1 / Characteristics
of Pure Devotional Service

In the Srimad-Bhagavatam, Third Canto, 29th Chapter, 10th verse,
Srila Kapiladeva, while instructing His mother, has given the following
characteristics of pure devotional service: ‘“‘My dear Mother, those
who are My pure devotees, and who have no desire for material
benefit or philosophical speculation, have their minds so much en-
gaged in My service that they are never interested in asking Me for
anything—except to be engaged in that service. They do not even beg
to live in My abode with Me.”

There are five kinds of liberation, namely to become one with the
Lord, to live with the Supreme Lord on the same planet, to have the
same features as the Lord, to enjoy the same opulences as the Lord,
and to live as a companion of the Lord. A devotee, not to speak of
rejecting material sense gratification, does not even want any of the
five kinds of liberation. He is satisfied simply by discharging loving
service to the Lord. That is the characteristic of pure devotion.

In the above statement by Kapiladeva from the Srimad-Bhagavatam,
the actual position of a pure devotee is described, and the primary
characteristics of devotional service are also defined. Further charac-
teristics of devotional service are described by Ripa Gosvami with
evidences from different scriptures. He states that there are six char-
acteristics of pure devotional service, which are as follows:

1) Pure devotional service brings immediate relief from all kinds of
material distress.

2) Pure devotional service is the beginning of all auspiciousness.

3) Pure devotional service automatically puts one in transcenden-
tal pleasure.

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