enjoying more than the Lord?

[Guest guest]

>In SB1.13.42 PURPORT Srila Prabhupada writes:

>"In his liberated state he [referring to the living being], renders service

>to the Lord in transcendental love and thus enjoys a life of full freedom,

>even sometimes on an equal level with the Lord or sometimes more than the

>Lord."

>

>Please explain how one enjoys more than the Lord with examples!

>What enjoyment can be more than what the Lord enjoys?

 

Dear Mataji Sacidevi,

 

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

 

Whatever we and other devotees have quoted so far to illustrate how a living

entity can enjoy more than the Lord still holds true.

 

However, on a second thought I think the above excerpt from Srila

Prabhupada's purport on 1.13.42 speaks of not ENJOYING on an equal level

with the Lord or more, as it may first seem, but of having FULL FREEDOM on

an equal level with the Lord or sometimes more than the Lord. If we read the

purport carefully, it is the point of freedom, and not of enjoyment, that

Srila Prabhupada emphasizes throughout.

 

Although, of course, this still seems quite confusing, because the Lord is

the source of both pleasure (ananda) and freedom of choice (cit), so being

more free than the Lord is something beyond material logic -- just as

enjoying more than Him is.

 

However, Srila Prabhupada seems to solve this paradox elegantly in his

purport on SB 6.19.5. Please forgive me for such a long quotation, but if

one reads through it, one cannot help but admire Srila Prabhupada's

brilliance and spiritual astuteness in explaining such mind-boggling topics

as this. I have also emphasized what appears to be the key statement in this

purport with asterisks:

 

 

"In this verse the words tato 'si bhagavan prabhuh mean "Therefore You are

the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the master of everyone." The Supreme

Personality of Godhead is endowed with all six opulences in full, and

moreover He is extremely kind to His devotee. Although He is full in

Himself, He nonetheless wants all the living entities to surrender unto Him

so that they may engage in His service. Thus He becomes satisfied. Although

He is full in Himself, He nonetheless becomes pleased when His devotee

offers Him patram puspam phalam toyam [bg. 9.26]—a leaf, flower, fruit or

water—in devotion. Sometimes the Lord, as the child of mother Yasoda,

requests His devotee for some food, as if He were very hungry. Sometimes He

tells His devotee in a dream that His temple and His garden are now very old

and that He cannot enjoy them very nicely. Thus He requests the devotee to

repair them. Sometimes He is buried in the earth, and as if unable to come

out Himself, He requests His devotee to rescue Him. Sometimes He requests

His devotee to preach His glories all over the world, although He alone is

quite competent to perform this task. Even though the Supreme Personality of

Godhead is endowed with all possessions and is self-sufficient, He depends

on His devotees. Therefore the relationship of the Lord with His devotees is

extremely confidential. Only the devotee can perceive how the Lord, although

full in Himself, depends on His devotee for some particular work. This is

explained in Bhagavad-gita (11.33), where the Lord tells Arjuna,

nimitta-matram bhava savyasacin: "O Arjuna, merely be an instrument in the

fight." Lord Krsna had the competence to win the Battle of Kuruksetra, but

nonetheless He induced His devotee Arjuna to fight and become the cause of

victory. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was quite competent enough to spread His

name and mission all over the world, but still He depended upon His devotee

to do this work. ****Considering all these points, the most important aspect

of the Supreme Lord's self-sufficiency is that He depends on His devotees.

This is called His causeless mercy.**** The devotee who has perceived this

causeless mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead by realization can

understand the master and the servant."

 

 

I hope this helps.

 

I would also be very grateful to receive more quotations and sastric

statements on this interesting topic.

 

Do not take me for a religious chauvinist, but it strongly looks like only

Gaudiya Vaisnava theology with its acintya bheda-abheda provides for such

unique descriptions of the Lord's relations with living entities.

 

Your servant,

Madana-mohana das