Narasimha Chaturdashi 2025 Does God care when we are suffering_ Philadelphia – Chaitanya Charan

Today on the sacred occasion of the Sajid Prathy, I will speak on the topic of Krishna’s or God’s love for us and our love for us. Specifically, I’ll talk about the topic of does God care? There’s so many things that go wrong in the world. So many things go wrong in our own lives. And when such things happen, it’s natural to get this question.

That even if we accept that godliness, does god care? And, lord Nasumvadev, he is god in whatever manifestations, conceptions of god are there across the world. For god, the same are there, you know, the angriest manifestations. So the lord is anger, is actually a demonstration that he cares. So, generally, we get angry about things that we care about.

And his his very anger, the very form that he’s manifesting all of anger, that indicates that he cares, that he cares deeply. So the lord in his form of Nasimadev is half man. He’s half loyal. He’s half man, half loyal, and full god. He’s fully manifesting divinity, especially in the divine man, Matter of divine power and divine, specifically, anger.

So I have recently written a small book on the Bhagavad Gita. It is prayers inspired good. Can all of you see this? Yes. So we will read something from this book and how it relates to the theme of how the Lord gains and what does it mean.

So basically in this book, I have taken verses from the Bhagavad Gita and use them as inspirations for offering prayers to the Lord. The Gita is not just a source of wisdom. The Gita is not different from Krishna. The Gita’s verses are like mantras. They are also like Krishna.

So you can offer prayers inspired on those verses. So I’ll take one such one such verse, and then we talk about the lord’s so basically, in this book, there’s one beautiful picture of deity of Krishna on each page. Then there is one prayer which is like a spiritual or emotional affirmation. Then there’s the Gita words, and then the translation of the Gita words in a poetic form, so that you can feel a more emotional connect with Krishna and with the words of the Gita. After all, the Gita is a song.

But sometimes the philosophy of the Gita, we may forget it is a song. And then there is a prayer offered based on that. So I will talk about this. So let’s so I’ll read something out. Do we have a second mic by any chance?

Second mic for people to ask your lead or something. Can you just set one up? No. That’s okay. No.

That’s okay. So anyway so you can repeat after me. You just repeat. My dear lord, let your smiling amid my suffering strengthen my faith Not weaken it. Not appeal it.

No. This is the context of the Bhagavad Gita. Krishna is just beginning to speak to Arjuna. Krishna starts speaking on two point eleven. This is two point ten.

So those of you comfort with Sanskrit can decide the words after me. The lord of the senses spoke with a gentle grace. A knowing smile played upon his divine face. Between the armies standing calm and bright, he so laced Arjuna was lamenting his bride. So this is Krishna and Arjuna in The Philippines.

And the key point in this verse is that the contrast. Arjuna is crying, Arjuna is in tears, And Krishna is smiling. So, yes, it can appear that we are facing so many challenges in life, and does Krishna care? Now we may have some challenges. If you look at the story of Prahlad and Narasimha, Prahlad faced far more challenges than what he faced.

It was not just challenges, it was threats threats to his life. And if you see, Prahlad could have had the reason to ask this question even more than us in many ways. Because for him, significantly, our problems may come from many sources. Generally, when we face problems in life, the problems are broadly because of three factors. The problem will come because of just the nature of the world.

Nature of the world means that if we live in a place which is very cold, and it complains so cold, it’s so cold, it’s so cold. Rather than say what you’re saying is so old, so old, so old. You get used to it. That’s how it is. Sometimes the problems may come because of the nature or more precisely, it could nature or behavior of people.

That sometimes there are people who trouble us, people who hurt us. So nature of the world that draws broadly in the very context is called as Adi Dalitl. Just the nature of the world. Then there is, nature of people or the behavior of people. So there could be mosquitoes which bite us, and there could be human beings who bite.

There are mosquitoes, there’s and then there’s mother-in-law. So we have problems coming from people around us. The nature of people or the behavior of people. And then, the third source of problem is the nature or behavior of ourselves. This is sometimes a hard thing to swallow.

But many times, if you see the problem that have come in our life, they have come because of our own actions. Sometimes we get angry over trivial things. Sometimes we end up indulging in things we should not be indulging. Sometimes we make some rash moves, and then we get into trouble. So these are broadly, they are are the ethnic.

