RTW 2.10

Members of the so-called educated class ask, "If one is busy all the time rendering devotional service to Lord Kṛṣṇa, how is one to maintain himself and his family?" The so-called educated men think only a fool would be blind to his immediate physical needs and uselessly waste his time in devotional service so he could rise to the platform of a mahātmā. In fact, they think that a real mahātmā is he who strives to improve his material facilities from good to better. They say that it is because of the economists' poor planning that the world is facing a major crisis in food production. Both the economists and their critics should turn to the Bhagavad-gītā (9.22) and hear what Lord Kṛṣṇa has to say on this subject:

ananyāś cintayanto māṁ

ye janāḥ paryupāsate

teṣāṁ nityābhiyuktānāṁ

yoga-kṣemaṁ vahāmy aham

But those who always worship Me with exclusive devotion, meditating on My transcendental form—to them I carry what they lack, and I preserve what they have.

It is relevant to mention here how in the Western world one atheistic government tried to induce the innocent citizens to embrace atheistic views. The government sent their propagandists to proselytize the people in the villages. They asked the innocent villagers, "Why do you all go to church? What do you pray to God for?" The villagers simply answered, "God gives us food." The atheists then led the villagers to the church and asked them to pray to God for food. The villagers, of simple faith, began to pray to God. At the end of their prayers, the officials asked them if they had received food or not. Bewildered, the people shook their heads. The atheists then asked the villagers to pray to them for food, which they did. Immediately, with a look of triumph, the atheists brought out baskets of bread. The villagers became happy and thought that the government representatives were more responsive and productive than God.

Alas! If only a devotee of the Lord had been present there, the villagers' devotion would not have been molested. The neophyte devotees' tender devotion is always susceptible to damage. But bread, after all, does came from God, and not from the atheists. If those villagers had been more conversant with the scriptures, the atheists would never have been successful in their evil plan. The simple villagers were illiterate, and hence they had no idea that the Supreme Lord alone can give them food. If the earth did not produce grain, then the atheists, despite their advanced material science, could never make bread or other foods.

Many may claim that in the modern age material scientists have helped increase agricultural yield. But we fearlessly proclaim that it is precisely such atheistic views that have brought the world to the present acute food crisis. If we are not careful, the day will soon come when fruits will be reduced to just skin and seed, cows' udders will dry up, and paddy fields will grow only grass. The scriptures predict that these things will come to pass in the Kali-yuga.

In reality, the Supreme Lord is always protecting us. The inmates of a prison are being punished by the government, yet the same government feeds them and looks after them. Similarly, sinful, atheistic people, though punished by the Lord's illusory energy (māyā personified as Durgā-devī), are still fed and cared—for by the Lord Himself. And if the Supreme Lord feeds and maintains even the worst sinners, reprobates, and helpless souls, then what to speak of those who are eternally surrendered to His lotus feet? He is like a king who takes proper care of his subjects, but who especially looks after the needs of his near and dear relatives. Therefore it is not true that a comfortable life can be enjoyed only by those who perform ordinary pious activities, but not by the devotees, who are free from fruitive action and empirical knowledge. The devotees do not always suffer, for the Supreme Lord personally takes care of them. The devotees are the Lord's relatives and family members. Just as ordinary people feel joy and satisfaction when they look after the needs and comforts of their family, the Lord also feels pleasure when he tends to the well-being of His devotees. Thus the Supreme Lord is known as Bhakta-vatsala, "the maintainer of the devotees." But He is never referred to as Karmī-vatsala, "the maintainer of fruitive workers," or Jñānī-vatsala, "the maintainer of empiric philosophers."

The devotees of the Lord fully depend on Him for everything, and so whatever they do to maintain themselves and their family is favorable to devotional surrender. Such pure souls are always fixed in devotion, never wasting a moment in activities outside the Lord's service. They are not assailed by materialistic desires, because everything they do is for the Lord's pleasure. Hence they alone are truly peaceful.

The devotee himself arranges for all expenditures incurred in executing devotional service. To an ordinary eye, earning and spending money in this way may look like sense enjoyment. But when the devotee is devoid of all material desires, the Supreme Lord feels great satisfaction in fulfilling all his needs. Though the obedient son may never express his wants to his father, the loving father spontaneously tries to make his son happy and derives joy from doing so. Therefore the Lord's devotees never lack anything, even materially, and at the end of this life, after leaving the body, they are situated in eternal bliss. This is the transcendental wealth a devotee inherits. Others—the fruitive workers, empiric philosophers, demigod-worshippers, and mystic yogīs—cannot attain eternal bliss.

Although Lord Kṛṣṇa is equally disposed toward all, He is nonetheless especially concerned about His devotees' well-being. However, one should not conclude that the Lord is nepotistic. As He declares in the Bhagavad-gītā (4.11), ye yathā māṁ prapadyante tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham: "As all surrender unto Me, I reward them accordingly." Though the devotees are desireless and undemanding, the Lord always sees to their requirements. The devotees are ever-joyful upon receiving such grace from the Lord, and there is no offence or sin in accepting His benedictions.

