Category:Accepting Devotional Service to God
Theme Analysis
Śrīla Prabhupāda teaches that the acceptance of devotional service is not merely a ritualistic choice but the constitutional necessity of the soul. He emphasizes that while there are various paths of spiritual advancement such as karma, jñāna, and yoga, none can lead to the ultimate destination without the inclusion of bhakti. The process involves a conscious decision to accept all that is favorable to the satisfaction of the Supreme Lord and to reject all that is unfavorable, thereby establishing a direct, personal link with Kṛṣṇa.
- The Universal Eligibility: The path of devotional service is open to every living entity, regardless of birth, caste, or past background; anyone who follows the bona fide instructions can attain the highest perfection.
- The Principle of Surrender: Success in spiritual life begins with the determination to accept the instruction of the spiritual master and the Lord, specifically adopting the six principles of surrender known as śaraṇāgati.
- Superiority Over Speculation: Mental speculation and fruitive activities cannot reveal the Absolute Truth; only by serving the Lord with the tongue (chanting and tasting prasādam) does He reveal Himself.
- The Deity as Mercy: Because ordinary vision cannot perceive the spiritual form of the Lord, Kṛṣṇa mercifully appears in the Deity form to accept the service of the conditioned souls.
- Explore the synthesized essence of this category in this Vanipedia article: Process of Accepting Devotional Service to God.
Pages in category "Accepting Devotional Service to God"
The following 70 pages are in this category, out of 70 total.
A
- A person who accepts the path of DS is not bereft of the results derived from studying the Vedas, performing austere sacrifices, giving charity, or pursuing philosophical and fruitive activities. At the end he reaches the supreme abode - BG 8.28
- A person who is born in a sudra family can become greater than a brahmana simply by accepting devotional service and giving aural reception to the pastimes of the Lord and His devotees
- A restrained householder brahmacari may be accepted in the bhakti school, but the jnana and dhyana schools do not admit even householder brahmacaris. They require complete abstinence without compromise. BG 1972 purports
- Acintya-bhedabheda explains how the Lord can present Himself everywhere and anywhere in a form of His energy to accept service from the devotee
- All the devotees in the line of the Gaudiya-Madhva-sampradaya accept all the principles of devotional service
- Although the sastras prescribe different methods for different men, the Supreme Personality of Godhead says that one ultimately must accept the path of devotional service as the assured path of spiritual advancement
- Any activities which are not favorable to the transcendental favor of the Lord cannot be accepted as devotional service
B
- By accepting austerity in devotional service, one regains his spiritual life, and as soon as one regains his spiritual life, he enjoys unlimited spiritual bliss
- By the process of bhakti-yoga, directly accepted, by sufficient hearing of the transcendental message of the Lord, the material contamination is directly eliminated without one's attempting to contemplate the impersonal virat conception of the Lord
- By your force, you cannot see Him. But He is pleased, sevonmukhe hi jihvadau, when you accept to serve Him by your tongue, beginning with tongue, kirtanam
I
- If we accept the devotional service of the Lord, the Lord will gradually reveal Himself. In this way the progressive devotee will gradually realize his spiritual position
- If we actually want to attain a state beyond fear, we have to accept this bhakti-yoga process enunciated by Lord Kapiladeva
- If you accept bhagavad-bhakti-yoga, devotional service to the Lord, you shall be prasanna-manasa. You shall be always feeling jolly. If I am not jolly, if I am not prasanna-manasa, that means maya has attacked me
- If you are interested to know God and love Him, then you have to accept this devotional process. No other process will help you
- If you want to know Krsna, then you have to accept bhakti, nothing else. Krsna never says jnana or yoga or karma will help you. No, that will not help. That will entangle you more and more - again repetition of birth and death
- In the surrendering process, one should (1) accept things favorable for discharging devotional service, (2) reject things unfavorable, (3) always believe firmly in the Lord's protection
- It has been actually proved that the entire world can accept devotional service without failure. One simply has to follow the instructions of the representative of Krsna
- It is understood from the authoritative source of Vedic literature that especially in this age, Kali-yuga, people are generally short-living, extremely bad in their habits, and inclined to accept methods of devotional service that are not bona fide
K
- Kardama Muni said: I shall accept this chaste girl (Devahuti) as my wife, on the condition that after she bears semen from my body, I shall accept the life of devotional service accepted by the most perfect human beings
- Knowledge gives one the preference to accept devotional service. Unless one comes to the platform of knowledge, the brahma-bhuta stage, one cannot advance in devotional service
- Krsna says, "If you want to know Me, then you have to accept this bhakti-yoga. No other means will . . ." because without full surrender unto Krsna, nobody can know Him
L
- Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu says to Ramananda Raya, eho haya, age kaha ara: This (CC Madhya 8.67) is the process accepted in devotional service, but there is something more than this. Therefore please explain what is beyond
- Lord Krsna has advised us to accept the bhakti-yoga process. Bhakti-yoga will automatically liberate a person from the dualities of life
M
- May there be good fortune throughout the universe, and may all envious persons be pacified. May all living entities become calm by practicing bhakti-yoga, for by accepting devotional service they will think of each other's welfare
- Mayavadis may be susilah sadhavah (well-behaved saintly persons), but there is nevertheless some doubt about whether they are actually making progress, for they have not accepted the path of bhakti
O
- One may perform all the methods of devotional service or may accept only one. Simply hearing is enough. Pariksit Maharaja did not do anything else but sit down before Sukadeva Gosvami and hear for the last seven days of his life
