Category:Performing Devotional Service to God
Theme Analysis
Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that performing devotional service (bhakti-yoga) is the ultimate duty and highest perfection for every living entity. Unlike mundane activities performed for material gain or mental concoction, devotional service must be executed under the guidance of a bona fide spiritual master and the revealed scriptures. It is a process of engaging one's body, mind, and words in the loving service of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Even a slight performance of this service can save one from the greatest danger, and when executed consistently without ulterior motives, it rapidly elevates the performer from the initial stages of practice to the ultimate platform of pure, spontaneous love of Godhead.
- Joyful and Easy to Practice: The nine processes of devotion, such as hearing and chanting, are not only powerful but also joyful and easy to execute.
- Transcending Material Contamination: By steadfastly performing the duties of bhakti, one attains the stage of anartha-nivrtti, where all unwanted material desires are completely eradicated.
- The Power of Regulated Service: Devotional service must be performed with patience, enthusiasm, and confidence under the strict guidance of a bona fide spiritual master.
- Attaining the Ultimate Goal: Even a slight execution of this transcendental service protects one from great danger, and continuous performance guarantees the ultimate reward of returning back to Godhead.
- Explore the synthesized essence of this category in this Vanipedia article: The Joy of Performing Devotional Service to God.
Subcategories
This category has the following 7 subcategories, out of 7 total.
A
D
Pages in category "Performing Devotional Service to God"
The following 148 pages are in this category, out of 148 total.
A
- A devotee must execute his prescribed duties, which are glorious, without material profit. Without excessive violence, one should regularly perform one's devotional activities
- A devotee should execute his devotional services with full energy, endurance, and confidence. He should perform his scheduled duties, he should be pure in heart, and he should serve in association with devotees
- A person gradually reaches this stage (of anartha-nivrtti) by regularly performing the primary principles of devotional service under the guidance of the spiritual master
- A pure devotee is not envious, hateful, or lazy in the discharge of devotional service. Confident of his advancement, he continually performs his prescribed devotional duties. This is called tat-tat-karma-pravartana
- A pure living entity who thus attains the stage of anartha-nivrtti, cessation of everything unwanted, has nothing to enjoy in the material world. One attains this stage only by properly performing the functions of devotional service
- After engaging for ten thousand years in performing different types of devotional service, Kardama Muni attained perfection of meditation, but that is not possible in this age of Kali, wherein it is very difficult to live for as much as one hundred years
- Arjuna understands that renunciation in knowledge involves cessation of all kinds of work performed as sense activities. But if one performs work in devotional service, then how is work stopped? BG 1972 purports
- As described in the second verse of this chapter (BG 9.2) , this devotional service is not only easy, but it can be performed in a happy mood. BG 1972 purports
- As gold and silver can be freed from all dirty contamination by being put into a fire but not merely by being washed, the living entity can be awakened to his own identity by performing devotional service (yat-sevaya), but not by karma, jnana or yoga
- As the unmixed sun ray is very forceful and is therefore called tivra, similarly unmixed bhakti-yoga of hearing, chanting, etc., may be performed by one and all regardless of inner motive
- As we generally perform devotional service on Ekadasi by not eating grains, it is generally recommended that on Dvadasi one not consume anything but milk
B
- Because a person who performs krsna-bhakti but does not understand Krsna Caitanya and Nityananda will simply waste his time, the author, Krsnadasa Kaviraja, requests everyone to take to the worship of Caitanya and Nityananda and the Panca-tattva
- Because a pure devotee follows in the footsteps of the acaryas, any action he performs to discharge devotional service should be understood to be on the transcendental platform
- Because of protection by the SP of Godhead, the deer (Maharaja Bharata) remembered his relationship with the Lord and next took birth in a good brahminical family and performed devotional service (sucinam srimatam gehe yoga-bhrasto 'bhijayate) - BG 6.41
- Bhakti yoga is performed by all authorities
- Bhakti-yoga is recommended in all the revealed scriptures, it is performed by all authorities, it is important in all places, it is useful in all causes and effects, etc
- Bhakti-yoga is the highest quality of perfection to be achieved by the intelligent person in lieu of performing a large quantity of spiritual activities. A handful of real paddy is more valuable than heaps of paddy skins without any substance within
- Bhakti-yoga is very simple and pure and easy to perform. One can begin by simply chanting Hare Krsna. BG 1972 purports
- Brahma is also afraid of his death, and thus he performs devotional service to the Lord, just to release himself from the clutches of illusory energy
- Brahmaji undertook great penance in performing bhakti-yoga, and thus he was able to see the transcendental form of the Lord
