Śrī Kṛṣṇa and the Grace of God's Pleasing
Śrīla Prabhupāda highlights the beautiful, reciprocal relationship between the Supreme Lord and the living entities. While the highest duty of the conditioned soul is to unconditionally please the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Lord Himself takes the greatest pleasure in acting to satisfy the desires and protect the honor of His surrendered devotees.
The Lord Pleases His Devotees
The Supreme Lord is entirely independent, yet He is conquered by the love of His pure devotees. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that Śrī Kṛṣṇa goes to unimaginable lengths—even appearing to compromise His own supreme position—just to bring joy and satisfaction to those who love Him.
- He (Lord Anantadeva) is very powerful and always prepared to please His personal associates and devotees.
- Krsna always tries to please His devotees as much as the devotees try to please Krsna. As the devotees always think of Krsna within their hearts, Krsna also thinks of His devotees within Himself.
- The Lord has sufficient energies and agents who can vanquish atheists, but it pleases Him to personally favor a devotee. Therefore He descends as an incarnation. Actually, He descends only to favor His devotees and not for any other purpose.
- At that time (Bhisma about to kill Arjuna) Lord Krsna wanted to please His devotee, Bhisma, by keeping Bhisma's promise, which was more important than His own. Seemingly He broke His own promise.
Pleasing the Supreme Lord
The secret to universal harmony lies in satisfying the supreme root of all existence. Śrīla Prabhupāda consistently teaches that by dedicating our activities, food, and devotion to please Lord Viṣṇu, we simultaneously satisfy ourselves and all other living entities.
- Visnu is the root of everything, if Visnu is pleased, everyone is pleased; in particular, one's children and family members become happy in all respects.
- When suitable food prepared with ghee is offered to saintly persons, the function is pleasing to the forefathers and the Supreme Lord, who are never pleased when animals are killed in the name of sacrifice.
- When He pleases, being satisfied with the sincere attempt of devotional service depending completely on the mercy of the Lord, then He may be seen out of His own accord.
- They must have executed pious acts of austerity in the past, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself must have been pleased with them. Otherwise, how could they engage in devotional service in so many ways?
Reciprocating with the Demigods
The Lord is the supreme protector of the universal administrators. Śrīla Prabhupāda notes that when the cosmic order is disturbed by demonic forces, the Lord frequently descends in various spectacular incarnations simply to relieve the distress and please the faithful demigods.
- The adjustment is that the Lord, being bhakta-vatsala, or one who wants to please His devotees, assumes such features so that devotees like Lord Brahma, Lord Siva and other demigods may be pleased.
- In the eighteenth incarnation, the Lord appeared as King Rama. In order to perform some pleasing work for the demigods, He exhibited superhuman powers by controlling the Indian Ocean and then killing the atheist Ravana, who was on the other side of the sea.
- The Lord, who is known as Hrsikesa, bugled with His Pancajanya conchshell, in this way pleasing all the demigods, headed by Lord Brahma. Then He mounted the back of His carrier, Garuda.
- Lord Ksirodakasayi Visnu was pleased with the demigods, and thus He appeared before them. The demigods were almost blinded by His transcendental bodily effulgence.
The Transcendental Form of the Lord
The ultimate reward for pleasing the Supreme Lord is the divine vision of His eternal form. Śrīla Prabhupāda describes how the Lord, when satisfied by the pure bhakti-yoga of a sincere soul, personally reveals His breathtaking, blissful features, granting the devotee eternal ecstasy.
- O King, the Personality of Godhead, being very much pleased with Brahma because of his nondeceptive penance in bhakti-yoga, presented His eternal and transcendental form before Brahma. And that is the objective goal for purifying the conditioned soul.
- Then, in the Satya-yuga, the lotus-eyed Supreme Personality of Godhead, being pleased, showed Himself to that Kardama Muni and displayed His transcendental form, which can be understood only through the Vedas.
- Upon seeing the charming forms of the Lord, smiling and attractive, and hearing His very pleasing words, the pure devotee almost loses all other consciousness. His senses are freed from all other engagements, and he becomes absorbed in devotional service.
- The gigantic feature of the boar was certainly fearful for all nondevotees, but to the pure devotees of the Lord He was not at all fearful; on the contrary, He was so pleasingly glancing upon His devotees that all of them felt transcendental happiness.
Guiding from Within and Without
When the Supreme Lord is pleased by a devotee's sincere efforts, He actively intervenes to ensure their spiritual success. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that the Lord manifests His causeless mercy by personally guiding the surrendered soul from within as the Supersoul and from without as the spiritual master.
- The Supreme Personality of Godhead is pleased to guide a devotee from within and without. From within He guides him as the Supersoul, and from without He guides him as the spiritual master.
- One upon whom His mercy is bestowed can hear Him. The Lord was much pleased with Narada Muni, and therefore the necessary strength was invested in him so that he could hear the Lord.
- When He pleases, being satisfied with the sincere attempt of devotional service depending completely on the mercy of the Lord, then He may be seen out of His own accord.
- The sun rises out of his own accord; so also the Lord is pleased to be present out of His causeless mercy. One should simply await the opportune moment and go on discharging his prescribed duty in devotional service of the Lord.
Conclusion
Śrīla Prabhupāda conclusively teaches that the essence of spiritual life revolves entirely around the principle of pleasing the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Because the Lord is the root of all existence, attempting to achieve satisfaction independently of Him is a futile, material endeavor. However, when a living entity dedicates their life to the loving service of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, not only does the entire universe become satisfied, but the Lord Himself becomes eager to reciprocate. This divine exchange is so powerful that the omnipotent Lord willingly breaks His own promises or descends from the spiritual world simply to bring joy to His surrendered servants. By striving solely to please the Lord through unalloyed bhakti, the sincere devotee is ultimately rewarded with the supreme perfection: a direct, eternal, and blissful vision of the Lord's transcendental form.
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 Pleasing. We invite you to visit this link to study the complete compilation and experience Śrīla Prabhupāda's teachings in their direct, verbatim form.