A devotee's distressed condition .Is he callous to material happiness and distress?

krsna · February 26, 2004

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TRIBULATIONS OF A DEVOTEE AND THE TRIBULATIONS OF A COMMON MAN?

The happiness and distress of a devotee are produced by the Personality of Godhead for the devotee, and the devotee therefore does not care whether he is in happiness or in distress. He goes on with his duties in executing devotional service. Although his behavior seems to be subject to the action and reaction of fruitive activities, he is actually freed from the results of action.

It may be questioned why a devotee is put into such tribulation by the Personality of Godhead. The answer is that this kind of arrangement by the Lord is just like a father's sometimes becoming unkind to his sons. Because the devotee is a surrendered soul and is taken charge of by the Supreme Lord, whenever the Lord puts him into any condition of life--either in distress or happiness--it is to be understood that behind this arrangement there is a large plan designed by the Personality of Godhead. For example, Lord Krsna put the Pandavas into a distressed condition so acute that even grandfather Bhisma could not comprehend how such distress could occur. He lamented that although the whole Pandava family was headed by King Yudhisthira, the most pious king, and protected by the two great warriors Bhima and Arjuna, and although, above all, the Pandavas were all intimate friends and relatives of Lord Krsna, they still had to undergo such tribulations. Later on, however, it was proved that this was planned by the Supreme Personality of Godhead Krsna as part of His great mission to annihilate the miscreants and protect the devotees.

Another question may be raised: Since a devotee is put into different kinds of happy and distressful conditions by the arrangement of the Personality of Godhead, and a common man is put into such conditions as a result of his past deeds, then what is the difference? How is the devotee any better than the ordinary karmi ? The answer is that the karmis and the devotees are not on the same level. In whatever condition of life the karmi may be, he continues in the cycle of birth and death because the seed of karma, or fruitive activity, is there, and it fructifies whenever there is an opportunity. By the law of karma a common man is perpetually entangled in repeated birth and death, whereas a devotee's distress and happiness, not being under the laws of karma, are part of a temporary arrangement by the Supreme Lord which does not entangle the devotee. Such an arrangement is made by the Lord only to serve a temporary purpose. If a karmi performs auspicious acts, he is elevated to the heavenly planets, and if he acts impiously, he is put into a hellish condition of life. But whether a devotee acts in a so-called pious or in an impious manner, he is neither elevated nor degraded, but is transferred to the spiritual kingdom. Therefore a devotee's happiness and distress and a karmi's happiness and distress are not on the same level. As there is a gulf of difference between the punishment awarded by the mother and the punishment awarded by an enemy, so a devotee's distressed condition is not the same as the distressed condition of a common karmi.

(Krsna Book 2.33)

"Dear Lord, anyone who, by Your grace, has understood the glories of Your lotus feet is callous to material happiness and distress. If the devotee can thus maintain his transcendental position, then his liberation in this life and in the next life is guaranteed by the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

(The Personified Vedas from Krsna Book 2.32)

Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

krsna · February 26, 2004

Another question may be raised: Since a devotee is put into different kinds of happy and distressful conditions by the arrangement of the Personality of Godhead, and a common man is put into such conditions as a result of his past deeds, then what is the difference? How is the devotee any better than the ordinary karmi ? The answer is that the karmis and the devotees are not on the same level. In whatever condition of life the karmi may be, he continues in the cycle of birth and death because the seed of karma, or fruitive activity, is there, and it fructifies whenever there is an opportunity. By the law of karma a common man is perpetually entangled in repeated birth and death, whereas a devotee's distress and happiness, not being under the laws of karma, are part of a temporary arrangement by the Supreme Lord which does not entangle the devotee. Such an arrangement is made by the Lord only to serve a temporary purpose. If a karmi performs auspicious acts, he is elevated to the heavenly planets, and if he acts impiously, he is put into a hellish condition of life. But whether a devotee acts in a so-called pious or in an impious manner, he is neither elevated nor degraded, but is transferred to the spiritual kingdom. Therefore a devotee's happiness and distress and a karmi's happiness and distress are not on the same level. As there is a gulf of difference between the punishment awarded by the mother and the punishment awarded by an enemy, so a devotee's distressed condition is not the same as the distressed condition of a common karmi.

(Krsna Book 2.33)

you've some how or other

picked me dear Lord and Master

wasn't my doin at all

no way

I'd be still goin after the stool pleasure

of this material world

but

You saved me

and

that alone makes all the differance in my

being here now