Verse Text
60. atha śrī-mūrter-anghri-sevane prītiḥ, yathā ādi-purāṇe—
mama nāma-sadāgrāhī mama sevā-priyaḥ sadā |
bhaktis tasmai pradātavyā na tu muktiḥ kadācana ||225||
Translation
Attachment to serving the lotus feet of the deity (verse 90), from Ādi Purāṇa: I give bhakti, and never liberation, to the person who is always engaged in chanting My name and serving Me as the goal in his life.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
Sevā-priyaḥ means to take one’s service to the Lord as one’s goal in life. Mukti means in the context “liberation devoid of bhakti (sāyujya-mukti).”
Purport (Nectar of Devotion)
Serving the Deity with Great Devotion
It is said in the Ādi Purāṇa, “A person who is constantly engaged in chanting the holy name and who feels transcendental pleasure, being engaged in devotional service, is certainly awarded the facilities of devotional service and is never given just mukti [liberation].”
Mukti means liberation from material contamination; when liberated, one does not have to take birth again in the material world. The impersonalists desire to merge into the spiritual existence, to end their individual existence, but according to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, mukti is only the beginning of one’s becoming situated in his normal condition. The normal condition of every living entity is to be engaged in the devotional service of the Lord. From the statement of the Ādi Purāṇa it appears that a devotee is satisfied simply with being engaged in devotional service. He does not aspire for any liberation from material, conditional life. In other words, anyone who is engaged in devotional service is not in the material condition of life, although he may appear so.