Reaching Life’s Perfection - 289

There are different kinds of salvation. There is sdlokya liberation, to
live on the same planet as the Supreme Lord. The residents of the
Vaikuntha planets live on the same planet as the Supreme Personality of
Godhead. Sarsti liberation means to have almost the same opulence as
Narayana. The liberated individual soul can appear just like Narayana,
with four hands, the four emblems, almost the same bodily features, the
same opulence, the same ornaments, the same buildings, everything.
Sartipya means to have the same form or features. S@mipya means never
to be far away but always to be associated with the Supreme Lord. For ex-
_ample, just as we are sitting together, so one can associate with the Lord.
This is called sa@mipya-mukti, the liberation of being nearer. Pure devo-
tees, however, do not accept these various forms of liberation. They only
want to be engaged in Krsna’s service. They are not concerned with any
kind of liberation. Those who are actually Krsna conscious achieve the
association of the Supreme Lord, but they do not desire it; their only am-
bition is to be engaged in the transcendental loving service of the Lord.
The highest perfection of devotional service, or Krsna consciousness, is
exhibited when a devotee refuses to accept any benediction or profit from
the Supreme Lord. Prahlada Maharaja was offered whatever he liked, he
had only to ask for it, but he said, ‘‘My Lord, I am Your eternal servant.
It is my duty to serve You, so how can I accept any benefit from it? Then I
would not be Your servant; I would be a merchant.’ He replied in that
way, and that is the sign of a pure person. Krsna is so kind that He fulfills
all the desires of a devotee, even if he wants material benedictions. If at
the bottom of the devotee’s heart there is some desire, He also fulfills
that. He is so kind. But the sublime position of bhakti-yoga, or devotional
service, is that a pure devotee refuses to accept the various kinds of
liberation, even if offered by the Supreme Lord.

If one has material desires or motives within himself, and for fulfill-
ment of such desires he engages himself in devotional service, the result
will be that he will never get pure love of God. If one is thinking, ‘‘I am
engaged in Krsna consciousness, in Krsna’s devotional service, because I
want such and such an opulence,”’ that desire may be fulfilled, but he will
never get such unalloyed love of Krsna as the gopis had. If one has a mo-
tive, even though he discharges his devotional duty, he still will not be
able to reach the stage of pure love of Godhead. In a verse from the
Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, Ripa Goswami says, ‘‘As long as one desires
some material benefit [bhukti], or even if he wants salvation [muktil,
then he must take those ghostly representations.’’ As long as that maya
exists within one’s heart, how can one enjoy the spiritual bliss derived

