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Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[ Canto 3, Ch. 23 ]
sciousness. Although you have not yet experienced these achievements, which are free from fear and lamentation, I shall offer them all to you because you are engaged in my service. Now just look at them. I am giving you the transcendental vision to see how nice they are.
PURPORT
Devahūti engaged only in the service of Kardama Muni. She was not supposed to be so advanced in austerity, ecstasy, meditation or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, but, imperceptibly, she was sharing her husband's achievements, which she could neither see nor experience. Automatically she achieved these graces of the Lord.
What are the graces of the Lord? It is stated here that the graces of the Lord are  abhaya , free from fearfulness. In the material world, if someone accumulates a million dollars, he is always full of fear because he is always thinking, "What if the money is lost?" But the benediction of the Lord,  bhagavat-prasāda , is never to be lost. It is simply to be enjoyed. There is no question of loss. One simply gains and enjoys gaining.  Bhagavad-gītā  also confirms this: when one achieves the grace of the Lord, the result is that  sarva-duḥkhāni , all distresses, are destroyed. When situated in the transcendental position, one is freed from the two kinds of material diseases, hankering and lamentation. This is also stated in  Bhagavad-gītā . After devotional life begins, we can achieve the full result of love of Godhead. Love of Kṛṣṇa is the highest perfection of  bhagavat-prasāda , or divine mercy. This transcendental achievement is so greatly valuable that no material happiness can compare to it. Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī said that if one achieves the grace of Lord Caitanya he becomes so great that he does not care a fig even for the demigods, he thinks of monism as hellish, and for him the perfection of controlling the senses is as easy as anything. Heavenly pleasures become to him no more than stories. Actually, there is no comparison between material happiness and transcendental happiness.
By the grace of Kardama Muni, Devahūti experienced actual realization simply by serving. We get a similar example in the life of Nārada Muni. In his previous life, Nārada was a maidservant's son, but his mother was engaged in the service of great devotees. He got the opportunity to serve the devotees, and simply by eating the remnants of their foodstuff and carrying out their orders he became so elevated that in his next life he became the great personality Nārada. For spiritual achievement the easiest path is to take shelter of a bona fide spiritual master and to serve