Chapter One

Characteristics of Pure Devotional Service

In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Third Canto, 29th Chapter, 10th verse,
Śrīla Kapiladeva, while instructing His mother, has given the following
characteristics of pure devotional service: "My dear mother, those who are
My pure devotees, and who have no desire for material benefit or
philosophical speculation, have their minds so much engaged in My service
that they are never interested in asking Me for anything-except to be
engaged in that service. They do not even beg to live in My abode with Me."
There are five kinds of liberation, namely to become one with the Lord,
to live with the Supreme Lord on the same planet, to have the same features
as the Lord, to enjoy the same opulences as the Lord, and to live as a
companion of the Lord. A devotee, not to speak of rejecting material sense
gratification, does not even want any of the five kinds of liberation. He is
satisfied simply by discharging loving service to the Lord. That is the
characteristic of pure devotion.
In the above statement by Kapiladeva from the Śrīmad-
Bhāgavatam, the actual position of a pure devotee is described, and the
primary characteristics of devotional service are also defined. Further
characteristics of devotional service are described by Rūpa Gosvāmī with
evidences from different scriptures. He states that there are six
characteristics of pure devotional service, which are as follows:
1) Pure devotional service brings immediate relief from all kinds of
material distress.
2) Pure devotional service is the beginning of all auspiciousness.
3) Pure devotional service automatically puts one in transcendental
pleasure.
4) Pure devotional service is rarely achieved.
5) Those in pure devotional service deride even the conception of
liberation.
6) Pure devotional service is the only means to attract Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa.ṛ
 Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa ṛ is all-attractive, but pure devotional service attracts even Him.
This means that pure devotional service is even transcendentally stronger
than Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa ṛ Himself, because it is Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa's
ṛ internal potency.
In the Bhagavad-gītā, the Lord says that one should surrender unto
Him, giving up all other engagements. The Lord also gives His word there
that He will protect surrendered souls from the reactions of all sinful
activities. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī says that the distresses from sinful activities
are due both to the sins themselves and to sins committed in our past lives.
Generally, one commits sinful activities due to ignorance. But ignorance is
no excuse for evading the reaction-sinful activities. Sinful activities are of
two kinds: those which are mature and those which are not mature. The
sinful activities for which we are suffering at the present moment are called
mature. The many sinful activities stored within us for which we have not
yet suffered are considered immature. For example, a man may have
committed criminal acts but not yet been arrested for them. Now, as soon
as he is detected, arrest is awaiting him. Similarly, for some of our sinful
activities we are awaiting distresses in the future, and for others, which are
mature, we are suffering at the present moment.
In this way there is a chain of sinful activities and their concomitant
distresses, and the conditioned soul is suffering life after life due to these
sins. He is suffering in the present life the results of sinful activities from
his past life, and he is meanwhile creating further sufferings for his future
life. Mature sinful activities are exhibited if one is suffering from some
chronic disease, if one is suffering from some legal implication, if one is
born in a low and degraded family, or if one is uneducated or very ugly.
There are many results of past sinful activities for which we are suffering
at the present moment, and we may be suffering in the future due to our
present sinful activities. But all of these reactions to sinful deeds can
immediately be stopped if we take to Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa ṛ consciousness. As evidence for
this, Rūpa Gosvāmī quotes from the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Eleventh Canto,
14th Chapter, 18th verse. This verse is in connection with Lord Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa's ṛ
instruction to Uddhava, where He says, "My dear Uddhava, devotional
service unto Me is just like a blazing fire which can burn into ashes
unlimited fuel supplied to it." The purport is that as the blazing fire can
burn any amount of fuel to ashes, so devotional service to the Lord
in Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa ṛ consciousness can burn up all the fuel of sinful activities. For
example, in the Gītā Arjuna thought that fighting was a sinful activity,
but Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa ṛ engaged him on the battlefield under His order, and so the
fighting became devotional service. Therefore, Arjuna was not subjected to
any sinful reaction.
Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī quotes another verse from the Third Canto
of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 33rd Chapter, 6th verse, in
which Devahūti addresses her son, Kapiladeva and says, "My dear Lord,
there are nine different kinds of devotional service, beginning from hearing
and chanting. Anyone who hears about Your pastimes, who chants about
Your glories, who offers You obeisances, who thinks of You and, in this way,
executes any of the nine kinds of devotional service-even if he is born in a
family of dog-eaters [the lowest grade of mankind]-becomes immediately
qualified to perform sacrifices." As such, for anyone who is actually engaged
in devotional service in full Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa ṛ consciousness, how is it possible that he
has not become purified? It is not possible. One who is engaged
in Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa ṛ consciousness and devotional service has without doubt become
freed from all contaminations of material sinful activities. Devotional
service therefore has the power to actually nullify all kinds of reactions to
sinful deeds. A devotee is nevertheless always alert not to commit any sinful
activities; this is his specific qualification as a devotee. Thus the Śrīmad-
Bhāgavatam states that by performing devotional service a person who was
born even in a family of dog-eaters may become eligible to take part in the
performance of the ritualistic ceremonies recommended in the Vedas. It is
implicit in this statement that a person born into a family of dog-eaters is
generally not fit for performing yaj�a, or sacrifice. The priestly caste in
charge of performing these ritualistic ceremonies recommended in
the Vedas is called the brāhmaṇaṇ order. Unless one is a brāhmaṇa, ṇ he
cannot perform these ceremonies.
A person is born in a brāhmaṇaṇ family or in a family of dog-eaters due
to his past activities. If a person is born in a family of dog-eaters it means
that his past activities are all sinful. But if even such a person takes to the
path of devotional service and begins to chant the holy names of the Lord-
Hare Kṛṣṇ ṇṇ a, ṇ Hare Kṛṣṇ ṇṇ a,
ṇ Kṛṣṇ ṇṇ aṇ Kṛṣṇ ṇṇ ṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rām
a, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare-he is at once fit to perform the ritualistic
ceremonies. This means that his sinful reactions have immediately become
neutralized.
It is stated in the Padma Purāṇaṛ that there are four kinds of effects due
to sinful activities, which are listed as follows: 1) the effect which is not yet
fructified, 2) the effect which is lying as seed, 3) the effect which is already
mature, and 4) the effect which is almost mature. It is also stated that all
these four effects become immediately vanquished for those who surrender
unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Viṣ ṛṇu, ṛ and become engaged in
His devotional service in full Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa ṛ consciousness.
Those effects described as "almost mature" refer to the distress from
which one is suffering at present, and the effects "lying as seed" means that
in the core of the heart there is a certain stock of sinful desires which are
like seeds. The Sanskrit word kūṭam ṇ means that they are almost ready to
produce the seed, or the effect of the seed. An "immature effect" refers to
the case where the seedling has not begun. From this statement
of Padma Purāṇaṇ it is understood that material contamination is very
subtle. Its beginning, its fruition and results, and how one suffers such
results in the form of distress, are part of a great chain. When one catches
some disease, it is often very difficult to ascertain the cause of the disease,
where it originated, and how it is maturing. The suffering of a disease,
however, does not appear all of a sudden. It actually takes time. And, as in
the medical field, for precaution's sake, the doctor injects a vaccination to
prevent the growing of contamination, the practical injection to stop all the
fructifications of the seeds of our sinful activities is simply engagement
in Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa ṛ consciousness.
In this connection, Śukadeva Gosvāmī speaks in the Sixth Canto
of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 2nd Chapter, 17th verse, about the story
of Ajāmila, who began life as a fine and dutiful brāhmaṇa, ṇ but in his young
manhood became wholly corrupted by a prostitute. At the end of his wicked
life, just by calling the name of "Nārāyaṇ ṛa [Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa],"
ṛ he was saved despite so
much sin. Śukadeva points out that austerity, charity and the performance
of ritualistic ceremonies for counteracting sinful activities are
recommended processes, but that by performing them one cannot remove
the sinful desire-seed from the heart, as was the case with Ajāmila in his
youth. This sinful desire-seed can be removed only by
achieving Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa ṛ consciousness. And this can be accomplished very easily by
chanting the mahā-mantra, or Hare Kṛṣṇ ṇṇ aṇ mantra, as recommended by
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. In other words, unless one adopts the path of
devotional service, he cannot be one hundred percent clean from all the
reactions of sinful activities.
By performing Vedic ritualistic activities, by giving money in charity and
by undergoing austerity, one can temporarily become free from the
reactions of sinful activities, but at the next moment he must again become
engaged in sinful activities. For example, a person suffering from venereal
disease on account of excessive indulgence in sex life has to undergo some
severe pain in medical treatment, and he is then cured for the time being.
