The Lord is known as Bhava-grahi Janardana because He accepts service in devotional emotion if we are sincere, humble, and fully surrendered at His lotus feet (Bhagavatam: 8.23.2). The Lord is most pleased by the attitude of service rendered by a devotee, with unalloyed devotion. Devotion is a process that attracts Krsna and directly connects one with Krsna. The Lord reciprocates by inundating that devotee with His infinite mercy.
Practicing unalloyed devotional service to the Lord is practical in all circumstances, and it is done joyfully, requiring the engagement of all our human resources, such as our body, mind, senses, and intellect (Bhagavatam. 10.9.1-2). Krsna will take His judgment according to Gita: 4. 11 “As all surrender unto Me, I reward them accordingly. Everyone follows My path in all respects, O son of Pṛthā.”
The first verse of the Chatur-Shloki (Gita: 10.8) characterizes those devoted to Krsna as buddha (enlightened) and bhava- samanvitha (infused with emotion). It varies from person to person. The wisdom of the Gita acknowledges our individuality, for we all are parts of the supreme individual, Krsna (Gita:15.7). This implies that the balance of reason and emotion that works for us will also be individual.
Krsna experiences a unique taste of loving relationships with each and every living being. Unlike us, Krsna is unlimited and His enjoyment is also unlimited. He is eternally manifesting an infinite number of unique living beings from Himself so that He can constantly enjoy an infinite variety of sweet loving relationships with each and every one of those infinite living beings.
Krsna lives in His eternal abode; yet He sees what happened in the past, what is happening now, and what will happen in the future (Gita 7.26). The Supreme Lord assures that whatever one endeavors to do devotional service does not go in vain. Even a little advancement on this path can protect one from the most dangerous type of fear. The Lord is referring to someone who is new to devotional service or one who is acting on the bodily designation for the first time. Such people, no matter their level of advancement engaged in Bhakti, and the Lord says there is no loss or diminution. (Gita:2.40).
This means if we sincerely begin following the path of Krsna consciousness, even if we do not obtain spiritual perfection, we are sure to get at least a human birth in our next life to continue making spiritual progress. But still, if we are intelligent we will make the determined effort to become qualified to go back to home, back to Godhead at the end of our present lifetime.
Krsna is the Supreme Enjoyer, and we are to be enjoyed by Him. The moment we begin to imitate Krsna, we will fall down, forgetting Krsna. This is called Maya. The moment we begin to revive this constitutional position, we can no longer be influenced by Maya. Krsna Consciousness gives us the opportunity of rendering service to Krsna, and this service attitude can only replace us in our original position.
Connecting with Krsna purifies us of the inner forces that misdirect our rational and emotional faculties. Freed from such misdirection, one can clearly discern their ultimate interest to be Krsna. He is interested in our effort to approach Him. If we take one step toward Him, He might elevate us to Vaikuntha with His causeless mercy.
The following pastimes demonstrate Krsna’s appreciation for our devotion and desire for us to approach him.
Transcendental Action with Malicious Intention
Putana, the sister of Bakasura, wanted to kill Krsna by smearing deadly poison on her breasts and having Krsna suck or take it. Nonetheless, Lord Krsna accepted her as His mother, and thus Krsna sucked her breast and her life-acting principles. In exchange, she attained the destination befitting Krsna’s mother (Chaitanya Charitamruta, Madhya Lila 22.98). The mother can’t kill her son and the son can’t kill the mother. But this is an exchange of a loving relationship.
Even Putana, masquerading as His mother, received Krsna’s mercy. Even though her intention was to kill the Lord, she externally took the role of a mother and Krsna considered that noble, “You want to be my mother, I will give you that opportunity but first I must purify you” and so He sucked her life air (painfully purifying her impurities) and then elevate her to Vaikunta.
In her previous life, Putana was the sister of King Bali, and, upon seeing Vamana, she was overcome by the desire to be Vamana’s mother but later she revolted at her brother’s imprisonment and became a witch. So, Krsna sees everything both action and intention not only in this life but in past lives as well. As much as possible, our intention must be directed to reflect in our actions just to please and satisfy the Supreme Lord alone, otherwise, such intentions and actions are animalistic in consciousness.
Transcendental Intention with Malicious Action
In Ramayan, when Matanga Rsi knew he was going to depart this realm, he instructed Sabari that one day Lord Ramachandra would come to his ashram. “I want you to stay here,” the Rsi told him, “and welcome Him when He comes. Remain here until then, and after that, you will return to me.”
Shabari represents a great Maha-Bhagavata. Her level of devotional service went on to influence many into becoming devotees of the Lord. Therefore, she was given the responsibility to stay behind and train a lot of people to become pure devotees of the Lord. Shabari prayed to Lord Ramacandra so that he would come to her ashram.
Ramachandra was pleased with the faith of Shabari in her guru, Matanga Rsi, and the loving service Shabari had rendered in her love and faith in Him, who visited her. She collected little berries to offer Him. The thing about these berries is whether they are bitter or sweet they look the same. The only way to tell the difference is you have to taste them. So, she took each berry and tasted a little part of it with her own mouth and offered sweet ones to Ramachandra.