So now when the sufferings come in life, naturally, we may turn to his god. Please help me. Please help me, oh lord. So when sufferings come because of the nature of the world, that’s one thing. We just have to okay.

I’ll do with it. Now in the case of Prahlad so this boy has talked with him afterwards. I don’t know what it was typical, teenage and all of a sudden is is going through that phase. The hormones are growing. One is trying to lead deal with peer pressure, trying to find one’s place in life.

It’s a difficult phase. I once I did I have done some writing seminars, attended some, I have conducted some also. So many times people say that, I would like to write, but I don’t have ideas. Where do you get ideas to write? Some people have too many ideas, but they don’t have the patience to translate the ideas into reality.

So this is a so one of the answers I give is if you have survived teenage, you have enough stories to tell for a lifetime. Especially if you have survived teenage in a culture that is radically different from our traditional culture, our family culture. This is a very tough period. So there are just a grow pains that are there. But if we consider the situation of Prahlad, his pains, we could say, among these three, which are the category of the pains you say?

Was it because of nature of the world? Nature of people, nature of others, his own behavior? Which was it? People. Sorry.

Second people. Second people. Kill him. And this is about to happen. It is probably for a child who’s growing up.

It’s the most psychological scarring thing that can be imagined. The person who’s supposed to be a protector, now sometimes the parents are just negligent. That itself is a problem. But if the parent is violent, now it is violent maybe because of okay. We drink alcohol, and we have alcohol abuse, these domestic violence, something like that.

That’s terrible. But disease, it is not, like, anger that is causing come from somewhere else, and this was the child gets caught in the crossfire. It is anger directing the child itself. And it’s knowingly, it’s not just like a rush of temper. We’ll talk about why it is not.

It it can be enormously scarring for a person, for a child who is growing up. The very person who’s supposed to be a protector is out to destroy me. So what kind of world is this? What kind of God will be there who would allow such a thing to happen in the world? So he could easily ever ask this question.

And now why was his father angry with him? Because of his devotion. So he could say that Prahlad Purra said that it is not because of the nature of the world that the problem is coming, it my prob the problems are solely because of my devotion to you. Isn’t it? It’s all not all, but the main thing Hiranyakashipu wanted was that, Prahlad, you stop worshiping Vishnu.

He considered the worshiping you to be like a disease. He says, this is a terrible thing. Stop it right away. See, for us, most of the times, we consider the relationship if we are practicing devotion. And our situation in the world.

So whatever situation you are going to do, if we practice devotion, we expect that the devotion should improve our situation. Now that in many ways, we should be expected to improve. We may in the past, it was more of a karma kanda when God, that oh, father, thou art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Give us our daily bread. So people in the past, we look for physical needs, physical improvement, to all in daily rains so that any harvest and bounty.

And now people may turn towards God, not so much for physical needs, but more for psychological needs. Oh, god. Please give me peace of mind. One of the most common reasons that we ask people, why do you come to a temple? It is not many people come because of the love for god.

Nothing wrong with it. It’s to appreciate whatever reason you come. You come for peace of mind. And that’s also improvement. It’s a big improvement.

You know, it’s, it’s very you can’t just buy peace of mind with a pen. So we expect that our devotion should improve our worldly situation. Now in the case of Prahlad, his devotion itself is the cause of the worsening of his worldly situation. Now when this happens, you know, we practice bhakti. You know, Shiva Prabhupada use a very wonderful, definition of Krishna consciousness.

It’s how he says he asked, how will you know that we are Krishna conscious? So he says, if you come in from the temple, come in the temple, come in from the deity. And if you feel that deity is asking us, Krishna is asking us, what are you doing for me? What are you doing for me? We are all meant to be of loving service to the lord.

So, naturally, the lord will ask, what are your self serving doing? So if we have that mood, if we feel that, that Krishna is asking, what are you doing for me? That is Krishna consciousness. Now many times when people come to a temple, their question is God, what are you doing for me? I have this problem, I have this problem, and I did this pooja, and I did this stuff.

It’s time for you. It’s time for you to pay up now. Come on. Do something. So normally, we expect our devotion to improve our situation.

And if even the situation does not improve, we get agitated. We start thinking, should I even be worshiping god? The question will come out, does god will kill you? So problems are coming and problems are coming because of our devotion itself. And shouldn’t the lord be protecting us?

