Perfection of devotional service

Expressions researched:
"perfect in devotional service" |"perfection of devotional service"

Notes from the compiler: Reference not found for:SB 10.1. Additional Notes for this Chapter

BG Preface and Introduction

Of course everyone has a particular relationship with the Lord, and that relationship is evoked by the perfection of devotional service.

BG Introduction:

Of course everyone has a particular relationship with the Lord, and that relationship is evoked by the perfection of devotional service. But in the present status of our life, not only have we forgotten the Supreme Lord, but we have forgotten our eternal relationship with the Lord. Every living being, out of the many, many billions and trillions of living beings, has a particular relationship with the Lord eternally. That is called svarūpa. By the process of devotional service, one can revive that svarūpa, and that stage is called svarūpa-siddhi—perfection of one's constitutional position.

SB Canto 1

A person who is cent-percent engaged in the service of the Lord is the emblem of all knowledge. Such a devotee of the Lord in full perfection of devotional service is also perfect by the qualification of the Personality of Godhead.

SB 1.5.6, Purport:

A person who is cent-percent engaged in the service of the Lord is the emblem of all knowledge. Such a devotee of the Lord in full perfection of devotional service is also perfect by the qualification of the Personality of Godhead. As such, the eightfold perfections of mystic power (aṣṭa-siddhi) constitute very little of his godly opulence. A devotee like Nārada can act wonderfully by his spiritual perfection, which every individual is trying to attain. Śrīla Nārada is a cent-percent perfect living being, although not equal to the Personality of Godhead.

The women amongst whom He lived as their husband are not, therefore, women of this mundane world, but are eternally related with Him as transcendental wives, a position which they attained by perfection of devotional service.

SB 1.11.35, Purport:

The illusioned living being conditioned by material nature cannot understand out of ignorance that all our relations here in the mundane world are temporary and full of inebrieties. Such relations cannot help us be happy perpetually, but if the same relation is established with the Lord, then we are transferred to the transcendental world after leaving this material body and become eternally related with Him in the relation we desire. The women amongst whom He lived as their husband are not, therefore, women of this mundane world, but are eternally related with Him as transcendental wives, a position which they attained by perfection of devotional service. That is their competency. The Lord is paraṁ brahma, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Conditioned souls seek after perpetual happiness in all places—not only on this earth but also on other planets throughout the universe—because constitutionally a spiritual spark, as he is, can travel to any part of God's creation. But being conditioned by the material modes, he tries to travel in space by spacecraft and so fails to reach his destination.

SB Canto 2

One has to undergo severe types of penance, otherwise no one can become an important figure in this material world. Why, then, are there severe types of penance for the perfection of devotional service?

SB 2.9.24, Purport:

In executing penance, one must be determined to return home, back to Godhead, and must decide to undergo all types of tribulations for that end. Even for material prosperity, name and fame, one has to undergo severe types of penance, otherwise no one can become an important figure in this material world. Why, then, are there severe types of penance for the perfection of devotional service? An easygoing life and attainment of perfection in transcendental realization cannot go together. The Lord is more clever than any living entity; therefore He wants to see how painstaking the devotee is in devotional service. The order is received from the Lord, either directly or through the bona fide spiritual master, and to execute that order, however painstaking, is the severe type of penance. One who follows the principle rigidly is sure to achieve success in attaining the Lord's mercy.

SB Canto 3

SB 3.5.1, Translation:

Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: Vidura, the best amongst the Kuru dynasty, who was perfect in devotional service to the Lord, thus reached the source of the celestial Ganges River (Hardwar), where Maitreya, the great, fathomless learned sage of the world, was seated. Vidura, who was perfect in gentleness and satisfied in transcendence, inquired from him.

SB Canto 5

When one has attained the perfection of devotional service, it is not very important to follow the Vedic principles.

