Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 5.6.17
Mukti· LiberationLoving Service Is the Highest Attainment
“Devotees always bathe themselves in devotional service in order to be relieved from the various tribulations of material existence. By doing this, the devotees enjoy supreme bliss, and liberation personified comes to serve them. Nonetheless, they do not accept that service, even if it is offered by the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself. For the devotees, liberation [mukti] is very unimportant because, having attained the Lord’s transcendental loving service, they have attained everything desirable and have transcended all material desires.”
What the purport teaches
- Devotional service to the Lord is the highest attainment for anyone seeking relief from material suffering. Having gained it, one finds no greater gain.
- Every living being’s constitutional position is to be the Lord’s servant. One engaged in His loving service has therefore already attained mukti, or liberation.
- Devotees do not seek separate liberation, even when the Supreme Lord offers it. In His transcendental loving service, they have attained everything desirable.
Try this today
Offer a short prayer expressing the wish to serve the Lord without asking for a material reward.
Ask yourself
Do I value loving service itself, or mainly the relief I hope to receive from 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.