SB 1.8.42 (1964)
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT No. 42
Twai me nanyavisaya matir madhupate' asakrit Ratim udbahatat addhaganga iva ogham udanwati.
ENGLISH SYNONYMS
Twi—unto you, me—mine, Unanyavisaya—unalloyed, Matir—attention, Madhupate—oh the Lord of Madhu, Asakrit—continually, Ratim—attraction, Udbahatat—may overflow, Addha—directly, Ganga—the Ganges, Iva—like, Ogha—flows, Udanwati—down to the seas.
TRANSLATION
Oh the Lord of Madhu. As the flow of the Ganges water glides down the seas continuously without any check, so my attraction for You may continuously be drawn unto You without any diversion for anyone else.
PURPORT
Perfection of pure devotional service is attained when our all attention is diverted towards the transcendental loving service of the Lord. To cut off the tie of all other affection does not mean complete negation of the finer elements like affection for some body else. This is not possible. A living being whoever he may be must have this feelings of affection for others because this is a symptom of life. The symptoms of life namely desire, anger, hankerings, feelings of attraction etc. cannot be annihilated. Only the objective has to be changed. Desire cannot be changed but in devotional service the desire is changed only for the service of the Lord in place of desire for sense gratification. The so called affection for family, society, country etc are different phases of sense gratification. When this desire is changed for the satisfaction of the Lord in place of sense gratification such change or the pure form of desire is called devotional service.
In the Bhagwat Geeta we can see that Arjuna desired not to fight with his brothers and relations just to satisfy his own personal desires or for the matter of that sense gratification. But when he heard the message of the Lord Srimad Bhagwat Geeta he changed his decision and served the desire of the Lord. And for his doing so he became the famous devotee of the Lord as it is declared in all the scriptures that Arjuna attained spiritual perfection by devotional service of the Lord in the matter of friendship. The fighting was there, the friendship was there, Arjuna was there, and Krishna was there but the Arjuna before the beginning of the fight of the battle of Kurukshetra and hearing the message of the Lord, became different person in devotional service. Therefore, the prayers of Kunti also indicate the same categorical changes in the activities. Srimati Kunti wanted to serve the Lord without any diversion and that was her prayers This unalloyed devotion is the ultimate goal of life. Our attention is diverted certainly in the service of something else which is non godly or not in the programme of the Lord. When the programme is changed into the service of the Lord that is to say when the senses are purified in relation with the service of the Lord, it is called pure unalloyed devotional service. Srimati Kunti Devi wanted that much perfection and prayed for it from the Lord.
Her affection for the Pandavas and the Vrishnis is not out of the range of devotional service. Because service of the Lord and the service of the devotees are identical. Sometimes service of the devotee is more valuable than the service of the Lord. But here affection of Kunti Devi for the Pandavas and the Vrishnis was more on the family relation than in terms of the devotee. This tie of affection on terms of material relation is the relation of Maya; because relation of body or the mind are due to the influence of the External Energy. Relation of the soul established in relation of the Supreme soul is factual relation. When Kunti Devi wanted to cut off the family relation, she meant to cut off the relation of the skin. The skin relation is the cause of material bondage but the relation of the soul is the cause of freedom. This relation of the Soul to Soul can be established by the via media of the relation with the Supersoul. Seeing directly in the darkness is no seeing. But seeing through the light of the Sun means to see the sun and everything else which was unseen in the darkness. That is the way of devotional service.