- By dint of performing heroic activity of devotional service one receives the benefit of returning home, back to Godhead
- By performing bhakti-yoga, or devotional service, a man can be raised to the platform of goodness. If a husband situated in the mode of goodness can control his wife, who is in passion and ignorance, the woman is benefited
- By performing devotional service and by exhibiting the process of devotional service containing the symptoms of both attachment & detachment; by understanding the science of self-realization & by developing a strong sense of detachment, one realizes SPG
- By performing devotional service, one advances step by step, and when one is on the platform of love of Godhead (prema pumartho mahan) he sees the Supreme Lord at every moment
- By performing such regulated devotional service in awe and veneration, one may go to Vaikuntha and attain the four kinds of liberation
D
- Devotional activities are so spiritually powerful that their performance by a devotee, even in the preliminary stage, can very quickly promote the sincere executor to the emotion on the spiritual plane, which is transcendental to mental functions
- Devotional service in Krsna consciousness cannot be performed blindly due to material emotion or mental concoction. It is specifically mentioned here that one has to perform devotional service in full knowledge by visualizing the Absolute Truth
- Devotional service is performed on this excellent platform, and knowledge of the devotee's relationship to Krsna as lover and beloved was given by Caitanya Mahaprabhu. It was never given by any previous incarnation or acarya
- Devotional service is so powerful that one who performs devotional service is immediately freed from all sinful desires
- Devotional service of God involves 9 transcendental processes, such as hearing and chanting, by performing such easy and natural devotional services the devotees achieve the highest perfectional results, superior to merging into the existence of Brahman
- Devotional service performed by thinking of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is so powerful that although Prsadhra was cursed he avoided the terrible consequence of becoming a sudra and instead returned home, back to Godhead
- Devotional service to Lord Krsna is the highest perfectional path to self-realization, and it is recommended that it be performed directly
E
- Even when performing devotional service a devotee has to create many enemies. Prahlada Maharaja himself had experience of this, for even his father became his enemy
- Every devotee should be very enthusiastic, not only in performing his daily rituals of devotional service, but in trying to preach the cult peacefully by following in the footsteps of Lord Caitanya
F
- Five items of devotional activities are so spiritually powerful that their performance by a devotee, even in the preliminary stage, can very quickly promote the sincere executor to the stage of bhava - the stage just prior to love of Godhead
- From the very beginning, a boy must be trained to perform devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead
H
- He (Sukadeva Gosvami) affirms that by performing these methods (hearing, chanting, remembering) of devotional service one will be cleansed of material contamination. When? Sadyah: immediately, without waiting. This is the great benefit of the KC movement
- He (the exalted devotee) continues performing his duty in devotional service. Such a person is guaranteed promotion back home, back to Godhead
- He should execute service externally as a regulative devotee as well as internally from his self-realized position. Thus he should perform devotional service both externally and internally
- How Devayani became self-realized by the grace of her great husband, Maharaja Yayati, is described here (in SB 9.19.29). Describing such realization is another way of performing the bhakti process
I
- If an ordinary man develops such attachment for Krsna and fortunately performs devotional activities in the association of pure devotees, he can also rise up to the platform of pure devotional service
- If one does not act for the satisfaction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, or if one does not perform devotional service, then there will be reactions to all one's activities
- If one simply continues to think that he is an eternal servant of Krsna, even without performing any other process of devotional service, he can attain full success, for simply by this feeling one can perform all nine processes of devotional service
- If you want to stay there I have no objection. For the time being you can perform your devotional service in Puri and when I return to Mayapur in mid-March, you can see me and we shall see what was the cause for your being asked to leave
- 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 any position and anywhere in the world, he (a person) can perform this devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead and thus become actually mahatma, a great soul. BG 1972 purports
- In Bhagavad-gita (BG 2.40), the Lord says svalpam apy asya dharmasya trayate mahato bhayat: this dharma, devotional service, is so important that even if performed to a very small, almost negligible extent, it can give one the supreme result
- In devotional service there is no frustration; even if we perform only a small amount, it will grow. Devotional service is never lost. As far as material things are concerned, whatever we gain in the world will be lost when the body is finished
