definition / recognizing

How Krsna becomes attracted by the devotional service of His devotees is described by Narada in the Srimad-Bhagavatam, Seventh Canto, 10th Chapter, 37th verse. There Narada addresses King Yudhisthira while the King is appreciating the glories of the character of Prahlada Maharaj. A devotee always appreciates the activities of other devotees. Yudhisthira Maharaj was appreciating the qualities of Prahlada, and that is one symptom of a pure devotee. A pure devotee never thinks himself as great; he always thinks that other devotees are greater than himself. The King was thinking, "Prahlada Maharaj is actually a devotee of the Lord, while I am nothing," and while thinking this he was addressed by Narada as follows: "My dear King Yudhisthira, in this world you [the Panḍava brothers] are the only fortunate people. The Supreme Personality of Godhead has appeared on this planet and is presenting Himself to you as an ordinary human being. He is always with you in all circumstances. He is living with you and covering Himself from the eyes of others. Others cannot understand that He is the Supreme Lord, but He is still living with you as your cousin, as your friend and even as your messenger. Therefore you must know that nobody in this world is more fortunate than you."    (More...)

The Supreme Lord who is the Absolute Personality of Godhead is not knowable even by the greatest philosopher simply by mental speculation. He can be known by His devotees only by His mercy. In the Brahma Samhita it is said that the nondevotee philosopher who can go ahead in the speed of the mind or that of the velocity of the air and that also covering a space for hundred and crores of years will find the Absolute still far and far away from him. As described in the Upanishads the Absolute Personality of Godhead has His transcendental abode known as the Krishna loka where the Personality of Godhead is fixed up with His Pastimes. But by His inconceivable potency He can simultaneously reach in every part of the creative energy. In the Vishnu Puran the potency is compared with the light and heat of the fire. The fire can distribute its light and heat from one place and similarly the Absolute Personality of Godhead although fixed up in His transcendental abode, He diffuses His different energies. Such energies are innumerable but principally they are classified into three namely the internal potency, the marginal potency and the external potency. And in each and every one of them, there are hundreds and crores of sub-headings. The dominating demigods who are empowered to have a control over the administration of the natural phenomenon such as distribution of air, light, rains etc. all of them are classified in the marginal potency of the Absolute Person. The living beings or the human being are also products of the marginal potency of the Lord. The material world is the creation of the external potency of the Lord and the spiritual sky where the kingdom of God is situated is the manifestation of His internal potency. As such everywhere the different energies of the Supreme Lord is represented by His different potencies. Although there is no difference between Him and His energies, still one should not mistake energy as the Supreme Truth. So the Supreme Lord expands Himself by His different energies and one should not wrongly conclude that the Supreme Lord being thus distributed everywhere His very Personal existence has turned into Impersonal Brahma. Men are accustomed to conclude in the way of their own capacity of understanding. But the Supreme Lord is not subjected to such limited capacity of understanding. It is for this reason that the Upanishads warn us that nobody can approach the Lord by his limited potency. In the Bhagwat Geeta the Lord says that nobody even the great Rishis and Suras can know Him and what to speak of the Asuras who are already disqualified to understand the ways of the Lord. All these words mentioned in the 4th Mantra of the Ishopanisad suggest very clearly that the Absolute Truth is ultimately the Absolute Person otherwise there would have been no necessity of mentioning so many varied things in support of His Personal features. Individual parts and parcels of the potencies of the Lord although have all the symptoms of the Lord such parts and parcels have got limited spheres of activities and therefore they are all limited. The parts and parcels are never equal to the whole. Therefore the parts and parcel of the Lord cannot appreciate the full potency of the Lord. Foolish and ignorant living being who are parts and parcels of the Lord, under the influence of the material energy do try to make a conjecture in the transcendental position of the Lord. The Ishopanishad warns them not make any mental speculation to about the identity of the Lord. Try to know the Transcendence from the Superior source of the Vedas who is already in the know of the Transcendence. Every part is endowed with some particular energy to act accordingly and forgetfulness of this particular part of one's activities is called Maya. The Ishopanishad has therefore from the very beginning warned us that we should be careful to play the part designated by the Lord. This however does not mean the individual soul has no initiative of his own. Because he is the part and parcel of the Lord he must have the initiative part of the Lord. Proper use of the initiative part with good conscience to understand that everything is but the potency of the Lord Who is the Supreme of all other entities can lead one to the revival of his lost consciousness originated on account of his association with Maya or the external energy. The power is obtained from the Lord and therefore such particular power must be utilized to execute the will of the Lord and not otherwise. The Lord can be known in such submissive service attitude and perfect knowledge means to know the Lord in all His features, to know about His potencies and how such potencies are working by His will. These things are exclusively described by the Lord in the Bhagwat Geeta the essence of all the Upanishad.    (More...)

The definition of a pure devotee, as given by Rūpa Gosvami in Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, can be summarized thus: his service is favorable and is always in relation to Krsna. In order to keep the purity of such Krsna conscious activities, one must be freed from all material desires and philosophical speculation. Any desire except for the service of the Lord is called material desire. And philosophical speculation refers to the sort of speculation which ultimately arrives at a conclusion of voidism or impersonalism. This conclusion is useless for a Krsna conscious person. Only rarely by philosophical speculation can one reach the conclusion of worshiping Vasudeva, Krsna. This is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita itself. The ultimate end of philosophical speculation, then, must be Krsna, with the understanding that Krsna is everything, the cause of all causes, and that one should therefore surrender unto Him. If this ultimate goal is reached, then philosophical advancement is favorable, but if the conclusion of philosophical speculation is voidism or impersonalism, that is not bhakti.    (More...)