Category:Wanting to Serve God
Theme Analysis
Śrīla Prabhupāda teaches that the natural, constitutional position of the living entity is to serve the Supreme Lord. However, because the Lord is the supreme pure, anyone who wants to serve Him must also undergo a process of purification. In the conditioned state, if someone refuses to serve God, they are immediately placed under the control of māyā to serve the illusory energy. Even when individuals initially approach Kṛṣṇa, they often do so with material motives. While this is certainly better than completely ignoring God, the perfection of life is reached when all desires for material gain, mystic power, or impersonal liberation are completely abandoned. In the advanced stages of devotion, such as dāsya-rati, natural affection awakens, and the devotee simply wants to serve Kṛṣṇa out of pure love and duty. Such pure devotees do not care for personal inconveniences; they are ready to accept any body in the material or spiritual world just to continue their service. In reciprocation, the Supreme Lord as Paramātmā personally gives intelligence to the devotee, removes their lingering material attachments, and lovingly awards them all the credit for their service.
- The Necessity of Purity: To understand and serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one must become pure. When one rejects the opportunity to serve God, they are forced to serve māyā.
- Transcending Material Motives: While approaching God for material gain is a pious beginning, the ultimate perfection is reached only when the devotee abandons all demands and simply wants to serve for Kṛṣṇa's pleasure.
- Unconditional Surrender: A pure devotee has no desire for the false liberation sought by jñānīs or yogīs. They are perfectly happy in any condition or any planetary system, provided they have the opportunity to serve the Lord.
- The Awakening of Affection: Real spiritual life begins when one serves out of spontaneous love and duty rather than expectation. At this stage, the soul recognizes Kṛṣṇa as the supreme father and master.
- Divine Reciprocation: When a devotee sincerely wants to serve, Kṛṣṇa intimately guides them from within, meticulously removes their false material attachments, and beautifully glorifies them, just as He did with Arjuna.
- Explore the synthesized essence of this category in this Vanipedia article: Anyone Who Wants to Serve the Supreme Lord Must Also Be Pure.
Pages in category "Wanting to Serve God"
The following 24 pages are in this category, out of 24 total.
A
- A Krsna conscious person wants only to serve the foremost yogi, Yogesvara (varimnah sarva-yoginam). Because we are trying to become His devotees, we accept the Supreme Lord, Yogesvara, as the Supreme Personality of Godhead
- All (five rasas) combine on the platform of conjugal love when the devotee wants to serve the Lord by offering Him his personal body
- As Rupa Gosvami points out, we have to serve Krsna favorably. Generally we want to serve God for some material purpose or gain
- At dasya-rati stage, there is an awakening of natural affection, such as is felt by a son who grows up and begins to appreciate his father's benedictions. At this stage the living entity wants to serve the Supreme Lord instead of serving maya, illusion
- At that time there is an awakening of natural affection, such as is felt by a son who grows up and begins to appreciate his father's benedictions. At this stage the living entity wants to serve the Supreme Lord instead of serving maya, illusion
H
- He (young brahmana) wanted only to serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the older brahmana, who was also a Vaisnava and very much devoted to the Lord
- Here in the material world we serve somebody with a motive, for some material gain. But in the spiritual world, to serve God means - It is my duty. I love him. I want to serve Him
O
T
- The devotees of the Lord do not want anything like that (material enjoyment or liberation) for self-satisfaction. They want only to serve the Lord because He is great and as living entities they are eternally subordinate parts and parcels of the Lord
- The goddess of fortune is evidence of this, for although she constantly lives on the heart of Narayana, she wants to render service to His lotus feet. She therefore considers herself a maidservant and serves Him constantly
- The karmis, jnanis, yogis - everyone is in want. They cannot be happy. And when you come to the position, "My Lord, I do not want anything. Simply I want to serve You. Give me this opportunity," that is perfection
- The Lord is the purest, and thus anyone who wants to serve the Supreme Lord must also be pure. Unless a person is pure, he can neither understand what the Personality of Godhead is nor engage in His service in love
- They (devotees) want only to serve the Lord anywhere in the material or spiritual worlds that the Lord desires, and the Lord is always specifically compassionate towards such devotees
W
- We want to serve God with some material purpose, some material gain. Of course, that is also nice. If somebody goes to God for some material gain, he is far greater than the person who never goes to God
- When a devotee wants to serve the Supreme Lord, the Lord, as Paramatma, gives the devotee the intelligence to make progress in devotional service. The Lord directly witnesses our activities and experiences our desires
- When the Personality of Godhead appeared before them (flowers, waterfalls, trees, fruits, hills, caves, birds, beasts, & human beings) they all became spiritually inclined, and by natural affection they wanted to serve the Almighty in various capacities
- When we don't want to serve God, then we are sent to the maya, to serve maya