118 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 6, Ch. 16
under their control because You are causelessly merciful to devo-
tees who desire no material profit from You. Indeed, You give
Yourself to them, and because of this You also have full control
over Your devotees.

PURPORT

The Lord and the devotees both conquer. The Lord is conquered by
the devotees, and the devotees are conquered by the Lord. Because of
being conquered by one another, they both derive transcendental bliss
from their relationship. The highest perfection of this mutual conquer-
ing is exhibited by Krsna and the gopis. The gopis conquered Krsna, and
Krsna conquered the gopis. Thus whenever Krsna played His flute, He
conquered the minds of the gopis, and without seeing the gopis Krsna
could not be happy. Other transcendentalists, such as jridnis and yogis,
cannot conquer the Supreme Personality of Godhead; only pure devotees
can conquer Him.

Pure devotees are described as sama-mati, which means that they
never deviate from devotional service under any circumstances. It is not
that devotees worship the Supreme Lord only when happy; they worship
Him even when in distress. Happiness and distress do not hamper the
process of devotional service. Therefore Srimad-Bhdgavatam says that
devotional service is ahaituky apratihata, unmotivated and uninter-
rupted. When a devotee offers devotional service to the Lord without any
motive (anyabhilasita-Sinyam), his service cannot be hampered by any
material condition (apratihata). Thus a devotee who offers service in all
conditions of life can conquer the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

A special distinction between devotees and the other transcenden-
talists, namely the jrdanis and yogis, is that janis and yogis artificially try
to become one with the Supreme, whereas devotees never aspire for such
an impossible accomplishment. Devotees know that their position is to be
eternally servants of the Supreme Lord and never to be one with Him.
Therefore they are called sama-mati or jitatma. They detest oneness with
the Supreme. They have no lusty desires for oneness; instead, their
desire is to be freed from all material hankering. Therefore they are
called niskama, desireless. A living entity cannot exist without desires,
but desires that can never be fulfilled are called kama, lusty desires.
