Verse Text
viśeṣaṇatvam evaiṣāṁ saṁśrayanty adhikāriṇām |
vivekādīny ato ’mīṣām api nāṅgatvam ucyate ||260||
Translation
Discrimination and other material qualities cannot be considered as aṅgas of uttama-bhakti, since on their own they take shelter of the excellent condition of persons practicing uttama-bhakti.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Discernment and other qualities take shelter of the excellent condition (viśeṣaṇatvam) of the devotees (eṣām adhikāriṇām). Thus, discrimination and other qualities (amīṣām) should not be considered aṅgas.
Purport (Nectar of Devotion)
A Kṛṣṇa conscious person, being naturally purified, has no need of developing any other purificatory process of thought or action. On account of his being highly elevated in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he has already acquired all the good qualities and is following the rules and regulations prescribed for the mystic yogic process. Such rules are automatically practiced by the devotees. A concrete example is the quality of nonviolence, which is considered a good qualification. A devotee is naturally nonviolent and therefore doesn’t have to practice nonviolence separately. Some people seek purification by joining a vegetarian movement, but a devotee is automatically a vegetarian. He doesn’t need to practice separately in this matter or to join any society for vegetarians. He is automatically a vegetarian.
There are many other instances showing that a devotee needn’t practice anything but Kṛṣṇa consciousness; all the good qualities of the demigods automatically develop within him. Those who are intentionally practicing to be vegetarians or to become nonviolent may have good qualifications by a material estimation, but these qualifications are not sufficient to make them devotees. A vegetarian is not necessarily a devotee, nor is a nonviolent person. But a devotee is automatically both vegetarian and nonviolent. We must conclude, therefore, that vegetarianism or nonviolence is not the cause of devotion.