Category:Attaining Devotional Service to God
Theme Analysis
The ultimate objective of human existence is to move beyond the temporary struggles of the material world and return to the eternal spiritual abode of Kṛṣṇa. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that perfection is not defined by material status, scholastic achievements, or the acquisition of mystic powers, but by the spontaneous development of pure love for the Supreme Personality of Godhead. While Vedic literature outlines various methodologies like karma-yoga and jñāna-yoga, these paths are only successful when they culminate in unalloyed devotional service. A self-realized soul understands that they are a spiritual particle, distinct from the material body, and this realization marks the beginning of true success. By engaging in the process of bhakti-yoga under the guidance of a bona fide spiritual master, any human being can transcend the miseries of material life and achieve the highest perfectional stage of existence.
- The Supremacy of Bhakti-Yoga: All other yogic processes, including those involving mystic perfections or severe penances, are intended to lead the practitioner toward the platform of pure devotion. Unless one reaches the point of spontaneous, unflinching attachment to the Lord, any other achievement remains incomplete and temporary.
- Universality of Spiritual Attainment: The path to perfection is not reserved for the elite or the highly educated, but is accessible to everyone, regardless of their social standing, past history, or intellectual capacity. Even those traditionally considered low-born can reach the highest destination if they take shelter of the holy name and the service of the Lord.
- The Role of the Spiritual Master: Perfect knowledge and spiritual realization are not self-manifested but are transmitted through the mercy of the guru. By rendering submissive service to the lotus feet of the spiritual master, the disciple gradually qualifies to understand the science of Kṛṣṇa and attain the stage of perfection.
- The Ultimate Destination: True success in life is measured by the soul's ability to transcend the cycle of repeated birth and death and reach the eternal Vaikuṇṭha planets. Once a great soul attains this state of consciousness, they never again return to the miserable conditions of the material world, experiencing instead the supreme bliss of eternal life with Kṛṣṇa.
- Explore the synthesized essence of this category in this Vanipedia article: Achieving the Highest Perfection - Attaining Devotional Service to God.
Subcategories
This category has the following 8 subcategories, out of 8 total.
A
P
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Pages in category "Attaining Devotional Service to God"
The following 117 pages are in this category, out of 117 total.
A
- A pure devotee is constantly engaged in the service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Whatever is necessary for the discharge of devotional service is automatically attained, though it may appear to be the result of mystic yoga power
- Actual freedom from material bondage is called liberation, but attainment of the transcendental service of the Lord is called the perfect stage of liberation
- After following the regulative principles and purifying the material senses, one attains the stage of nistha, firm faith in the Lord. When a person has attained this stage, no one can deviate him from the conception of the Supreme Personality of Godhead
- Akrura: The commander in chief of the Vrsni dynasty and a great devotee of Lord Krsna. Akrura attained success in devotional service to the Lord by the one single process of offering prayers
- All the scriptures recommend that it is by pleasing the spiritual master and serving him directly that one can attain the highest perfectional stage of devotional service
- Anyone who hears this description of the car festival will attain Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He will also attain the elevated state by which he will have firm conviction in devotional service and love of Godhead
- Anyone who is not a devotee cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Only by attainment of a service attitude in the transcendental position can one enter into the kingdom of Godhead
- As clouds appear from the ocean, distribute water all over the world, and return to the ocean, so by the grace of Lord Caitanya, Ramananda Raya attained his higher knowledge of devotional service
- Attainment of ecstasy is produced by execution of devotional service. When one continues the process of hearing and chanting, attachment grows and assumes the name of love of Godhead
B
- Bhakti means unless you become an apprentice of a bhakta, how you can attain bhakti? That is not possible
- Bhakti means when one has attained real jnanam. Without real jnanam, nobody can become bhakta. The foolish person says that bhakti's meant for ajnani, or less intelligent
- Bhakti-yoga, as described above, is the ultimate goal of life. By rendering devotional service to the S P of Godhead, one transcends the modes of material nature and attains the spiritual position on the platform of direct devotional service
- Brahma said, "One who has attained a little result of devotional service can understand Your glories"
- By attaining the highest platform of devotional service, as I have explained, one can overcome the influence of the three modes of material nature and be situated in the transcendental stage, as is the Lord
- By following the instructions of the guru and the sastras, the disciple attains the stage of devotional service and becomes unattached to possessions
- By the grace of Lord Caitanya, Ramananda Raya attained his higher knowledge of devotional service and again, after retiring from service, resolved to see Lord Caitanya in Puri
D
- Devotees who are actually serious attain bhakti, scientific devotional service, by hearing Vedic literatures. It is not that one should create something out of sentimentality, become a sahajiya and advocate such concocted devotional service
