The Merciful Mission of God's Reclaiming
Śrīla Prabhupāda teaches that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is never indifferent to the suffering of the living entities. By studying his instructions, we can understand the Lord's constant endeavor to reclaim the fallen souls through His incarnations, His authorized representatives, His universal compassion, and the special mercy of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
The Mission of the Incarnations
The Supreme Lord is the eternal father, and He cannot bear to see His children suffer in the material world. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that every time an incarnation descends, the ultimate goal is to cut through the illusion of the conditioned souls and call them back home to the spiritual kingdom.
- Any avatara, any incarnation, he comes to glorify that "There is spiritual kingdom, there is God, and I have come to reclaim you to back to Godhead, back to home." This is the symptom.
- The Lord descends to reclaim all of these fallen, conditioned souls to call them back to the sanatana eternal sky so that the sanatana living entities may regain their eternal sanatana positions in eternal association with the Lord.
- He's always disturbed, but still, he does not wish to go back to Godhead. Therefore there is a constant endeavor on the part of God to reclaim these conditioned souls.
Sending Representatives and Literature
God does not leave humanity to figure out the path of liberation alone. Śrīla Prabhupāda points out that the Lord actively seeks to reclaim us by sending His bona fide devotees, appearing as the spiritual master from within, and compiling the transcendental Vedic literatures as a guide.
- The Lord sends His bona fide representatives to all parts of the material creation, and sometimes He even comes Himself to reclaim His fallen sons.
- We have come to serve God, His purpose. God is very kind upon every one of us. He comes Himself. He sends His son. He sends His devotee to reclaim.
- The Lord desires the conditioned souls hovering in the material creation to be reclaimed to go back home, back to Godhead, and thus He helps them by preparing the transcendental literatures like the Vedas.
Causeless Mercy in All Species
The Lord's compassion is not restricted solely to human society. Śrīla Prabhupāda reveals that the Supreme Lord, Viṣṇu, is so merciful that He will even assume the forms of lower creatures to reclaim conditioned souls from every corner of the universe.
- Of all His (Visnu's) glories, the most important is His causeless mercy upon the conditioned souls in reclaiming them from the clutches of maya.
- He, the Personality of Godhead, as the maintainer of all in the universe, appears in different incarnations after establishing the creation, and thus He reclaims all kinds of conditioned souls amongst the humans, the nonhumans and the demigods.
- The Supreme Personality of Godhead Visnu incarnates Himself in different societies of living entities to reclaim them from the clutches of illusion, and such activities of the Lord are not limited only to human society.
The Supreme Compassion of Lord Caitanya
In the present age, the conditioned souls are more degraded and fallen than ever before. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that to save the people of Kali-yuga, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Nityānanda Prabhu descend with unprecedented mercy, reclaiming souls without even demanding strict prior surrender.
- They (Nityananda Prabhu and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu) have appeared just to reclaim the fallen souls of this age. So They are more kind than Krsna. Krsna, He is also very kind. He comes to deliver. But Krsna demands that first of all surrender.
- Srila Narottama dasa Thakura sings in his Prarthana (39): You (the Lord) appear as an incarnation just to reclaim the conditioned, fallen souls, but I assure You that You will not find a soul more fallen than me.
- The conditioned souls are being reclaimed by the Lord both ways, namely by the process of punishment by the external energy of the Lord, and by Himself as the spiritual master within and without.
Conclusion
Śrīla Prabhupāda leaves no doubt regarding the endless compassion of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The material world is a place of suffering where the conditioned souls loiter in forgetfulness, but the Lord is constantly seeking every opportunity to reclaim them. To execute this mission of reclaiming, He personally descends as various incarnations, compiles the Vedic literatures, and sends His pure devotees to preach the message of Godhead. This causeless mercy is not confined to human beings; the Lord goes to great lengths, even appearing among demigods and lower species, to pull the living entities from the clutches of māyā. Above all, the appearance of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Nityānanda Prabhu represents the zenith of God's reclaiming power, as They freely distribute love of Godhead to the most fallen souls of this age without demanding immediate perfection. By simply hearing the instructions of the Lord and His representatives, the conditioned soul can easily achieve victory and return back to home, back to Godhead.
Dive Deeper into Śrīla Prabhupāda's Vani
Śrīla Prabhupāda lives within his instructions. This article is a summary of the profound truths found in the Vaniquotes category God's Reclaiming. We invite you to visit this link to study the complete compilation and experience Śrīla Prabhupāda's teachings in their direct, verbatim form.