How should we respond to stories of Krishna miraculously intervening in the life of some contemporary devotee?

Transcript

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question, if a devotee friend tells us some miraculous story about how Krishna intervened in the life of some other devotee and helped that devotee in our contemporary times how should we view the story? Should we believe the story that it is actually Krishna’s intervention or is it just a coincidence and should we share the stories with others where say somebody was going to be run down under a truck by an accident child and the child called to Narasimhadev and suddenly Narasimhadev appeared over there and picked up the child and took the child on the side if somebody tells stories like this they can be devotionally nourishing but at the same time they can also lead to sahajiyahic mentality let me take Krishna very cheaply and people who have not had such experiences may also start speaking such things just to gain attention in the devotee community as well as in the outside world so in principle Krishna can surely intervene in miraculous ways but if you look at Srila Prabhupada’s life he did not focus on miracles too much even though he spoke on a few occasions that Krishna came to him on the Jaladuta and encouraged him after those two heart attacks but Prabhupada did not say that that was the qualification for his preaching his qualification was spiritual master’s instruction and Prabhupada’s commitment to following that instruction so in general Srila Prabhupada focused on miracle in terms of devotee’s dedication to serve Krishna not in terms of Krishna doing supernatural things to enable devotees to to say facilitate the better lives of devotees or whatever things like that that means Srila Prabhupada’s miracle was that even at such an old age he was so vigorous and he could work so tirelessly with so little sleep and he could inspire millions of people all over the world that was Srila Prabhupada’s real miracle certainly Krishna empowered him in that but Srila Prabhupada did not focus on the point that Krishna somehow helped in some miraculous ways or if some senior devotees who are widely respected in the devotee community share a story like this then that is perfectly okay for us to repeat but if some relatively less known devotee especially if a devotee is not so known for being committed to the practices of devotional service and is not so committed to serving Krishna in a selfless way such a devotee starts having such dreams and claims then they may be true we don’t deny it but that is not the essence okay the person had the dream what happens after that so once a person came to Srila Prabhupada and told him that Prabhupada Krishna came in my dream yesterday Prabhupada said alright then serve him today so Prabhupada was quite nonchalant about the whole thing and he emphasized serve him today so the important thing is not whether Krishna comes in the dream or not the important thing is whether after waking up the dream we serve Krishna or not because our spiritual advancement is not going to happen by Krishna’s miraculous intervention to save us from troublesome situations or to enable us to do extraordinary things these are helpful they are valuable but they don’t lead to spiritual advancement so even if say some small child was being run down by a truck and Narasimhadev came and saved that child we could say that child is special but what made the child special was maybe the child has exalted parents and they are devotees and they pray to Krishna for help and so Krishna came or that child may have practiced devotional service in the previous life and made a lot of spiritual advancement and that’s why Narasimhadev intervened so in either case Lord Narasimhadev’s intervention in itself does not make that child advanced so actually after intervention if that child becomes inspired and transformed then that child will become a great devotee and similarly the same applies to other people also so if some miraculous interventions happen in some devotees life then the question is what is the effect of that on the devotional service of the person if the devotional service is intensified it is it becomes more committed and serious then that will lead to that person’s spiritual advancement and actually others if they also become similarly committed they will also make spiritual advancement even if they don’t have those miraculous experiences so that’s why we don’t have to give too much credence to these miraculous interventions of course if some devotee is speaking this then we shouldn’t directly criticize that devotee or reject the whole story as as false or concocted it’s a matter of balance we need to sensitively communicate to that devotee that the credibility of such stories need to be checked and if that devotee is not congenial to listen to such things then we just leave that place, we don’t circulate the theory to others and those who ask us about that story we can tell them that we need to have a healthy skepticism towards such stories because who knows whether they are true or not and if they are true, wonderful but what is the true effect of those stories that is what is most important so ultimately we want to go closer to Krishna we want to return back to Krishna and for that we need to develop love for Krishna so if some supernatural interventions from Krishna enable someone to become more devoted to Krishna then that is what is most important Krishna’s intervening is not as important as the devotees reciprocating and becoming more dedicated and we don’t need Krishna’s miraculous intervention for us to become more dedicated to Krishna so therefore as devotees we focus on the principle of pure devotional service is centered on what we are doing for Krishna not what Krishna is doing for us certainly Krishna will also do extraordinary things so Prahlad Maharaj’s greatness is not just that Lord Narasimhadev protected him and all those situations when Hiranyakashipu was tormenting him and trying to murder him Prahlad Maharaj’s greatness was actually that even before that throughout his life he was constantly remembering Krishna so Prahlad Maharaj is glorified not just because Lord Narasimhadev protected him but he is also glorified because he committed himself to devotional service so certainly there is a mystical side to bhakti Krishna can intervene in miraculous ways but that is not the focus that is not the essence of bhakti the essence of bhakti is our commitment to Krishna and that is also this sort of miraculous is not the thrust or the mood of Srila Prabhupada’s teachings Srila Prabhupada’s teachings is committing ourselves to the process of devotional service so therefore we shouldn’t circulate such stories unless they are coming from highly respectable sources and we shouldn’t if we shouldn’t of course hurt the devotee who is speaking these things but if we have that relationship we can gently tell the devotee to be a little bit more circumspect cautious while propagating the stories