The Beauty of the God's Dealings With His Devotees
Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that the ultimate spiritual reality is not a formless void, but a dynamic, eternal exchange of love. The Supreme Lord and His pure devotees engage in beautiful, reciprocal dealings that transcend all material comprehension.
The Personal Exchange of Love
The essence of spiritual life is a personal relationship. Bhakti-yoga means that the Lord and the devotee are both present, engaging in an eternal exchange of affection. These relationships are expressed in various transcendental mellows, such as dāsya (servitorship), sakhya (friendship), vātsalya (parenthood), and mādhurya (conjugal love). Unlike the impersonalists who seek to merge into the Lord's existence, Vaiṣṇavas relish these personal exchanges, eagerly desiring to serve, talk, and dance with the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
- Bhakti-yoga means that the Lord is there, the devotee is there and the activity of exchange of love between the Lord and the devotee is there.
- In bhakti-yoga there is a relationship established between the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the devotee. Such a relationship is established in the transcendental mellows known as dasya, sakhya, vatsalya and madhurya.
- All the relatives of the Lord are His devotees only, and they are situated in different transcendental mellows as friends, parents, and lovers.
- Vaisnavas accept the Supreme Personality as the supreme cause and want to serve Him, talk with Him and see Him, just as the Lord is also eager to see His devotees and talk, eat and dance with them. These personal exchanges of love do not appeal to the Mayavadi sannyasis.
The Lord's Affectionate Dependence
Although the Lord is fully self-sufficient and the master of all creation, He finds immense pleasure in playing the role of a dependent. Out of His causeless mercy, He voluntarily places Himself under the control of His pure devotees. This reveals that while God cannot be conquered by mundane logic or vast knowledge, He is easily conquered by submissive love. In this transcendental competition, both the Lord and the devotee conquer each other, deriving unlimited bliss from their mutual affection.
- Even though the Supreme Personality of Godhead is endowed with all possessions and is self-sufficient, He depends on His devotees.
- He (the Lord) is not actually dependent, but He likes to be dependent upon His devotee. This is His mercy.
- God is not conquerable, but He becomes conquerable, He is conquered, by a devotee who gives up this nonsense process of understanding Him by his limited knowledge and becomes submissive.
- The Lord and the devotees both conquer. The Lord is conquered by the devotees, and the devotees are conquered by the Lord. Because of being conquered by one another, they both derive transcendental bliss from their relationship.
Intimate and Playful Reciprocations
The Supreme Lord's interactions with His devotees are rich with intimate, playful emotions. Because everyone approaches God with great reverence, He sometimes longs to be treated as an equal or even a subordinate. Thus, He takes more pleasure in being the son of a devotee than the supreme father, happily accepting the chastisement of mother Yaśodā or begging for food as if hungry. As bhakta-vatsala, He eagerly accepts the simple offerings of His devotees, a divine quality that mundaners often misjudge as childish.
- Factually the Lord is the father of all living entities, but out of transcendental affection and love between the Lord and His devotees, the Lord takes more pleasure in becoming the son of a devotee than in becoming one's father.
- Sometimes the Lord, as the child of mother Yasoda, requests His devotee for some food, as if He were very hungry.
- Everyone worships the Supreme Lord with great reverence; therefore the Lord sometimes wants to enjoy the chastisement of His devotees. In this way the relationship eternally existing between the Lord and His devotees is fixed, just like the sky overhead.
- Because He (The Lord) is very merciful and is bhakta-vatsala, very favorable to the devotees, He certainly eats whatever they offer Him with love and devotion. This quality should not be misjudged to be childish.
The Lord's Partiality and Glorification of His Devotees
God is equal to everyone, yet He openly declares His special partiality toward His pure devotees. This apparent bias is actually a manifestation of His supreme grace and love. Furthermore, the Lord delights in glorifying His servants, often arranging situations so that the devotee receives more credit than Himself. Whether empowering Arjuna on the battlefield or elevating His pure servants, the Lord's business is to elevate and celebrate those who have surrendered everything to serve Him.
- As the owner of all transcendental opulences, the Lord displays His partiality by taking the side of His devotees.
- The Lord is here (in BG 9.29) stated to be partial to the devotees. This is the manifestation of the Lord's special mercy to the devotees.
- That is the beauty of the Lord's dealings with His devotees; sometimes the Lord gives more credit to His devotees than He takes for Himself.
- Everything is done by Krsna, but Krsna . . . and Arjuna is devotee. As the devotee wants to serve Krsna, similarly, Krsna also wants to give credit to His devotee. That is the business between the Lord and His devotee.
Beyond Material Comprehension
The intimate dealings between the Supreme Lord and His devotees operate entirely on the spiritual platform, completely beyond the jurisdiction of material nature or the laws of karma. Mundane scholars and impersonalists, who strive to merge into the Brahman effulgence, cannot comprehend this dynamic exchange of transcendental mellows. However, Śrīla Prabhupāda clarifies that the Lord's reciprocation with His devotees is an eternal, spiritual fact—a divine reality where both the Lord and His pure servants revel in the perpetual ecstasy of unalloyed love.
- The mutual attachment between the Supreme Lord and His devotee is never to be considered material. It always exists as a transcendental fact.
- Illusioned mundaners cannot understand the transcendental and reciprocal relationship between the Lord and His devotees, and therefore they want to lord it over material nature or cynically merge with the Absolute.
- Actually, in the Brahman effulgence there is no chance for reciprocation of loving ecstasy between the Lord and the devotee.
- The Lord's reciprocation should not be considered to be under the law of karma. It belongs to the transcendental situation in which the Lord and His devotees function.
Conclusion
Śrīla Prabhupāda beautifully illustrates that the Absolute Truth is not an unfeeling force, but the supreme enjoyer of loving relationships. The Lord's dealings with His devotees are the pinnacle of spiritual existence. Whether He is submissively accepting chastisement, demanding food like a hungry child, or purposefully giving credit to His servants over Himself, these transcendental interactions demonstrate the overwhelming power of pure devotion. While impersonalists settle for the static peace of the Brahman effulgence, pure devotees dive deep into the limitless ocean of bhakti-yoga. In this eternal relationship, completely free from the laws of material nature, both the Supreme Lord and His devotees continuously conquer one another through the unbreakable bonds of transcendental love.
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Śrīla Prabhupāda lives within his instructions. This article is a summary of the profound truths found in the Vaniquotes category God and His Devotees. We invite you to visit this link to study the complete compilation and experience the teachings in their direct, verbatim form.