Suffering for Others

(Compiled from notes on lectures of H. H. Mahavishnu Goswami)

In the last few days there were some wonderful mails in Granthraj, especially the sequel "Appointment with Krishna" which were a compilation of our spiritual master's wonderful realizations.

While it is easy to appreciate those golden words of realization, it is imperative that we also understand the amount of austerity, sacrifice and compassionate heart that went into building those realizations. Maharaja left Abu dhabi for London last week and was in London for about a week but his health has not been good due to the unstable weather. He suffered very much during the week's stay in London but extended himself to give classes even though he was not able to move even. Needless to say that his 88 years old body has gone through so much with all these years of hectic traveling and preaching. The question definitely arises, why should he extend himself so much at this age when it is better to stay at one place and rest? There are at least two reasons that I have heard from senior devotees and from Srimad Bhagavatam. One of my senior god-brother H. G. Devakinandan prabhu who has spent so many years serving Maharaja said this profound realization - "Maharaja is teaching us how to face old age by himself going through the suffering." Unless we see how much suffering old age brings us, we will be too callous about that inevitable stage of life. Then we will not have the appointment with Krishna at our last moments. We will only have appointment with Yamaraja! Just to show us how we can perform devotional service with strong determination even in old age when the body does not cooperate with us, Maharaja has to really go through the pains.

It is really amazing to see that great souls like our Guru Maharaja are walking on this earth purifying it of all the sins constantly committed by us and magnanimously accepting the tribulations on our behalf. Krishna must be really partial towards us to bestow His glorious mercy in the form of such great souls while there are millions and billions of people out in the world not even aware of the sacrifices these mahatmas do. While we may come to understand their sacrifices, the next step is to follow in their footsteps and do some sacrifices from our end as well.

In the Srimad Bhagavatam we have a perfect example. Lord Siva shows his unlimited magnanimity towards all the living entities by drinking the poison that comes out while the demons and the demigods were engaged in churning the milk ocean. The poison was so strong that just by the smell of it all the living entities were about to die. But to relieve them of suffering, Lord Siva took the pain himself and held the poison in his neck. In Srimad Bhagavatam 8.7.44, it is beautifully described,

tapyante loka-taapena
saadhavah praayaso janaah
paramaaraadhanam tad dhi
purusasyaakhilaatmanah

"It is said that great personalities almost always accept voluntary suffering because of the suffering of people in general. This is considered the highest method of worshiping the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is present in everyone's heart."

Hence from Bhagavatam we get the second reason for why the mahatmas take sufferings - it is the best way of worshiping the Supreme Lord Krishna. Since He is present in everyone's heart, Krishna does not want any of the living entities to suffer. When the mahatmas take the pains of others, they relieve those souls from their sufferings. This pleases the Supreme Lord to the maximum. This is the ultimate essence of preaching. While preaching we face so many instances where we will sacrifice all our time, energy, wealth etc to bring a soul to Krishna consciousness. But not everyone will understand or appreciate our sacrifice. Rather they may even criticize us and blaspheme us. But this is where the real test comes for the devotee - Is he preaching to get the recognition of being a preacher and well-wisher, or is he preaching to save that jiva and please the Supreme Lord? We can take a leaf out of the book of our spiritual master and all mahatmas who follow this magnanimous path of saving the living entities from sufferings, and be humbly satisfied with whatever service we have done to our level best. Lastly, if we cannot do even that, then we can at least pray sincerely to Krishna to keep these pure devotees with us for as long as He can so that one day or other their sacrifices for our well-being will pierce through our dull-brains and stone-hearts.

Chant,

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna

Krishna Krishna

Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama

Rama Rama

Hare Hare

and be happy.