queen

In the Narada-pancaratra, devotional service to the Lord is likened unto a queen. When a queen gives an audience, many maidservants follow her. The maidservants of devotional service are material opulence, liberation and mystic powers. The karmis are very much attached to material enjoyment; the jnanis are very anxious to become freed from material clutches; and the yogis are very fond of attaining the eight kinds of mystic perfection. From the Narada-pancaratra we understand that if one attains the stage of pure devotional service, he also attains all the opulences derived from fruitive activities, empiric philosophical speculation and mystic yogic practice. Srila Bilvamahgala Thakura therefore prayed in his Krsna-karnamrta: "My dear Lord, if I have unflinching devotion to You, You become manifest before me personally, and the results of fruitive activity and empiric philosophical speculation-namely religion, economic development, sense gratification and liberation-become like personal attendants and remain standing before me as if awaiting my order." The idea here is that the jnanis, by culture of brahma-vidya, spiritual knowledge, struggle very hard to get out of the clutches of material nature, but a devotee, by dint of his advancement in devotional service, automatically becomes detached from his material body. When the devotee's spiritual body begins to manifest, he actually enters into his activities in transcendental life.    (More...)