It’s a it’s it’s it’s a obligation of the lord. You should protect me. Why is he not protecting me? Because the question comes, does the lord care? So Prabhala could naturally have asked this question.

And it is natural for any person when they practice in the bhakti to get the question. So let’s look a little bit at the prayer order. So do we have another mic? Nah. It’s gonna take some time.

No. I’m not touching on that. So maybe someone has a mic in their throat. Somebody will hear you loudly. Oh, please.

Can you read the first Python? Oh my lord. Many are the times when I feel lost and lonely, confronted with the perplexities of life. At those times when nothing I do seems to be working, I cannot help but wonder, do you, oh lord, know my plight? Yes.

So now we will theoretically know that Krishna is permissioned. Krishna knows everything. But does Krishna know my situation right now? And Krishna knows that he came for the situation. So Prahlad is being threatened.

He he was practicing his devotion, and he was not even trying to impose his devotion with his father. It was only for his father to ask some questions. That’s the time he would speak. He wanted to learn in your school, and he would speak sublimely sweet points. And those sublimely sweet points would drive his father into a wild rage.

So and his father, it’s like the the story that we undergoes, we will go over the story and especially focusing on the climax and on the simulated audience. So how things evolve at that particular time. So essentially, we see the descent into into depravity, into brutality. Redekishi po is a brutal person, but even everybody, no matter how bad they are, they have some boundaries. That, say, if somebody’s a criminal, they say I want to rob, but, you know, I don’t want to hurt anyone.

Or even somebody’s also robbed, they say, I don’t I don’t wanna kill anyone. You know, somebody’s a killer. Okay? I will kill, but I am not going to be treated. So, everybody has certain boundaries.

So, initially, when Hiranyakrishnan sees that his son is, is talking about bhakti, He Hirad Dinushbo has defined his life by being anti God. He’s not just an atheist, he’s a anti theist. Antitheist. His purpose of life okay, he thinks that Vishnu is so scared of him, Vishnu has disappeared. So I can’t find Vishnu anywhere.

If I find him, I’ll destroy him. But till I can’t destroy him, I will destroy all signs of worship of him. And that’s why he sends his demons to destroy all the sacred releases, all the Yedges Thales. Right? Yedges over here.

So, watching that again, remembering this past in this past, what he said is, destroy all the signs of worship of him. That and, like, eight people he either he has a great ego, and people who have a lot of ego, what happens, the one thing they cannot tolerate is being ignored. You have a person who has a lot of ego, and they come to a particular place, and nobody notices them. They are enraged. So he now he has a lot of ego.

He wants to throw around his weight and dominate people, so he thinks Vishnu is like that. So he thinks that if I stop the worship of Vishnu, if I completely end the worship of Vishnu, then Vishnu, because of his ego, will come out from wherever he is. And then I can catch him and I can kill him. That’s why he stops all the worship. And then, his situation is he stops the worship of Vishnu practically all over the universe, and then he finds that very worship of Vishnu which is stopped all over the universe, that worship is happening in his own home.

So this is infuriating for him. And he thinks that, so, he thinks, okay, my child is a small child. So, so, normally, what we try to do is that if we like someone, then even if they do something bad, we try to give them the benefit of the doubt. And that’s how it should be, that if we like someone and, say, they eat too much food. Maybe we have prepared meal for four people and they eat the meal of three people.

And then one person has to provide the remaining three people have to share one person meal, or maybe they have a special dessert and they eat too much of the dessert. Then if we dislike that person, we’ll say, so put a clatter. No sense control. But if we like that person, we’ll say, oh, maybe maybe he was very hungry. Maybe he didn’t do that there was limited food.

We’ll try to give them the benefit of the doubt. So generally, what happens, we try to find the blade somewhere else. So like that, Viratne Krishna says, okay, my son is nice, but maybe some of these Vaishnavas have somehow come and infected him. So although he has tried to remove all devotion, but he still know that some people still are practicing Bhakti. So he first warns his students, his teachers, you should watch out.

You should not let my children, my child associate with bad people. So for him devotees are bad people. Not associate. Not let them associate. And then he lets them off with the warning.

Second time it happens. Again, Prahlad said the same thing. This time he’s angrier. This knocks Prahlad down. Oh.