- One should be fully free from material desires, philosophical speculation and fruitive activity. The best course for a human being is to favorably accept the transcendental devotional service of the Lord. That is the highest perfection of human life
- One should generally accept the following principles to properly execute devotional service: (1) take shelter of a bona fide spiritual master, (2) receive initiation from the spiritual master, (3) serve the spiritual master
- One should generally accept the following principles to properly execute devotional service: (4) inquire and learn love from the spiritual master, (5) follow in the footsteps of holy persons devoted to the transcendental loving service of the Lord
- One should generally accept the following principles to properly execute devotional service: (7) live in a place where Krsna had His pastimes, (8) be satisfied by whatever is sent by Krsna for the maintenance of the body and hanker for no more
- One should generally accept the following principles to properly execute devotional service: (9) observe fasting on Ekadasi day, (10) show respect to devotees, cows and sacred trees like the banyan tree
- Only those who have passed their lives in practicing the regulative principles of religion, who have acted piously and have conquered sinful reactions can accept devotional service and gradually rise to the pure knowledge of the SPG. BG 1972 purports
P
- Persons who smell the aroma of Your lotus feet, carried by the air of Vedic sound through the holes of the ears, accept Your devotional service. For them You are never separated from the lotus of their hearts
- Puspa-bana (“He who carries an arrow made of flowers”) is Govinda, the Personality of Godhead who accepts our devotional service; and Ananga is Gopijana-vallabha, who satisfies all the gopis and is the ultimate goal of life
S
- Since a devotee wants to satisfy the desires of the Lord, he can, Lord willing, accept all kinds of opulence for the service of the Lord
- Some persons are reluctant to accept this level of devotional service as actual bhakti-yoga, and in some of the Puranas also this servitorship in devotional service to Krsna is not accepted as the actual bhakti-yoga system
- Sometimes we see that when a person is on the platform of material goodness, he is attracted more or less by the cultivation of knowledge. This is, of course, a better position, for knowledge gives one the preference to accept devotional service
- Sometimes, because we give stress directly to accept this devotional service, people are not very happy that we do not give any importance to the process of jnana and karma and yoga. We do not condemn, but they're very difficult
- Srila Rupa Gosvami says that even if one does not accept it as a transcendental humor, one must still accept it as the beginning position of devotional service
- Srila Rupa Gosvami specifically mentions herein that every man has the birthright to accept devotional service and to become Krsna conscious
T
- The devotee is expected to accept all nine processes of devotional service, but even if only one process is properly executed, he can still attain the highest position (paramahamsa) and go back home, back to Godhead
- The different parts of the bhakti-yoga system are accepting service to Him, carrying out His orders, making friendship with Him and ultimately surrendering everything for the service of the Lord
- The injunctions of Narada Muni, or the path of devotional service, can be accepted by anyone within the three worlds, and certainly by the King of the Yavanas
- The karma-kanda portion stresses the execution of fruitive activities. But ultimately it is advised that one abandon both karma-kanda and jnana-kanda (speculative knowledge) and accept only upasana-kanda, or bhakti-kanda
- The point is that anyone who accepts the principle of bhakti-yoga and accepts the Supreme Lord as the summum bonum of life, as the highest target, the ultimate goal, can approach the Lord in the spiritual sky. BG 1972 Introduction
- The purport is that one should not neglect following the principles of devotional service, nor should one accept the rulings of devotional service which are more than what he can easily perform
- The purport of all Vedic literatures is to induce one to accept the transcendental loving service of the Lord by all means
- The word nirvanatman is very significant in this (in SB 3.25.29) verse. Unless one accepts the process of devotional service, one cannot end the continuation of material existence
- There are six basic guidelines for surrender. The first is that one should accept everything that is favorable for the discharge of devotional service, and one should be determined to accept the process
- There must be bhakti. And what kind of bhakti? Not sentiment, but sruta-grhitaya, taking, accepting bhakti, the devotional path, after being completely aware of the spiritual science
- This gross body and subtle body is changing according to the change of the situation. So when you remain in your spiritual body, that is eternal. Therefore to keep in spiritual body is to accept devotional service
- This second class of men believe the Supreme Brahman to be impersonal. They accept the cult of bhakti, in which hearing of krsna-katha is the first item, as a means and not the end. Above them are those who are pure devotees
- This tattva of Lord Caitanya's is shared by all four sampradayas of the Vaisnava school (all accepting eternal servitude to the Lord even after salvation), and there is no authorized Vaisnava acarya who may think of the Lord and himself as one
- Those who accept the service of the Lord instead of maya's service are called the paramahamsas
- To accept everything which is favorable for devotional service, to reject everything which is unfavorable for devotional service, to believe that Krsna will always give protection
- To Accept Only What is Necessary. In the Naradiya Purana it is directed, "One should not accept more than necessary if he is serious about discharging devotional service"
W
- When the Lord is satisfied, the performer of sacrifices is elevated to the platform of devotional service. Prthu Maharaja therefore expected that his insignificant service to the Lord would be accepted by Him as being greater than that of Laksmiji
- When we wish to develop our innate capacity for devotional service, there are certain processes which, by our accepting and executing them, will cause that dormant capacity to be invoked. Such practice is called sadhana-bhakti
- When you have invited Visnu, Krsna, Caitanya Mahaprabhu, to accept your service, you must be very, very careful how to render service. How cleansely, how nicely you have to serve. Otherwise everything will be spoiled