Love Without Motive

Śrīla Prabhupāda consistently teaches that the highest perfection of life is to awaken our dormant love for the Supreme Lord. This love must be completely pure, which means it must be executed without any personal, material, or ulterior motive. Only when devotional service is unmotivated can the soul experience true, uninterrupted happiness.

The Definition of Pure Love

In the material world, love and service are generally based on a system of exchange and reward. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that true love of God is entirely different; it is spontaneous and unconditional, resembling a mother's natural affection for her child, completely devoid of any selfish motive.

• Mother loves child. It is not like the maidservant who is paid. Mother loves spontaneously child, as duty. She loves to serve the child. Similarly, our love of God will be spontaneous, without any motive, and without being impeded.
• In the material world one serves another for matter of money exchange, reward. But serving God is not that. Here it is stated, ahaituky apratihata. Service of God is without motive.
• Pure devotion means without any motive - "Krsna is my Lord. I am His eternal servant. It is my duty to serve" - no motive. That is pure devotion.
• These damsels simply loved Krsna without any motive for material or spiritual gain.

The Source of True Satisfaction

Every living entity is searching for peace and satisfaction. Śrīla Prabhupāda confirms that the only way to achieve complete fulfillment is to engage in unalloyed devotional service. When the mind and senses serve the Lord without motive, the soul feels a satisfaction far greater than even liberation.

• If you are engaged in the service of the Lord without any motive and without being impeded, spontaneously loving, then you will feel complete satisfaction.
• The mind's natural duty is to serve. When that service spirit is engaged in devotional service to the Personality of Godhead, without any motive, that is far better even than salvation.
• The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Visnu, continued: My dear King Prthu, when one situated in his occupational duty engages in My loving service without motive for material gain, he gradually becomes very satisfied within.
• If you learn how to love Krsna without any motive and without any impediment, then you will be happy.

The Perfection of Devotion

Sometimes people approach God with material desires, asking for wealth or relief from distress. While Śrīla Prabhupāda acknowledges this as a good beginning, he emphasizes that the ultimate perfection of such worship is reached when the devotee eventually abandons all motives and serves purely for Kṛṣṇa's pleasure.

• Dhruva Maharaja worshiped Krsna with a motive. But after being perfect in devotional service he becomes without motive. When he saw actually Krsna, he said: "No, no, no. I don't want anything from You. I don't want any benediction." That is bhakti.
• By executing devotional service in that way, he gradually becomes attached to Krsna, and when his original dormant love for the Lord becomes manifest, he spontaneously serves the Lord without any motive.
• Bhakti should be animitta, without motive. Actually Krsna can fulfill all of our wishes without difficulty because He is almighty and full of all opulences.
• That is the perfection of life, perfection of religious life, if one learns how to love Krsna and without any motive, ahaituki.

Unconditional Obedience

Pure devotional service requires following the instructions of superior authorities without manufacturing personal ideologies. Śrīla Prabhupāda points out that a sincere disciple serves Kṛṣṇa and the spiritual master with unflinching obedience, completely free from any selfish intent.

• It is instructed in the sastras that one should follow the great authority and the infallible Lord without any personal motive and manufactured ideology.
• One who is unflinchingly devoted to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Visnu, and similarly devoted to the spiritual master, with no ulterior motive, becomes a master of all knowledge.
• Obedience should be without any motive. Just like see here the Europeans and American boys, they are obeying Krsna or Krsna's representative without any condition. They have not come here to obey my order for earning livelihood or for some material purpose.
• A devotee should engage himself exclusively for the satisfaction of Krsna, without personal motives. That will make his life successful.

Conclusion

To achieve the ultimate goal of human life, one must purify their heart of all material desires and hidden agendas. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that the difference between the material world and the spiritual world is the presence of motive; materially, people serve others for a reward, but spiritually, the soul serves Kṛṣṇa out of pure, unadulterated love. This ahaitukī bhakti—devotional service without motive—is so powerful that it cannot be checked by any material impediment. Whether one is obeying the spiritual master, chanting the holy names, or worshiping the Lord, Śrīla Prabhupāda concludes that the highest perfection and the deepest satisfaction are attained only when our service to Kṛṣṇa is completely unconditional and without motive.

Dive Deeper into Śrīla Prabhupāda's Vani

Śrīla Prabhupāda lives within his instructions. This article is a summary of the profound truths found in the Vaniquotes category Without Motive. We invite you to visit this link to study the complete compilation and experience Śrīla Prabhupāda's teachings in their direct, verbatim form.

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