Who can help when even the Lord Himself rejects us?
Kṛṣṇa may sometimes correct us sharply so we don’t repeat the same mistakes. Devotees, however, keep the door open and sometimes carry us inside even when we think we no longer deserve to stand there.
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Kālā Kṛṣṇadāsa was a brāhmana who received an unprecedented mercy: he was chosen to accompany Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu Himself on His tour through South India, serving as His assistant. With this, he got the opportunity to behold all the pastimes of the Lord, hear His chanting, see His ecstasy, and hear all the philosophical discussions He had on the way.
However, after spending a night in a temple in Vetāpani, Kālā Kṛṣṇadāsa met with a group of Bhaṭṭathāris (gypsies) who allured him to their community with women. In this way, tragically, Kālā Kṛṣṇadāsa left the association of the Lord to have illicit association with these women.
This illustrates a point made by Prabhupāda in his writings. Because the soul has inherent free will, there is always the chance one can make the wrong choice. We frequently do this when we are inattentive during chanting. Just as Kālā Kṛṣṇadāsa, we have the opportunity of being personally with the Lord, but we become attracted to other things.
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, however, didn’t just watch his degradation. He went personally to the encampment of the Bhaṭṭathāris and questioned why they were keeping his brāhmaṇa assistant. The Bhaṭṭathāris attacked Him with weapons, but because of the potency of the Lord, the weapons fell from their hands and cut their bodies. Some were hurt, and others ran. Using the uproar, Mahāprabhu grabbed Kṛṣṇadāsa by the śikhā and continued traveling with him.
However, when they returned to Jagannātha Purī, He became very strict:
“Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya then asked all the people to leave. Afterward, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu called for Kālā Kṛṣṇadāsa, who had accompanied the Lord during His South Indian tour.
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, “My dear Bhaṭṭācārya, just consider the character of this man who went with Me to South India. He left My company to associate with the Bhaṭṭathāris, but I rescued him from their company and brought him here. Now that I have brought him here, I am asking him to leave. Now he can go wherever he likes, for I am no longer responsible for him.”
Hearing the Lord reject him, Kālā Kṛṣṇadāsa began to cry. However, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, not caring for him, immediately left to take His noon lunch.” (CC madhya 10.62-66)
He essentially said, That's enough; I don’t want him. And simply walked away. The devotees, however, immediately started thinking about how to help him.
“After this, the other devotees — headed by Nityānanda Prabhu, Jagadānanda, Mukunda and Dāmodara — began to consider a certain plan. The Lord’s four devotees considered, “We want a person to go to Bengal just to inform Śacīmātā about Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s arrival at Jagannātha Purī. After hearing news of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s arrival, devotees like Advaita and Śrīvāsa will certainly come to see Him. Let us therefore send Kṛṣṇadāsa to Bengal.” Saying this, they kept Kṛṣṇadāsa engaged in the service of the Lord and gave him assurance.” (CC madhya 10.67-70)
This makes the point that even when the Lord Himself decides to be strict, the devotees have compassion and try to save us.
As Prabhupāda mentions in his purport, “Even though a person is rejected by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the devotees of the Lord do not reject him; therefore the Lord’s devotees are more merciful than the Lord Himself. Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura thus sings, chāḍiyā vaiṣṇava-sevā nistāra peyeche kebā: one cannot be relieved from the material clutches without engaging in the service of pure devotees. The Lord Himself may sometimes be very hard, but the devotees are always kind. Thus Kālā Kṛṣṇadāsa received the mercy of the four devotees mentioned above.”
We can see a similar situation in the Gītā 16.19-20:
“Those who are envious and mischievous, who are the lowest among men, I perpetually cast into the ocean of material existence, into various demoniac species of life. Attaining repeated birth amongst the species of demoniac life, O son of Kuntī, such persons can never approach Me. Gradually they sink down to the most abominable type of existence.”
In one sense, Kṛṣṇa is always with us, and it is not even possible to become separated from Him, since there is nothing that is not part of Kṛṣṇa. However, personal service to the Lord is something rare. Kṛṣṇa is completely pure, and thus only pure souls can stay close to Him. Kṛṣṇa wants us back, but as pure souls, not as material identities covered by lust and ignorance. He doesn’t reject a soul, but he rejects the material conditioning. He thus appears to be very strict in many circumstances because He wants this change to happen. The question is that, simultaneously, He acts through His devotees.
Pure devotees take birth even in the lower planets to try to rescue the souls who get stuck there. We can see that in the case of Kālā Kṛṣṇadāsa, devotees immediately started making plans to engage him in another service so he could remain close to the Lord. Before, Kṛṣṇadāsa took the association of the Lord for granted and, as a result, he fell, but now, after being chastised and receiving a second chance, he became very careful in his service and always meditated on the Lord. As a result, he became more connected than before, and that was all due to the mercy of the Vaiṣnavas.
Caitanya Mahāprabhu was also strict in other situations. He also punished Choṭa Haridāsa for looking lustfully at a young woman after entering the renounced order of life. These pastimes teach us that negligence has consequences. If accepted with the right mentality, this can make us more serious on the spiritual path. The compassion of the devotees, however, gives us hope that even if we make serious mistakes, there is always redemption, and in this same life.
Kṛṣṇa may sometimes correct us sharply so we don’t repeat the same mistakes. Devotees, however, keep the door open and sometimes carry us inside even when we think we no longer deserve to stand there. We should thus value the association and service to these pure devotees who cooperate with the Lord in saving us from the clutches of the material energy.
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