Desireless Devotees of God - The Meaning of Niṣkāma
Becoming desireless does not mean becoming a stone. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that the soul is eternally active and must have desires; true desirelessness simply means shifting one's desires away from personal, material sense gratification and exclusively toward the loving service of the Supreme Lord.
The True Meaning of Desirelessness
To be desireless (niṣkāma) means to recognize the true proprietorship of all things. Śrīla Prabhupāda points out that when a living entity realizes that everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa, they cease demanding things for their own enjoyment and dedicate their entire existence to rendering transcendental service.
- A devotee is always situated in the spiritual world. Therefore he does not desire anything. He is known as akama, or desireless, because he has nothing to desire except to render transcendental loving service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
- A materially desireless person certainly knows that everything belongs to Krsna (isavasyam idam sarvam), and therefore he does not falsely claim proprietorship over anything.
- Devotees have no lusty desires for oneness; instead, their desire is to be freed from all material hankering. they are called niskama, desireless.
- This perfect realization of the self by the devotee helps him to become desireless, to desire nothing for his personal self, and thus the devotees are called niskami, without any desire.
Rejecting Liberation and Sense Enjoyment
A pure devotee is utterly indifferent to the dual temptations of material opulence and spiritual emancipation. Śrīla Prabhupāda highlights that because the devotee is already situated in the bliss of service, they naturally reject any desire for impersonal liberation or heavenly planets.
- Devotees are not desirous of any material happiness, including the happiness derived from liberation. This is called anyabhilasita-sunyam jnana-karmady-anavrtam - Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu 1.1.11.
- A pure devotee like King Kulasekhara neither desires sense enjoyment nor exerts himself to restrain his senses; rather, he tries only to engage himself in the transcendental loving service of the Lord, without any stop.
- The devotee is already liberated. There is no need for him to aspire for different types of liberation. The pure devotee automatically achieves liberation, even without desiring it.
- Such persons (the inhabitants of Satyaloka), being fully aware of knowledge both mundane and transcendental, have no interest in either the mundane or transcendental worlds. They are practically desireless devotees.
Pure Love and Absolute Dependence
The desireless devotee relies entirely on the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Śrīla Prabhupāda notes that great Vaiṣṇavas like Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura feel completely protected, desiring only to love and serve Kṛṣṇa like a fully dependent child.
- A suddha-bhakta is desireless because he is simply happy serving Krsna. He does not know or even care whether Krsna is God or not; he just wants to love Krsna. Nor is he concerned with the fact that Krsna is omnipotent or that He is all-pervasive.
- Bhaktivinoda Thakura says that he is desireless because Krsna will give him protection in all circumstances. It is not that he expects any assistance from Krsna; he simply depends on Krsna just as a child depends on his parents.
- Chanting of this holy mantra is the only shelter of the desireless pure devotee of the Lord. Simply by such tapasya, or penance, the devotee of the Lord achieves all perfections like Lord Brahma.
- As stated in Bhagavad-gita, Seventh Chapter, there are two kinds of devotees - those who desire material pleasures and those who desire nothing but service to the Lord.
The Practical Example of Arjuna
The Bhagavad-gītā demonstrates how desirelessness is perfectly applied in active life. Śrīla Prabhupāda points to Arjuna, who transcended his personal reluctance to fight and achieved perfect desirelessness by acting solely for Kṛṣṇa's ultimate satisfaction.
- To make him (Arjuna) desireless the Lord preached the Bhagavad-gita, in which the ways of karma-yoga, jnana-yoga, hatha-yoga and also bhakti-yoga were explained.
- For himself there was no desire to fight, but for Krsna the same Arjuna fought to his best ability. Desire for the satisfaction of Krsna is really desirelessness; it is not an artificial attempt to abolish desires.
- Because Arjuna was without any pretension, he changed his decision and satisfied the Lord by agreeing to fight (karisye vacanam tava) (BG 18.73), and thus he became desireless.
- Anyakami - a devotee may desire something other than service to the lotus feet of the Lord; yadi kare krsnera bhajana - but if he engages in Lord Krsna's service.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Śrīla Prabhupāda dispels the impersonal misconception that spiritual perfection requires the annihilation of all desires. Because the living entity is eternally conscious, it is impossible to be entirely without desire. True desirelessness (niṣkāma or akāma) simply means purifying one's desires—abandoning the selfish pursuit of material sense gratification and the subtle hankering for impersonal liberation, and instead harboring only one desire: to satisfy the Supreme Personality of Godhead. A pure devotee recognizes that everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa and happily depends on Him in all circumstances, finding complete fulfillment in the chanting of His holy names. As vividly demonstrated by Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukṣetra, a desireless devotee is not necessarily passive or inactive. By giving up his personal desire for peace and choosing to fight vigorously on the Lord's behalf, Arjuna proved that active, dynamic engagement for Kṛṣṇa's pleasure is the highest and most perfect manifestation of desirelessness.
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