Here one may pose a question: "Why do only the devotees of Lord Kṛṣṇa attain to His transcendental abode? After all, the demigods are simply energies of Lord Kṛṣṇa, and the scriptural conclusion is that the energy and the energetic are nondifferent. Therefore, why can't those who worship the demigods, Kṛṣṇa's energies, attain to the transcendental abode of the Lord?"

In reply, let us first refer to what Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself says on this subject in the Bhagavad-gītā (9.23):

ye 'py anya-devatā bhaktā

yajanti Śraddhayānvitāḥ

te 'pi mām eva kaunteya

yajanty avidhi-pūrvakam

Those who are devotees of other gods and who worship them with faith actually worship only Me, O son of Kuntī, but they do so in a wrong way.

People worship demigods to fulfill temporary material desires, and the results they achieve from such worship are equally temporary and material. But if one worships the demigods with the knowledge that they are the Supreme Lord's energies, then this worship is accepted as authorized, and gradually such a worshipper becomes a devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Godhead. But if one worships the demigods with the idea that they are on an equal level with Lord Kṛṣṇa, then such worship is unauthorized, because Lord Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, unequalled and unsurpassed. Therefore no demigod can exist independent of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Lord Kṛṣṇa is just like a king, and the demigods are like his ministers. The minister may sit on a throne and manage state affairs, but he is not independent: his powers come from the king.

By virtue of being the Supreme Absolute Truth, Lord Kṛṣṇa is eternally full of knowledge and bliss, beyond this material world. In the material world we often compare one person with another in terms of their position and power, and so we can rightly say that in comparison with human beings, the demigods are very highly placed. But there is no comparison between the Supreme Lord and the demigods, who are simply living entities belonging to the category as humans. Living entities, or jīvas, belong to the Lord's marginal potency, which emanates from His transcendental, internal potency. Therefore anyone who considers the demigods to be independent Supreme Gods is speculating and is totally wrong, because as jīvas they are invested only with temporary powers and position.

If a highly placed servant in the king's court is mistakenly honored as the king, that does not mean the king becomes the servant and vice versa. Similarly, Lord Kṛṣṇa is the only Supreme Person, and everyone else is His servant. The Brahma-saṁhitā clearly explains the relationship between Lord Kṛṣṇa and the demigods. There are numerous proofs that beings who are in the category of viṣṇu-tattva-supreme personalities on the level of Lord Viṣṇu—are the highest absolute beings. The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam confirms this truth by proclaiming that of all kinds of worship, worship of Lord Viṣṇu, or Kṛṣṇa, is the most elevated.

In India, the Hindus worship many gods—the sun-god, the moon-god, and so on. But the rituals of worship always begin with the worship of Lord Viṣṇu, and in the end everything is offered to Lord Viṣṇu's lotus feet because He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. A brāhmaṇa, a member of the priestly class, must start every ritual of worship by invoking Lord Viṣṇu as the Supreme Being; otherwise all his worship and rituals will be rendered useless. This same Lord Viṣṇu is, in fact, a partial expansion of Lord Kṛṣṇa, who is the ultimate cause of all causes and the original Supreme Lord. Therefore Lord Kṛṣṇa is the receiver of all oblations and sacrifices and is the ultimate benefactor of all worship. As He says in the Bhagavad-gītā (9.24),

ahaṁ hi sarva-yajñānāṁ

bhoktā ca prabhur eva ca

na tu mām abhijānanti

tattvenātaś cyavanti te

I am the only enjoyer and master of all sacrifices. Therefore, those who do not recognize My true transcendental nature fall down.

At the time of worshiping the demigods, the reason for placing Lord Nārāyaṇa, or Kṛṣṇa, on the throne as the supreme enjoyer of the ritual or sacrifice is that the various demigods also worship Him and offer Him sacrifices. Therefore He is the Lord and master of all sacrifices. The Supreme Lord fulfills the desires of the demigod-worshippers through the agency of the demigods, but because the demigod-worshippers are ignorant of the Supreme Lord's transcendental position, their unauthorized demigod-worship leads them to confusion and illusion.

Demigod-worshippers often try to rationalize their worship of the demigods by thinking, "I am a devotee of this demigod, so he will certainly shower his grace upon me and fulfill all my heart's desires. Hence he is indeed the Supreme Lord." But the authorized scriptures condemn such demigod-worshippers and their worship as unethical and philosophically wrong. Such worshippers cannot understand that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Lord, the ultimate source of all energies. The demigods are in fact manifestations of the Lord's energies, though to the illusioned demigod worshippers they appear to be the ultimate object of their worship and devotion. Those who persist in this misunderstanding will never attain the Absolute Truth. On the other hand, those who worship the demigods strictly according to scriptural injunctions quickly realize that their object of worship is subordinate to the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa. With this realization, their illusion is destroyed and they take shelter of Lord Kṛṣṇa's lotus feet.