XUUL The Nectar of Devotion

acaryas (holy teachers), who are compared with sharks in the great
ocean of nectar and who do not care for the various rivers of libera-
tion. Impersonalists are very fond of merging into the supreme, like
rivers that come down and merge into the ocean. The ocean can be
compared with liberation and the rivers with all the different paths
of liberation. The impersonalists are dwelling in the river water,
which eventually comes to mix with the ocean. They have no infor-
mation, however, that within the ocean, as within the river, there are
innumerable aquatic living entities. The sharks who dwell in the
ocean do not care for the rivers which are gliding down into it. The
devotees eternally live in the ocean of devotional service, and they
do not care for the rivers. In other words, those who are pure devo-
tees always remain in the ocean of transcendental loving service to
the Lord and have no business with the other processes, which are
compared to the rivers that only gradually come to the ocean.

Srila Ripa Gosvami prays to his spiritual master, Srila Sanatana Go-
svami, for the protection of Bhakti-rasdmrta-sindhu—the Ocean of
the Pure Nectar of Devotional Service—from the argumentative logi-
cians who unnecessarily meddle in the science of service to the Lord.
He compares their arguments and logic to volcanic eruptions in the
midst of the ocean. In the midst of the ocean such volcanic eruptions
can do very little harm, and similarly, those who are against devo-
tional service to the Lord and who put forward many philosophical
theses about the ultimate transcendental realization cannot disturb
this great ocean of devotional service.

The author of Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, Srila Rupa Gosvami, very
humbly submits that he is just trying to spread Krsna consciousness
all over the world, although he humbly thinks himself unfit for this
work. That should be the attitude of all preachers of the Krsna con-
sciousness movement, following in the footsteps of Srila Rupa Go-
svami. We should never think of ourselves as great preachers, but
should always consider that we are simply instrumental to the pre-
vious dcaryas, and simply by following in their footsteps we may be
able to do something for the benefit of suffering humanity.

Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu is divided into four parts, just as the ocean
is sometimes divided into four parts, and there are different sections