SB 5.9.6, Purport:

One may forget that he has to die, but death never forgets. Death comes always at the right time. The brāhmaṇa father of Jaḍa Bharata wanted to teach his son the process of brahmacarya, but he was unsuccessful due to his son's unwillingness to undergo the process of Vedic advancement. Jaḍa Bharata was simply concerned with returning home, back to Godhead, by executing devotional service through śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ (SB 7.5.23). He did not care for the Vedic instructions of his father. When one is fully interested in the service of the Lord, he does not need to follow all the regulative principles enunciated in the Vedas. Of course, for an ordinary man, the Vedic principles are imperative. No one can avoid them. But when one has attained the perfection of devotional service, it is not very important to follow the Vedic principles. Lord Kṛṣṇa advised Arjuna to ascend to the platform of nistraiguṇya, the transcendental position above the Vedic principles.

SB Canto 7

In this verse the words sarvatra tad-īkṣaṇam describe the highest perfection of devotional service, in which one sees everything with reference to Govinda's activities.

SB 7.7.55, Purport:

In this verse the words sarvatra tad-īkṣaṇam describe the highest perfection of devotional service, in which one sees everything with reference to Govinda's activities. The highly elevated devotee never sees anything unrelated to Govinda.

sthāvara-jaṅgama dekhe, nā dekhe tāra mūrti

sarvatra haya nija iṣṭa-deva-sphūrti

"The mahā-bhāgavata, the advanced devotee, certainly sees everything mobile and immobile, but he does not exactly see their forms. Rather, everywhere he immediately sees manifest the form of the Supreme Lord." (CC Madhya 8.274) Even in this material world, a devotee does not see materially manifested things; instead he sees Govinda in everything.

The more one becomes the servant of the servant, the more one becomes perfect in devotional service.

SB 7.9.42, Purport:

One should not be proud of becoming directly the servant of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Rather, one must seek a pure devotee, a servant of the Lord, and engage oneself in the service of such a servant. The more one becomes the servant of the servant, the more one becomes perfect in devotional service. This is also the injunction of Bhagavad-gītā: evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ (BG 4.2). One can understand the science of the Supreme Personality of Godhead simply by the paramparā system.

SB Canto 8

Bali Mahārāja is understood to be one who received the highest perfection of devotional service by special mercy.

SB 8.20.3, Purport:

Bali Mahārāja, by the grace of Prahlāda Mahārāja, got the seed of devotional service, and when that seed developed, he achieved the ultimate fruit of that service, namely love of Godhead (premā pum-artho mahān), immediately upon the appearance of Lord Vāmanadeva. Bali Mahārāja regularly maintained devotion for the Lord, and because he was purified, the Lord appeared before him. Because of unalloyed love for the Lord, he then immediately decided, "I shall give this little dwarf brāhmaṇa whatever He asks from me." This is a sign of love. Thus Bali Mahārāja is understood to be one who received the highest perfection of devotional service by special mercy.

SB Canto 9

After giving up the body, the devotee who becomes perfect in devotional service enters that particular universe where Lord Rāmacandra or Lord Kṛṣṇa is engaged in His pastimes.

SB 9.11.22, Purport:

All the inhabitants of Ayodhyā who saw Lord Rāmacandra as citizens, served Him as servants, sat and talked with Him as friends or were somehow or other present during His reign went back home, back to Godhead. After giving up the body, the devotee who becomes perfect in devotional service enters that particular universe where Lord Rāmacandra or Lord Kṛṣṇa is engaged in His pastimes. Then, after being trained to serve the Lord in various capacities in that prakaṭa-līlā, the devotee is finally promoted to sanātana-dhāma, the supreme abode in the spiritual world. This sanātana-dhāma is also mentioned in Bhagavad-gītā (paras tasmāt tu bhāvo 'nyo 'vyakto 'vyaktāt sanātanaḥ (BG 8.20)). One who enters the transcendental pastimes of the Lord is called nitya-līlā-praviṣṭa.

