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(if possible) or by thinking of them. This association will help one
develop factual devotional service to the Lord, which will cause all
material misgivings to disappear like a flash of lightning. All these
different stages of spiritual realization will be personally felt by the
candidate, and this will create in him a firm belief that he is making
positive progress on the way to the spiritual sky. Then he will become
sincerely attached to the Lord and His abode. Such is the gradual process
of evolving love of God, which is the prime necessity for the human
form of life.
There are instances in history of great personalities, including sages and
kings, who attained perfection by this process. Some of them attained
success even by adhering to one single item of devotional service with
faith and perseverance. Some of these personalities are listed below.
1. Emperor Parékñit attained the spiritual platform simply by hearing
from such an authority as Çré Çukadeva Gosvämé.
2. Çré Çukadeva Gosvämé attained the same simply by recitation,
verbatim, of the transcendental message which he received from his
great father, Çré Vyäsadeva.
3. Emperor Prahläda attained spiritual success by remembering the Lord
constantly, in pursuance of instructions given by Çré Närada Muni, the
great saint and devotee.
4. Lakñméjé, the goddess of fortune, attained success simply by sitting and
serving the lotus feet of the Lord.
5. King Påthu attained success simply by worshiping the Lord.
6. Akrüra, the charioteer, attained success simply by chanting prayers for
Copyright © 1998 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust Int'l. All Rights Reserved.
26
the Lord.
7. Hanumän (Mahävéra), the famous nonhuman devotee of Lord Çré
Rämacandra, attained success simply by carrying out the orders of the
Lord.
8. Arjuna, the great warrior, attained the same perfection simply by
making friends with the Lord, who delivered the message of Bhagavad-gétä
to enlighten Arjuna and his followers.
9. Emperor Bali attained success by surrendering everything unto the
Lord, including his personal body.
These are nine standard modes of devotional service to the Lord, and a
candidate can choose to adopt any one, two, three, four or all, however
he likes. All the services rendered to the Absolute are in themselves
absolute, with none of the quantitative or qualitative differences found
on the material platform. On the spiritual platform everything is
identical with everything else, although there is transcendental
variegatedness. Emperor Ambaréña adopted all the above nine items, and
he attained perfect success. It was he who engaged his mind on the lotus
feet of the Lord, his voice in describing the spiritual world, his hands in
cleansing the temple of the Lord, his ears in submissively hearing the
words of Lord Çré Kåñëa, his eyes in viewing the Deities of the Lord, his
body in touching the bodies of the devotees, his nostrils in smelling the
flowers offered to the Lord, his tongue in tasting the food offered to the
Lord, his legs in visiting the temple of the Lord, and all the energy of his
life in executing the services of the Lord without in the least desiring his
own sense gratification. All these activities helped him attain the
perfect stage of life which defeats all dexterities of material science.
It is therefore important for all human beings to adopt these principles
of spiritual realization for the perfection of life. A human being s only
obligation is spiritual realization. Unfortunately, in modern civilization,
human society is too busy in discharging national duties. Actually,
national duties, social duties and humanitarian duties are obligatory only
to those who are bereft of spiritual duties. As soon as a man takes his
birth on this earth, not only does he have national, social and
humanitarian obligations, but he also has obligations to the demigods
who supply air, light, water, etc. He also has obligations to the great
sages who have left behind them vast treasure-houses of knowledge to
Copyright © 1998 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust Int'l. All Rights Reserved.
27
guide him through life. He has obligations to all kinds of living beings, to
his forefathers, family members and so forth and so on. But as soon as
one engages himself in the one single obligatory duty the duty of
spiritual perfection then he automatically liquidates all other
obligations without having to make separate efforts.
A devotee of the Lord is never a disturbing element in society on the
contrary, he is a great social asset. Since no sincere devotee is attracted
to sinful actions, as soon as a man becomes a pure devotee he can do
inestimable selfless service to society for the peace and prosperity of all
concerned, in this life and in the next. But even if such a devotee
commits some offense, the Lord Himself rectifies it in no time.
Therefore, there is no need for a devotee to cultivate materialistic
knowledge, nor does a devotee need to renounce everything and live as a
hermit. He can simply remain at home and execute devotional service
smoothly in any order of life. And there are instances in history of
extremely cruel men becoming kindhearted simply by the execution of
devotional service. Knowledge and abnegation of an inferior way of life
follow automatically in the life of a pure devotee without his having to
make extraneous effort.
This spiritual art and science of devotional service is the highest
contribution of Indian sages to the rest of the world. Therefore everyone
who has taken his birth in India has an obligation to perfect his life by
adopting the principles of this great art and science and distributing it to
the rest of the world, which is still ignorant of the ultimate aim of life.
Human society is destined to reach this stage of perfection by gradual
development of knowledge. Indian sages, however, have already reached
that position. Why do others have to wait for thousands and thousands [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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