- In the Bhagavad-gita (BG 2.40) it is said, sv-alpam apy asya dharmasya trayate mahato bhayat: Simply by performing a little devotional service, one can escape the greatest danger
- In the completely satisfied stage of life, exhibited by full detachment from the world of sense enjoyment as a result of performing devotional service, one can understand the science of God in the liberated stage
- In the land of Bharata-varsa one can very easily perform the sankirtana-yajna, which consists of sravanam kirtanam visnoh (SB 7.5.23), or one can perform other methods of devotional service, such as smaranam vandanam arcanam dasyam sakhyam
- In these families (well-situated brahmana families or well-to-do mercantile families) the worship of Lord Krsna is regularly performed and the child gets the opportunity to imitate the process of worship called arcana
- In this way (by performing devotional service to God) one can give up material desires, and as soon as one is freed from material desires, he is free from the repetition of birth and death, old age and disease
- Incessantly flowing devotional service (santata) may be divided into two categories: (1) service performed with slight attachment and (2) spontaneous devotional service
- It (bhakti) does not even finish with the end of the body, but it continues eternally. And it is joyfully performed. At first, though, there may be some inconveniences, but we must tolerate them and we shall realize the goal
- It is best, therefore, to practice controlling the senses by performing bhakti-yoga, engaging in the service of Madana-mohana
- It is clearly said (samyak sraddhaya) that with great faith one should receive knowledge from the spiritual master and with great faith execute the performance of service
- It is my serious desire to devote the fag end of my life to translating Srimad Bhagavatam and so many other Vaisnava literatures so by assisting me in this regards you will be performing the highest service to Krsna
- It is specifically mentioned here that one has to perform devotional service in full knowledge by visualizing the Absolute Truth
K
- Knowledge must be followed by detachment. That is the way of self-realization. These two essentials for self-realization - knowledge and detachment - become manifest very quickly if one performs devotional service to the lotus feet of the Lord
- Krsna advised Arjuna to perform devotional service, which is the process of transcendental religion
- Krsna consciousness movement is so nice that even children without any knowledge of Vedanta - and big, big philosopher - simply by attending the performance of devotional service even a child's mind can be glorious - without an education
M
- Maharaja Ambarisa performed all the items of devotional service. He first of all engaged his mind upon the lotus feet of Krsna. He engaged his words, his power of speaking, in describing the transcendental qualities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead
- Materialist person perform all pious activities or devotional activities for some material gain, and as soon as there is any hindrance in the path of material gain, they at once become demon
- May Lord Dattatreya, the master of all mystic power, protect me from falling while performing bhakti-yoga, and may Lord Kapila, the master of all good qualities, protect me from the material bondage of fruitive activities
O
- Offering service and surrendering to the spiritual master, one is elevated to devotional service, and by performing devotional service one gradually becomes attached to the SP of Godhead. Because of this attachment to the Lord, one can understand God
- One cannot serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead unless one has achieved full perfectional knowledge in the ways and means of performing devotional service
- One may be able to perform one item or many items, according to one's capacity, but it is the principal factor of complete attachment to devotional service that makes one advance on the path
- 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 must perform devotional service because otherwise one will become victimized by the modes of material nature
- One should not make a livelihood by forming a professional band to carry out congregational chanting, nor should one perform devotional service when one is attached to mundane society, friendship and love
- One should not simply make a show of religious life, but should perform devotional service perfectly with words, mind, body and good intelligence
- One should therefore not take to the demoniac activity of claiming to be a Vaisnava just for false prestige, without performing service to the Lord
- One who is performing devotional service without any deviation, ananya-bhak, undivided mind, simply unto Krsna, he is sadhu
- One who performs severe austerities for sense gratification is fearful to the entire world, whereas a devotee who performs even a slight amount of devotional service is a friend to everyone
P
- Payo-vrata and arcana devotional service to the Supreme Lord should be performed with a pure devotional attitude - bhaktya
- Persons who have accepted the lotus feet of Krsna as the ultimate shelter of their lives, and who are pleased to perform all details of devotional service, have in their pure hearts the transcendental ecstasy of attachment
R
- Regular reading or hearing of Srimad-Bhagavatam is also performance of bhakti-yoga, and one can attain the highest perfection simply by the association of Srimad-Bhagavatam
- Renunciation in Krsna consciousness is so strong that it cannot be deviated by any attractive illusion. One has to perform devotional service in full tapasya, austerity
