The Lord's Causeless Mercy Gives One the Ability to Render Service - Part 1

Dhruva Maharaja patiently executed his spiritual master Narada Muni's instruction, by doing so he attained the Supreme Perfection of life which was to receive darshan of the Lord. When the Lord was standing before him, he was speechless and stunned. He was unable to offer prayers in glorification of the Lord. The Lord very mercifully blessed him by touching His conchshell on his head.

He was thus enabled by the causeless mercy of the Lord , to offer fitting prayers.

• The Lord's mercy is needed to render service:
• Srila Prabhupada states in the purport to the verse 4.9.5:"To glorify or offer prayers unto the Supreme, one needs the Lord’s mercy. One cannot write to glorify the Lord unless one is endowed with His causeless mercy."
• Dhruva Maharaja experiences difference in himself:
• Therefore when Dhruva Mahārāja found this difference within himself, he could immediately understand that it was because of the causeless mercy of the Lord. 
• Acknowledgement and Gratitude for the mercy received
• He offered obeisances to the Lord with great respect and reverence, completely understanding that the Lord’s favor was upon him. 

How does such spiritual enlivenment work?

From Srila Prabhupada's purport to SB 4.9.6

• Action of the internal potency
• This spiritual enlivenment of Dhruva Mahārāja’s senses and mind was due to the action of the internal potency of the Lord.
• Connect with internal potency through chanting:
• Spiritual enlightenment is possible by the mercy of the spiritual energy of the Lord. The chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra is first addressed to the spiritual energy of the Lord, Hare.
• When does the spiritual energy act:
•  This spiritual energy acts when a living entity fully surrenders and accepts his position as an eternal servitor. 
• When a person places himself at the disposal or order of the Supreme Lord, that is called sevonmukha; at that time the spiritual energy gradually reveals the Lord to him.
• Nothing is possible without the revelation by the spiritual energy
• Without revelation by the spiritual energy, one is unable to offer prayers glorifying the Lord.
•  Any amount of philosophical speculation or poetic expression by mundane persons is still considered to be the action and reaction of the material energy. 
• Action  of the spiritual energy:
• When one is actually enlivened by the spiritual energy, all his senses become purified, and he engages only in the service of the Lord. At that time his hands, legs, ears, tongue, mind, genitals — everything — engage in the service of the Lord. 
• Such an enlightened devotee no longer has any material activities, nor has he any interest in being materially engaged. This process of purifying the senses and engaging them in the service of the Lord is known as bhakti, or devotional service.
• "Mechanically Engaged" followed by "Engagement with spiritual understanding":
•  In the beginning, the senses are engaged by the direction of the spiritual master and śāstra, and after realization, when the same senses are purified, the engagement continues.
•  The difference is that in the beginning the senses are engaged in a mechanical way, but after realization they are engaged in spiritual understanding.

Further continued in 

The Lord's Causeless Mercy Gives One the Ability to Render Service - Part 2

Residual Sense Enjoyment propensities are burned by Devotional Service - Uddhava Gita

SB 11.20.27-28: Having awakened faith in the narrations of My glories, being disgusted with all material activities, knowing that all sense gratification leads to misery, but still being unable to renounce all sense enjoyment, My devotee should remain happy and worship Me with great faith and conviction. Even though he is sometimes engaged in sense enjoyment, My devotee knows that all sense gratification leads to a miserable result, and he sincerely repents such activities.

SB 11.20.29: When an intelligent person engages constantly in worshiping Me through loving devotional service as described by Me, his heart becomes firmly situated in Me. Thus all material desires within the heart are destroyed.

SB 11.20.30: The knot in the heart is pierced, all misgivings are cut to pieces and the chain of fruitive actions is terminated when I am seen as the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

SB 11.20.31: Therefore, for a devotee engaged in My loving service, with mind fixed on Me, the cultivation of knowledge and renunciation is generally not the means of achieving the highest perfection within this world.

SB 11.14.20: My dear Uddhava, the unalloyed devotional service rendered to Me by My devotees brings Me under their control. I cannot be thus controlled by those engaged in mystic yoga, Sāńkhya philosophy, pious work, Vedic study, austerity or renunciation.

SB 11.14.21: Only by practicing unalloyed devotional service with full faith in Me can one obtain Me, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. I am naturally dear to My devotees, who take Me as the only goal of their loving service. By engaging in such pure devotional service, even the dog-eaters can purify themselves from the contamination of their low birth.

SB 11.14.22: Neither religious activities endowed with honesty and mercy nor knowledge obtained with great penance can completely purify one's consciousness if they are bereft of loving service to Me.