But because he has not been able to remove the sex desire from his heart,
he must again indulge in the same thing and become a victim of the same
disease. So medical treatment may give temporary relief from the distress
of such venereal disease, but unless one is trained to understand that sex
life is abominable, it is impossible to be saved from such repeated distress.
Similarly, the ritualistic performances, charity and austerity, which are
recommended in the Vedas may temporarily stop one from acting in sinful
ways, but as long as the heart is not clear, one will have to repeat sinful
activities again and again.
Another example is given in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam of the elephant
who enters into a lake and takes a bath very seriously, cleansing his body
thoroughly. Then as soon as he comes onto shore he again takes some dust
from the earth and throws it over his body. Similarly, a person who is not
trained in Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa ṛ consciousness cannot become completely free from the
desire for sinful activities. Neither the yoga process, nor philosophical
speculations, nor fruitive activities can save one from the seeds of sinful
desires. Only by being engaged in devotional service can this be done.
There is another evidence in the Fourth Canto of Śrīmad-
Bhāgavatam, 22nd Chapter, 37th verse, wherein Sanat-kumāra says, "My
dear King, the false ego of a human being is so strong that it keeps him in
material existence as if tied up by a strong rope. Only the devotees can cut
off the knot of this strong rope very easily, by engaging themselves
in Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa ṛ consciousness. Others, who are not in Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa ṛ consciousness but are
trying to become great mystics or great ritual performers, cannot advance
like the devotees. Therefore, it is the duty of everyone to engage himself in
the activities of Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa ṛ consciousness in order to be freed from the tight knot
of false ego and engagement in material activities."
This tight knot of false ego is due to ignorance. As long as one is ignorant
about his identification, he is sure to act wrongly and thereby become
entangled in material contamination. This ignorance of factual knowledge
can also be dissipated by Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa ṛ consciousness, as is confirmed in
the Padma Purāṇaṇ as follows: "Pure devotional service
in Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa ṛ consciousness is the highest enlightenment, and when such
enlightenment is there, it is just like a blazing forest fire, killing all the
inauspicious snakes of desire." The example is being given in this
connection that when there is a forest fire the extensive blazing
automatically kills all the snakes in the forest. There are many, many
snakes on the ground of the forest, and when a fire takes place, it burns the
dried foliage, and the snakes are immediately attacked. Animals who have
four legs can flee from the fire or can at least try to flee, but the snakes are
immediately killed. Similarly, the blazing fire of Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa ṛ consciousness is so
strong that the snakes of ignorance are immediately killed.
Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī has given a definition of auspiciousness. He says
that actual auspiciousness means welfare activities for all the people of the
world. At the present moment groups of people are engaged in welfare
activities in terms of society, community or nation. There is even an
attempt in the form of the United Nations for world-help activity. But due
to the shortcomings of limited national activities, such a general mass
welfare program for the whole world is not practically possible.
The Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa ṛ consciousness movement, however, is so nice that it can render
the highest benefit to the entire human race. Everyone can be attracted by
this movement, and everyone can feel the result. Therefore, Rūpa Gosvāmī
and other learned scholars agree that a broad propaganda program for
the Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa ṛ consciousness movement of devotional service all over the world
is the highest humanitarian welfare activity.
How the Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa ṛ consciousness movement can attract the attention of the
whole world and how each and every man can feel pleasure in
this Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa ṛ consciousness is stated in the Padma Purāṇaṇ as follows: "A
person who is engaged in devotional service in full Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa ṛ consciousness is to
be understood to be doing the best service to the whole world and to be
pleasing everyone in the world. In addition to human society, he is pleasing
even the trees and animals, because they also become attracted by such a
movement." A practical example of this was shown by Lord Caitanya when
He was traveling through the forests of Jharikhanda in central India for
spreading His saṅkīrtana movement. The tigers, the elephants, the deer
and all the other wild animals joined Him and were participating, in their
own ways, by dancing and chanting Hare Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa.ṛ
Furthermore, a person engaged in Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa ṛ consciousness, acting in
devotional service, can develop all the good qualities that are generally
found in the demigods. It is said by Śukadeva Gosvāmī in the Fifth Canto
of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 18th Chapter, 12thverse, "My dear King, persons
who have unflinching faith in Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa ṛ and are without any duplicity can
develop all the good qualities of the demigods. On account of a devotee's
high grade of Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa ṛ consciousness, even the demigods like to live with him,
and therefore it can be understood that the qualities of the demigods have
developed within his body."
