TEXT 167
anyabhilasita-sunyam
jnana-karmady-anavrtam
anukulyena krsnanu-
silanam bhaktir uttama
SYNONYMS
anya-abhilasita-sunyamwithout desires other than those for the service of Lord Krsna, or without material desires (such as those for meat-eating, illicit sex, gambling and addiction to intoxicants); jnanaby the knowledge of the philosophy of the monist Mayavadis; *.karmaby fruitive activities; adiby artificially practicing detachment, by the mechanical practice of yoga, by studying the Sankhya philosophy, and so on; anavrtamuncovered; anukulyenafavorable; krsna-anusilanamcultivation of service in relationship to Krsna; bhaktih uttamafirst-class devotional service.
TRANSLATION
"When first-class devotional service develops, one must be devoid of all material desires, knowledge obtained by monistic philosophy, and fruitive action. The devotee must constantly serve Krsna favorably, as Krsna desires.
PURPORT
This verse is also found in Srila Rupa Gosvami's Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu (1.1.11). As we can understand from Bhagavad-gita (9.34 and 18.65), the Supreme Personality of Godhead wants everyone to think of Him always (man-mana bhava mad-bhaktah). Everyone should become His devotee, not the devotee of a demigod. Everyone should engage in devotional service or arcana Deity worship in the temple. Man-mana bhava mad-bhakto mad-yaji mam namaskuru. Everyone should offer obeisances, from moment to moment, to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. These are the desires of the Supreme Lord, and one who fulfills His desires favorably is actually a pure devotee. Krsna wants everyone to surrender unto Him, and devotional service means preaching this gospel all over the world. The Lord says openly in Bhagavad-gita (18.69): na ca tasman manusyesu kascin me priya-krttamah. One should preach the gospel of Bhagavad-gita for the benefit of all. Bhagavad-gita is spoken by the Lord so that human society can be perfectly organized from all angles of vision-politically, socially, economically, philosophically and religiously. From any point of view, human society can be reformed by the Krsna consciousness movement; therefore one who spreads this philosophy of Krsna consciousness for the benefit of all conditioned souls in the universe is perfect in pure devotional service.
The criterion is that a devotee must know what Krsna wants him to do. This can be achieved through the medium of the spiritual master who is a bona fide representative of Krsna. Srila Rupa Gosvami advises, adau gurv-asrayam. One who is serious in wanting to render pure devotional service to the Lord must take shelter of the spiritual master who comes in the disciplic succession from Krsna. Evam parampara-praptam imam rajarsayo viduh. Without accepting a bona fide spiritual master coming in the disciplic succession, one cannot find out the real purpose of devotional service. Therefore one has to accept the shelter of a bona fide spiritual master and agree to be directed by him. The first business of a pure devotee is to satisfy his spiritual master, whose only business is to spread Krsna consciousness. Yasya prasadad bhagavat-prasadah: if one can satisfy the spiritual master, Krsna is automatically satisfied. This is the success of devotional service. This is the meaning of the word anukulyena-that is, favorable devotional service to the Lord. A pure devotee has no plans other than those for the Lord's service. He is not interested in attaining success in mundane activities. He simply wants success in the progress of devotional service. For a devotee, there cannot be worship of others or demigod worship. A pure devotee does not engage himself in such pseudo-devotional service. He is interested only in satisfying Krsna. If one lives only for the satisfaction of Krsna, he does not have to accept this order or that order. One's only business should be to satisfy Krsna. This process is completely manifest in the activities of the Krsna consciousness movement. 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.

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