SLOKA OF THE WEEK:

Nārada Bhakti Sūtra 1
athāto bhaktim vyākhyāsyāmah

atha — now; atah — therefore; bhaktim — devotional service; vyākhyāsyāmah — we shall try to explain.

TRANSLATION

Now, therefore, I will try to explain the process of devotional service.

PURPORT (first paragraph)

Devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, where the Lord says that a self-realized person is always in the transcendental state known as brahma-bhūta, which is characterized by joyfulness. When one is self-realized he becomes joyful. In other words, he is free from the material contamination of lamentation and hankering. As long as we are in material existence, we lament for the losses in our life and hanker for that which we do not have. A self-realized person is joyful because he is free from material lamentation and hankering.