Now for those of us who know the science of rendering service, we are not supposed to eat before you offer to the Lord. From a formal perspective, she was breaking all the rules; but she did it with love and wanted nothing in return. She just wanted to please her beloved and when Ramchandra accepted those berries that she had tasted, His enjoyment was immense.
So to speak, she was not just there, only waiting for Lord Ramachandra, because she was always seeing the Lord, whether here or in the spiritual world, it did not make any difference. But since she is a nitya-sidha, and as activities of the Lord wound up, the Lord also appeared to take her back home, back to the spiritual world.
Every living entity is free to choose as he wants to serve the Lord. Someone may want to serve Krsna as a mother or father or as a servant or a friend. Krsna awards that opportunity to such a devotee (Gita:4:11).
Because she wanted to serve the Lord in that mood, the Supreme Lord fulfilled her desires. She chooses to serve the Lord as a mother and son. And if you really love your son, you will not allow him to eat something bitter or something not sweet, therefore she was checking the fruits to make sure they are sweet for his son to relish. Lord Ramachandra was also reciprocating.
Malicious Intention with Malicious Action
Irrespective of the fact that Lord Indra, king of the heavenly planets, is fully aware that Lord Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the cause of all causes, ostensibly he should act in that pure consciousness However, due to false identification or illusion of accepting his body as self, Indra clutched the notion of becoming the ultimate enjoyer of all the Vrajavasis’ sacrifices because he had been given the privilege to become the supplier of rain. He demonstrated this abject ignorance and bodily designation during the Govardhan Puja (SB.10.25).
In this Lila, King Indra became furious upon realizing the residents of Vraja had given up the belief that Indra was not the perfect entity to be offered their puja, but that Lord Krsna was the supreme benefactor and enjoyer meant to be offered this sacrifice. Indra immediately sent the samvartaka clouds to wreak havoc on the cowherd community due to their “impudence”. However, the Vrajavasis went to Lord Krsna to seek shelter, and they were completely and happily sheltered under the Govardhana hill until Indra’s torrential downpour ceased. Beneath that hill, they were happily singing and glorifying the Supreme Lord.
Indra realized that he had committed the worst unforgivable offense to the Lord Himself. Upon receiving the advice of Narad Muni, Indra immediately fell at the lotus feet of the Lord and begged for forgiveness. The Lord became pleased with Indra’s repentance and mood of worshiping the Lord. However, Krsna warned him never to misbehave again and to simply carry out his duties diligently without expecting anything from anyone, otherwise, he would lose his position as the King of heaven. After a while, Lord Krsna discharged Indra and requested Indra to return to his abode.
As a matter of fact, when one is acting in the bodily conception, an attachment for pride and anger arises from material lust and the desire to be the Lord of all he surveys. Indra exhibited these qualities in their fullest sense because he was blinded by the prestige of being the Lord of the heavenly planet. In this way, instead of becoming a representative of the Lord, he remained aloof and acted independently as a lord and master, attempting to enjoy instead of serving the Supreme Lord Krsna.
When one develops too many material desires, he endeavors so very curiously to acquire them, and when he fails, he automatically becomes distraught and irate angry. From anger, lust develops, and from lust, his intelligence is lost, and one falls back into the material pool. At that time, one engages in all sorts of destructive work without considering the results.
Similarly, Indra thought to himself why can’t be worshiped because I am supplying water to the Vrajavasis for the maintenance of their land, crops, and eatables? But that is not the reality. Krsna is the one supplying everything. And unless Lord Krsna is in the center and the only one being worshiped, there will continue to be a world war unending. Nevertheless, when Indra realized his mistakes and fully surrendered to Krsna and begged for forgiveness, Lord Krsna became pleased and accepted his apology and let him return to his abode.
The most important instruction we get from these incidents is that the Supreme Personality of Godhead, being absolute, can give salvation to everyone, whether one acts as His enemy or as His friend. It is therefore a misconception that the Lord acts with someone in a relationship of friendship and with someone else in a relationship of the enemy. His being an enemy or friend is always on the absolute platform. There is no material distinction.
As a matter of fact, Lord Krsna wants all his devotees to be friendly with Him. In that way, they will feel relaxed and comfortable relating with Him and understanding Him. For example, Sri Arjuna was so intimate with Krsna as a friend that Arjuna even used to joke with Krsna, always lying with Him, as well as playing with Krsna. Lord Krsna also appreciated it so very much. However, when some difficulties arose s, Arjuna did not remember their friendly relationship any longer, but rather ran to Krsna as his Master for protection. In other words, it means that the privilege of friendship is like only a play between the son and the Father, just for a short time.
The Supreme Lord only wants our love and devotion — what else can we offer him? He is the proprietor of everything. That’s why after instructing Arjuna on the process of achieving success in this world, Krsna then requested Arjuna to forget and abandon everything He had taught him, and simply surrender unto Him. And that full surrender is what helped Arjuna achieve ultimate perfection (Gita: 18.66).
Therefore, the Lilas are often scripted by the will of the Lord and Yoga Maya to include suffering conditions, in such a way that we will conclude, “Let me try to be Krsna conscious in the face of adversity, by taking shelter of Krsna and His pure devotees, just like these great souls from history”.
Source: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=103983
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