On the other hand, a person who is not in Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa ṛ consciousness has no
good qualities. He may be highly educated from the academic point of view,
but in the actual field of his activities he can be seen to be baser than the
animals. Even though a person is highly educated academically, if he
cannot go beyond the sphere of mental activities then he is sure to perform
only material activities and thus remain impure. There are so many persons
in the modern world who have been highly educated in the materialistic
universities, but it is seen that they cannot take up the movement
of Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa ṛ consciousness and develop the high qualities of the demigods.
For example, a Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa ṛ conscious boy, even if he is not very well educated
by the university standard, can immediately give up all illicit sex life,
gambling, meat-eating and intoxication; whereas those who are not
in Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa ṛ consciousness, although very highly educated, are often drunkards,
meat-eaters, sex-mongers and gamblers. These are practical proofs of how
a Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa ṛ conscious person becomes highly developed in good qualities,
whereas a person who is not in Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa ṛ consciousness cannot do so. We
experience that even a young boy in Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa ṛ consciousness is unattached to
cinemas, nightclubs, naked dance shows, restaurants, liquor shops, etc. He
becomes completely freed. He saves his valuable time from being
extravagantly spent in the way of smoking, drinking, attending the theater
and dancing.
One who is not in Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa ṛ consciousness usually cannot sit silently even for
half an hour. The yoga system teaches that if you become silent you will
realize that you are God. This system may be all right for materialistic
persons, but how long will they be able to keep themselves silent?
Artificially, they may sit down for so-called meditation, but immediately
after their yogic performance they will engage themselves again in such
activities as illicit sex life, gambling, meat-eating and many other
nonsensical things. But a Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa ṛ conscious person gradually elevates himself
without endeavoring for this so-called silent meditation. Simply because he
is engaged in Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa ṛ consciousness he automatically gives up all this
nonsense and develops a high character. One develops the highest
character by becoming a pure devotee of Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa.ṛ The conclusion is that no
one can truly have any good qualities if he is lacking Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa ṛ consciousness.
Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī has analyzed the different sources of happiness. He
has divided happiness into three categories, which are: 1) happiness derived
from material enjoyment, 2) happiness derived by identifying oneself with
the Supreme Brahman and 3) happiness derived from Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa ṛ consciousness.
In the Tantra-śāstra Lord Śiva speaks to his wife, Satī, in this way: "My
dear wife, a person who has surrendered himself at the lotus feet
of Govinda and who has thus developed pure Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa ṛ consciousness can be
very easily awarded all the perfections desired by the impersonalists; and
beyond this, he can enjoy the happiness achieved by the pure devotees."
Happiness derived from pure devotional service is the highest because it
is eternal. But the happiness derived from material perfection or
understanding oneself to be Brahman is inferior because it is temporary.
There is no preventing one's falling down from material happiness, and
there is even every chance of falling down from the spiritual happiness
derived out of identifying oneself with the impersonal Brahman.
It has been seen that great māyāvādī (impersonalist) sannyāsīs-very
highly educated and almost realized souls-may sometimes take to political
activities or to social welfare activities. The reason is that they actually do
not derive any ultimate transcendental happiness in the impersonal
understanding and therefore must come down to the material platform and
take to such mundane affairs. There are many instances, especially in India,
where these māyāvādī sannyāsīs descend to the material platform again.
But a person who is fully in Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa ṛ consciousness will never return to any
sort of material platform. However alluring and attracting they may be, he
always knows that no material welfare activities can be compared with the
spiritual activity of Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa ṛ consciousness.
The mystic perfections achieved by actually successful yogīs are eight in
number. Aṇimā-siddhi
ṇ refers to the power by which one can become so
small that he can enter into a stone. Modern scientific improvements also
enable us to enter into stone because they provide for excavating so many
subways, penetrating the hills, etc. So, aṇimā-siddhi,
ṇ the mystic perfection
of trying to enter into stone, has also been achieved by material science.
Similarly, all of the yoga-siddhis, or perfections, are material arts. For
example, in one yoga-siddhi there is development of the power to become
so light that one can float in the air or on water. That is also being
performed by modern scientists. They are flying in the air, they are floating
on the surface of the water, and they are traveling under the water.
