We can’t love Kṛṣṇa while mistreating His devotees
Often, in our rush to get things done for Kṛṣṇa, we treat his devotees carelessly and may even hurt some of them in the process. This is like getting close to Kṛṣṇa by knocking down his children.
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We can’t love Kṛṣṇa while mistreating His devotees
Imagine the following scene. You meet your old friend, Haridas, whom you haven’t seen for many years. You become emotional seeing him and run in his direction, saying: “Haridas, it’s me, I’m so happy to see you!” However, as you get close, you notice he is not happy at all to see you. As a result, you stop. You look around and see some small children scattered here and there. One has hurt his leg, and the other one is crying. In your rush to embrace your friend, you carelessly knocked down all these children, his children! How do you think Haridas feels?
Often, in our rush to get things done for Kṛṣṇa, we treat his devotees carelessly and may even hurt some of them in the process. This is like getting close to Kṛṣṇa by knocking down his children; it doesn’t work very well.
Unfortunately, this mentality is not at all rare. It happened a lot in the past, and can still be found in many places. Usually, the more active a place is, the more it tends to happen. Why is it so?
This is a characteristic of devotional service performed under the influence of the modes of passion and ignorance. Most people nowadays are influenced by these gunas, and when we come to practice devotional service, our service tends to be performed under these two material modes at first.
The way one treats others is one of the most reliable ways to understand one’s level of advancement in spiritual life. As our ego comes under control, our awareness of others as parts and parcels of Kṛṣṇa grows. A materialistic devotee has a very big ego. He sees himself and a few others of the group that he or she identifies with as the only pure devotees. Consequently, he mistreats not only people in general but other devotees as well. An intermediate devotee is capable of understanding the greatness of other devotees of the Lord, and he treats them with respect. However, he may still see himself as better than ordinary people, and thus mistreat them on occasion.
Just as the influence of passion and ignorance is the cause of many mistakes we make while trying to serve Kṛṣṇa, the absence of such an influence allows us to treat other devotees warmly, cooperate with them, and thus perfect our devotional service. This comes as we advance in the process of hearing and chanting, due to the purification it brings. It may take a few years, but it can also come quickly, depending on the quality of our chanting.
A pure devotee sees everyone as parts and parcels of Kṛṣṇa, and under this consciousness, he is respectful to everyone. If he is preaching, he discriminates amongst devotees and non-devotees, following the guidelines given in the sastras and tries to help people to become Kṛṣṇa Conscious, but internally he sees everyone as an eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa, worthy of his service. It’s mentioned that one should try to become an intermediate devotee as quickly as possible. The position of a materialistic devotee is very dangerous because his big ego and his divisive nature make it difficult for him or her to serve without committing offenses to others, and such offenses can easily push one away from the path of devotional service
We can see that many spiritual masters nowadays focus on teaching devotees to improve their chanting and hearing, identifying this as the aspect of devotional practice that can bring the best benefits, especially in the beginning. If we can get a good foundation on the process of hearing and chanting, combined with the practice of basic rules and regulations (following the four principles, etc.) and good association, we can become cleansed of the influence of passion and ignorance relatively quickly, and thus avoid this initial phase of knocking down and disregarding others while trying to serve Kṛṣṇa.
« Things I Wish Someone Had Taught Me When I Started Krishna Consciousness
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