Just a Little Cut!
BY: MARGARET CONNORS
Jan 31, USA (SUN) — Hello Friends. I have received numerous comments in return to my previous comments. I thank you all and will try to reply to all of you as concisely as possible. A few of you seem to extract from my comments that I place all the blame for the "reversals and calamities" that befell a number of children during a period of ISKCON's infancy upon the shoulders of the parents. I can only request that you review my statements with a bit more scrutiny.
Let me be as perfectly clear as possible. I have placed ALL the primary responsibility for any such "calamity" squarely upon the shoulders of the individual souls (each of us) who are obliged - by dint of our previous past sinful activities in our previous lives - as the actual and exclusive cause of any and all suffering we are obliged to undergo in this "world of hurt".
I listed the parents as merely playing a 'lead role' in this unwelcome drama.
This is not my own "opinion". This is one of the principles established in the very beginning of the Bhagavad Gita As it Is and the Nectar of Devotion, as given by HDG Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada.
This knowledge, when understood and accepted, serves as the first step in our becoming motivated to reverse our apathy and/or antagonism towards Lord Krsna and do the needful to regain our "original" condition of FULL Krsna Consciousness.
The Spiritual Master is honored and glorified precisely because he "opens our eyes from the darkness of ignorance with this torchlight of knowledge" and sets us on the path to complete and final restoration of our eternal and ever existing loving relationship with Him.
It appears to myself, at the least, that some of you are either suffering from a condition of forgetfulness of the above truth as it is provided by Lord Krsna, or you are defiantly ignoring the above and imagining that somehow or other, our claim to knowing this science of Krsna Consciousness somehow sets us apart from the very scientific truths it expresses. Knowing how to scientifically express Newton's Laws of Motion does render us exempt from the law of gravity, and knowing the science that compels the defiant jiva soul to travel from one body to the next, suffering and enjoying the fruits of that defiance, does not render us exempt from all these "just desserts".
Devotees are never exempt from any consequence they actually merit -but those who are sincerely trying to please the Lord in devotional service do enjoy a degree of reduction to their deserved suffering in this world. HDG Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada assures us of this fact in the delightfully thrilling book, Teachings of Queen Kunti. He writes in his comments to Chapter 8:
"How should we pray? Tat te 'nukampam susamiksamanah: "My dear Lord, it is Your great mercy that I have been put into this dangerous position." That is the viewpoint of a devotee. He doesn't regard danger as danger. Rather, he thinks, "It is Krsna's mercy." What kind of mercy? Bhunjana evatma-krtam vipakam: "Because of my past activities, I was meant to suffer very much. But You are mitigating that suffering and giving me only a little." In other words, by the grace of Krsna a devotee may receive only token punishment.
In court an important man is sometimes found to be a culprit, and the judge may be able to fine him a hundred thousand dollars and know that the man can pay it. But he may tell the man, "You just give one cent." That is also punishment, but it is greatly minimized. Similarly, we have to suffer for our past deeds. That is a fact, and we cannot avoid it. But karmani nirdahati kintu ca bhakti-bhajam (Brahma-samhita 5.54): the sufferings of those who engage in devotional service in Krsna consciousness are minimized. For example, one may have been destined to be killed, but instead of being killed with a knife, he may instead get some little cut on his finger. In this way, for those who engage in devotional service, the reactions of past activities are minimized. Lord Krsna assures His devotees, aham tvam sarva-papebhyo moksayisyami: "I shall give you protection from the reactions of sinful life." So even if a devotee has a history of very grievous criminal activities behind him, instead of being killed he may only get a little cut on his finger. Why then should a devotee fear danger?"
This is wonderful news for all of us. What we might actually merit for all our antagonism towards our Best Friend, Lord Krsna, for all our envy of his exclusive position as Enjoyer, for all our forgetfulness of the natural enjoyment inherent in our ACTUAL position as favorable servants - and for all the malice we have directed towards our fellow "travelers" while ignoring Lord Krsna in this world - still - He mercifully minimizes it down to a tiny fraction of what we would have otherwise received!
This is the sum and substance of my comments and if somehow I did not make this clear - providing anyone with the idea that my previous comments prove my understanding of the situation to be deficient and my character to be nothing less than "hard-hearted" - then I sincerely apologize for that.
As aspiring devotees, we can only represent the truth as it is self-evidently conveyed to us by Lord Krsna himself. We are blessed by Lord Krsna, for His having sent HDG Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada to ensure the pure presentation of the Lord's Version of Truth and thus capable of answering all questions concerning such matters, merely by "citing the Lord's Version".
The sooner we all understand, accept and act with the above "version" of the Lord in any such discussion of karma and the precise role we are all responsible for in that matter, the sooner we can freely embrace the mission of explaining it to others, as well as providing them the means to access the wonderful mercy of the Lord described by Srila Prabhupada in the above purport: the chanting of the Hare Krsna Mantra in the company of pure devotees.
Sincerely,
Margaret Connors
