The mercy of a real genuin pure devotee of Krishna

[Vigraha]

"Once Srila Prabhupada got a letter about a devotee in Australia who had been asked to leave the temple because he had a problem. Prabhupada was crying. He said, “This devotee has done so much service. You should fall at his feet and beg him to take up Krishna consciousness again. Why you are throwing him away? At least fall at his feet and beg him three times. If he still doesn’t come after that, then what can you do?” Prabhupada wanted every devotee to be treated very nicely and given every opportunity to remain in Krishna consciousness. At the same time, if someone was preaching mayavada philosophy or something, then Prabhupada had to take a strong action to protect the others". Jayapataka Swami:

[Murali_Mohan_das]

Does the same standard apply to the child-abusers?

 

 

"Once Srila Prabhupada got a letter about a devotee in Australia who had been asked to leave the temple because he had a problem. Prabhupada was crying. He said, “This devotee has done so much service. You should fall at his feet and beg him to take up Krishna consciousness again. Why you are throwing him away? At least fall at his feet and beg him three times. If he still doesn’t come after that, then what can you do?” Prabhupada wanted every devotee to be treated very nicely and given every opportunity to remain in Krishna consciousness. At the same time, if someone was preaching mayavada philosophy or something, then Prabhupada had to take a strong action to protect the others". Jayapataka Swami:

[Vigraha]

 

Does the same standard apply to the child-abusers?

 

A good question for the times we are in, The understanding of history is rarely understood in its own time and many would rather not even deal with that issue, especially now when human society and ISKCON are trying to understand how to deal with it, that’s why society has previously called such acts as ‘unspeakable,’ ‘don’t want to know about it,’ out of sight out of mind’ From a devotees prospective how are such ‘unspeakable’ acts and those fallen persons who have performed them dealt with? Can they be saved? And how are the children they abused helped and compensated, not only materially but spiritually (who they really are) so they stay with <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:place>Krishna</st1:place>?

It is obvious that the offender must fall genuinely at the feet of those he or she has offended and beg for forgiveness, and if rejected still pray for forgiveness until forgiveness comes for being responsible for possibly sending that child on a hellish path, which may mean going to hell to save those they have offended.

 

The offended must be helped first while the offender must beg for forgiveness without imitation and that could take a life time, especially in today’s untrustworthy climate. .

 

The point is EVERYONE can be saved by Lord Caitanya’s Movement – eventually, it all depends on commitment and honesty.

Srila Prabhupada once said if you love (perform devotional service) me then I can love you however, what is one loving (serving)? It is not the senses of the biological body or the whims of the mind of that body, it is the supersoul (krishna) within.

 

In other words what is a devotee embracing when a fallen soul comes back to <st1:place>Krishna</st1:place>? Is it the material body of a child molester or the soul trapped in that body?

 

If you see a disgusting child molester, his biological body and not who is trapped in that body then you won’t want to know about him or her. Such mercy of the devotees is a two way street. In other words the fallen child molester, murder, rapist etc has to surrender to <st1:place>Krishna</st1:place> and no longer be the slave to their biological ‘prison or body.' As Srila Prabhupada said, love is a two way street. If one is still performing sinful activity abusing children then he or she is not qualified to receive the mercy of the devotees and can never be qualified until one surrenders selflessly to Krishna..

 

There has to be spiritual advancement on both sides, especially the side of the child molester, he or she must beg for Krishna's mercy to understand that their material biological body or costume is not who they really are..

 

It’s a ‘dirty’ subject to write about and I can understand why people in the past never wanted to deal with it. Also devotees are dealing with these problems, for instance the prisons program is going on very auspiciously. Eventually some of them, of which includes child molesters, even fallen devotees, will become purified and will be embraced by the merciful devotees, don’t you think that is so? Devotees are not seeing their sinful body, they are seeing the soul within.

Also we have all possibly been trapped in this mahat-tattva dream of Maha-Vishnu since time immemorial, so who knows what bodies we have all had in the past?

The humble sage, by virtue of true knowledge, sees with equal vision a learned and gentle brahmana, a cow, an elephant, a dog and a dog-eater [outcaste].

 

 

 

PURPORT

 

 

A Krsna conscious person does not make any distinction between species or castes. The brahmana and the outcaste may be different from the social point of view, or a dog, a cow, or an elephant may be different from the point of view of species, but these differences of body are meaningless from the viewpoint of a learned transcendentalist. This is due to their relationship to the Supreme, for the Supreme Lord, by His plenary portion as Paramatma, is present in everyone's heart. Such an understanding of the Supreme is real knowledge. As far as the bodies are concerned in different castes or different species of life, the Lord is equally kind to everyone because He treats every living being as a friend yet maintains Himself as Paramatma regardless of the circumstances of the living entities. The Lord as Paramatma is present both in the outcaste and in the brahmana, although the body of a brahmana and that of an outcaste are not the same. The bodies are material productions of different modes of material nature, but the soul and the Supersoul within the body are of the same spiritual quality. The similarity in the quality of the soul and the Supersoul, however, does not make them equal in quantity, for the individual soul is present only in that particular body whereas the Paramatma is present in each and every body. A Krsna conscious person has full knowledge of this, and therefore he is truly learned and has equal vision. The similar characteristics of the soul and Supersoul are that they are both conscious, eternal and blissful. But the difference is that the individual soul is conscious within the limited jurisdiction of the body, whereas the Supersoul is conscious of all bodies. The Supersoul is present in all bodies without distinction.

