Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana Book 11 Chapter 2:45-55

Book 11: Chapter2

Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana: Book 11: Chapter 2: Verses 45-55 Hari said : He is the foremost of the Lord's devotees, who sees himself established in all creatures as in the Lord (himself), and sees (all) creatures established in his own self as in the Divine Soul. The votary who cherishes love for the Lord, is friendly to other devotees of the Lord, compassionate to the ignorant, and indifferent to his enemies, is a second-rate votary (because he discriminates among these classes, whereas the one described in the previous verse makes no discrimination). He who does worship to the Lord with faith in an image only and does not serve His devotees and other beings is an ordinary devotee. He who sees the universe as (a creation of) Visnu's Maya and, even though contacting the objects with his senses, neither experiences delight nor repulsion is indeed a devotee of the highest order. He is the foremost devotee of the Lord, who by virtue. of his (constant) remembrance of Sri Hari is never overwhelmed by mundane properties, (viz.,) birth and death, hunger (and thirst), fatigue, fear and ardent longing, which (really) belong to the body, vital air, senses, mind and intellect (and never to the Self). He is undoubtedly the foremost devotee of the Lord, in whose mind the craving for enjoyment, the impulse for action and the seeds of future incarnation (in the shape of virtue and sin) never sprout, and to whom Lord Visnu is the only resort. He is indeed beloved of the Lord, who never identifies himself with this body by virtue of his birth and pursuits, grade in society, race or stage of life. He is the best among the devotees of the Lord, who makes no distinction between his own and that belonging to others in the matter of his possessions and body. He looks upon all created beings with an equal eye and is (always) calm. He is the foremost of the votaries of Lord Visnu, whose memory of the Lord is ever fresh, and who even for the sovereignty of all the three worlds (heaven, earth and the intermediate region) and even for half the time taken by the twinkling of an eye does not turn away from (the adoration of) the Lords's lotus-feet, which are sought after by the gods and others whose mind is fixed on the invincible Lord. Just as with the rising of the moon the heat of the sun disappears, so the fever in the devotee's heart, (once) banished by the cool lustre shed, by the gemlike nails of the Lord's feet taking long strides (while dancing, with the devotee as during the Rasa dance) can never appear again. ( The name of the Lord is such that, even when uttered under constraint or unconsciously, it destroys multitudinous sins. That man is called the best of devotees, whose heart the Lord Himself does not leave as His lotus-feet are fastened by the cord of love. Thus ends the second discourse in Book Eleven of the great and glorious Bhagavata-Purana, otherwise known as the Paramahamsa-Samhita.