of how a devotee discharged one of these servicesand achieved perfection. King Parīkṣit achieved the desired goal of life simplyby hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Śukadeva Gosvāmī achieved the desired goalof life simply by reciting Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Prahlāda Mahārāja becamesuccessful in his devotional service by always remembering the Lord.Lakṣmī, the goddess of fortune, was successful by engaging herself in massagingthe lotus feet of the Lord. King Pṛthu became successful by worshipping in thetemple. Akrūra became successful by offering prayers. Hanumān becamesuccessful by rendering personal service to Lord Rāmacandra. Arjuna becamesuccessful by being a friend of Kṛṣṇa. And Bali Mahārāja became successfulsimply by offering all of his possessions to Kṛṣṇa.(The Nectar of Devotion).In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam there is a statement by Nārada Muni to Yudhiṣṭhira:There Nārada says, "My dear King, there are many devotees who first becomeattracted to the Personality of Godhead for purposes of sense gratification,from being envious of Him, out of fear of Him or from desiring to associateaffectionately with Him. Ultimately these attractions become freed from allmaterial contamination, and gradually the worshipper develops spiritual loveand achieves that ultimate goal of life desired by the pure devotee."In the Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa it is stated, "Those who have achieved liberation frommaterial contamination and those who are demons and are killed by theSupreme Personality of Godhead become absorbed in the Brahman concept of lifeand reside in the spiritual sky of the brahmajyoti." That spiritual sky is far beyondthe material sky, and it is confirmed also in Bhagavad-gītā that beyond thismaterial sky there is another, eternal sky. The enemies and the impersonalists maybe allowed to enter into this Brahman effulgence, but the devotees of Kṛṣṇa arepromoted all the way to the spiritual planets. Because the pure devotees havedeveloped their spontaneous love for the Supreme Personality of Godhead,they are allowed to enter into the spiritual planets to enjoy spiritual blissin association with the Supreme Personality of Godhead.The "lusty attitude" of the gopīs does not refer to any sort of sex indulgence.Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī explains that this "lusty desire" refers to the devotee'sparticular attitude of association with Kṛṣṇa. Every devotee in his perfectional stagehas a spontaneous attraction to the Lord. This attraction is sometimes called the"lusty desire" of the devotee. The lust is the devotee's excessive desire to serve theLord in a particular capacity. Such a desire may seem to be a desire for enjoyingthe Lord, but actually the endeavour is to serve the Lord in that capacity. For example,a devotee may be desiring to associate with the Personality of Godhead as Hiscowherd friend. He will want to serve the Lord by assisting Him in controllingthe cows in the pasturing ground. This may appear to be a desire to enjoy thecompany of the Lord, but actually it is spontaneous love, serving Him byassisting in managing the transcendental cows.(The Nectar of Devotion).Great devotees up to the standard of Uddhava are very dear friends of the Lord,and they desire to follow in the footsteps of the gopīs. So the gopīs' love forKṛṣṇa is certainly not material lusty desire. Otherwise, how could Uddhava aspireto follow in their footsteps? Another instance is Lord Caitanya Himself. Afteraccepting the sannyāsa order of life, He was very, very strict about avoidingassociation with women, but still He taught that there is no better method ofworshiping Kṛṣṇa than that conceived by the gopīs. Thus the gopīs' method ofworshipping the Lord as if impelled by lusty desire was praised very highly evenby Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. This very fact means that although the attractionof the gopīs for Kṛṣṇa appears to be lusty, it is not in the least bit material.Unless one is fully situated in the transcendental position, the relationship ofthe gopīs with Kṛṣṇa is very difficult to understand.(The Nectar of Devotion).