- Devotional service is not possible to attain simply by undergoing severe austerities and penances, by gorgeously worshiping the Deity, or by strictly following the rules and regulations of the sannyasa or grhastha order
- Devotional service means attaining peace from all disturbances caused by material contamination. In other words, it is the process by which the mind is cooled
- Devotional service unto the Lord is the highest attainment for anyone desiring liberation from the tribulations of material existence
H
- He (who is transcendentally situated) sees all living entities as spiritual beings. After attaining this elevated stage, one can attain pure devotional service
- He who faithfully hears about the dealings between Lord Krsna and the gopis in the rasa dance and he who describes these activities attain to the perfectional stage of devotional service and simultaneously lose material, lusty desires
- Householders who beget children without restriction, like weeds in the rainy season, become solitary as soon as they attain to the stage of devotional service. The family planning of a godless civilization cannot check weedlike unwanted population
- How one can attain the highest devotional perfection of association with the Supreme Personality of Godhead has been thoroughly explained in this chapter. BG 1972 purports
I
- If a devotee, with all confidence, goes on discharging the prescribed duties of devotional service, he will ultimately attain success
- If one attains devotional service, therefore, he is certainly liberated. Generally, unless one enjoys material happiness, one cannot attain renunciation. Varnasrama therefore gives the opportunity for gradual elevation
- If one develops devotional service and attachment by following in the footsteps of the Vrajavasis, he attains raga-marga-bhakti, or devotional service in attachment to the Lord
- If one is determined to get out of all the designations that are attached to the pure spirit soul, and which arise due to the body and are always changed when the body is changed, one can attain to bhakti
- If one maintains within his heart the desire to enjoy the result of good work, or, being embarrassed by the material world, the desire to get out of material entanglement, one will never be able to attain the transcendental mellows of devotional service
- In all phases of life one has to perform devotional activities under the direction of the spiritual master in order to attain perfection in bhakti-yoga. It is not that one has to confine or narrow one's activities. Krsna is all-pervading
- In the Srimad-Bhagavatam it is also confirmed by Prahlada Maharaj that merely by personal efforts or by the instructions of higher authorities one cannot attain to the stage of devotional service
- In the Srimad-Bhagavatam it is said that religious people generally do not know that the highest perfection of religion is the attainment of the stage of devotional service. BG 1972 purports
- It appears that a devotee who always thinks of Krsna 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 Krsna's extraordinary mercy
- It is not acceptable for one to be satisfied simply by practicing the sitting postures and thinking himself complete. By meditation one must attain the stage of devotional service
- It is stated in SB 10.33.39 that one who hears of the pastimes of Krsna with the gopis will attain the highest platform of devotional service and will be freed from the material lust which overwhelms everyone's heart in the material world
- It is stated in the beginning of Srimad-Bhagavatam that the topmost religious practice is that by which one can attain to the transcendental devotional service of the Lord, without reason or cause
- It is stated in the Bhagavad-gita (BG 12.5) that persons stuck on the impersonal step undergo more sufferings than achievement of reality. Therefore knowledge imparted by Sukadeva Gosvami unto Maharaja Pariksit helped him attain the service of the Lord
L
- Liberation and freedom from the reactions of sinful activities are only by-products of chanting the holy name of the Lord. If one chants the holy name of the Lord purely, he attains the platform of loving service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead
- Lord Visnu is not satisfied simply by a ritualistic adherence to Vedic instructions; He is actually pleased when one attains the stage of devotional service
N
- Narada Muni was speaking to Vyasadeva, who was morose even after he had compiled all the Vedic literatures. In this connection, Narada Muni advised Srila Vyasadeva to try to attain devotional service and nothing else
- No one accepts the spiritual processes of knowledge and renunciation, which end in bhakti-yoga. Actually human life is meant for jnana and vairagya, knowledge and renunciation. Through these one can attain the platform of devotional service
- No one can attain the perfectional stage of devotional service without bowing down before exalted devotees. Learned sages like Markandeya Rsi attained perfection in devotional service simply by executing such regulative principles of service
- No one can persuade him (one who attains the stage of nistha) that God is impersonal, without a form, or that any form created by imagination can be accepted as God
- 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
O
- O devotees, relish daily the nectar of Sri Caitanya-caritamrta and the pastimes of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, for by doing so one can merge in transcendental bliss and attain full knowledge of devotional service
- O lord, all these planets exist within your self, and all the living entities are generated from you. Therefore you are the cause of this universe, and anyone who meditates upon you without deviation attains devotional service
- One cannot attain the highest perfectional stage of devotional service without personal endeavor
- One may attain the topmost platform of devotional service, but somehow or other if he offends a Vaisnava, the whole structure collapses
- One should be engaged in the Lord's devotional service to achieve the aim of life, called prayojana. The practice of devotional service to attain that goal of life is called abhidheya
