Hare Krishna Prabhus and Matajis,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
I would like to share a beautiful verse from Srimad Bhagavad Gita (11th chapter, verse 44) and some realizations from the teachings of our acharyas. This verse describes the very fine, absolute and unlimited nature of the Lord’s mercy:
tasmāt praṇamya praṇidhāya kāyaṁ
prasādaye tvām aham īśam īḍyam
piteva putrasya sakheva sakhyuḥ
priyaḥ priyāyārhasi deva soḍhum
You are the Supreme Lord, to be worshiped by every living being. Thus I fall down to offer You my respectful obeisances and ask Your mercy. As a father tolerates the impudence of his son, or a friend tolerates the impertinence of a friend, or a wife tolerates the familiarity of her partner, please tolerate the wrongs I may have done You. (BG 11.44)
The highlight of this verse is the mood in which Arjuna is relating to Krishna. Here Arjuna is seeing Krishna in different light. We all know that Their relationship was in the mood of friendship (sakhya-rasa) and we also know that Arjuna is a pure devotee of the Lord. But here Arjuna takes a step back and realizes how powerful Krishna is.
Therefore, no matter how close anyone could be to Krishna, a devotee is always acutely aware that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Arjuna became very peaceful because he accepted the supremacy of Krishna and this is a very important lesson for all of us.
It is very important for us to remind ourselves daily into remembering the fact that Krishna is the supreme worshipable object of our love. If we remember that, then in all our problems Krishna will give us the strength to cross over the difficulties. As Srimad Bhagavatam says hari-smṛtiḥ sarva-vipad-vimokṣaṇam- simply by remembrance of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one becomes free from all dangers”
Srila Prabhupada writes in the purport to BG 11.44 that ‘Krishna tolerates’ and because Krishna tolerates, we must also learn to tolerate. Bhakti is all about tolerance.
When study of the scriptures and our practice of bhakti do not translate into tolerance, then our practice is not effective. In Vaishnava relationship, we must learn to tolerate and serve the Lord with each other. Everybody has his own ups and downs. Every devotee has a special characteristic you either like or you don’t like. But everyone is a devotee of the Lord.
Krishna’s mercy is naturally available to the devotees but what makes Krishna most wonderful is that Krishna tolerates even non-devotees and demoniac people, and gives them mercy as in the case of Putana demon. Krishna’s mercy is operational, and it does not start with our intention to serve but it starts even with our pretension.
For us when someone is nice to us, we are nice to them also. But if someone is harsh to us and we are nice to them that is absolutely remarkable. If we understand how far Krishna is ready to take us back, we should change our behavior and just try to learn to tolerate things in life!
Your servant,
Satya Sara das
August 2, 2024