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Liberation

Hare Krishna!



Please accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to Guruand Gauranga.
All glroies to Srila Prabhupada.

We can all go on answering each question for all of eternity but we won't be finished. Lord Seshashayi is chanting the Lord's glories for all of eternity and has never repeated Himself but hasn't run out of things to say. :-)

In fact, a pure devotee does not desire any type of liberation. A pure devotee simply seeks service for its own sake. And the service given by a pure devotee of the Lord is so sweet and of such a high caliber that the Supreme Lord Himself expresses inability to repay that obligation, because the Lord already has given Himself to a pure devotee, there is nothing higher to give, but yet the pure devotee keeps giving and giving.

This is illustrated in Lord Sri Krishna's response to the Gopis, when He asks them to please be satisfied by their own service because He is unable to repay their debt.

Another example is how Srila Bhaktivinode Thakura, how he said that he would find it palatable even to be born as a little insect in the home of a Vaishnava.

However, I am not a pure devotee by any stretch of the imagination. I cannot pretend to imitate these highly advanced pure devotees. I can try my best to follow them, but I cannot imitate them without being a charlatan.

In my neophyte stage, if I am attracted by a particular aspect of devotional service, for example, for material sense gratification of some kind, even then it is alright to approach Krishna, because in this process of service, and how Krishna reciprocates expertly, my material contamination will be cleared out by His mercy.

The example in this regard is a woman named Kubja, who approached Krishna because she was attracted to Him in a lusty way. But they way He  reciprocated with her, all her lusty desires were not only fulfilled but she was purified.

Another example is the witch Putana, who smeared poison on her breasts and came to kill little baby Krishna with this poison. Krishna reciprocated with her intention by sucking her breast milk but also sucked out her life. BUT, because she approached Him as a mother, He gave her the position of being a mother to Krishna in the spiritual world.

These pastimes of Krishna are described very nicely in "Krsna: The Supreme Personality of Godhead" by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, published by the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust. If anyone does not have this book, please go to your nearest ISKCON temple and get it, and get a few for your friends and family also.

So, yes, pure devotees don't desire liberation, but those who are not as pure do desire liberation, sense gratification, and wealth. But it is better to desire from Krishna than to follow other paths (such as to approach a demigod or a powerful politician, for example) to get what we want, because the other paths bewilder, but no matter how we approach Krishna for our desires, He will reciprocate in a way that will rid us of all contamination. In the Bhagavad Gita Krishna describes the 4 kinds of pious people who approach Him - the distressed, the inquisitive, the desirers of wealth, and those desirous of knowledge. So anyone who has approached Krishna and is not yet pure devotee is in one or more of those categories.

However, the Acharyas recommend that we approach Krishna in a favorable way. I don't see any fault in your desire to be His friend, to be in the spiritual worlds, etc., is good... only one can examine if we want to be in the spiritual world for our own gratification or to serve Krishna.

Also, the spiritual world is unlimitedly big, there are 3 times as many spiritual planets as there are material planets, and there are more than billions and trillions of material planets in billions and trillions of universes that are constantly coming in and out of the skin pores of Maha Vishnu as He breathes in an out... this is inconceivable.

The Acharyas can only give us a hint of what is out there, not because they are not able to explain, but that we are not able to understand... so yes, even though the 5 types of liberations are briefly described, there is infinite variety of relationships between the living entities who get a particular type of liberation and the Supreme Lord in His Infinite expansions.

As my spiritual master has said many times, and has his spiritual master has said also... "So now qualify yourself to see Krishna face to face". :-)

Your servant,
Mahabhagavat Das


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