God Is Merciful - His Causeless Compassion for the Fallen Souls
Śrīla Prabhupāda teaches that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the greatest friend and well-wisher of every living entity. Out of His causeless mercy, the Lord constantly provides all material necessities and simultaneously creates innumerable spiritual opportunities for the fallen, conditioned souls to return back home, back to Godhead.
The Supreme Well-Wisher
Despite the rebellious attitude of the conditioned souls, the Lord never abandons them. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that God is causelessly merciful (dayāpara), continuously maintaining the living entities while patiently guiding them toward ultimate liberation.
- He (the Lord) is by nature merciful toward us, despite our rebellious attitude. Even in our rebellious condition we get all our necessities from Him, such as food, air, light, water, warmth, and coolness.
- King Kulasekhara next addresses the Lord as Dayapara, "He who is causelessly merciful," because there is no one but the Lord who can be a causelessly merciful friend to us. He is therefore also called Dina-bandhu - the friend of the needy.
- The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Hari, is so kind and merciful to human society that He is always anxious to take the fallen souls back home, back to Godhead.
- The Lord is ever increasingly merciful upon the fallen souls of this material world. The whole cosmic manifestation is a chance for all to improve themselves in devotional service to the Lord, and everyone is meant for that purpose.
Descending for Our Benefit
The Supreme Lord does not remain aloof from the suffering of this world. Śrīla Prabhupāda highlights how the Lord personally incarnates, leaving behind divine instructions and authorizing spiritual masters to actively preach the message of deliverance.
- Actually we are all followed by the tiger of nescience, but the Lord is very merciful upon living entities, especially human beings. To this end He spoke the Bhagavad-gita, making His friend Arjuna His student.
- Out of His causeless mercy only, the Lord comes to this earth and leaves behind His merciful activities so that the devotees may derive transcendental benefit.
- Krsna is always merciful and He comes Himself, He leaves behind instruction like the Bhagavad Gita, etc. and He sends His representative, the Spiritual Master. In this way the merciful propaganda is going on.
- The merciful Lord left behind Him the great teachings of the Bhagavad-gita so that one can take the instructions of the Lord even when He is not visible to material eyesight.
The Mercy of the Holy Name
In the degraded age of Kali, stringent spiritual austerities are practically impossible. Therefore, Śrīla Prabhupāda emphasizes that the Lord has manifested His supreme mercy in the form of transcendental sound vibration.
- Considering the fallen age at the present moment, God is so merciful and kind that He presents Himself as sound, sound vibration, which everyone can produce by his tongue and can hear, and God is present there.
- The merciful Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu has simply advised us to chant the Hare Krsna maha-mantra: harer nama harer nama harer namaiva kevalam - CC Adi 17.21.
- Caitanya Mahaprabhu regrets, etadrsi tava krpa bhagavan mamapi: "My Lord, You are so merciful upon Me, but still," durdaivam idrsam ihajani nanuragah - I am so unfortunate that I am reluctant to chant this Hare Krsna mantra.
Mercy Even in Destruction
Because God is the Absolute Truth, everything He does is perfectly auspicious. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that even when the Lord appears to act with wrath by killing a demon, it is actually an extraordinary act of mercy, resulting in the demon's immediate liberation.
- Since the Supreme Personality of Godhead is always merciful, even when it appears that He has killed a demon, or even when He apparently becomes angry toward a devotee, His actions are always auspicious.
- The Lord killed many inimical nondevotees, but they all received sarupya; in other words, they returned to their original spiritual bodies. One who does not know the Lord's position says that God is unkind to him but merciful to others.
- When the Lord (Krsna) descends on this material world by His all-merciful energy, He plays like a human being, and therefore it appears that the Lord is partial to His devotees only, but that is not a fact.
Conclusion
The conditioned soul can only be saved by acknowledging and accepting the causeless mercy of the Lord. Śrīla Prabhupāda concludes that whether by maintaining the cosmic manifestation, personally descending to teach the Bhagavad-gītā, or simply making Himself available through His holy name, the Supreme Personality of Godhead constantly proves that He is all-good and all-merciful. By faithfully following the instructions of the Lord and His empowered representatives, any sincere soul can effortlessly cross the fierce ocean of nescience and achieve eternal, blissful life.
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 Is Merciful. We invite you to visit this link to study the complete compilation and experience Śrīla Prabhupāda's teachings in their direct, verbatim form.