devotee's karma

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> My dear Sri Visnupada,

> Please accept my most humble obeisances. All glories to you!

>

> In one letter Srila Prabhupada said "The devotee should always see

> his difficulty in this light, that Krsna is so kind upon me for

> creating this condition of struggling, thus He is relieving me of so

> many billions of lifetime of sinful reactions by this very

> insignificant and temporary condition of suffering something." (SPL

> to Vaikunthanatha, 29.12.72)

>

> On the other hand in SB he writes "As Krsna takes away all the

> sinful reactions of a person immediately upon his surrender unto

> Him, similarly the external manifestation of Krsna, the

> representative of Krsna who acts as the mercy of the Supreme

> Personality of Godhead, takes all the resultant actions of the

> sinful life of the disciple immediately after the disciple’s

> initiation. Thus if the disciple follows the principles instructed

> by the spiritual master, he remains purified and is not contaminated

> by the material infection."(SB.4.21.31.pp)

>

> These 2 statements seem contradictory because on one hand Srila

> Prabhupada says to an initiated devotee that he is suffering (in a

> much reduced form) due to his past sinful reactions and on the other

> hand the spiritual master removes those reactions at the time of

> initiation - how to understand these 2 statements in relation with

> each other?

> Your servant always,

> Citralekha dd

 

When the spiritual master takes the reactions of the disciple, these

reactions are those which are not yet manifested. Reactions which are

already manifested are not possible to take away under ordinary

circumstances, as they are already there. For example, if someone is

born with bad eyes and he gets initiated, it does not mean that he can

throw away his glasses and see again, for the reaction of bad sight is

already manifesting and cannot be changed simply by initiation

(unless, of course, Krsna so desires this change out of His causeless

mercy -- but that usually does not happen). There are many reactions

which are already within our bodies and minds from birth or from life

which are in a form which will manifest in due course of time. For

example, one may have a hereditary inclination to cancer or tumours

which was born with the body. After initiation, these things, which

were part of one's birth, may manifest. In other words, that which

you are born with will most likely manifest when it is part and parcel

of your bodily constitution (bad blood circulation, bone

irregularities, migraine headaches, diabetes, and so on).

 

When one is initiated, the spiritual master removes all those

reactions which were not yet manifested and were waiting to manifest

in the future in this life or in future lives. Further, he cuts the

connection to karmic reactions so that one does not create new karma

in this life if he follows the instructions of the spiritual master.

 

In either case, when the Lord so desires it, all reactions of all

kinds can be removed (see the case of Vasudeva the brahmana with

leprosy in CC), but this should not be expected.