S
- Sakhyam. In regard to worshiping the Lord as a friend, the Agastya-samhita states that a devotee engaged in performing devotional service by sravanam and kirtanam sometimes wants to see the Lord personally, and for this purpose he resides in the temple
- SB 1.2.7: "By rendering devotional service unto the Sri Krsna, one immediately acquires causeless knowledge & detachment from the world." To be situated on the platform of pure religion, one should perform bhakti-yoga in relationship with Krsna, Vasudeva
- Service performed strictly in conformity with the revealed scriptures is better than viddha-bhakti because it is free from all kinds of material contamination
- Simply by performing a little devotional service according to the instructions of Narada Muni, Prahlada became so dear to the Lord that the Lord came to save him, whereas Hiranyakasipu, in spite of all his austerities, was killed
- Simply by performing devotional service, one can deliver hundreds and thousands of forefathers from all kinds of misery
- Simply by performing devotional service, one can deliver hundreds and thousands of forefathers from all kinds of misery. BG 1972 purports
- Since the Lord is the well-wisher of every living entity and since a devotee assumes the qualities of the Lord, a devotee also acts for everyone's good fortune by performing devotional service
- Sometimes one who was formerly addicted to these processes tries to perform devotional service and the jnana and yoga practices at the same time
- Sometimes the members and supporters inquire very confidentially about the methods of performing devotional service, and we try to explain this
- Srila Rupa Gosvami explains how to perform devotional activities in the association of other devotees
- Srila Rupa Gosvami said: Devotional service performed without reference to the Vedas, Puranas, Pancaratras, etc., must be considered sentimentalism, and it causes nothing but disturbance to society
- Srimad-Bhagavatam 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
- Such (niskincana) a devotee is free from all material bondage, but he engages in Krsna conscious activities. Such expert devotional service is performed without hypocrisy
- Such activities (like engaging in Krsna consciousness, or the devotional service of the Lord) are performed in his (the living entity's) constitutional position, and they are technically called devotional service. BG 1972 purports
- Such obligations (to the demigods, sages, general living entities, family members, humankind or forefathers) are automatically fulfilled by performance of devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. BG 1972 purports
- Suddha-bhakti, the activity of the soul proper - in other words, engagement in the transcendental loving service of the Lord - is performed in a liberated condition
- Svalpam apy asya dharmasya trayate mahato bhayat. Even a slight performance of such a principle (of taking to the transcendental loving service of the Lord) enables one to overcome great difficulties. BG 1972 purports
T
- The activities Arjuna was advised to perform were the transcendental activities of devotional service
- The Bhagavad-gita is one of the popular literatures which are generally heard, chanted, repeated by the people in general, but in spite of such hearing, sometimes it is experienced that the performer of such DS does not see the Lord eye to eye
- The bhakti process, as performed under the regulative principles of vaidhi-bhakti, or devotional service following the prescribed rules and regulations, is defined by the revealed scriptures and confirmed by great acaryas
- The bhakti-yoga system is the topmost yoga system, and in this system the chanting of the holy name of the Lord is the foremost performance of devotional service
- The chaste wife must perform such devotional service continuously for one year. After one year passes, she should fast on the full-moon day in the month of Karttika (October-November)
- The devotees attain the Supreme Lord only by devotional service. Having such knowledge, one engages in his occupational duty, and that is called bhakti-yoga. By performing bhakti-yoga, one can rise to the platform of pure devotional service
- The exact meaning of the word sattvena is given by Sridhara Svami as being synonymous with dhairyena, or patience. One must perform devotional service with great patience
- The example of Maharaja Khatvanga in performing devotional service is brilliant. Maharaja Khatvanga engaged himself for only a moment in devotional service to the Lord, but he was promoted back to Godhead
- The execution of devotional service during Urja-vrata in the month of Karttika is especially recommended to be performed at Mathura
- The highest perfectional work of charity is to give people in general immunity from the anxieties of material existence. This can be done only by performing activities in devotional service to the Lord. Such knowledge is incomparable
- The human body is most rarely achieved, and although temporary like other bodies, it is meaningful because in human life one can perform devotional service. Even a slight amount of sincere devotional service can give one complete perfection
- The king of this planet, Maharaja Ambarisa, thus performed devotional service to the Lord and in this endeavor practiced severe austerity. Always satisfying the S P of Godhead by his constitutional activities, he gradually gave up all material desires
- The Krsna consciousness movement is anxious to serve human society by teaching people to perform devotional service, which can save a human being from being degraded again to animal life
