Pure devotional service, born of love for Krishna alone, transcends all liberation and remains eternally unfinished.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
The Nectar of Devotion — January 31, 1973, Calcutta 730131ND-CALCUTTA [36:01 Minutes] NOD_730131ND-CALCUTTA Mādhavānanda: [reading] "...Four. Devotional Service Surpasses All Liberation. How much a devotee is seriously attached to the devotional service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead can be understood from the statement of Mahārāja Pṛthu [Ādi-rāja], which is described in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Fourth Canto, Twentieth Chapter, twenty-first verse [SB 4.20.21] . He prays to the Supreme Personality of Godhead thusly: 'My dear Lord, if after taking liberation I have no chance of hearing the glories of Your Lordship, glories chanted by pure devotees from the core of their hearts in praise of Your lotus feet, and if I have no chance for this honey of transcendental bliss, then I shall never ask for liberation of this so-called spiritual emancipation.
I shall simply always pray unto Your Lordship that You may give me millions of tongues and millions of ears so that I can constantly chant and hear of Your transcendental glories.' " Prabhupāda: Hmm. Surpasses all kind of liberation. There are five kinds of liberation: sāyujya, sārūpya, sālokya, sāmīpya... But a pure devotee does not want any of such liberations.
Dhiyamānāṁ na ghṛnanti[?]. Even liberation is offered... Kṛṣṇa offers liberation very easily. But Kṛṣṇa's personal touch is so sublime that Kṛṣṇa is carrying order of Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira.
Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira is sending letter, handed over to Kṛṣṇa, and He's carrying to Duryodhana. So Nārada was very much surprised, that this stage of dependent on devotee is very, very difficult to achieve. To achieve liberation is not very difficult, but when Kṛṣṇa becomes dependent on the order of a devotee, that is very difficult to achieve. So therefore pure devotional service surpasses all kinds of liberation. Caitanya Mahāprabhu also teaches, mama janmani janmanīśvare bhavatād bhaktir ahaitukī tvayi.
Liberation means no more birth. But Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, mama janmani janmani—birth after birth. But the..., a devotee does not want anything of the material things. Na dhanaṁ na janaṁ na sundarīṁ kavitāṁ vā jagadīśa kāmaye [Cc. Antya 20.29, Śikṣāṣṭaka 4]. So this pure devotional service is a different subject matter. Dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo atra [SB 1.1.2]. Therefore Vyāsadeva says that all kinds of motivated religious system is rejected from devotional service. Projjhita-kaitavaḥ.
Kaitava means motivated. In devotional service there is no motive—simply to serve Kṛṣṇa. Ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānu-śīlanam [Cc. Madhya 19.167]. That is pure devotion. [aside:] Go on. Mādhavānanda: "The impersonalists desire to merge into the existence of the Supreme, but without keeping their individuality, they have no chance of hearing and chanting the glories of the Supreme Lord.
Because they have no idea of the transcendental form of the Supreme Lord, there is no chance of their chanting and hearing of His transcendental activities." Prabhupāda: The impersonalists take it, this chanting, as means to attain liberation. They do not know that the chanting is the..., real chanting begins after liberation. Not that by chanting one reaches liberation. No.