anyabhilasita sunyam

Krishna Consciousness as per taught by our Sampradaya (Gaudiya Vaishnava) acharayas is pure unalloyed devotional service. It is not mere “devotion” to God but “devotional service” to God free from fruitive mentality and mental speculation. The stress is given on service without mundane expectations (gross or subtle).

H.H.Radhanath Swami in one of his lectures said that a pure devotee is one who is absolutely free from any tinge of material desire (even at the atomic level). He also mentioned that a pure devotee is also one who desires to be a pure devotee. In other words, even if our aspirations are pure, in the sense that we are sincerely and honestly striving to achieve the pure devotee platform completely free from any fruitive or speculative mentality (even though we may be far away from it currently), maharaj said that we can be considered pure devotees. So this is the essence. Even if we are not pure devotees, aspiring to be one is the standard set by our previous acharyas.

We come in the line of Srila Rupa Goswamis who got instructions directly from Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu who is Lord Krishna Himself. Therefore, if we want to sincerely follow in the footsteps of our previous acharyas, then we should (no compromise) aspire for the highest platform of pure devotion.

Unfortunately, I have seen and heard many devotees aspiring to fulfill their mundane plans and actually approaching Krishna for fulfilling their own material desires. While this is not wrong, this is also not in line with our acharyas. Devotees who seek material favor directly or indirectly from Krishna have mixed devotion in their hearts. Mixed devotion means devotion mixed with a mentality to fulfill our material desires (karma misra bhaktas) and/or mixed with mental speculation (jnana misra bhaktas).

Srila Rupa Goswami clearly made the distinction between mixed devotion and pure devotion.
In his Bhakti Rasamarta Sindhu (1.1.11), he states,

anyabhilasita-sunyam jnana-karmady-anavrtam
anukulyena krsnanusilanam bhaktir uttama

Uttama bhakti, or unalloyed devotion unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Krsna, involves the rendering of devotional service in a way that is favorable to the Lord. This devotional service should be free from any extraneous motive and devoid of fruitive karma, impersonal jnana and all other selfish desires

Srila Rupa Goswami clearly states anyabhilasita sunyam which literally means to make all other desires zero. Srila Prabhupada, to this verse, particularly said that we are not dead stone, therefore by dovetailing our desires for the Lord, we can perform devotional service. Therefore, this is our standard. We should be free from karma and jnana and approach Krishna only for rendering devotional service. Krishna, seeing our sincerity will award us opulence (material and spiritual) accordingly.

Hare Krishna