3 / Purity of Devotional Service

All of the previous instructions imparted by Srila Ripa Gosvami in
his broad statements can be summarized thusly: as long as one is ma-
terially inclined or desirous to merge into the. spiritual effulgence,
one cannot enter into the realm of pure devotional service. Next,
Rupa Gosvami states that devotional service is transcendental to all
material considerations and that it is not limited to any particular
country, class, society or circumstance. As is stated in the Srimad-
Bhagavatam, devotional service is transcendental and has no cause.
Devotional service is executed without any hope for gain, and it can-
not be checked by any material circumstances. It is open for all,
without any distinction, and it is the constitutional occupation of the
living entities.

In the Middle Ages, after the disappearance of Lord Caitanya’s
great associate Lord Nityananda, a class of priestly persons claimed
to be the descendents of Nityananda, calling themselves the gosvami
caste. They further claimed that the practice and spreading of devo-
tional service belonged only to their particular class, which was
known as Nityananda-vamésa. In this way, they exercised their arti-
ficial power for some time, until Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati
Thakur, the powerful acarya of the Gaudiya Vaisnava sampradaya,
completely smashed their idea. There was a great hard struggle for
some time, but it has turned out successfully, and it is now correctly
and practically established that devotional service is not restricted to
a particular class of men. Besides that, anyone who is engaged in
devotional service is already on the status of being a high-class brah-
mana. So Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur’s struggle for this
movement has come out successful.

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