After comparing all these mystic yoga-siddhis to materialistic
perfections it is found that the materialistic scientists try for the same
perfections. So actually there is no difference between mystic perfection
and materialistic perfection. A German scholar once said that the so-
called yoga perfections have already been achieved by the modern
scientists, and so he was not concerned with them. He intelligently went to
India to learn how he could understand his eternal relationship with the
Supreme Lord by means of bhakti-yoga, devotional service.
 Of course, in the categories of mystic perfection there are certain
processes which the material scientists have not yet been able to develop.
For instance, a mystic yogī can enter into the sun planet simply by using
the rays of the sunshine. This perfection is called laghimā. Similarly,
a yogī can touch the moon with his finger. Though the modern astronauts
go to the moon with the help of spaceships, they undergo many difficulties,
whereas a person with mystic perfection can extend his hand and touch the
moon with his finger. This siddhi is called prāpti, or acquisition. With
this prāpti-siddhi, the perfect mystic yogī can not only touch the moon
planet, but he can extend his hand anywhere and take whatever he likes. He
may be sitting thousands of miles away from a certain place, and if he likes
he can take fruit from a garden there. This is prāpti-siddhi.
The modern scientists have manufactured nuclear weapons with which
they can destroy an insignificant part of this planet, but by the yoga-
siddhi known as īśitā one can create and destroy an entire planet simply at
will. Another perfection is called vaśitā, and by this perfection one can
bring anyone under his control. This is a kind of hypnotism which is almost
irresistible. Sometimes it is found that a yogī who may have attained a little
perfection in this vaśitā mystic power comes out among the people and
speaks all sorts of nonsense, controls their minds, exploits them, takes their
money and then goes away.
There is another mystic perfection, which is known
as prākāmya (magic). By this prākāmya power one can achieve anything
he likes. For example, one can make water enter into his eye and then again
come out from within the eye. Simply by his will he can perform such
wonderful activities.
The highest perfection of mystic power is called kāmāvasāyitā. This is
also magic, but whereas the prākāmya power acts to create wonderful
effects within the scope of nature, kāmāvasāyitā permits one to contradict
nature-in other words, to do the impossible. Of course, one can derive great
amounts of temporary happiness by achieving such yogic materialistic
perfections.
Foolishly, people who are enamored of the glimmer of modern
materialistic advancement are thinking that the Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa ṛ consciousness
movement is for less intelligent men. "I am better off being busy with my
material comforts-maintaining a nice apartment, family and sex life." These
people do not know that at any moment they can be kicked out of their
material situation. Due to ignorance, they do not know that real life is
eternal. The temporary comforts of the body are not the goal of life, and it is
due only to darkest ignorance that people become enamored of the
glimmering advancement of material comforts.
Śrīla Bhaktivinode Thākur has therefore said that the advancement of
material knowledge renders a person more foolish because it causes one to
forget his real identification by its glimmer. This is doom for him, because
this human form of life is meant for getting out of the material
contamination. By the advancement of material knowledge, people are
becoming more and more entangled in material existence. They have no
hope of being liberated from this catastrophe.
In the Hari-bhakti-sudhodaya it is stated that Prahlāda Mahārāj, a great
devotee of the Lord, prayed to Nṛsiṁhadeva ṛ (the half-lion half-man
incarnation) as follows: "My dear Lord, I repeatedly pray unto Your lotus
feet that I may simply be stronger in devotional service. I simply pray that
my Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa ṛ consciousness may be more strong and steady, because happiness
derived out of Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa ṛ consciousness and devotional service is so powerful
that with it one can have all the other perfections of religiousness, economic
development, sense gratification and even the attainment of liberation from
material existence."
Actually, a pure devotee does not aspire after any of these perfections
because the happiness derived from devotional service
in Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa ṛ consciousness is so transcendental and so unlimited that no other
happiness can be compared with it. It is said that even one drop of
happiness in Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa ṛ consciousness stands beyond comparison with an ocean
of happiness derived from any other activity. Thus, any person who has
developed even a little quantity of pure devotional service can very easily
kick out all the other kinds of happiness derived from religiousness,
economic development, sense gratification and liberation.