CC Adi-lila

A devotee who dances in ecstasy but after dancing and crying appears to be attracted to material affairs has not yet reached the perfection of devotional service.

CC Adi 7.89-90, Purport:

Since the Supreme Lord is also under the influence of transcendental bliss, when one comes in touch with such bliss in love of Godhead, one's heart melts, and the symptoms of this are standing of the hairs on end, etc. Sometimes a person thus melts and manifests these transcendental symptoms yet at the same time is not well behaved in his personal transactions. This indicates that he has not yet reached complete perfection in devotional life. In other words, a devotee who dances in ecstasy but after dancing and crying appears to be attracted to material affairs has not yet reached the perfection of devotional service, which is called āśaya-śuddhi, or the perfection of existence. One who attains the perfection of existence is completely averse to material enjoyment and engrossed in transcendental love of Godhead. It is therefore to be concluded that the ecstatic symptoms of āśaya-śuddhi are visible when a devotee's service has no material cause and is purely spiritual in nature.

CC Madhya-lila

CC Madhya 24.196, Translation:

“If a person is actually liberal and intelligent, he can advance and become perfect in devotional service even if he has material desires and serves the Lord with some motive."

CC Antya-lila

Lord Kṛṣṇa is worshiped by regulative devotional service, but the highest perfection of devotional service is spontaneous love of Godhead.

CC Antya 7.24, Purport:

Puruṣārtha ("the goal of life") generally refers to religion, economic development, satisfaction of the senses and, finally, liberation. However, above these four kinds of puruṣārthas, love of Godhead stands supreme. It is called parama-puruṣārtha (the supreme goal of life) or puruṣārtha-śiromaṇi (the most exalted of all puruṣārthas). Lord Kṛṣṇa is worshiped by regulative devotional service, but the highest perfection of devotional service is spontaneous love of Godhead.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya

In the highest perfection of devotional service in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, one experiences the taste of the ecstasy of spiritual relish.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 14:

Lord Caitanya thus explained briefly the transcendental situation and spiritual enjoyment of life, and He taught that the first stage of perfection is to become a religious man in the ordinary sense, as known in the material world. The second stage of perfection is to become materially rich. The third stage of material perfection is the attainment of complete sense enjoyment, and in the fourth stage there is knowledge of liberation. Above this platform are those on the fifth stage who are already liberated and who are established in Kṛṣṇa consciousness or devotional service to the Lord. In the highest perfection of devotional service in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, one experiences the taste of the ecstasy of spiritual relish.

Formal execution of rituals and religion is useless unless it culminates in the perfection of devotional service.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 27:

After hearing Rāmānanda Rāya expound upon the proper execution of a regulated life, Lord Caitanya said that such regulations are simply external. Indirectly He asked Rāmānanda to expound on something superior to such an external exhibition. Formal execution of rituals and religion is useless unless it culminates in the perfection of devotional service. Lord Viṣṇu is not satisfied simply by a ritualistic adherence to Vedic instructions; He is actually pleased when one attains the stage of devotional service.

Nectar of Devotion

If we are engaged in the execution of all the items of devotional service, as was Mahārāja Ambarīṣa, then the perfection of devotional service is guaranteed from each one of these items.

Nectar of Devotion 14:

If we are unable to execute all the different items of devotional service, we must try to execute at least one of them, as exemplified by previous ācāryas. If we are engaged in the execution of all the items of devotional service, as was Mahārāja Ambarīṣa, then the perfection of devotional service is guaranteed from each one of these items. With the first complete engagement, one becomes automatically detached from material contamination, and liberation becomes the maidservant of the devotee. This idea is confirmed by Bilvamaṅgala Ṭhākura. If one develops unalloyed devotion to the Lord, liberation will follow the devotee as his maidservant.

Lord Kṛṣṇa tells Uddhava, "The gopīs in Vṛndāvana did not study the Vedas to achieve Me. It is simply by My association that they have attained the highest perfection of devotional service."

