Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 2.7.19
Īśānukathā· The Lord and His devoteesDevotional Understanding Grows Through Willing Cooperation
“O Nārada, you were taught about the science of God and His transcendental loving service by the Personality of Godhead in His incarnation of Haṁsāvatāra. He was very much pleased with you, due to your intense proportion of devotional service. He also explained unto you, lucidly, the full science of devotional service, which is especially understandable by persons who are souls surrendered unto Lord Vāsudeva, the Personality of Godhead.”
What the purport teaches
- Pleased by Nārada’s intense devotion, Haṁsāvatāra explained the science of God and His loving service. This knowledge becomes revealed to souls surrendered unto Vāsudeva.
- The preliminary qualification for devotional service is to become a willing cooperator with the Lord’s devotees. Such cooperation gradually brings purification, firm faith, and a taste for devotional service.
- Living entities naturally have an affinity for loving service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam acts like a lamp of transcendental knowledge, removing the covering of material association.
Try this today
Offer one small act of help to someone engaged in the Lord’s devotional service.
Ask yourself
How willing am I to learn devotional service by cooperating with those already practicing it?
Carry the question through the day, then answer it in your own words before sleep.
The study points, practice and question are short summaries drawn from Śrīla Prabhupāda's translation and purport. Read the full purport to go deeper.