What is Kindness to All Living Entities ? SBSTP

[Guest guest]

·

REAL WELFARE WORK

SRILA BHAKTISIDDHANTA

SARASWATI THAKUR PRABHUPADA---------------------

The following is an excerpt from

a conversation between Srila

Bhaktisiddhanta and Pandit

Shyamasundar Chakravarty, a

famous leader of the independence

movement in India and the then-chief

editor of the English magazine, Servant and

Vasumati.----------------------------

Pandit Shyamasundar Chakravarty: What

do you mean by the term, jéva-dayä, kindness to

other creatures? Is it not the offering of help in

the form of supplying food, clothes, etc.?

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur:

We shall offer such help to those who, after

having faith in God for several births, have begun

service to God. We should feed and clothe

the needy and do them other benefits in order

to make them serve Hari; otherwise, what is the

need of nourishing a snake with milk and bananas?

That is not kindness, rather it will entrap

men with mäyä or tempt them towards

nihilism. The kindness that Sri Chaitanya

Mahaprabhu has shown to the jévas eternally

absolves them from tritäpa, all of the three types

of distress. That kindness does not produce any

evil, and the jévas who have gotten it will not be

victims of the evils of this world. Rather, they

will swim in the nectarean ocean of love, eternally

enjoying its sweetness.·

— Shri Chaitanya’s Teachings p.306-307

[I_love_krishna_]

Honest questions...

 

___

We shall offer such help to those who, after

having faith in God for several births, have begun

service to God. We should feed and clothe

the needy and do them other benefits in order

to make them serve Hari; otherwise, what is the

need of nourishing a snake with milk and bananas?

____

 

How the heck do we know if the person we are trying to serve is really a soul who after several births has taken abode of hari?

 

which brings me to my next question...

 

Aren't all living entities the property of krishna, then if they are why do we have to ponder about who to serve and who to not serve?

 

these are honest questions really...

 

If love is unconditional, then aren't we tainting it by conditionality if we are limiting the service to an only few?

[Guest guest]

<<Aren't all living entities the property of krishna, then if they are why do we have to ponder about who to serve and who to not serve?>>

 

suppose you are a person not liberated yet,

and passing thru a jungle.

you have a gun, and a hungry tiger rushes towards you to eat you.

 

what will you do?

 

will you say, "here is a hungry tiger with krishna in it.

let it eat my body."

 

or

 

will you kill the tiger

and save your body

so that you have it to do your sadhana to get liberated?

 

another exaple:

 

a terrorist gang rapes you mother, wife, and daughter

in public. (this kind of things do happen.)

 

will you say, "oh, krishna and radha are doing conjugal love. what a divine lila!"

 

or will you fight to kill or get killed?

 

suppose you are witnessing your non relatives being raped.

what will you do?

 

krishna's advise is clear in the matter.

 

if one is confused, there is guru, and sadhus.

 

to not take up kshatriya dharma is to invite more terrorism.

 

jai sri krishna!

 

[I_love_krishna_]

But such things will never happen to me cuz i have krishna!

 

This would seem kind of delusional but for me, who has been saved like 4 times... I don't think its luck!

 

 

[Guest guest]

How the heck do we know if the person we are trying to serve is really a soul who after several births has taken abode of hari?

 

... I think it is assumed that one who shows the devotional spirit has such a history of pious accumulation in previous births. The import here is to intelligently encourage others so that there are no adverse affeects.

 

Aren't all living entities the property of krishna, then if they are why do we have to ponder about who to serve and who to not serve?

 

... Guest above answers this quite well I think. The Gita deals with this discussing the 3 modes of nature with respect to charity, sacrifice, etc. The Divisions of Faith is the chapter.

 

... The transmission of knowledge or activities is affected through qualified participants. The observer must also have faith or be a suitable candidate in order to assimilate the knowledge or gifts from a benefactor.

 

... Some people are like animals and cannot understand knowledge nor appreciate gifts. "Disrimination means realization" is one of Prabhupada's slogans.

 

If love is unconditional, then aren't we tainting it by conditionality if we are limiting the service to an only few?

 

There is often a difference between theory and practice. I suspect that on the higher levels of realization there is no disparagy.

 

But you can't provide the service anyway if it is not taken. I think Bhaktisiddhanta was pointing out that taking the material and not the spiritual is useless.

 

Guess Guest

[gHari]

In all cases, you surrender to Sri Krsna. It is not that we decide to kill the tiger or avenge the rape. At Kuruksetra, Lord Krsna had already decided who would live and who would die. It was not left up to Arjuna to decide these things.

[gHari]

Once long long ago, a Prince became afflicted with amnesia. He completely forgot who he was and wandered aimlessly for years through the streets of the city. Sitting, starving in puddles at the side of the road he drowned his sorrows with wine.

 

A kind man came by and offered him some food.

 

Another kind woman came by and offered him some clean clothing.

 

Then a priest came by, and recognizing him as the Prince, said "My good sir, your father has a great Kingdom. Let me take you there."

 

Which person is the kindest?

[I_love_krishna_]

Thank you for clearing that up Ghari

[Guest guest]

A very good & tricky question gHari prabhu!

 

In my opinion, the kindest is the priest because he helps the prince recognize his true identity.

 

By the way, what is the correct answer (if not mine)?

 

 

Once long long ago, a Prince became afflicted with amnesia. He completely forgot who he was and wandered aimlessly for years through the streets of the city. Sitting, starving in puddles at the side of the road he drowned his sorrows with wine.

 

A kind man came by and offered him some food.

 

Another kind woman came by and offered him some clean clothing.

 

Then a priest came by, and recognizing him as the Prince, said "My good sir, your father has a great Kingdom. Let me take you there."

 

Which person is the kindest?