If Kṛṣṇa protects His devotees, why do even pure devotees face difficulties?

Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā that “O son of Kuntī, declare it boldly that My devotee never perishes.” However, we see that even pure devotees go through all kinds of difficulties. How is that?

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If Kṛṣṇa protects His devotees, why do even pure devotees face difficulties?

Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā that “O son of Kuntī, declare it boldly that My devotee never perishes.” However, we see that devotees go through all kinds of difficulties. Even pure devotees, like the Pandavas and Śrila Prabhupāda, went through great calamities. How is that?

To understand how the protection from Kṛṣṇa works and why devotees sometimes face difficulties, the first point is to better understand the context of this verse. Kṛṣṇa says: “I envy no one, nor am I partial to anyone. I am equal to all. But whoever renders service unto Me in devotion is a friend, is in Me, and I am also a friend to him. Even if one commits the most abominable action, if he is engaged in devotional service he is to be considered saintly because he is properly situated in his determination. He quickly becomes righteous and attains lasting peace. O son of Kuntī, declare it boldly that My devotee never perishes.”

Here we have an apparent contradiction. Kṛṣṇa first says He is partial to no one and equal to all, but then He says that He is partial to His devotees. Śrila Prabhupāda explains that such special affection to devotees is not a sign of partiality, but just natural. Just like a pious king may be impartial and equal to everyone, he will always give special attention to his children. Such behavior is unavoidable due to their intimate relationship. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa is impartial to everyone, but He can’t help giving special attention to His devotees.

Next, Kṛṣṇa says that even if a devotee makes mistakes, he or she is not lost, because the power of his or her devotional service will bring him eventually back to the proper path. That’s why Kṛṣṇa says that “he is to be considered saintly because he is properly situated.” Even while a devotee commits mistakes, his piety still exists in a subtle form and can be easily restored when he comes back to the proper path, just like a diamond can be thrown into the mud and appear to be dirty, although the real form of the diamond is not affected, and as a result, it can be easily cleaned.

Another point is that even if a devotee falls back into illusion and tries to forget Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa never forgets him, and thus his situation is never the same as that of an ordinary person who didn’t cultivate a relationship with Him. Kṛṣṇa will continue caring for him, and eventually, this will make him come back to the path. This point is explained in the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (1.5.9): “My dear Vyāsa, even though a devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa sometimes falls down somehow or other, he certainly does not undergo material existence like others [fruitive workers, etc.] because a person who has once relished the taste of the lotus feet of the Lord can do nothing but remember that ecstasy again and again.”

This shows how, although a devotee may face difficulties in the short term, his future is bright because he or she will eventually go back to Godhead. A devotee does not perish in the unending cycle of birth and death like an ordinary person, and this is due to Kṛṣṇa’s personal protection. We may create problems for ourselves by foolishly committing offenses and sinful activities, and this can create unpalatable consequences in the short term, but due to the protection of Kṛṣṇa, we always have the opportunity to return to the proper path. We are not just under the mechanical workings of the law of karma like mundane people.

In other words, we may temporarily face difficulties and challenges due to our own mistakes, or due to the influence of other people, but the special attention of Kṛṣṇa guarantees that all of this is temporary and that we will succeed in the end.

What about pure devotees? It’s easy to understand that we face difficulties due to our own mistakes and due to the results of our past karma, but we see that pure devotees like the Pandavas and Śrila Prabhupāda faced even more difficulties than we do, although being under the direct care of Kṛṣṇa. How can it be so?

The point is that pure devotees come to this world precisely to give us example. If Kṛṣṇa would put a regular devotee through the tribulations the Pandavas passed, or that Śrila Prabhupāda passed, he would surely break, therefore Kṛṣṇa has to organize for His eternal associates to come and face such challenges to show us how even when a devotee faces challenges he is always protected by Kṛṣṇa, and by His grace can eventually surpass all obstacles without being distracted from the ultimate goal.

We can see that although the Pandavas faced all kinds of tribulations, Kṛṣṇa was always close, not only empowering them, but personally interfering at the critical moments, like when He supplied an unlimited sārī to save Draupadī, or when He gave instructions to Bhīma on how to defeat Jarāsandha. Similarly, Prabhupāda faced many challenges, but in the end, he was extraordinarily successful in his mission.

When Kṛṣṇa says that His devotee never perishes, He is not speaking about the material body, which will eventually be reduced to dust, but about the devotee’s devotional service, which is never destroyed. Even if a devotee faces great difficulties in his spiritual practice, he or she will eventually be victorious and go back to Godhead, be it in this life or in the next. A materialist, on the other hand, doesn’t have a very bright future ahead, regardless of how materially successful he may be now.

Ultimately, a devotee may face temporary difficulties, but such difficulties are more or less illusory in the sense that they are temporary. Just like the Pandavas surpassed all difficulties and defeated the Kauravas in the end, a devotee is guaranteed to eventually become triumphant and go back to Godhead, no matter what kind of difficulties he or she may face in the short term.

This point is also emphasized by Sañjaya in his conclusion of the Bhagavad-gītā: “Wherever there is Kṛṣṇa, the master of all mystics, and wherever there is Arjuna, the supreme archer, there will also certainly be opulence, victory, extraordinary power, and morality. That is my opinion.”

The qualities mentioned here are śrīḥ (opulence), vijayaḥ (victory), bhūtiḥ (exceptional power), and nītiḥ (morality). Pure devotees are always with Kṛṣṇa, and this combination of Kṛṣṇa and His pure devotee makes all these auspicious qualities manifest. This, however, does not necessarily come without effort. Just as the sun appears in the morning, after the darkness of night, pure devotees often have to fight great battles against the forces of darkness before these auspicious qualities can be manifested. The battle of Kurukṣetra is a graphic manifestation of it. Sometimes they fight alone, like when Arjuna single-handedly defeated the Kaurava army attacking the Matsya kingdom, just after their exile, and sometimes they are helped by many followers and associates. Sometimes they achieve victory out of personal prowess, fruit of empowerment by the Lord (like Hanumān, for example), and sometimes they appear to be defenseless and are directly protected by the Lord, like Prahlāda. In any of these cases, however, the result is the same: these pure devotees achieve victory, and this victory is followed by opulence, exceptional power, and morality.

We should, however, not see ourselves in the same position as these exalted devotees, but see ourselves as their servants, assisting them in their mission of spreading Kṛṣṇa consciousness and saving the conditioned souls. Even if we can’t do much to help others, if we can at least save ourselves by seriously practicing Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that’s already a great contribution, because we are also amongst the conditioned souls they come to save.

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