Volunteer

"One who rejects things without knowledge of their relationship to Kṛṣṇa is incomplete in his renunciation." (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.256) When the body is engaged in the service of the Lord, one should not consider the body material. Sometimes the spiritual body of the spiritual master is misunderstood. But Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī instructs, prāpañcikatayā buddhyā hari-sambandhi-vastunaḥ. The body fully engaged in Kṛṣṇa's service should not be neglected as material. One who does neglect it is false in his renunciation. If the body is not properly maintained, it falls down and dries up like an uprooted tree, from which flowers and fruit can no longer be obtained.
(Srimad Bhagavatam-----8:19:40-----purport).

In Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī thus instructs that if one's only desire is service to the Lord, he is liberated in any condition of life. Mahārāja Ambarīṣa was undoubtedly liberated in any condition, but as an ideal king he accepted the vānaprastha order of retirement from family life. It is essential for one to renounce family responsibilities and fully concentrate on the lotus feet of Vāsudeva. Therefore Mahārāja Ambarīṣa divided the kingdom among his sons and retired from family life.
(Srimad Bhagavatam-----9:5:26-----purport).

Mahārāja Khaṭvāṅga accepted the spiritual path, and therefore he was no longer interested in anything material. Kṛṣṇa says in Bhagavad-gītā (18.55), bhaktyā mām abhijānāti: "Only by devotional service can I be understood." One can understand Kṛṣṇa, the Para-brahman, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, only through devotional service. The Lord never says that one can understand Him by performing mystic yoga or by philosophically speculating. Bhakti is above all such material attempts. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.1.11). Bhakti is uncontaminated, being unalloyed even by jñāna or pious activities.
(Srimad Bhagavatam-----9:9:46-----purport).

But they cannot possibly check this movement or stop the activities of the devotees in Europe and America by their artificial impositions. Here the words śrotrāñjalir upaspṛśya indicate that simply by hearing the transcendental activities of the Lord the devotees become so pure that they are immediately immune to the contamination of materialistic fruitive activities. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.1.11) Materialistic activities are unnecessary for the soul, and therefore the devotees are freed from such activities. The devotees are situated in liberation (brahma-bhūyāya kalpate (B.G.14:26), and therefore they cannot be called back to their material homes and materialistic activities.
(Srimad Bhagavatam-----9:24:62-----purport).

Devotional service is powerful in any form. Śrī-viṣṇoḥ śravaṇe parīkṣid abhavad vaiyāsakiḥ kīrtane (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.265). According to this verse, Mahārāja Parīkṣit became liberated by fully concentrating his mind on hearing the Lord's holy name, attributes and pastimes. Similarly, Śukadeva Gosvāmī simply glorified the Lord, and by speaking on the subject matters of Kṛṣṇa that constitute the entire Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, he too was liberated. One may also be liberated simply by sakhya, friendly behavior with the Lord. Such is the power of devotional service, as we learn from the examples set by the Lord's many pure devotees.
(Srimad Bhagavatam-----10:2:30-----purport).

The ācārya's duty, therefore, is to find the means by which devotees may render service according to references from śāstra. Rūpa Gosvāmī, for example, in order to help subsequent devotees, published such devotional books as Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu. Thus it is the duty of the ācārya to publish books that will help future candidates take up the method of service and become eligible to return home, back to Godhead, by the mercy of the Lord. In our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, this same path is being prescribed and followed. Thus the devotees have been advised to refrain from four sinful activities—illicit sex, intoxication, meat-eating and gambling—and to chant sixteen rounds a day. These are bona fide instructions.
(Srimad Bhagavatam-----10:2:31-----purport).

If one wants to go back home, back to Godhead, one must be niṣkiñcana, free from all material desires. Therefore, instead of desiring to have the Lord come here and become one's son, one should desire to become free from all material desires (anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.1.11)) and go back home, back to Godhead. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu teaches us in His Śikṣāṣṭaka:
na dhanaṁ na janaṁ na sundarīṁ
kavitāṁ vā jagad-īśa kāmaye
mama janmani janmanīśvare
bhavatād bhaktir ahaitukī tvayi
(Cc. Antya 20.29, Śikṣāṣṭaka 4)

"O almighty Lord, I have no desire to accumulate wealth, nor do I desire beautiful women, nor do I want any number of followers. I only want Your causeless devotional service, birth after birth." One should not ask the Lord to fulfill any materially tainted desires.

(Srimad Bhagavatam-----10:3:39-----purport).

"A person acting in the service of Kṛṣṇa with his body, mind and words is a liberated person, even within the material world." (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.187) Therefore, one is forbidden to regard the guru as an ordinary human being (guruṣu nara-matir. .. nārakī saḥ). The spiritual master, or ācārya, is always situated in the spiritual status of life. Birth, death, old age and disease do not affect him. According to the Hari-bhakti-vilāsa, therefore, after the disappearance of an ācārya, his body is never burnt to ashes, for it is a spiritual body. The spiritual body is always unaffected by material conditions.
(Srimad Bhagavatam-----10:4:20-----purport).

Thus the pastimes of Kṛṣṇa, one after another, kept mother Yaśodā and all the inhabitants of Vraja in great astonishment. The process to revive one's Kṛṣṇa consciousness is ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-saṅgaḥ (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.4.15). The pastimes of Kṛṣṇa can be properly received from devotees. If one has developed a little bit of Kṛṣṇa consciousness by hearing from Vaiṣṇavas about the activities of Kṛṣṇa, one becomes attached to Vaiṣṇavas who are interested only in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Therefore Parīkṣit Mahārāja recommends that one hear about Kṛṣṇa's childhood activities, which are more attractive than the activities of other incarnations, such as Matsya, Kūrma and Varāha. Wanting to hear more and more from Śukadeva Gosvāmī, Mahārāja Parīkṣit requested him to continue describing Kṛṣṇa's childhood activities, which are especially easy to hear and which create more and more inquisitiveness.
(Srimad Bhagavatam-----10:7:1-2-----purport).

The distinction between a pure devotee and a karma-miśra devotee is this: a pure devotee does not desire anything for material enjoyment, whereas a mixed devotee becomes a devotee to become a first-class enjoyer of this material world. One who is in direct touch with the Supreme Personality of Godhead in devotional service remains pure, uncontaminated by material desires (anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.1.11)).
(Srimad Bhagavatam-----10:10:20-22-----purport).

As recommended by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, tasmāt kenāpy upāyena manaḥ kṛṣṇe niveśayet (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.4) (S.B.7:1:32). Somehow or other, whether one thinks of Kṛṣṇa as an ordinary human child, as the source of the Brahman effulgence, as the origin of Paramātmā, or as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one should concentrate one's full attention upon the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. That is also the instruction of Bhagavad-gītā (18.66): sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the easiest way of directly approaching Kṛṣṇa. Īśvaraḥ sadyo hṛdy avarudhyate 'tra kṛtibhiḥ śuśrūṣubhis tat-kṣaṇāt (S.B.1:1:2). Diverting even a little of one's attention toward Kṛṣṇa and activities in Kṛṣṇa consciousness immediately enables one to achieve the highest perfection of life.
(Srimad Bhagavatam-----10:12:7-11-----purport).

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