View source for 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

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[[Category:The Nectar of Devotion Chapter 19 - Devotional Service in Love of God]]
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<h2>Other Books by Srila Prabhupada</h2>
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<h3>Nectar of Devotion</h3>
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An example of such extraordinary mercy is given in the Eleventh Canto, 12th Chapter, 6th verse, of the 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.
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[[Vanisource:NOD 19 (1970)|Nectar of Devotion, 19]]
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In the Padma Purāṇa there is a statement about ecstatic love born of spontaneous affection. Candrakānti, a celebrated fair-faced girl, rigidly observed celibacy in order to obtain Kṛṣṇa as her husband. She always engaged herself in meditating on the transcendental form of the Lord and always chanted the glories of the Lord. She did not desire to accept anyone else as her husband. She had firmly decided that only Lord Kṛṣṇa would be her husband.

The Lord's Extraordinary Mercy

When a devotee is found to be always associated with the Lord in ecstatic love, it is to be understood that such a position is awarded by the Lord Himself out of His causeless extraordinary mercy. An example of such extraordinary mercy is given in the [[Vanisource:SB 11.12.7|Eleventh Canto, 12th Chapter, 6th verse]], of the 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."

From the example of Candrakānti as found in the Padma Purāṇa and from the example of the gopīs as found in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, it appears that a devotee who always thinks of Kṛṣṇa and who always chants His glories in ecstatic love, regardless of his condition, will attain the highest perfection of unalloyed devotional love due to Lord Kṛṣṇa's extraordinary mercy. This is confirmed in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: "If Hari, the Supreme Lord, is worshiped, adored and loved by a person, it should be understood that the person has finished all kinds of austerities, penances and similar processes for self realization. On the other hand, if after undergoing all types of austerities, penances and mystic yoga practices, one does not develop such love for Hari, then all his performances are to be considered a useless waste of time. If someone always sees Kṛṣṇa inside and out, then it is to be understood that he has surpassed all austerities and penances for self realization. And if, after executing all kinds of penances and austerities, one cannot always see Kṛṣṇa inside and out, then he has executed his performances uselessly."

Spontaneous attraction to Kṛṣṇa, which is said to be due to the extraordinary mercy of the Lord, can be placed under two headings: one is profound veneration for the greatness of the Lord, and the other may be one's automatically being attracted to Kṛṣṇa without any extraneous consideration. In the Nārada-pañcarātra it is said that if on account of profound veneration for the greatness of the Supreme Lord, one attains a great affection and steady love for Him, one is certainly assured of attaining the four kinds of Vaiṣṇava liberation—namely, achieving the same bodily features as the Lord, achieving the same opulence as the Lord, dwelling on the planet where the Lord is residing, and attaining eternal association with the Lord. The Vaiṣṇava liberation is completely different from the māyāvāda liberation, which is simply a matter of being merged into the effulgence of the Lord.
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