krishnaya vasudevaya haraye
paramatmane
prantaklesanasaya govindaya namo namah
kaunteya pratijanihi na me bhaktah pranashyati
In Bhagavad gita, Krishna declares to His friend and devotee Arjuna:
"Know for certain, o son of Kunti, My devotee will never be destroyed".
Many examples are often given from Vedic literatures, Puranas and
Mahabharata, and from the lives of a great number of devotees of
Krishna, showing how the Lord is always taking personal care of those
who surrender to Him. The story of how the Deity of Sakshi Gopal came to
this place is one of the best of this kind, and clearly demonstrates
that Krishna is the best friend of His devotee.
However, today we see that in society faith and devotion to the Lord
are in decline, and people do not even understand these facts any more.
If they read or watch Mahabharata on TV, they usually consider it as a
"story" only, and do not ask themselves questions or try to understand
the meaning of the story and its teachings, so they end up with wrong
ideas.
For example, we read in the newspapers and hear that many people have
lost their faith in God because God was not always ready to supply them
with everything they wanted or protect them from all troubles and death
of their relatives of friends. Others observe how devotees are
sometimes harassed and put in troubles by demoniac people, and they
conclude that God does not exist, or that He does not care for His
devotees. So they join the demoniac side and also follow the example of
degraded people by harassing and disrespecting devotees. What then is
the real meaning of Krishna's protection?
In the above verse, Krishna addresses Arjuna as Kaunteya, "son of
Kunti". Kunti was the aunt of Krishna, and in Srimad Bhagavata Purana
she offers Him some beautiful prayers about the protection that Krishna
gives to His devotees.
yatha hrishikesha khalena devaki kamsena ruddhaticiram sucarpita
vimocitaham ca sahatmaja vibho tvayaiva nathena muhur vipad-ganat
O Hrishikesha, master of the senses, You have released Your mother
Devaki, who was long imprisoned and distressed by the envious King
Kamsa, and me and my children from a series of constant dangers.
vishan mahagneh purushada darshanat asat-sabhaya
vana-vasa-kricchratah
mridhe mridhe aneka maharathastrato drauny astratas casma hare
abhiraksitah
You have protected us from poison, from a great fire, from cannibals,
from the vicious assembly of the Kauravas, and when we were wandering
here and there in exile, living in the forest. You have also protected
us from many great generals and warriors during the battle, and now from
the weapon of Asvatthama.
vipadah santu tah sasvat tatra tatra jagad guro
bhavato darshanam yat syad apunar bhava darshanam
Let all dangers come, and we are even ready to face other
difficulties, because in all these times we have been blessed by Your
personal presence, and thus we have been freed from the cycle of samsara
and we will not have to get a new birth.
Queen Kunti offers the example of the long sufferings of Krishna's
own mother, Devaki. Since the very day of her marriage, Devaki was
subjected to endless harassment by her demoniac brother Kamsa, who kept
her and her husband in jail and killed all her six children at birth.
Devaki and Vasudeva had to wait for 16 years in intolerable sufferings
before being released by Krishna, and they were the mother and father of
the Supreme Lord, Sri Krishna and Balarama. Who could be more worthy of
Krishna's love and protection?
Even Queen Kunti, His aunt, her children the Pandavas and their wife
Draupadi were constantly harassed for many years by their own relatives
and had to face many difficulties. Protection by Krishna does not mean
that a devotee will never have problems, but rather that a devotee will
never be destroyed. Whatever will happen to the devotee, it is according
to the plan of the Lord for the ultimate benefit of all.
yada yada hi dharmasya glanir bhavati bharata
abhyuttanam adharmasya tadatmanam srijamy aham
Whenever there is a decline in the principles of religion and a
predominant rise in irreligion, at that time I descend personally.
paritranaya sadhunam vinasaya ca duskritam
dharma samsthapanarthaya sambhavami yuge yuge
Age after age, I manifest personally to protect the good and saintly
people, to destroy the evil doers and to re-establish the principles of
eternal dharma.
So while Krishna was personally present on this planet, why He did
not protect His own mother and father (certainly good and saintly
people) from being kept in jail for sixteen years and having their six
children brutally killed by their own uncle?
Why Krishna did not stop
Dhritarastra from spoiling his children, or Duryodhana and Duhsashana
from insulting and harrassing the Pandavas and their good wife?
The answer is very simple. Because all these devotees are playing a
crucial role in executing the Lord's plan and everything is carefully
arranged by the Lord even if we do not understand His plan through our
limited material intelligence and vision.
One reason is that the Lord wants His devotees to set a good example
for the mass of people, by showing how a devotee faces difficulties and
overcomes them, so that the general people can take inspiration and
encouragement in their small and great problems in life. This world is
like a jungle, a dangerous place where there is danger at every step,
padam padam yat vipadam, and therefore no one can expect a life free of
troubles. Even the greatest devotees and saints are subject to
difficulties when they reside in this world, although the Lord takes
personal care of them and ensures their overall protection.
