“The Personality of Godhead heard the appealing voices of His friends, and casting a pleasing glance over them, He began to answer. By speaking through His eyes, He impressed His friends that there was no cause for fear. Then Krishna, the supreme mystic, the powerful Personality of Godhead, immediately swallowed up all the flames of the fire. The cows and boys were thus saved from imminent danger.” (Krishna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Volume 1, Chapter 19)

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“Listen, I am only going to share these sentiments with you. I have found that introducing such random thoughts into a formal setting gets me nothing but blank stares, quizzical looks, and stern admonishments. Ironically, this is amongst the supposedly like-minded. In other words, these are devotees of Krishna. On occasion, I will share with them that my most preferred devotional activity is to remember Krishna-lila, especially from the childhood years, in Gokula and Vrindavana.

“For instance, there is the devouring of the forest fire. Not that I would ever want to find myself in a similar situation, but I like to contemplate how I would feel, in the aftermath. If there was imminent danger. If I had exhausted all options for rescue. No mitigation plans, since it was a dire emergency. No time machine, to avoid the danger in the first place. No ability to jump, to climb a ladder to safety, or to hide inside the ground. There is no other hope except to call out to Krishna.

“He happens to be there. Though a small child, the people around Him understand that He is extraordinary. They don’t associate with Him for that reason. It is not like He is a travelling ATM machine, who can withdraw money from a virtual bank account whose balance never diminishes. It is not like the people keep Krishna around as a security guard. No, they follow because they love Him. They want only His association. That is their wish, day after day.

“In the emergency situation, Krishna devours the forest fire. He saves the day. If I were in that situation, it would feel amazing. It is like I am seeing my best friend at work. Though He has done amazing things already, He manages to find ways to top Himself. We are not envious of Him in the slightest. It is like He keeps adding to the record books. And we will make sure there are books. We don’t want anyone to forget what we saw, what we witnessed with our own eyes.

“Now, for some reason the practicing sadhakas I meet would rather I not share such sentiments. They want to talk about the material world. They want to talk about potential excuses. It is like they are begging for pardon from a parole board, for the crime of lagging behind their fellow practitioners of bhakti-yoga. It is like they are competing with one another. They don’t want anyone to get too far ahead, you see. That is fine and good, but I don’t really care. I wish you all the best in whatever you are trying to accomplish.

“Anyway, revisiting the lila involving the forest fire, there are always occasions where a devotee of Krishna is not saved. They are not protected. Arjuna against the dacoits comes to mind. The critic will say that this is a blemish. This is a vulnerability within the proposal. Why are we worshiping God, then? If He does not save the devotees all the time, then what proof is there that He will save anyone? Doesn’t it turn into a matter of faith? Once you step down to the platform of faith, everyone else is on an equal footing, are they not?”

Not just other religions or traditions of spirituality, but every activity of every person in every period of time. The constant is faith. No one can say that they operate independently and in full alignment with logic and reasoning. This is because something as basic as travelling to the supermarket involves faith. We trust that the town cleaned up the roads after the recent winter storm. We trust that the store has shelves fully stocked with items. We have faith that the point of sale machines will function properly, that scanning credit cards will work.

We trust that the doctor has done their homework on the medication they are about to prescribe. We trust that they are not trying to bully us into injecting our innocent and healthy children with poisonous substances. Their own patient data, anonymized and collated, could tell us immediately whether the children of parents who decline such interventions are generally healthier than the ones whose parents capitulate to the system, which is tied to large corporations with a notorious history of fraud and deceit.

It is true that bhakti-yoga does not guarantee full protection at all times, based solely on outcomes. It is not that the devotee will automatically become rich. They will not necessarily become immune to the three sources of misery: from the heavens, from within, and from other living beings. It is not that they will necessarily live longer than the rest of the population.

The promise is that the spirit of devotion will remain. The preservation is of the connection to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In whatever circumstances the devotee finds, they will be able to remember the all-attractive one. They will be able to appreciate Him. In this regard, they lose interest in specific outcomes. They do not mind going to hell, even, since they will always be connected in consciousness, which is known as yoga.

नारायण-पराः सर्वे
न कुतश्चन बिभ्यति
स्वर्गापवर्ग-नरकेष्व्
अपि तुल्यार्थ-दर्शिनः

nārāyaṇa-parāḥ sarve
na kutaścana bibhyati
svargāpavarga-narakeṣv
api tulyārtha-darśinaḥ

“Devotees solely engaged in the devotional service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Narayana, never fear any condition of life. For them the heavenly planets, liberation and the hellish planets are all the same, for such devotees are interested only in the service of the Lord.” (Shrimad Bhagavatam, 6.17.28)

It is foolish to use a single outcome to disprove the existence of the Divine. The proof from Krishna-lila is that when directly in the presence of the Supreme Lord, the devoted souls will be protected. If they remain devoted even when not in the direct presence, they are still protected, but the way that protection manifests might not be obvious to those who do not know. The mahatmas are under the protection of the divine nature, or daivi-prakriti.

महात्मानस् तु मां पार्थ
दैवीं प्रकृतिम् आश्रिताः
भजन्त्य् अनन्य-मनसो
ज्ञात्वा भूतादिम् अव्ययम्

mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha
daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ
bhajanty ananya-manaso
jñātvā bhūtādim avyayam

“O son of Pritha, those who are not deluded, the great souls, are under the protection of the divine nature. They are fully engaged in devotional service because they know Me as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, original and inexhaustible.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 9.13)

If the charge is that followers of Krishna rely on faith, then the verdict is “guilty.” The difference is that the faith is towards someone whose impersonal side represents the complete whole. There is no faith in that understanding. Only a fool would disagree with the presence of the complete whole. There is nothing wrong with extending faith to the person who is the source of that whole, whose personal side reveals a kindness inconceivable and inexhaustible. His energy is difficult to understand, but a little faith extended goes a long way in bringing meaningful and lasting progress.

“It is stated in Bhagavad-gita that the spell of maya, which covers the knowledge of the living entity, is insurmountable. However, one who surrenders unto Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, can conquer this seemingly insurmountable spell of maya. Here also it is stated that the daivi prakriti, or the external energy of the Supreme Lord, is durvibhavya, very difficult to understand and very difficult to conquer. One must, however, conquer this insurmountable spell of maya, and this is possible, by the grace of the Lord, when God reveals Himself to the surrendered soul.” (Shrila Prabhupada, Shrimad Bhagavatam, 3.28.44 Purport)

In Closing:

Settled at the eleventh hour,
Krishna that fire to devour.

The imminent crisis averted,
Never His friends deserted.

Why then bad outcomes accepted?
Where not always as expected.

The promise that connection to remain,
Guided by spiritual nature the same.

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Tags: dailyprompt, god, hare krishna, krishna lila, poem, poems, poetry, religion