Nectar of Devotion 19:

When a devotee is found to be always associated with the Lord in ecstatic love, it is to be understood that such a position has been awarded by the Lord Himself out of His causeless extraordinary mercy. An example of such extraordinary mercy is given in the Eleventh Canto, Twelfth Chapter, verse 7, of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, wherein Lord Kṛṣṇa tells Uddhava, "The gopīs in Vṛndāvana did not study the Vedas to achieve Me. Nor had they ever been in holy places of pilgrimage. Nor did they devoutly execute any regulative principle. Nor did they undergo any kind of austerity. It is simply by My association that they have attained the highest perfection of devotional service."

Nectar of Instruction

The conclusion is that to live on the banks of the Rādhā-kuṇḍa and to bathe there daily constitute the highest perfection of devotional service.

Nectar of Instruction 11, Purport:

If, by great fortune, one gets an opportunity to come to Rādhā-kuṇḍa and bathe even once, he can develop his transcendental love for Kṛṣṇa, exactly as the gopīs did. It is also recommended that one should live on the banks of Rādhā-kuṇḍa and should be absorbed in the loving service of the Lord. One should bathe there regularly and give up all material conceptions, taking shelter of Śrī Rādhā and Her assistant gopīs. If one is thus constantly engaged during his lifetime, after giving up the body he will return back to Godhead to serve Śrī Rādhā in the same way as he contemplated during his life on the banks of Rādhā-kuṇḍa. The conclusion is that to live on the banks of the Rādhā-kuṇḍa and to bathe there daily constitute the highest perfection of devotional service. It is a difficult position to attain, even for great sages and devotees like Nārada. Thus there is no limit to the glory of Śrī Rādhā-kuṇḍa. By serving Rādhā-kuṇḍa, one can get an opportunity to become an assistant of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī under the eternal guidance of the gopīs.

Narada-bhakti-sutra (sutras 1 to 8 only)

The perfection of devotional service is to attain love of God. Love of God involves the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the devotee, and the process of devotional service.

Narada Bhakti Sutra 2, Purport:

As stated before, after attaining the highest stage of self-realization, one becomes situated in devotional service to the Lord. The perfection of devotional service is to attain love of God. Love of God involves the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the devotee, and the process of devotional service. Self-realization, the brahma-bhūta (SB 4.30.20) stage, is the beginning of spiritual life; it is not the perfectional stage. If a person understands that he is not his body and that he has nothing to do with this material world, he becomes free from material entanglement. But that realization is not the perfectional stage. The perfectional stage begins with activity in the self-realized position, and that activity is based on the understanding that a living entity is eternally the subordinate servitor of the Supreme Lord. Otherwise, there is no meaning to self-realization.

The devotee should patiently follow the rules and regulations of devotional service so that the day will come when he will achieve, all of a sudden, all the perfection of devotional service.

Narada Bhakti Sutra 5, Purport:

The next item favorable for devotional service is niścaya, confidence. When one becomes disappointed in his service to the Supreme Lord, that disappointment must be rejected and replaced with confidence in attaining the ultimate goal, love of Godhead. The devotee should patiently follow the rules and regulations of devotional service so that the day will come when he will achieve, all of a sudden, all the perfection of devotional service. He should not lament for any loss or any reverse in his advancement in spiritual life. This patience (dhairya) is the third positive item for advancing in devotional service.

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Everyone has got a particular relationship with the Lord and that particular relationship is evoked by the perfection of devotional service.