[Sarva gattah]

 

"Once Srila Prabhupada got a letter about a devotee in Australia who had been asked to leave the temple because he had a problem. Prabhupada was crying. He said, “This devotee has done so much service. You should fall at his feet and beg him to take up Krishna consciousness again. Why you are throwing him away? At least fall at his feet and beg him three times. If he still doesn’t come after that, then what can you do?” Prabhupada wanted every devotee to be treated very nicely and given every opportunity to remain in Krishna consciousness. At the same time, if someone was preaching mayavada philosophy or something, then Prabhupada had to take a strong action to protect the others". Jayapataka Swami:

 

 

 

Prisoners and Jailers Dance Together

 

 

By Deena Bandhu dasa

Every year for Janmastami we have a big program in Agra Central Jail with very enthusiastic participation from the prisoners who make Krishna Lila dioramas. Unfortunately this year there was civil unrest in Agra do to rioting by a certain community and there was curfew. But several days later after things were peaceful, the superintendent of the Jail invited us for doing a wonderful program.

 

So on 12th September, the devotees headed by Jankinatha Prabhu, our Prison Preaching in charge, went to Agra Central Jail. His Holiness Radha Govinda Maharaja was the guest of honor accompanied by His Holiness Radharaman Maharaja and our Vrindavan co-President, Srestha Prabhu. Somehow Jankinatha also convinced Aindra Prabhu and his kirtan party to come, although he hardly goes anywhere outside of Braja.

 

 

 

 

 

When the devotees arrived, the Chief Jailer and five Deputy Jailers were standing outside the gates with garlands to greet the devotees. From behind the gates, we could hear an enthusiastic kirtan being performed by the prisoners themselves.

 

After opening the gates, they were greeted by about 20 prisoners doing kirtan with one playing dholak and another with harmonium strung over his shoulders. Aindra Prabhu was very impressed with the unique village melody they were chanting.

 

All the prisoners were standing with garlands in their hands, anxious to honor the devotees. The kirtan at the gate was so ecstatic, that the jailers, prisoners, maharajas, and devotees all began to all dance together.

 

 

 

They accompanied the devotees up to the small Sita Ram Mandir run by the prisoners on the prison campus. They also have pictures of Radha Shyamsundar, Krishna Balaram, Gaura Nitai, and Srila Prabhupada on their altar. They even do Guru Puja, kirtan, and Bhagavatam class every day at this temple. Today they requested His Holiness Radha Govinda Maharaja to offer aratika.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After aratika, they accompanied the devotees to the stage where Maharaja offered a garland to the picture of Srila Prabhupada. Then the two maharajas and Srestha Prabhu took their seats on the asana. Janakinatha Prabhu lead the prisoners in Mangalacaran prayers and meditations as you can see in the photos.

 

His Holiness Radha Govinda Maharaja addressed the prisoners and told them that Vasudeva carried Krishna from the jail and all the doors automatically opened up. In the same way if you will carry Krishna in your heart by chanting His Holy Name, then what to speak of the bondage of prison life, the bondage of this entire blazing samsara will be opened for you!

 

He told them how they were very fortunate that the ISKCON devotees are coming here to the jail and giving you the message of Caitanya Mahaprabhu as imparted by Srila Prabhupada. Then Radharaman Maharaja spoke and Aindra also briefly addressed the prisoners with translation to Hindi by Srestha Prabhu.

 

 

 

 

 

Aindra Prabhu then lead a tremendous kirtan for forty minutes. Finally the Chief Jailer and five deputy jailers were dancing together with two thousand prisoners. The chanting was so ecstatic, that both the Maharajas, Aindra Prabhu, and Srestha Prabhu left the stage and also began to dance along with the prisoners. Everyone was dancing and chanting in ecstasy. Too bad our photographer went somewhere and we don’t have the pictures, only you can see the prison ground as they were only half assembled.

 

After the kirtan ended, the Chief Jailer Sri S.K. Saxena took the microphone and exclaimed, “Today I have experienced beyond ananda, nay, beyond parmananda, nay, even beyond that! I have never in my whole life had such a wonderful program.

 

The devotees then distributed burn-your-finger hot halevah to the two thousand prisoners who were very eagerly taking the prasada that was sponsored by Srestha Prabhu. No one could believe that this was all happening in jail.

 

Even five local TV reporters came to cover the program along with all the other media. So it got quite a bit of coverage and people were able to see Srila Prabhupada’s preaching going on in the jail.

Prison Preaching Ki Jaya! Srila Prabhupada Ki Jaya!

 

In service of Srimati Vrinda Devi, Deena Bandhu dasa

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[kiranasa]

 

"The mercy of a real genuin pure devotee of Krishna"

That is your standard of genuin pure devotee, not Sastra's:

 

"My dear King, a devotee who has taken shelter of the dust from the lotus feet of the Lord can transcend the influence of the six material whips -- namely hunger, thirst, lamentation, illusion, old age and death -- and he can conquer the mind and five senses. However, this is not very wonderful for a pure devotee of the Lord because even a person beyond the jurisdiction of the four castes, in other words, an untouchable, is immediately relieved of bondage to material existence if he utters the holy name of the Lord even once." (SB 5.1.35)

[Sarva gattah]

 

That is your standard of genuin pure devotee, not Sastra's:

 

"My dear King, a devotee who has taken shelter of the dust from the lotus feet of the Lord can transcend the influence of the six material whips -- namely hunger, thirst, lamentation, illusion, old age and death -- and he can conquer the mind and five senses. However, this is not very wonderful for a pure devotee of the Lord because even a person beyond the jurisdiction of the four castes, in other words, an untouchable, is immediately relieved of bondage to material existence if he utters the holy name of the Lord even once." (SB 5.1.35)

 

Prabhu, your quote is very nice howver I think Vigraha's quote is Prabhupada's standard, he has only repeated it. Srila Prabhupadais not only a real genuin pure devotee of Krishna, but is the greatest preacher of the Vaishnava tradition our planet has ever known.