There was a great devotee of Lord Caitanya known as Kholāvecā
Śrīdhara, who was a very poor man. He was doing a small business selling
cups made from the leaves of plantain trees, and his income was almost
nothing. Still, he was spending fifty percent of his small income on the
worship of the Ganges, and with the other fifty percent he was somehow
living. Lord Caitanya once revealed Himself to this confidential devotee,
Kholāvecā Śrīdhara, and offered him any opulence that he liked. But
Śrīdhara informed the Lord that he did not want any material opulence. He
was quite happy in his present position and wanted only to gain unflinching
faith and devotion unto the lotus feet of Lord Caitanya. That is the position
of pure devotees. If they can be engaged twenty-four hours each day in
devotional service they do not want anything else, not even the happiness of
liberation or of becoming one with the supreme.
In the Nārada-pa�carātra it is also said that any person who has
developed even a small amount of devotional service doesn't care a fig for
any kind of happiness derived from religiousness, economic development,
sense gratification, or the five kinds of liberation. Any kind of happiness
derived from religiousness, economic development, liberation or sense
gratification cannot even dare to enter into the heart of a pure devotee. It is
stated that as the personal attendants and maidservants of a queen follow
the queen with all respect and obeisances, similarly the joys of
religiousness, economic development, sense gratification and liberation
follow the devotional service of the Lord. In other words, a pure devotee
does not lack any kind of happiness derived from any source. He does not
want anything but service to Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa,ṛ but even if he should have another
desire, the Lord fulfills this without the devotee's asking.
In the preliminary phase of spiritual life there are different kinds of
austerities, penances and similar processes for attaining self-realization.
However, even if an executor of these processes is without any material
desire, he still cannot achieve devotional service. And aspiring by oneself
alone to achieve devotional service is also not very hopeful
because Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa ṛ does not agree to award devotional service to merely
anyone. Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa ṛ can easily offer a person material happiness or even
liberation, but He does not agree very easily to award a person engagement
in His devotional service. Devotional service can in fact be attained only
through the mercy of a pure devotee. In the Caitanya-
caritāmṛta ṇ Madhya 19.151 it is said, "By the mercy of the spiritual master
who is a pure devotee and by the mercy of Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa ṛ one can achieve the
platform of devotional service. There is no other way."
The rarity of devotional service is also confirmed in the Tantra-
śāstra, where Lord Śiva says to Satī, "My dear Satī, if one is a very fine
philosopher, analyzing the different processes of knowledge, he can achieve
liberation from the material entanglement. By performance of the ritualistic
sacrifices recommended in the Vedas one can be elevated to the platform of
pious activities and thereby enjoy the material comforts of life to the fullest
extent. But all such endeavors can hardly offer anyone devotional service to
the Lord, not even if one tries for it by such processes for many, many
thousands of births."
In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is also confirmed by Prahlāda Mahārāj
that merely by personal efforts or by the instructions of higher authorities
one cannot attain to the stage of devotional service. One must become
blessed by the dust of the lotus feet of a pure devotee who is completely
freed from the contamination of material desires.
In the Fifth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, 6th Chapter, 18th
verse, Nārada also says to Yudhiṣ ṛṭhira, ṛ "My dear King, it is Lord Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa,ṛ
known as Mukunda, who is the eternal protector of the Pāṇ ṛḍavas ṛ and the
Yadus. He is also your spiritual master and instructor in every respect. He
is the only worshipable God for you. He is very dear and affectionate, and
He is the director of all your activities, both individual and familial. And
what's more, He sometimes carries out your orders as if He were your
messenger! My dear King, how very fortunate you are, because for others
all these favors given to you by the Supreme Lord would not even be dreamt
of." The purport to this verse is that the Lord easily offers liberation, but He
rarely agrees to offer a soul devotional service because by devotional service
the Lord Himself becomes purchased by the devotee.
Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī says that if brahmānanda, or the happiness of
becoming one with the Supreme, is multiplied by one trillionfold, still it
cannot be compared with an atomic fraction of the happiness derived from
the ocean of devotional service.