Introduction to Gitopanisad (Earliest Recording of Srila Prabhupada in the Bhaktivedanta Archives):

So Arjuna was a devotee in relationship with the Lord as a friend. The Lord can become a friend. Of course, this friendship and the conception of friendship which we have got in the mundane world, there is a gulf of difference. This is transcendental friendship which... Not that everyone will have the relationship with the Lord. Everyone has got a particular relationship with the Lord and that particular relationship is evoked by the perfection of devotional service. At the present status of our life we have not only forgotten the Supreme Lord, but also we have forgotten our eternal relationship with the Lord. Every living being, out of many, many millions and billions of living beings, each and every living being has got a particular relationship with the Lord eternally. That is called svarūpa. Svarūpa. And by the process of devotional service one can revive that svarūpa of oneself. And that stage is called svarūpa-siddhi, perfection of one's constitutional position. So Arjuna was a devotee and he was in touch with the Supreme Lord in friendship.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

If you become elevated to the perfection of devotional service, you'll go to God and you'll see Him as you are seeing me, I am seeing you. You'll see Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on SB 1.1.2 -- London, August 17, 1971:

So that is our philosophy. God is a person like you and me. As we are sitting together; you are seeing me, I am seeing you. Similarly, if you become elevated to the perfection of devotional service, you'll go to God and you'll see Him as you are seeing me, I am seeing you. You'll see Kṛṣṇa. Try to understand. Therefore there are so many religious systems which say, "God has no form. There is no God. Let us imagine." These are, this kind of religion is cheating religion. Therefore it is said here, dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo 'tra (SB 1.1.2). Cheating. Because there is no real information. Real information is īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1), the Supreme Lord has got His spiritual body, and He is... In the Christian Bible also, it is said, "Man is made after God." Is it not? So unless God has got form, two hands, two legs, like that, how man has got two hands, two legs? If we are imitation of God, then God must be person. This is natural conclusion.

Dhruva Mahārāja worshiped Kṛṣṇa with a motive. But after being perfect in devotional service he becomes without motive.

Lecture on SB 3.25.29 -- Bombay, November 29, 1974:

If you want real life, prasanna... Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā (BG 18.54). If you take to bhakti, automatically you become prasannātmā. Yayātmā suprasīdati. What is that? Ahaituky apratihatā bhakti. Without any motive. "I shall serve Kṛṣṇa with a motive," that is also good in this sense, that he is pious, he has approached Kṛṣṇa. He is not impious like the atheist, like the nonbeliever. But he is good, although he has approached... Just like Dhruva Mahārāja. Dhruva Mahārāja worshiped Kṛṣṇa with a motive. But after being perfect in devotional service he becomes without motive. When he saw actually Kṛṣṇa, he said, "No, no, no. I don't want anything from You." Svāmin kṛtārtho 'smi varaṁ na yāce (CC Madhya 22.42). "I don't want any benediction." That is bhakti. Ahaituky apratihatā. Not that we shall worship Kṛṣṇa to serve some material purpose. That is also good, because he has come to Kṛṣṇa. Someway or other he has come. Catur-vidhā bhajante māṁ sukṛtino 'rjuna. That is his piety. Anyone who comes to Kṛṣṇa someway or other, he is very fortunate. He is not ordinary man.

When you are liberated, you will understand in which way you are related with Kṛṣṇa. But that is attained when you are actually perfect in devotional service.

Lecture on SB 6.3.16-17 -- Gorakhpur, February 10, 1971:

Prabhupāda: The change is taking place in this material world. There all tastes are fixed up, rasa, eternal, eternal rasa. Every one of us has a different taste of associating with Kṛṣṇa, and that will be realized when one is liberated.

Haṁsadūta: So that's fixed already.

Prabhupāda: Yes. When you are liberated, you will understand in which way you are related with Kṛṣṇa. That is called svarūpa-siddhi. But that is attained when you are actually perfect in devotional service. Just like in our family, we enjoy different rasas. We have got one kind of relationship with wife, one kind of relationship with sons and daughters, one kind of relation with friends, one kind of relationship with servants, one kind of relationship with property. So similarly, Kṛṣṇa... The whole creation is His family, and He has got relationship in that way. So why the son will change his relationship into husband and wife?