1238
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 3, Ch. 29]
Devotional service in the modes of ignorance, passion and goodness can be divided into eighty-one categories. There are different devotional activities, such as hearing, chanting, remembering, worshiping, offering prayer, rendering service and surrendering everything, and each of them can be divided into three qualitative categories. There is hearing in the mode of passion, in the mode of ignorance, and in the mode of goodness. Similarly, there is chanting in the mode of ignorance, passion and goodness, etc. Three multiplied by nine equals twenty-seven, and when again multiplied by three it becomes eighty-one. One has to transcend all such mixed materialistic devotional service in order to reach the standard of pure devotional service, as explained in the next verses.
TEXTS 11-12
मवुगुणभ्रुतिमात्रेण मयि सर्वगुहाशये । 
    मनोगतिरविन्छिन्नायथा गङ्गाम्भसोऽम्बुधौ ॥११॥ 
    लक्षणं मक्तियोगस्य निर्गुणस्य बुदाहृतम् । 
    अहेतुक्यन्यवहिता या मक्तिः पुरुषोत्तमे ॥१२॥
mad-guṇa-śruti-mātreṇa  
 mayi sarva-guhāśaye  
 manogatir avicchinnā  
 yathā gaṅgāmbhaso 'mbudhau
lakṣaṇam bhakti-yogasya  
 nirguṇasya hy udāhṛtam  
 ahaituky avyavahitā  
 yā bhaktiḥ puruṣottame
mat —of Me;  guṇa —qualities;  śruti —by hearing;  mātreṇa —just;  mayi —towards Me;  sarva-guhā-āśaye —residing in everyone's heart;  manah-gatiḥ —the heart's course;  avicchinnā —continuous;  yathā —as;  gaṅgā —of the Ganges;  ambhasah —of the water;  ambudhau —towards the ocean;  lakṣaṇam —the manifestation;  bhakti-yogasya —of devotional service;  nirguṇasya —unadulterated;  hi —indeed;  udāhṛtam —exhibited;  ahaitukī —causeless;  avyavahitā —not separated;  yā —which;  bhaktiḥ —devotional service;  puruṣauttame —towards the Supreme Personality of Godhead.