The proper way to behave in face of all difficulties is the course of
action recommended by Sri Krishna in Bhagavad gita to His devotee,
friend and cousin Arjuna the Pandava: we should act of duty only,
without attachment for the fruits of our actions, and offer everything
to the Lord. All our activities must be performed for the Lord and by
always remembering the Lord:
yajnarthat karmano anyatra loko ayam karma-bandhanah
tad-artham karma kaunteya mukta-sangah samacara
yat karosi yas asnasi yaj juhosi dadasi yat
yat tapasyasi kaunteya tat kurusva mad-arpanam
Action should be performed only for the sake of sacrifice, otherwise
it will bind the actor to the consequences of karma. Whatever you do,
whatever you eat, whatever you give in charity, whatever difficulty or
sufferings you have to undergo, you must offer everything to the Lord in
sacrifice.
satatam kirtayanto mam yatantas ca dridha-vratah
namasyantas ca mam bhaktya nitya-yukta upasate
Always chanting the glories of the Lord and talking about Him,
endeavoring with great determination to stick to their spiritual
principles, bowing down before the Lord, these devotees are always in
the presence of the Lord and constantly worship Him with all their
activities.
A second reason is that the Lord maintains the universe by arranging
for the destruction of evil-doers and demoniac people. Such people can
be destroyed by the accumulated consequences of their sins, which become
much heavier when they are committed against a sincere devotee of the
Lord. So the merciful devotees accept to come and play this role in the
world by giving to the evil-doers the opportunity to reform and become
free from their sins, or meet their doom by targeting them with their
misbehavior. Demoniac people are useful in the general plan of the
Lord's universe as there is always the need of punishing criminals, so
the Lord's energy puts criminals against each other, and they will
punish each other easily.
Srimad Bhagavatam gives the example of a thorn which is removed by
using another thorn; however, when the work is done, the used thorn must
be discarded, otherwise it will create unnecessary troubles. How this
will happen?
The pricking thorn of the demoniac people which may create troubles to
the social body will be eliminated by its own weight, increased through
the harassment of good saintly people who are devotees of the Supreme
Lord.
Actually the Lord Himself, when He descended in His Krishna-lila, wanted
to relieve the burden of the Earth by destroying the demoniac armies,
and arranged for His devotees to become the catalyst of the war of
Kurukshetra. Maharaja Draupada celebrated a yajna to obtain progeny who
could destroy his enemy Drona, and from the sacrificial fire both
Draupadi and Dhristadyumna were born. Actually the real destroyer of the
Kauravas was Draupadi, because Krishna decided that all of them would
be destroyed when they dared to insult His great friend Draupadi.
sri krishna krishna-sakha vrishni rishabhavani druk
rajanya vamsa dahananapavarga virya
govinda go-dvija-surarti haravatara
yogeshvarakhila guroh bhagavan namas te
A third reason is suggested by Queen Kunti in her prayers to the
Lord: the sufferings and difficulties that a devotee has to undergo
according to his or her role in the Lord's plan are actually a
purification and an opportunity to surrender more completely to the
Lord. Actually, a long life of illusion in this world is not a very good
thing. No matter how hard we try to improve our situation, and no
matter how sincerely we work, we cannot change the nature of this world,
which is impermanent and full of suffering. All those who have obtained
a material body will have to accept the inherent defects of a material
body: impermanence, ignorance and suffering, and ultimately, to give up
this body with death. We should therefore make the best use of this
material body by utilizing it in the service of the Lord only, because
it is also a valuable instrument enabling us to work for the Lord and
for the propagation of His message in this world. A material body allows
us to speak about the Lord and His mission to those who do not have
spiritual senses and therefore are not able to contact directly the Lord
and receive His instructions, so we should also value our own body and
take care of it, but we should never mistake it for our own identity and
purpose of life. Our body is simply an instrument, a vehicle, useful
for a good work. Our family relationships are karmic relationships in
which we must act properly in order to fulfill our duties and facilitate
those who are in our care so that they can also attain spiritual
liberation. The six children of Devaki who were killed by Kamsa actually
had to suffer their past karma, and then by the blessed contact with
such great devotees they attained liberation and were free to return to
the Vaikunthaloka, where they enjoyed a trascendental and eternal life
full of knowledge and bliss. We should also consider our family members
as spirit souls who have temporarily come in contact with us for the
purpose of spiritual development. Otherwise, our life will not be better
or more respectable than an animal's life. The gift and opportunity of a
human birth actually offers us the greatest benefit: developing
spiritual consciousness and attain liberation.
yasyatma buddhi kunape tri dhatuke sva dhi kalatradishu bhauma ijya
dhih
yat tirtha buddhi salile na karhicit janesu abhijesu sa eva go kharah
Simply living on the platform of the material body is the animal
level. Also animals have family relationships and take care of their
eating, sleeping and defending. A human life is meant for something more
than that. This does not simply mean that we should live for a higher
purpose, but that we should also become compassionate to the animals and
understand their sufferings and needs.
Our real purpose is not to settle nicely in this impermanent world
and to lose our spiritual memory in sports and material relationships,
but to prepare ourselves for the attainment of our real goal:
liberation. Social dharma, artha and kama are only important as much as
they serve for the attainment of moksha. By themselves, they are not
permanent and they do not constitute the goal of life. On the contrary,
the real goal of life consists in reaching the transcendental spiritual
level of Krishna consciousness.
bahunam janmanam ante jnanavan mam prapadyate
vasudevah sarvam iti sa mahatma sudurlabhah
sarva dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja
aham tvam sarva papebhyo mokshaisyami ma sucah
By always engaging in the service of the Lord, and surrendering to
His plan, a devotee finds real happiness and peace of mind even the most
difficult situations, and at the same time benefits all those who come
in touch with him or her.
May the all merciful Lord bless us all and give us permanent
liberation from all difficulties.
______________________
Manonatha Dasa (ACBSP)
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