The Lord follow the footsteps of His pure devotees

SB 11.14.16: With the dust of My devotees' lotus feet I desire to purify the material worlds, which are situated within Me. Thus, I always follow the footsteps of My pure devotees, who are free from all personal desire, rapt in thought of My pastimes, peaceful, without any feelings of enmity, and of equal disposition everywhere.

Vrtrasura's transcendental qualities from SB 6.10 to 6.11

Vrtrasura was Maharaj Citraketu in his previous birth. Having been cursed by Mother Parvati - he had to take birth as an ugly demon and fight against the demigods and against Indra. He was destined to be killed by Indra in the battlefield and thus return back home back to Godhead.

Some important qualities that stand out in the chapters 10,11 and 12:

• Change in Designation did not affect his service:

• In his previous life he was Maharaj Citraketu and once he was liberated he had the benediction to fly anywhere at will with access to Kailasa and the Vaikuntha planets.
• So in spite of being in a demon's body - which was a major change in designation from being a king to becoming an ugly demon he was UNFLINCHING in his service to the Lord - he continued fighting enthusiastically because that was the Lord's desire. In fact he was the most enthusiastic fighter from the demons side and could alone challenge and defeat the demigods
• This is an important lesson to be learned by us - that if we lose our designation in a particular service we must not be disheartened - if we are that means we are materially attached. There is a lot of service to do in Lord Caitanya's movement and we must also be attached to mood of service and not the designation that comes with the service
• He was unattached to the material outcome of the battle
• He knew that he would be killed on the battlefield by Indra. However that did not affect his attitude of fighting in the battle, because he did not care about the material outcome of the battle , all he cared about was being unflinching in his service to the Supreme Lord.
• He was not complacent even after knowing that he would go BTG after he died in the battle:

• SP said all his disciples would go back to the Spiritual World - does that mean that the followers of SP do not need to render service anymore and they can become complacent> Similarly Vrtrasura inspite of knowing that he would eventually go BTG and remain in the association of devotees it did not make him complacent- he did not allow Indra to defeat him easily
• He performed his occupational duty  even in the most difficult situation:
• He was born as a demon and thus his occupational duty was to fight against the demigods. This was a very difficult occupational duty to perform for anyone. But because he was a great devotee of the Lord he was not at all disturbed by the change of body and he continued his occupational duty with great enthusiasm
• It is said that when there are reversals the devotees of the Lord are not at all disheartened, in fact they are excited in thinking about new ways to engage in the service of the Lord, in spite of the difficult situation. Thus they are always enthusiastic.
• He was attached to the service unlike Indra and the demigods who fought for the protection of their material assets.

• In the verses 6.11.25 -6.11.27 he prays to the Lord that he does not desire Dhruvaloka, the heavenly planets, the powers of mystic yoga ,etc - he basically does not desire anything that is asat - he only desires service to the Lord's Lotus Feet and association of His devotees so that he can always remember the Lord.
  
• He encouraged Indra in the battle to kill him:

• Indra was overcome by fear in the battlefield- Having dropped his thunderbolt- however Vrtrasura encouraged him to fight in the battle and defeat him- He also reminded Indra of the power of the Thunderbolt which would definitely kill Vrtrasura.
• Vrtrasura could do this because he was not attached to the concept of relative victory- which means he wasn't attached to winning or losing the battle. Vrtrasura was attached to absolute victory- always being engaged in the service of the Lord.
• Because of such consciousness he could encourage Indra to perform his service of fighting properly and give him faith in the thunderbolt as Lord Vishnu himself had said it would kill Vrtrasura.
• In our services we will be able to become non-envious and encourage fellow devotees if we are also situated in the concept of absolute victory of only desiring constant unmotivated uninterrupted service for ourselves and for others. We therefore can encourage others also in the their attempts in glorifying the Lord.
• He had strong faith:
• Because he had strong faith in the Lord, he was able to remain a sincere servant of the Lord in spite of the greatest difficulty
• He had the perfect remedy to stress management:
• His faith and attachment to the Lord's service kept him fixed and unaffected from the greatest source of stress - impending death
• His atttitude towards devotional service was misunderstood but he still continued in service
• If we are doing service very sincerely but our motives are misunderstood by our superiors and our peers it can be very devastating for our devotional life.However Vrtrasura inspite of being so badly misunderstood continued his devotional service.
• He exhibited samadhi
• At the time of death he was deeply meditating upon the Lord oblivious of external circumstances