30 Teachings of Lord Chaitanya

fruitive activities. One should be freed from all these contaminations. One
should accept only favorable things for keeping the body and soul together,
not for increasing the demands of the body. Only the bare necessities of the
body should be accepted, and putting the bodily necessities second, one
should primarily cultivate Krishna Consciousness by chanting the Holy Name
of God. Pure devotional service means to engage all the senses that we have
in the service of the Lord. At the present moment our senses are all designated
because the body is designated. So we think that this body belongs to a par-
ticular society or a particular country or a particular family: that is the des-
ignative understanding of the body; and similarly the senses belong to the
body, and if the senses act under such a designative concept of life, family-
wise, society-wise, or nation-wise, then one cannot cultivate Krishna Con-
sciousness. The senses must be purified. One should purely understand that
he belongs to Krishna, his life belongs to Krishna, his identity is eternal
servitorship to Krishna—and in this way if one engages his senses in the service
of the Lord, that is called pure devotional service.

A pure devotee accepts transcendental loving service to the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, but does not accept any kinds of liberation for his
personal sense gratification. It is stated in the Srimad Bhagwatam, Third Canto,
Twenty-ninth Chapter, verses 10-12, as follows: Lord Kapiladeva explains
in those verses about the pure nature of devotional service: that as soon as a
pure devotee hears the Glories and transcendental Qualities of the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, Who is seated in everyone’s heart, at once his mind
flows towards the Lord, as the water of the Ganges flows down towards the
sea. Such spontaneous attraction of the devotee’s mind to the service of the
Supreme Personality of Godhead is the significance of pure devotional service.
Devotional service, engagement in the service of the Supreme Personality of
Godhead without any cause, and without being hampered by any material
impediment, is called pure devotion. The pure devotee does not desire to live
in the same planet with the Personality of Godhead, he does not desire the
same opulence as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and he does not
desire to have the same form as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He
does not desire to live along with Him side by side, neither does he desire
at any time to merge into the existence of the Supreme Person, even if these
things are offered by God to the devotee. The thing is that a devotee is so
much absorbed in the transcendental loving service of the Lord that he has
no time to think of any other benefit beyond his engagement. Just as an
ordinary materialistic businessman, when he is absorbed in his business, does
not think of any other thing, so a pure devotee, when he is engaged in the