- One should engage in penance and austerity to attain the divine position of devotional service. By such activity, one's heart is purified, and when one attains this position, he attains eternal, blissful life, which is transcendental to material happiness
- One should gradually raise himself to the platform of Krsna consciousness and devotional service; it is then and there that he can attain the highest perfectional stage, not otherwise. BG 1972 purports
- One who hears the pastimes of Krsna with the gopis will attain the highest platform of devotional service and be freed from material lust, which overwhelms everyone's heart in the material world
- One who is transcendentally situated at once realizes the Supreme Brahman and becomes fully joyful. He never laments nor desires to have anything; he is equally disposed toward all living entities. In that state he attains pure DS unto Me - Krsna
P
- Penance in devotional service of the Lord, either by voluntary submission or by being forced by the Lord, is necessary for attaining perfection, and thus such penance is the internal potency of the Lord
- Persons who, because of their serious attitude, attain the stage of enlightened devotional service achieve the complete meaning of renunciation and knowledge and attain the Vaikunthaloka in the spiritual sky simply by drinking the nectar of Your topics
- Philosophical research culminates in understanding the Supreme Personality of Godhead. After achieving this understanding, when one becomes free from the material modes of nature, he attains the stage of devotional service
- Prahlad Maharaj said that no one can attain the perfectional stage of devotional service without bowing down before exalted devotees
- Prahlada Maharaja says that even one is qualified with these twelve qualification (in SB 7.9.10) and has attained the stage of vipra, still, if he has not attained devotional service, then it is useless
S
- Sacrifices, penances and austerities should be performed only to attain Krsna's devotional service
- SB 1.2.6 states: The supreme occupation for all humanity is that by which men can attain to loving devotional service unto the transcendent Lord. Such devotional service must be unmotivated and uninterrupted to completely satisfy the self
- So it is not a thing that one should attain the transcendental loving platform of Krsna by studying
- Sometimes it is found in places like Vrndavana that a person with a slight devotional attitude of neutral love for Krsna may immediately and artificially try to attain to the platform of conjugal love
- Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Thakura says in this connection that although one may go on chanting the Hare Krsna mantra for many, many years, there is no possibility of attaining the platform of devotional service unless one accepts Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu
- Such a stage (the perfect liberation) is attained by knowledge and renunciation, as we have already explained (SB 1.2.12), and perfect knowledge, as delivered by Srila Sukadeva Gosvami, results in the attainment of the transcendental service of the Lord
T
- That by which one can attain loving service to the Lord I have described in detail as the execution of devotional service, called abhidheya
- The all-attractive features of Lord Krsna help one in attaining the transcendental service, and it is by such service in Krsna consciousness that one can realize the relationship between Krsna and himself
- The central purpose of these eighteen principles is the attainment of transcendental devotional service to the Personality of Godhead. Therefore all classes of men are encouraged to learn the art of devotional service to the Lord
- The first requirement is that one should have sufficient faith that the only process for attaining love of Godhead is bhakti, devotional service to the Lord
- The first-class devotee is not interested in dry speculative methods meant for wasting time. In other words, one who has attained a mature determination in the matter of devotional service can be accepted as the first-class devotee
- The gopis are in the perfectional stage of meditation. Yogis are generally more fond of meditating than of executing devotional service to the Lord, but they do not know that the perfection of the yoga system is the attainment of devotion
- The highest perfection of religious life is to attain to the stage of unqualified devotional service of the Lord without any cause or without being obstructed by any kind of worldly obligation
- The highest platform of realization for the living entity is the attainment of devotional life. One cannot be engaged in devotional life, or Krsna consciousness, unless one is fully free from material contamination
- The idea is that material happiness and misery are available in all planetary systems in the course of time, but the highest achievement, devotional service, cannot be attained anywhere without endeavor
- The Lord affirms in Bhagavad-gita (BG 18.54-55): In that (Supreme Brahman realized) state one attains pure devotional service unto Me
- The Lord may offer liberation or material happiness to a devotee, but after some devotional service has been executed, particularly in Mathura during the month of Karttika, the devotees want only to attain pure devotional service unto the Lord
- The nine devotional processes, beginning with sravana and kirtana, can all be attained at once if one simply chants the holy name of the Lord offenselessly
- The path of the Vedas does not accord with any principle devoid of an eternal relation with God, attainment of His devotional service, and culmination in transcendental love for Him
- The real goal of life is to attain devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead
- The revealed scriptures mention nine means of attaining devotional service, of which the first and foremost is hearing from authority
- The Srimad-Bhagavatam says again and again that without attainment of the status of bhakti-yoga, all the activities of human society are to be considered absolute failures only
- The ultimate aim of life is to attain the highest perfectional stage of devotional service to the Lord
