Generally people come into the association of devotees in order to mitigate some material wants, but the influence of a pure devotee frees a man from all material desires so that he eventually comes to relish the taste of devotional service. Devotional service is so nice and pure that it purifies the devotee, and he forgets all material ambitions as soon as he engages fully in the transcendental loving service of Krishna. A practical example is Dhruva Maharaja, who wanted something material from Krishna and therefore engaged in devotional service. When the Lord appeared as four-handed Vishnu before Dhruva, Dhruva told the Lord: “My dear Lord, because I engaged myself in Your devotional service with great austerity and penances, I am now seeing You. Even great demigods and great sages have difficulty in seeing You. Now I am pleased, and all my desires are satisfied. I do not want anything else. I was searching for some broken glass, but instead I have found a great and valuable gem.” Thus Dhruva Maharaja was fully satisfied, and he refused to ask anything of the Lord.
Firm conviction to execute the order of the Lord is known as faith. If one has faith he is firmly convinced that simply by rendering devotional service to Lord Krishna all other activities are automatically performed—including ritualistic duties, sacrifices, yoga and the speculative pursuit of knowledge. If one is convinced that devotional service to the Lord includes everything, no other activity is required.
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