In the Hari-bhakti-sudhodaya Prahlāda Mahārāj, while satisfying Lord
Nṛsiṁhadeva
ṛ by his prayers, says, "My dear Lord of the universe, I am
feeling transcendental pleasure in Your presence and have become merged
in the ocean of happiness. I now consider the happiness
of brahmānanda to be no more than the water in the impression left by a
cow's hoof in the earth, compared to this ocean of bliss." Similarly, it is
confirmed in the Bhāvārtha-dīpikā, Śrīdhara Svāmī's commentary on
the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, "My dear Lord, some of the fortunate persons
who are swimming in the ocean of Your nectar of devotion, and who are
relishing the nectar of the narration of Your pastimes, certainly know
ecstasies which immediately minimize the value of the happiness derived
from religiousness, economic development, sense gratification and
liberation. Such a transcendental devotee regards any kind of happiness
other than devotional service as no better than straw in the street."
Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī has stated that devotional service attracts
even Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa.ṛ Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa ṛ attracts everyone, but devotional service attracts Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa.ṛ
The symbol of devotional service in the highest degree is
Rādhārāṇ ṛī. Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa ṛ is called Madana-mohana, which means that He is so
attractive that He can defeat the attraction of thousands of Cupids. But
Rādhārāṇ ṛī is still more attractive, for She can even attract Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa.ṛ Therefore
devotees call Her Madana-mohana-mohanī-the attractor of the attractor of
Cupid.
To perform devotional service means to follow in the footsteps of
Rādhārāṇ ṛī, and devotees in Vṛndāvanaṛ put themselves under the care of
Rādhārāṇ ṛī in order to achieve perfection in their devotional service. In
other words, devotional service is not an activity of the material world; it is
directly under the control of Rādhārāṇ ṛī. In Bhagavad-gītā it is confirmed
that the mahātmās, or great souls, are under the protection
of daivī prakṛti, ṇ the internal energy-Rādhārāṇ ṛī. So, being directly under the
control of the internal potency of Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa,ṛ devotional service attracts
even Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa ṛ Himself.
This fact is corroborated by Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa ṛ in the Eleventh Canto of Śrīmad-
Bhāgavatam, 12th Chapter, 1st verse, where He says, "My dear Uddhava,
you may know it from Me that the attraction I feel for devotional service
rendered by My devotees is not to be attained even by the performance of
mystic yoga, philosophical speculation, ritualistic sacrifices, the study
of Vedānta, the practice of severe austerities or the giving of everything in
charity. These are, of course, very nice activities, but they are not as
attractive to Me as the transcendental loving service rendered by My
devotees."
How Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa ṛ becomes attracted by the devotional service of His devotees is
described by Nārada in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Seventh Canto, 10th
Chapter, 37th verses. There Nārada addresses King Yudhiṣ ṛṭhira ṛ while the
King is appreciating the glories of the character of Prahlāda Mahārāj. A
devotee always appreciates the activities of other
devotees. Yudhiṣ ṛṭhira ṛ Mahārāj was appreciating the qualities of Prahlāda,
and that is one symptom of a pure devotee. A pure devotee never thinks
himself as great; he always thinks that other devotees are greater than
himself. The King was thinking, "Prahlāda Mahārāj is actually a devotee of
the Lord, while I am nothing," and while thinking this he was addressed
by Nārada as follows: "My dear King Yudhiṣ ṛṭhira, ṛ in this world you
[the Pāṇ ṛḍava
ṛ brothers] are the only fortunate people. The Supreme
Personality of Godhead has appeared on this planet and is presenting
Himself to you as an ordinary human being. He is always with you in all
circumstances. He is living with you and covering Himself from the eyes of
others. Others cannot understand that He is the Supreme Lord, but He is
still living with you as your cousin, as your friend and even as your
messenger. Therefore you must know that nobody in this world is more
fortunate than you."
 In the Bhagavad-gītā, when Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa ṛ appeared in His universal
form, Arjuna prayed: "My dear Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa,ṛ I thought of You as my cousin-
brother, and so I have shown disrespect to You in so many ways, calling
You Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa,ṛ or friend. But You are so great that I could not understand." So
that was the position of the Pāṇ ṛḍavas; ṛ although Kṛ ṛṣ ṛṇa ṛ is the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, the greatest among all greats, still He remained
with those royal brothers, being attracted by their devotion, by their
friendship and by their love. That is the proof of how great this process of
devotional service is. It can attract even the Supreme Personality of
Godhead. God is great, but devotional service is greater than God because it
attracts Him. People who are not in devotional service can never
understand what great value there is in rendering service to the Lord.

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