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Source: The Hindu (http://www.the-hindu.com)

 

God condones His devotee's lapses

 

CHENNAI, SEPT. 15. Eternal happiness results when the knowledge

that everything is God dawns on a person. Those who are under the

spell of the senses and the mind see only the diversity which

alienates the person from intuiting the unity which lies behind

this manifold creation. The Bhagavad Gita postulates that it is

the Supreme Being who brings this universe of insentient and

sentient beings into existence for He is the self-existing

Reality.

 

Arjuna was singled out by Lord Krishna for bestowing His cosmic

vision when He taught him the ultimate truth in the battlefield.

Awestruck after beholding this form Arjuna could then identify

Krishna, whom he had looked upon as a friend and relation, as the

Absolute Reality. This revelation made him declare that He was

the primal deity, the most ancient person; the ultimate resort of

this universe. He is both the knower and the knowable, the

highest abode and the one who pervades this universe.

 

In his discourse, Swami Tejomayananda said that after glorifying

the Lord by identifying Him with all the deities Arjuna's sense

of awe gave way to remorse as he realised that he had taken

liberties with Krishna.

 

He pleaded with the Lord, ``The way in which I have importunately

called out, either through intimacy or even through want of

thought, Hey Krishna! Hey Yadava! Hey comrade! and so on,

suspecting not this greatness of Yours and thinking You only to

be a friend, and the way in which You have been slighted by me in

jest while at play, reposing, sitting at meals either alone or

even in the presence of others - for all that I crave forgiveness

from You, who are infinite.''

 

Yashoda was another person who had His singular grace for she was

also blessed with His cosmic vision on a few occasions. But her

case was different. Her unique relationship as the mother of the

Lord in His incarnation as Krishna made it possible for her to

take any amount of liberties with Him.

 

She had chided Him for His pranks and even tied Him up with a

rope and the Lord had willingly submitted Himself to her

punishment because of her unalloyed devotion by which she had

earned this merit of being His mother. But Arjuna could not

afford to take Krishna for granted though the Lord had been his

friend and guide all along. But it is also true that the Almighty

condones the innumerable lapses of His devotees and never forgets

even the single occasion when He is remembered.

 

In a moving laudatory verse Arjuna sought the Lord's pardon, for

his lapses, ``It behoves You to bear with me even as a father

bears with his son, a friend with his friend and a husband with

his beloved spouse.''

 

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