Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 3 - Chapter 1 - Verse 15


Sanskrit:

को न्वीश ते पादसरोजभाजांसुदुर्लभोऽर्थेषु चतुर्ष्वपीह ।तथापि नाहं प्रवृणोमि भूमन्भवत्पदाम्भोजनिषेवणोत्सुक: ॥ १५ ॥

ITRANS:

ko nv īśa te pāda-saroja-bhājāṁsudurlabho ’rtheṣu caturṣv apīhatathāpi nāhaṁ pravṛṇomi bhūmanbhavat-padāmbhoja-niṣevaṇotsukaḥ

Translation:

O my Lord, devotees who engage in the transcendental loving service of Your lotus feet have no difficulty in achieving anything within the realm of the four principles of religiosity, economic development, sense gratification and liberation. But, O great one, as far as I am concerned, I have preferred only to engage in the loving service of Your lotus feet.

Purport:

Those who are associated with the Lord in the Vaikuṇṭha planets achieve all the bodily features of the Lord and appear to be the same as Lord Viṣṇu. Such liberation is called sārūpya-mukti, which is one of the five kinds of liberation. The devotees engaged in the transcendental loving service of the Lord never accept the sāyujya-mukti, or merging in the rays of the Lord called the brahmajyoti. The devotees can achieve not only liberation but any success in the realm of religiosity, economic development or sense gratification up to the standard of the demigods in the heavenly planets. But such a pure devotee as Uddhava refuses to accept all such facilities. A pure devotee wants simply to engage in the service of the Lord and does not consider his own personal benefit.