By Babhru Dasa
We often hear that we should not treat God as our “order supplier.” And indeed it is true. God is not our petty servant. He is not meant to receive our demands on the pretext of a prayer and deliver anything and everything at our every whim. The devotee does not want to see God like this at anytime. It is not very nice.
In fact, the factual situation is the exact opposite really. That we are the simple order supplier of God’s unlimited ambitions. At any given time, we should be willing to drop everything for God’s service, to satisfy Him with great intensity, and to never think of anything else. That is uttama-bhakti. The highest conception of devotional love.
But does God wish to satisfy the “desires” of His devotees? It is an interesting question. Many times we see in the Bhagavata and other divine scriptures that devotees of exalted stature indeed pray to Bhagavan, to fulfill a need. And what is the pure devotee’s entreaty towards God? Simply put, the pure devotee prays perpetually for the upliftment of the human society and all living entities at large. They are always asking Bhagavan, “Please my dear Lord, bless all these souls to become enraptured in divine love for You. They are all your parts and parcels. And deep down, whether they know it or not, wish to love you alone with fully surrendered devotion.”
So in this way we see that the pure devotee asks nothing from Bhagavan, except that which is to help everyone else! We see such an example very clearly in Sri Chaitanya-charitamrta, with Sri Vasudeva Datta. He was very much desirous that Sriman Mahaprabhu bless the entire world by liberating it. He could not stand to see the suffering of others. He could not stand for anyone to not experience the highest stages of ecstatic love for Bhagavan.
“My Lord! You have appeared in this world to save it, so please accept my prayer. You are omnipotent and all merciful, so if you agree to fulfill my request, it can be easily done. When I see the suffering of the world, my heart is torn apart. So I ask you, Lord, give their sins to me. I will take their sins and suffer in hell on their behalf, but please deliver them from their material disease.”
(Chaitanya Charitamrta 2.15.160-163)
Thus is the nature of all elevated souls. In this way we should see that such a desire, albeit a pure desire, is a desire nonetheless. That is the scenario of the pure devotee and it is sought after by the devotees of kanishta and madhyama status. But realistically, can the kanishta and madhyama bhaktas saturate themselves with such pure intentions? To a large extant, no.
But there is something more to be said in this regard. There is another way of looking at this. And we must try to examine it if we are to understand progressive bhajan in its entirety. Basically, as part of the process of atma-niksepaha, taking exclusive shelter of Bhagavan, and truly giving up all other shelters, the devotee of madhyama status especially must see God as their, “all in all.” Everything outside of that existential conception must be thrown out. They must take the proverbial “leap of faith.” So how does this newly acquired internal position effect the devotee of madhyama status in the context of having ones worldly needs being met? Does it mean that they need to sit in a cave and do exclusive bhajan with the expectation that God will provide them with all their and their families needs? They can try, but this is not usually the path of the madhyama devotee. Imitation of the Uttama-vaishnava is a dangerous game.
That being the case, the madhyama devotee will take his exclusive shelter of Bhagavan “into” everyday life. The principle will become non-different from him and everything he does. Having become firmly rooted in this surrendered path, it will not be possible for the devotee to go to some inferior entity, or “scheme up” some independent plan for achieving anything. Whether it is spiritual or material, that does not matter.
Why? Because the advancing devotee sees everything as being in connection with God. This is true bhakti. As an example, isn’t it a show of affection when a young child asks for something from their father? Be it advice, a tangible thing, or anything else? Therefore it is not inherently egoistic if the devotee approaches God for their simple hearted needs that will help them attain Him in the long/short run, directly or indirectly.
Think of it this way, will God be happier if you don’t go to Him at all for your needs? Trying to figure out everything on your own even though God created this world and truly knows what is best in every situation? Will He be happier if you go to Him for only some things (spiritual matters.) Or, considering the fact that God knows everything about all souls, will He be happier if you go to Him for every single thing?
What is the point of only going to God for inherently “spiritual matters?” This is a dualistic idea and in many ways will breed an improper perception of yourself and your surroundings. You are forcing to act and think independently of God for material needs? How can that be considered better? It cannot be pleasing to Bhagavan. Bhagavan wants you to think of Him day and night, no matter what! That is Krsna-consciousness. It means there is no separation from the material life to the spiritual life. It becomes one offering to Bhagavan.
A perfect example of this is recounted in the historical tome, Sri Caitanya-bhagavata. A book that is dearer than life itself to Vaiṣṇavas of the highest order. The story involves Srivas Thakura, who was categorically one of the dear-most associates of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Notably, he was also a householder devotee with a wife and kids.
“Once Lord Chaitanya asked Srivas Pandita, “I do not see you going anywhere to earn a livelihood. You have a big family so how do you maintain them?”
Srivas Pandita replied, “In my heart I do not have any desire to go anywhere. Whatever is destined will come to me anyway.” And then Srivas clapped three times. One. Two. Three.
“What does it mean?” the Lord enquired.
Srivas replied, “If three times food does not come to me, I will fast, and then I will tie a water pot to my neck and drown myself in the Ganges.”
The Lord said, “Why should you fast Srivas? Even if Goddess Lakshmi becomes poverty stricken and has to go begging from door to door, still poverty will not enter your house.”
So in this way, we can see that Srivas Thakura had such high faith in the Lord. He put all his faith in Mahaprabhu and accordingly, Mahaprabhu insured him that he and his family would never face financial difficulty. Srivas simply accepted that God is the only real maintainer, and therefore, if he worked day and night in devotion, surely God would have to meet his world necessities, and not only for him, but his family too! This is surely a very powerful example.
As a final concluding note and to further substantiate this idea, we can hear directly from Bhagavan Sri Krsna’s divine lips,
TEXT 22
ananyas cintayanto mam
ye janah paryupasate
tesam nityabhiyuktanam
yoga-ksemam vahamy aham
“But those who worship Me with devotion, meditating on My transcendental form-to them I carry what they lack and preserve what they have.”