God's Bringing - The Supreme Provision and Protection
In the material world, conditioned souls constantly struggle to bring wealth, security, and happiness into their lives, falsely believing that they are the independent creators of their own destinies. However, the Vedic literatures explain that true security and spiritual perfection can only be achieved when one recognizes the supreme agency of the Personality of Godhead. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that the Supreme Lord is the ultimate active force behind all creation; He is the one who brings souls together, brings provisions to His devotees, and ultimately brings the wandering living entities back to the spiritual sky. By understanding the multifaceted ways in which the Lord "brings" about results, we can learn to fully depend on His supreme shelter.
Bringing the Soul Back Home
The Supreme Lord is not a passive observer of our material suffering. As the eternal friend of the living entity, His primary objective is to rescue the conditioned souls from the cycle of birth and death. According to Śrīla Prabhupāda, the Lord will use any means necessary—including apparent hardship—to bring His devotees back to Him.
- He descends only to recall these materialistic living beings back to His kingdom, and intelligent persons take advantage of this facility offered by the Personality of Godhead to all living beings.
- As a friend, the Lord is always anxious to get back His friend, the individual soul, and bring him back home, back to Godhead. As a witness He is the bestower of all benedictions, and He endows each individual with the result of his actions.
- The Supreme Personality of Godhead wanted to bring Citraketu to Vaikunthaloka as soon as possible. The Lord's plan was that Citraketu be cursed by Parvati to become Vrtrasura so that in his next life he could quickly return home, back to Godhead.
- This is special mercy bestowed upon the devotee to bring him back home, back to Godhead.
The Promise of Provision
While ordinary religious practitioners pray to God to fulfill their daily needs, a pure devotee never asks the Lord for anything material. Because they depend entirely on Him, Śrīla Prabhupāda points out the profound promise Kṛṣṇa makes in the Bhagavad-gītā: He personally brings what His pure devotees lack.
- A pure devotee never begs the Lord for material happiness in the shape of riches, followers, a good wife or even mukti. The Lord promises, however, yoga-ksemam vahamy aham: "I voluntarily bring everything necessary for My service."
- We should not materially calculate, thinking, "It is better to stock food for a week. Why give the Lord trouble by having Him bring food daily?" One should be convinced that the Lord will provide daily. There is no need to stock food for the next day.
- He has no need to derive benefit by interfering with the affairs of other living entities, but because He is the maintainer of all, He has the right to bring them to the proper standard so that all living entities may become happy.
- A devotee knows that so-called punishment by the Supreme Personality of Godhead is only His favor to correct His devotee and bring him to the right path.
Bringing Vaikuṇṭha to the Material World
When the Supreme Personality of Godhead incarnates, He does not submit to the laws of material nature, nor does He accept a material body. As Śrīla Prabhupāda describes, the Lord uses His internal spiritual energy to bring the reality of the spiritual sky directly to the earthly plane.
- When the Supreme Personality of Godhead appears, He brings with Him all His paraphernalia of Vaikuntha; therefore His name, His form, His quality, His paraphernalia and His entourage all belong to the transcendental world.
- As the Lord appears by His own internal potency, so He also brings all His paraphernalia by the same internal potency, without extraneous help.
- Everything is under His control. In order to manifest His transcendental name, form, quality, pastimes and paraphernalia, He brings into action His internal energy.
- The Lord's dreaming conditions are also factual manifestations. He can therefore bring everything under His transcendental control, and thus whenever and wherever He does appear, He does so in His fullness.
The Supreme Controller of Destinies and Elements
Beyond His loving interactions with His devotees, the Lord is the absolute master of the cosmos. Śrīla Prabhupāda reveals that it is God alone who brings living entities together or disperses them, and He can easily force the material elements to obey His supreme will.
- Sri Narada said: O pious King, do not lament for anyone, for everyone is under the control of the Supreme Lord. Therefore all living beings and their leaders carry on worship to be well protected. It is He only who brings them together and disperses them.
- Whatever actions and reactions take place for the creation, maintenance and annihilation of this material world are actually brought about by the one Supreme Person.
- We accept Ramacandra as God. He brought big, big stones and floated over the ocean. Does a stone float over the ocean? Yes, it floats under the order of God. He can... He can do it. The law of gravitation will not act there.
- This time He wanted to bring the Yamuna by force, and He took the help of His plow. He wanted to punish the Yamuna because she did not come in obedience to His order.
Conclusion
Ultimately, Śrīla Prabhupāda establishes that God is not a powerless, formless void; He is the supreme active person who orchestrates the entire cosmic manifestation and meticulously guides the lives of His devotees. Out of His supreme compassion, the Lord continuously devises ways to bring the rebellious living entities back home to the spiritual world. Sometimes He does this by descending personally and bringing all of His Vaikuṇṭha paraphernalia with Him, transforming the material atmosphere into a spiritual one. Other times, He utilizes apparent misfortune—such as when King Citraketu was cursed to become the demon Vṛtrāsura—simply to rapidly bring the devotee to the ultimate perfection. For those who fully surrender to Him, the Lord makes an unbreakable promise (yoga-kṣemaṁ vahāmy aham): He will personally bring them everything they require for their spiritual service, rendering material hoarding completely unnecessary. From determining the destinies of families by bringing relatives together and dispersing them, to suspending the laws of gravity by bringing heavy stones to float upon the ocean, the Supreme Lord's ability to "bring" about any result is unlimited. By cultivating firm faith in this omnipotent, deeply personal controller, the conditioned soul can finally stop struggling to conquer the material world and peacefully accept the supreme provision and protection of God.
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 Bringing. We invite you to visit this link to study the complete compilation and experience Śrīla Prabhupāda's teachings in their direct, verbatim form.