Skip to main content

THE DEFECTIVE PURE DEVOTEE

Reading this topic, our mind naturally challenges - How can a pure devotee have defects? Shouldn't he, be free from defects? The 100% perfect person! The Mr. Perfect!

The point is that a pure devotee can't be seen with material eyes and material logic. Just like Lord Krishna can't be seen with material eyes, so also His pure devotees. You need spiritual vision to appreciate God, His abode, His name and His devotees. Thus Bhakti Vinod Thakur, one of the greatest spiritual teachers of all times quotes the following verse from the Mahabharata which is generally sung before honoring prasadam.

maha-prasade govinde,
nama-brahmani vaishnave,
svalpa-punya vatam rajan,
visvaso naiva jayate.

"Those who don't have sufficient pious credits cannot develop faith in Maha-prasadam, Lord Govinda, Holyname, Brahmanas and the Vaishnavas."

Sometimes Lord Krishna puts an apparent curtain of imperfection in front of our eyes, so that only those with faith can appreciate His devotees. As the saying goes in English, "It takes one to know one." That means to appreciate a pure devotee, we need to ourselves be on the spiritual platform. In fact it's interesting to see people find defects and imperfections even in the All-perfect Supreme Lord Krishna. How then, will their mind spare The Lord's pure devotees? The defect is not in The Lord or His dear devotees but in our eyes.



Following are few examples of devotees who apparently had defects but are still considered pure devotees.

1) Garuda is considered to be the most intimate devotee of the Lord, His personal carrier but he eats fishes and snakes.

2) ‎Bhisma is considered to be one of the 12 best devotees of The Lord but he fought on the side of the Kauravas and against Lord Krishna and His devotees.

3) ‎Devotees are known to have control over their anger and hunger, but Bhima would eat voraciously and was quite hot tempered.

4) ‎Tukaram Maharaj, although fully immersed in glorifying Vitthal didn't take care of his family that well.

5) ‎Probably, the most classic example of a defective pure devotee is Vrtrasura. He was the King of demons and was fighting and killing the demigods but he is considered to be the topmost devotee. His devotion becomes clear in his consciousness at the time of his death.

We could quote more examples but I am sure this much is enough to completely short-circuit our "so called" logic. Just like Lord Krishna is inconceivable, so also His pure devotees. They are beyond the reach of our mundane mind and senses. That is why it is said - vaishnavera kriya-mudra vijneha na bujhaya: even the most learned man cannot understand the activities of a Vaishnava.

So, the question may arise, what is the criteria to identify a pure devotee? Lord Krishna Himself answers this question in the Bhagvad-gita 9.13 by defining who a pure devotee or a mahatma is. He says, mahatmanas tu mam partha, daivim prakrtim asritah. "A great soul or a pure devotee is one who has taken shelter of the divine nature". In other words a pure devotee is one who has taken full shelter of Lord Krishna and the process of Bhakti. That is the primary criteria, the rest is secondary.

In summary a person is considered a pure devotee not from our viewpoint but from Lord Krishna's viewpoint.

The safest path is not to judge any devotee. Best is to see everyone as a pure devotee or at least as a "pure devotee in the making". During the initial days of ISKCON, someone asked Srila Prabhupada, "How many pure devotees are there in ISKCON?". Srila Prabhupada asked one of His disciple, "How many disciples do we have?". The disciple replied, "We have 72 devotees all over the world." Prabhupada turned to the person asking the question and told him, "Right now, we have 72 pure devotees." Srila Prabhupada saw all of them as "prospective pure devotees".

Just like if someone is standing under a shower, it is but understood that very soon he will become clean. The question is never "if he or she will be pure", the question is only "when". Till then let us bask in the company of these pure devotees and be grateful for thier association because we really don't have any clue as to "who is who" and "who is where" on the spiritual path. And if we come to know, we may be in for a big shock.

- Achyut Gopal Das

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

DRIVEN BY EXCELLENCE

What is the force that is driving you to work? One of the traits of highly successful people, be they in business, education or spiritual life is that they are driven by the drive to excel. What does excellence mean? It basically means giving your very best to whatever activity you do, putting your heart fully in it and being fully present to the activity in front of you. It doesn't matter if the activity demanding your attention is small or big. In the Niti shastra there is a verse which mentions that a lion whether it attacks an elephant or a rabbit, it attacks with the same intensity. What it means is that for the lion, every attack is equally important. Just like Srila Prabhupada, whether he was speaking to thousands of people or a few people he spoke with the same intensity. ' The difference between ordinary people and extraordinary people is that ordinary people do extraordinary things in an ordinary way whereas extraordinary people do even ordinary...
Post a Comment
Read more

THE QUEST FOR SUCCESS

"In the end we only regret the chances we didn't take." A few weeks ago, I was doing a training program for our devotees at our ISKCON center in Siolim. My theme that day was to highlight the need for devotees to find their hidden potential. I was explaining, how important it is for every devotee to feel successful in life; how the growth of every organisation depends on the growth of the individuals within the organisation. I explained to them, how in the name of growth of the organisation, we can't overlook individual growth - both are interconnected. One devotee asked me a very intelligent question. He asked me, "What does success mean?" I told him, "Success, doesn't mean to become successful in the eyes of people. It doesn't mean name, fame or any other external things." I told him that, " Success means to feel that you have done your best, that you have lived up to your full potential. Others are not the judge of our succe...
Post a Comment
Read more

TRANSFORMING CURSES TO BLESSINGS - A tale of two trees

"Perhaps someday I'll crawl back home, beaten, defeated. But not as long as I can make stories out of my heartbreak, beauty out of sorrow." - Sylvia Plath, American poet and writer. Who doesn't like stories. Stories have always been loved by human civilization for eons probably because in the story of others, humans find semblance of their own stories. Some stories are entertaining, some inspiring, some touching and some enlightening. Here is one such story from the Srimad-Bhagvatam which contains all these aspects. This is a story of two trees - a story of the journey from bondage to freedom. This is a story of hope - a story of transformation. Even though this story happened 5000 years back, the lessons from it are still relevant and fresh. As you read this story, you may find clues to write or rewrite your personal story of transformation, hope, bliss and freedom.   THE TURNING POINT This is the story of the deliverance of the twin Yamala Arjuna trees by L...
Post a Comment
Read more