Eighty-one Varieties of Devotional Service

In Canto Three, Devahuti enquired from Kapiladeva about the subtleties of devotional service. Kapiladeva gave a comprehensive breakdown of devotional service performed in different modes of material nature. In Canto Four we find archetype examples of devotional service in the mode of Ignorance (Daksa), in the mode of Passion (Dhruva) and in the mode of Goodness (Prthu).

Within each of the three modes of material nature there are three subdivisions. Thus, we have nine categories of devotional service in different mindsets, and when multiplied by the nine processes of bhakti, we end up with eighty-one varieties of devotional service.

Srila Prabhupada explains: “Devotional service in the modes of ignorance, passion and goodness can be divided into eighty-one categories. There are different devotional activities, such as hearing, chanting, remembering, worshiping, offering prayer, rendering service and surrendering everything, and each of them can be divided into three qualitative categories. There is hearing in the mode of passion, in the mode of ignorance and in the mode of goodness. Similarly, there is chanting in the mode of ignorance, passion and goodness, etc. Three multiplied by nine equals twenty-seven, and when again multiplied by three it becomes eighty-one. One has to transcend all such mixed materialistic devotional service in order to reach the standard of pure devotional service, as explained in the next verses.” (SB 3.29.10)