242
Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta
Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore service performed strictly in conformity with the revealed scriptures is better than such  viddha-bhakti  because it is free from all kinds of material contamination. It is executed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, solely to please the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Those who are spontaneously devoted to the Lord and have no aims for material gain are called attracted devotees. They are spontaneously attracted to the service of the Lord, and they follow in the footsteps of self-realized souls. Their pure devotion ( śuddha-bhakti ), manifested from pure love of Godhead, surpasses the regulative principles of the authoritative scriptures. Sometimes loving ecstasy transcends regulative principles; such ecstasy, however, is completely on the spiritual platform and cannot be imitated. The regulative principles help ordinary devotees rise to the stage of perfect love of Godhead. Pure love for Kṛṣṇa is the perfection of pure devotion, and pure devotional service is identical with spontaneous devotional service.
Flawless execution of regulative principles is exhibited in the Vaikuṇṭha planets. By strictly executing these principles one can be elevated to the Vaikuṇṭha planets. But spontaneous pure loving service is found in Kṛṣṇaloka alone.
TEXT 23
ময়ি ভক্তিহি ভূতানামমৃতস্বায় কল্পতে ।
দিষ্ট্যা যদাসীন্মৎস্নেহো ভবতীনাং মদাপনঃ ॥ ২৩ ॥
mayi bhaktir hi bhūtānām amṛtatvāya kalpate diṣṭyā yad āsīn mat-sneho bhavatīnām mad-āpanaḥ
SYNONYMS
mayi —to Me;  bhaktiḥ —devotional service;  hi —certainly;  bhūtānām —of the living beings;  amṛtatvāya —the eternal life;  kalpate —brings about;  diṣṭyā —by good fortune;  yat —which;  āsīt —was;  mat —for Me;  snehaḥ —the affection;  bhavatīnām —of all of you;  mat —of Me;  āpanaḥ —the obtaining.
TRANSLATION
“‘Devotional service rendered to Me by the living beings revives their eternal life. O My dear damsels of Vraja, your affection for Me is your good fortune, for it is the only means by which you have obtained My favor.’
PURPORT
Pure devotional service is represented in the activities of the residents of Vraja-bhūmi (Vṛndāvana). During a solar eclipse, the Lord came from Dvārakā and met the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana at Samanta-pañcaka. The meeting was intensely painful for the damsels of Vrajabhūmi because Lord Kṛṣṇa apparently left them to