Taking From God and the Mentality of a Pure Devotee
The general tendency of conditioned souls is to approach the Supreme Lord only to fulfill their material desires, treating Him as a cosmic order supplier. Exposing the flaw in this approach, Śrīla Prabhupāda emphasizes that true spiritual life is not about extracting benefits from the Lord, but rather offering Him pure, unalloyed service. A genuine devotee completely abandons the mentality of exploitation and seeks only to please the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Giving Rather Than Taking
In ordinary religious practices, people often pray for their daily bread and material maintenance, seeking to extract resources from the supreme father. However, Śrīla Prabhupāda clearly explains that while approaching God is certainly pious, it does not constitute pure devotion if the motive is personal enjoyment. A real son of the Supreme Lord does not merely take; instead, he sacrifices his life and energy to glorify the father. Pure love begins at the point where one desires to give everything to Kṛṣṇa.
- A pure devotee will never try to take anything from Krsna. He will try to give everything to Krsna. So dui lagye hura huri. So here is a trial between the devotee and Lord Krsna, and Arjuna has passed the examination.
- Real love begins when you try to give God. Everyone is trying to take from God, "Oh father, give us our daily bread." This is not pure devotee. This is good because he has approached God, but this is not devotion.
- One who is simply taking from father, "O God, give us our daily bread," and He is supplying, and eating and enjoying sense enjoyment, he is not real son. The real son is he who sacrifices his life for glorifying his father.
- To become father of God means to give everything. Even the state, even his money, his bank balance, everything. That is the idea. And to become son of God means to take everything.
The Foolishness of Material Desires
The materialist operates under the illusion that he is the proprietor of the world, unaware that all raw materials are supplied by the Supreme Lord. Describing this karmī mentality, Śrīla Prabhupāda points out that claiming God's property for independent sense gratification essentially makes one a thief. If a living entity persistently demands material enjoyment, the Lord kindly sanctions it by awarding another material body, thereby continuing the painful cycle of birth and death.
- If we forget the purpose of human life and simply take supplies from the agents of the Lord for sense gratification we become more and more entangled in material existence, which is not the purpose of creation.
- Karmi is trying to simply take from God's property and putting in his own pocket. That is karmi: "Bring me more. Bring me more. Bring me more.
- Everything belongs to God and we are taking the property of God and becoming thieves. Stena eva sa ucyate. And a thief can never be peaceful.
- Because the Lord is situated in everyone's heart, He knows everything. Therefore, knowing that we still want something material, He will give us another material body - Yes, take it.
Taking Perfect Knowledge and Instruction
Due to false prestige, modern scholars and mundane philosophers often attempt to manufacture their own definitions of the Absolute Truth. Warning against this tendency, Śrīla Prabhupāda asserts that perfect knowledge cannot be invented; it must be taken directly from the Supreme Personality of Godhead and His authorized representatives. Just as Lord Brahmā took dictation from the Supreme Lord to create the universe, humanity must submissively accept the teachings of Bhagavad-gītā to achieve actual unity and peace.
- Any process for self-realization, you cannot manufacture. That is to be taken directly from God and His representative. That is the verdict of Srimad-Bhagavatam.
- We're not following imagination. Why don't you understand this? We are taking the words of God. This is not my imagination.
- If you manufacture any definition of God, then you cannot define. But if you take the words of God, then it is possible to define God.
- The state law is that "Keep to the right" or "left." Everyone accepts. There is no disunity. So if we actually take the words of God, then there is unity. But if we do not take, if we create our own system of religion, that is a different thing.
The Absolute Perfection of Pure Devotion
When a devotee achieves genuine realization, all desires for mundane benedictions or mystic powers naturally evaporate. Illustrating this supreme standard, Śrīla Prabhupāda gives the examples of Prahlāda Mahārāja and Dhruva Mahārāja, who outright declined to take any material boons upon seeing the Supreme Lord face to face. Their only prayer was to remain constantly engaged as eternal servants, completely free from the contamination of material expectations.
- When Dhruva Maharaja saw Lord Visnu, he declined to take any benedictions from Him, for he was fully satisfied by seeing the Lord.
- The devotee, on the positive side, wants to possess something, and this is very nicely described by Prahlada , who says, "If I must take some benediction from You (Nrsimhadeva), I pray that within the core of my heart there may be no material desires."
- Atheistic men sometimes criticize a devotee by saying, "If you do not want to take any benediction from the Lord and if the servant of the Lord is as opulent as the Lord Himself, why do you ask for the benediction of being engaged as the Lord's servant?"
- After he remained silent for some time, Lord Caitanya asked him, "My dear Bhattacarya, don't be confused by this explanation. Please take it from Me that the devotional service of the Supreme Lord is the highest perfectional stage of human understanding."
Conclusion
To succeed on the path of self-realization, one must completely abandon the exploitative urge to take from the Supreme Lord. As Śrīla Prabhupāda clarifies throughout his teachings, genuine Kṛṣṇa consciousness means submissively taking the Lord's absolute instructions and offering everything back to Him in loving service. It is only through this pure, unmotivated devotion that the living entity can achieve true satisfaction and eternal peace.
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 Taking from God. We invite you to visit this link to study the complete compilation and experience Śrīla Prabhupāda's teachings in their direct, verbatim form.