# Mercy ## 1. Is material distress an example of the Lord’s mercy? The Supreme Lord is full of mercy. Whatever He does is beneficial for the living entities. It is all for the best. People should live happily wherever they are situated by the merciful Lord and gladly accept His reward and punishment. All the Lord’s rewards and punishments are awarded for the living entity’s benefit. We love the rewards awarded by Maya and hate the punishments because they cause pain. But Maya’s punishments are awarded to make us eligible for the Lord’s mercy. That is why devotees gladly accept Maya’s punishments with a smile; they understand that all suffering is the Lord’s mercy. Those who cannot understand that mundane calamities are the Lord’s mercy end up disappointed even as they seek material happiness and prosperity again and again. ## 2. Are the tests the Lord presents the living entities manifestations of His mercy? Teachers mercifully arrange for examinations in order to take students to a higher class. For attentive, intelligent students, examinations are a source of happiness. Only the inattentive students are afraid of or dislike examinations. Those who glorify material enjoyment and who speak accordingly to their audience’s taste do not face danger, inconvenience, or obstacles in their preaching, but those who preach about devotional service and the soul’s eternal propensity face many difficulties. These inconveniences come and try to cause discouragement. But those who have taken shelter of devotional service should definitely know that these obstacles have come to test our love of and determination for the Lord’s service; they are actually assisting us in our progressive advancement on the devotional path. We should remain firmly fixed in devotional service while accepting the ideal examples of nāmācārya Haridāsa Ṭhākura and the topmost devotee, Prahlāda Mahārāja. Both of them exhibited a wonderful service attitude and a high degree of tolerance. Simply to achieve something temporary, human beings are baffled for hundreds of lifetimes. If in spite of seeing thousands of examples of failure, such people will even dare to give up their lives to attain insignificant enjoyment, then can’t intelligent and fortunate devotees dedicate their temporary lives to understand the Supreme Lord, who is the Absolute Truth for all time? ## 3. Is everything the Supreme Lord does beneficial? Everything about the Lord is merciful. There is no inauspiciousness in the Lord’s arrangements. Whatever He does is for the good of all living entities. Those conditioned souls who consider interference to their sense gratification inauspicious or as an example of the Lord’s cruelty understand only one move of the chess game. They do not know what will happen four or five moves later. The mercy of Śrī Caitanyadeva and His devotees is causeless and yields no negative results. When a doctor prescribes a bitter medicine, the patient thinks him cruel. When he becomes cured by taking that medicine, though, he understands how merciful the doctor really was. ## 4. Should we follow all the Lord’s arrangements with happiness? Everything takes place by the will of the Supreme Lord. Therefore if we suffer some inconvenience, there is nothing to do but wait patiently for the Lord’s mercy. Due to our previous karma we sometimes become ill and sometimes remain healthy. When we think we are well, we become averse to Kṛṣṇa and consider ourselves superior to His devotees. Therefore according to our situation Kṛṣṇa places us in various types of distress, illness, or inconvenience. This forces devotees to try to understand the purport of the tat te ’nu kaṁpām verse. We should happily agree with whatever pleases Kṛṣṇa. If Kṛṣṇa is happy by turning us away, then we accept it. Śrī Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura stated, “If I feel any distress while serving You, O Lord, I consider it a source of great pleasure.” This is Vaiṣṇava realization, and one should try to follow it. ## 5. How is it possible to establish a relationship with Kṛṣṇa, who is transcendental to the three modes of material nature? Although it seems impossible to establish our relationship with Kṛṣṇa, the most compassionate Kṛṣṇa mercifully agrees to come under our control. Although the sun is huge, yet it is possible to see the sun with our limited senses through the object we call the material sky. Similarly, the spiritual sky in the form of the devotees’ devotional service is awarding us an opportunity to establish our relationship with Kṛṣṇa and to attain His association. Although the sun is huge and far away from us, we can see it by the mercy of the sun’s rays. Similarly, we can establish our relationship with Kṛṣṇa by the mercy of Kṛṣṇa’s rays, His devotees. If we take shelter of the spiritual master, who is the personification of Kṛṣṇa’s mercy, everything will become possible for us. ## 6. What is the mercy of the indwelling Supersoul? The indwelling Supersoul awards us the strength to accept instructions from both the initiating and instructing spiritual masters. It is not possible to understand their words without His mercy, because without His mercy the heart remains contaminated and the teachings of the spiritual master do not take deep root. The indwelling Supersoul mercifully awards us the qualification to receive the mercy of the initiating and instructing spiritual masters. In the form of