- The Krsna consciousness movement teaches one to follow the path toward the topmost perfection simply by performing devotional service
- The Lord (Caitanya) explained to Sanatana Gosvami the various types and symptoms of practical devotional service. When devotional service is performed with our present senses, it is called practical devotional service
- The messenger said, "They (people like us) are never inclined to follow Your (Krsna's) instructions by performing devotional service, although it is pleasing to the heart and most auspicious for one's existence"
- The person who performs such acts (Krsna conscious activities) gets in touch with the Supreme Personality of Godhead
- The place where Raghunatha dasa Gosvami performed his devotional service still exists by Radha-kunda. He almost completely gave up eating, and therefore he was very skinny and of weak health. His only concern was to chant the holy name of the Lord
- The process of bhakti-yoga is simultaneously very difficult and very easy to perform
- The transcendental loving service of the Lord is performed in three ways - with the body, with the mind and with words. Here (in SB 3.15.49) the sages (four Kumaras) pray that their words may always be engaged in glorifying the Supreme Lord
- The ultimate result depends upon the will of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In devotional service, therefore, the devotee completely depends upon the Lord and honestly performs his occupational duties
- The Vaisnava sannyasis have nothing to do with material activities, and yet they perform various activities in their devotional service to the Lord. BG 1972 purports
- There is devotional service performed according to the direction of the spiritual master and the injunctions and regulative principles of sastra, and there is devotional service in the spiritual world, rendered directly in association with the SPG
- These (nine processes of devotional service) are all easy to practice and should be joyfully performed
- They cannot understand the transcendental value of performing devotional service or chanting the Hare Krsna mantra
- This (hearing and chanting of Hare Krsna mantra) can easily be performed in one's own home, with a small group of friends or with many people in a large public place
- This constant engagement in devotional service can be performed only when one works under the direction of a bona fide spiritual master
- This devotional service has to be performed strongly in perfect knowledge and with transcendental vision. One must be strongly renounced and must engage in austerity and perform mystic yoga in order to be firmly fixed in self-absorption
- This is the difference between DS and all other methods of perfection. One who performs severe austerities for sense gratification is fearful to the entire world, whereas a devotee who performs even a slight amount of DS is a friend to everyone
- This system is still followed by many devotees. They go to Mathura or Vrndavana and stay there during the month of Karttika specifically to perform devotional services during this period
- Those who are cultivating spiritual life and executing devotional service are always engaged in activity. Such activity can be performed with the body or with the mind
- Those who are righteous in performing devotional service but who are not pure can attain the planetary system of the polestar, or Dhruvaloka, where Dhruva Maharaja is presiding. BG 1972 purports
- To gain favor of that Personality of Godhead (Krsna), one has only to surrender, and this is a result of performing devotional service by hearing, chanting, etc. BG 1972 purports
- To go back home, back to Godhead is not an easy thing. It requires great discipline of body and mind, and performance of pure devotional service
- To perform austerities or penances, or, for that matter, any form of devotional service, one has to be guided by a spiritual master
- To perform devotional service means
- To perform devotional service means to follow in the footsteps of Radharani, and devotees in Vrndavana put themselves under the care of Radharani in order to achieve perfection in their devotional service
- To perform devotional service, one must accept only that which is favorable and reject that which is unfavorable
- To perform devotional service, one should be relieved of the bodily conception of life and aspirations to be happy through elevation to the higher planetary systems
- To perform one's activities as transcendental devotional service is possible only for those advanced souls who are fully situated in the Absolute Truth
W
- We should mark how dutiful Dhruva Maharaja was in his devotional service, even at the time he left this material world. He was constantly alert in the performance of devotional duties
- When devotional service is performed purely and affectionately, there is no question of regulative principles. There are no do's and don't's
- When one is well conversant with all these principles, he becomes a devotee and performs bhagavata-dharma
- When one’s eyes are purified by devotional service performed on the spiritual platform, one can actually envision Lord Jagannatha and His body as being completely spiritual
- While performing devotional service in the association of pure devotees in full Krsna consciousness, there are certain things which require to be vanquished altogether. The most important thing one has to surmount is weakness of heart. BG 1972 purports
- Work performed simply for the satisfaction of the Supreme Lord, without any desire for material benefits, is called bhakti