- The whole purpose of Vedic civilization and of reading the Vedas is to attain the perfect stage of devotional service in the human form of life
- There are instances in history of great personalities, including sages and kings, who attained perfection by this process (of bhakti). Some of them attained success even by adhering to one single item of devotional service with faith and perseverance
- There are six positive items for advancing in DS. First, while one should not be enthusiastic to attain material achievements, one should be very enthusiastic to attain the perfectional stage of devotional service. This enthusiasm is called utsaha
- There are three ways to attain the lotus feet of the Absolute Truth, Krsna. There is the process of philosophical speculation, the practice of mystic yoga and the execution of devotional service. Each of these has its different characteristics
- These are the words of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, "When one's intelligence is fully attached to My lotus feet but one does not render practical service, one has attained the stage called santa-rati, or sama"
- This narration of Lord Rsabhadeva's pastimes is the reservoir of all auspicious things. Whoever attentively hears or speaks of them, following in the footsteps of the acaryas, will certainly attain unalloyed devotional service at the lotus feet of the SPG
- This position is attained by rendering devotional service according to the regulative principles and then rising to the platform of spontaneous love
- This stage of santa-rasa can be attained by the impersonalists only when they are in association with pure devotees
- Those who have not attained the platform of spontaneous attachment in devotional service render devotional service under the guidance of a bona fide spiritual master according to the regulative principles mentioned in the revealed scriptures
- To attain the platform of pure devotional service, one has to become spiritually pure and attain the brahma-bhuta platform, which is beyond material anxiety and material discrimination
- To glorify Maharaja Nabhi, the sages composed two verses. One of them is this: Who can attain the perfection of Maharaja Nabhi? Who can attain his activities? Because of his devotional service, the Supreme Personality of God agreed to become his son
U
- Unless one has attained the stage of devotional service and the mercy of the spiritual master and Krsna, there is a possibility that one may fall down and again accept a material body
- Unless one hears about Sri Krsna from authorities, one cannot make advancement in devotion to Sri Krsna. The revealed scriptures mention nine means of attaining devotional service, of which the first and foremost is hearing from authority
- Unless one is attached to Krsna, he cannot attain devotional perfection even if he renders devotional service for a long time. Krsna does not easily deliver perfection in devotional service
- Unless one is favored by a pure devotee, one cannot attain the platform of devotional service. To say nothing of krsna-bhakti, one cannot even be relieved from the bondage of material existence
- Unless one utilizes his resources and performs his activities to attain devotional service to the Lord, he cannot attain the desired results
- Unless religion, economic development and sense gratification aim toward the attainment of devotional service to the Lord, they are all simply different forms of nescience, as Sri Isopanisad indicates in the following mantras
- Unless you become an apprentice of a bhakta, how you can attain bhakti? That is not possible
W
- When a brahmana engages in the Lord's service, fully understanding his eternal relationship, his devotional service is called abhidheya. When one attains that stage, he is called a bhagavata, or Vaisnava
- When affection for Krsna becomes deeper, one attains love of Godhead in devotional service. Such a position is called sthayi-bhava, permanent enjoyment of the mellows of devotional service to Krsna
- When King Rahugana expressed surprise upon seeing King Bharata's spiritual achievements, Bharata replied: My dear Rahugana, no one can attain the perfected stage of devotional service without being favored by a great soul or a pure devotee
- When one attains the service of the Lord, which is non-different from the Lord, one does not desire anything material
- When one attains the third stage of transcendental love of God, there occur further developments known as transcendental affection, emotion, ecstasy & extreme & intense attachment. These are technically known by the terms raga, anuraga, bhava & mahabhava
- When one comes to the platform of loving service to Lord Krsna by executing these nine processes, beginning with hearing and chanting, he has attained the fifth platform of success and the limit of life's goals
- When one has attained the perfection of devotional service, it is not very important to follow the Vedic principles. Lord Krsna advised Arjuna to ascend to the platform of nistraigunya, the transcendental position above the Vedic principles
- When one is actually able to maintain the transcendental position, his stage is called neutrality in devotional service. Some great sages have attained this neutral position by practicing austerity, penance and meditation to control the senses
- When one is freed from bondage to the results of knowledge and fruitive activities, he can attain to devotional service
- When the conditioned soul faithfully follows the instructions of a bona fide spiritual master, his material disease is cured, he is promoted to the liberated stage, and he again attains to the devotional service of Krsna and goes back home, back to Krsna
- When this knowledge (that Krsna is Brahman and Paramatma) is further developed, one is convinced that the Paramatma, the Supreme Lord, is the master and that the living entity is His eternal servant. One then attains the platform of dasya-rasa
- While one should not be enthusiastic to attain material achievements, one should be very enthusiastic to attain the perfectional stage of devotional service. This enthusiasm is called utsaha