initiating spiritual master, Śrī Caitanyadeva personally bestows transcendental knowledge and pure devotional service. He also sends us spiritual masters to instruct us who are nondifferent from Himself. He protects devotional service and awards the qualification to those inclined to serve to receive initiation and instruction. ## 7. Are the mercy of the spiritual master and the mercy of the Supreme Lord one and the same? The spiritual master’s mercy and the Supreme Lord’s mercy are not separate entities. The spiritual master has no engagement other than to worship Kṛṣṇa. Also, Kṛṣṇa does not accept service from anyone other than an intimate devotee. The spiritual master and Kṛṣṇa are attached to one another in love; and both treat one another as more dear to them than their own lives. They are one. The spiritual master is the personification of devotional service to Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa is the personification of devotional service to the devotee. Only the spiritual master offers our entire service to Kṛṣṇa. The spiritual master, who is to be served eternally, is not an ordinary human being from this world. In order to deliver the fallen conditioned souls he appears in this world by Kṛṣṇa’s will and teaches the fortunate living entities devotional service. Through him only do we receive the mercy of Kṛṣṇa. ## 8. Why do devotees usually appear in lower families? Why do devotees appear like fools or as if they are diseased, even though they are not subject to enjoy the fruits of karma? Devotees are never forced to enjoy the fruits of their karma. All their pastimes, such as taking birth, take place simply by the Lord’s will. But it is often seen that devotees appear in low-class families or like fools to ordinary eyes, or afflicted with disease. There is a great purpose behind this. If people find that the Lord’s devotees appear only in high-class families and that they are always strong, healthy, and highly learned according to material calculation, they will become discouraged. In order to display His causeless mercy and to benefit all living entities, therefore, the most merciful Lord induces His devotees to appear among various classes of men. It is to be understood that this is like sending a trained she-elephant into a kheda, an enclosure for catching wild elephants. Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata states [CB Ādi-khaṇḍa 2.49]: śocya-deśe śocya-kule āpana-samāna janmāiyā vaiṣṇave sabāre kare trāṇa yei deśe yāi kule vaiṣṇava ’avatāri’ tāṇhāra prabhāve lakṣa-yojana nistare yata dekha vaiṣṇavera vyavahāra-duḥkhaḥ niścaya jāniha sei parānanda-sukha viṣaya-madāndha saba kichui nā jāne”vidyā-made, dhana-made vaiṣṇava nā cine The Lord had His devotees, who are equal to Him, appear at impious places and in impious families in order to deliver everyone. In whatever place or family a Vaiṣṇava appears, people for hundreds of thousands of miles around are all delivered. Know for certain that whatever worldly distress is seen in a Vaiṣṇava is actually spiritual happiness. People blinded with pride over material enjoyment do not know anything. They cannot recognize a Vaiṣṇava due to pride born of education and wealth. Just because devotees appear in low-class families does not mean that they are sinful or that they have appeared in such families as a result of karma. Rather, we should understand that they have appeared to purify those families. One who attains perfection by practicing the sādhana prescribed for the Age of Kali is the best of all. ## 9. How can one attain the Lord’s mercy? If we do not transgress against the true servant of Hari who are constantly engaged in His service but follow in their footsteps, then we can attain the Lord’s mercy. Only by the Vaiṣṇavas’ mercy can one attain the mercy of Hari. If the Vaiṣṇavas are displeased, then no one can attain fortune. This is especially true of the spiritual master. Without pleasing the spiritual master one cannot attain the Lord’s mercy. ## 11. Does Lord Govinda award us punishment? The transcendental Personality of Godhead, Śrī Govinda, is our eternal master. The word prabhu refers to one who is able to both punish and bestow mercy. The Supreme Lord is capable of doing and undoing anything. It is not a fact that the Lord only displays compassion; but He can also punish. The Lord incarnates to rectify those proud people who are averse to Him by punishing them. It is the nature of the compassionate to both punish and show clemency accordingly. But punishment is a display of His indirect mercy, whereas clemency is a display of His direct mercy. Conditioned living entities who are averse to the Lord or who act sinfully are fit objects for the Lord’s punishment, and devotees inclined to Kṛṣṇa’s service are qualified for His direct mercy. Even weak-hearted but simple-minded humble practitioners of devotional service are qualified for the Lord’s compassion, whereas proud, crooked people are punishable because they cheat. ## 12. Are karmic fruits the Lord’s mercy? Considering the fruits of one’s own karma the Lord’s mercy, intelligent persons enjoy those fruits and surrender body, mind, and speech to the Lord’s lotus feet. However great the danger, devotees accept it as karmic reaction. Therefore they do not attribute the Lord with any fault. Rather, accepting the reaction gladly as His mercy, they become more attached to Him. This is the attitude taught in the Bhāgavatam. ## 13. “Everything is done by the will and mercy of the Lord.” Would you agree? Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.14.8 states: tat te ’nukampāṁ su-samīkṣamāṇo bhuṅjāna evātma-kṛtaṁ vipākam hṛd-vāg-vapurbhir vidadhan namas te jīveta yo mukti-pade sa dāya-bhāk My dear Lord, one who earnestly waits for You to bestow Your causeless mercy upon him, all the while patiently suffering the reactions of his past misdeeds and offering You respectful obeisances with his heart, words, and body, is surely eligible for liberation, for it has become his rightful claim. Those who are qualified to go back to Godhead conclude: If I attribute fault to the most auspicious Supreme Lord, then due to my lack of desire to serve Him, I will never be able to be liberated. Those who are inclined to serve the Lord consider all inconveniences as His mercy and thus become more attracted to Him. They are actually qualified for liberation. ## 14. When we commit sinful activities, is that also some expression of the Lord’s mercy? No, it is not. We experience the desire to commit sins because we are being tested. Just as parents place money, rice, and a Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam before a newly crawling child in order to test that child’s inclination, so the Supreme Lord, who is an ocean of mercy, does the same with us. Ignorant, godless people consider Him cruel, but whatever the Lord does only benefits others. Just as both a father’s kissing and slapping of his son displays his mercy, so the Lord’s activities are also His mercy. If the Lord’s mercy is mistaken for punishment, then that means we lack the serving temperament or a developed attraction to God. When a person desires to take shelter of the Lord, the Lord tests his sincerity by placing various obstacles before him, just as a doctor presents restrictions on the lifestyle of the patient in order to cure the disease. When a doctor is about to operate on a boil and picks up a knife, we would be foolish to consider him merciless. We should not be foolish enough to fail to recognize our well-wisher. Maya has arranged objects for our sense gratification to tempt us. Being attracted by these temptations we sometimes engage in unrestricted sense gratification, in welfare activities to benefit others, or begin to think the impersonal Brahman the goal of life. Similarly, sometimes we may become attracted to glorifying the philosophies propounded by Buddha and Śankarācārya. None of these activities benefit us. We should simply hear kṛṣṇa-kathā. There is no other way to attain our good fortune. The Supreme Lord does not interfere with anyone’s independence. He does not kill the living entity’s spiritual propensities. If He interfered in our independence, we would have to consider Him merciless. Instead, He simply informs and warns the living entities about good and bad activities. In His form as Śrī Caitanyadeva, the Supreme Lord instructs us not to follow the doctrines propounded by Jaimini or Śankarācarya. Those doctrines do not teach us how best to use our minute independence. Rather, we should act only in ways that please the Supreme Lord. ## 15. Who is qualified to receive the Lord’s mercy? The Supreme Lord bestows mercy only on those sincere souls who fully surrender to Him. It is impossible to receive Him as long as one is puffed up with the conception of “I” and “mine”. ## 16. Before whom does the Supreme Lord remains unmanifest? The Lord is supremely cognizant and the living entities are minutely cognizant. If among the minutely cognizant living entities someone tries to cheat the Lord by hiding something from Him, the supremely cognizant Lord reserves the right of not showing himself to that cheater. ## 17. Can we see God with our present eyes? The universe and the Lord of the universe are one. One cannot see the Lord of the universe until one gains transcendental knowledge or spiritual vision. At present I cannot see with my naked eyes, but I can see well with spectacles. Similarly, our present eyes are not capable of seeing the Lord of the universe. The Lord of the universe is seen only with the eyes of transcendental knowledge, devotional service given by the spiritual master. Our ability to see depends wholly on Kṛṣṇa’s mercy. It is Kṛṣṇa’s mercy that allows us to gain transcendental knowledge through aural reception, after which we can see Him. ## 18. Are we certain to receive Kṛṣṇa’s mercy? If we are sincerely eager at heart to attain Kṛṣṇa, we will certainly attain Him. Maintaining material desire spoils everything, because it makes us proud of high birth, opulence, knowledge, and so on. By the grace of the Lord we are given a spiritual master. Our development depends on the Lord’s mercy. Without His mercy all attempts are futile. His mercy is the root. However, we must learn how to sincerely beg for His mercy. Those who are sincere will certainly achieve His mercy. He cannot but bestow His mercy, because He is all-merciful. If we wonder why we don’t appear to be receiving His mercy, it’s because we are not really sincere. The Lord helps those who surrender to Him completely. Direct service to God awards us God. Without such service the soul cannot advance. Kṛṣṇa is our only worshipable Lord and we have no other duty but to serve Him. Devotional service is not sense gratification. Living only for sense gratification is simply selfishness.