And then there is the there is the there is the there is the there is the there is the there is the the the the sequence is described actually differently. This could refer to how different Kalpas things happen. But the point is that slowly, he starts recognizing. First he gets he get he blames the Vaishnav also coming. Then he blames his teachers, his students’ teachers.

You are not taken care of. And then finally, he says, this child this child is the problem. And then, there is a difference between anger and danger. So anger generally is hot headed. When we are angry about something, it arises from the circumstances and it stays for some time.

Anger is hot headed. But what Hiranyakashipu exhibits is not anger. It is hate. Hate is cold blooded. It is not just one moment of anger.

I said, oh, this Palla needs to be killed. We always speak like that. I’ll kill you if you do this. One devotees suddenly showed me, that the child had run run away, and then the child came back. And then I was talking with the child, and it was just a small misunderstanding.

The child had just taken too seriously. The parents so the parent, the father showed me a small clipping, and they were laughing. So there’s a there’s a mother. Her daughter is running away, and she’s a Christian now. She’s praying to God.

Oh, God. Please let her be please let my child be safe, and let her come home safely so that I can kill her. So that idea here is that sometimes you may use the word, I’ll kill you. So that’s it’s a very non literal sense. It’s an expression of anger.

But in this case, it was real. He said that, you know, if a part of the body gets infected, then we need to cut off the part, otherwise everything will get infected. So he said like that, prala deshnik abhikamit. And therefore, I need to kiss him. So see, here, what he’s doing is, sometimes when we do something bad, we might just do it in a rage.

So when anger comes up, anger just sidelines our intelligence. Sidelines means this put pushes aside. But when aid comes, aid doesn’t sideline the intelligence. Aid recruits the intelligence. Recruit the intelligence means we use our intelligence to make a plan how to do it and how to justify it or something.

This is where we rationalize. And if you heard the word rationalize? So when we rationalize, what happens? We tell rational lies. When we rationalize, we get rational lives.

So he’s justifying the killing of his own son by saying this is like a disease, that the disease has to be removed. So then, it tries to kill, I was talking earlier about boundaries. Even bad people have some boundaries. One of my friends is awarded for a jail. So he says, even more prisoners.

If the prisoners come to jail because of some child abuse, even prisoners don’t like children. Then the child those are child abusers are kept in some kept in some they’re kept in seclusion, solid confinement. Otherwise, prisoners will harm the person there. So everybody has boundaries. So even Hirany Kishipu has some boundaries initially.

He thinks this is my son. I cannot kill him. So he tells others to do the dirty work. He says, he has assistance. You kill him.

Now they all try to kill him, but none of them succeed. And often, this is seen as a miracle. And yes, it is. That the miracle is he’s thrown down a mountain and nothing happens to him. He’s kept at a burning fire.

He is bitten by snakes. He’s put in the path of tramp feeding elephants, and none of those efforts, they endure. So that is a miracle. However, if you look at the Vaishnav Achera’s commentaries, we look at the Maghdi tradition’s commentary, That is not the biggest miracle. See, miracles are basically broadly, they could be of two kinds.

One is things that happen to us. Things that happen to us. To us means that something happens. So here, he’s threatened, and he’s he’s no power for lunges, a small five year old boy. And the five year old boy, how can he defend against anyone?

He’s scared. He survives. So that’s a miracle. But if you look at the Bhakti tradition’s commentary, it is the bigger miracle is not his safety. That his safety is definitely miracle.

But the bigger miracle is the things that happen through us. That the bigger miracle is his his purity, his determination, his devotion. The technical word is fidelity. Fidelity is faithfulness. That despite all this happening, his devotion is not cheap.

And that is the bigger miracle. When Srila Prabhupada would sometimes be asked, how many can he perform some miracles? And Prabhupada would often point to his some of his disciples, and he would say, these are my miracles. But what is the miracle over here? The biggest miracle that matters is the change of the human heart.

There can be many miracles that you can have. Somebody can make somebody can make an object disappear, somebody can make an object appear. Many different kind of miracles can happen, and they have some manner. But the biggest miracle is the change of the human heart. The change of the heart means what?

From a person’s heart is directed towards selfishness, towards ego, towards dominating others, and that person becomes selfless, gentle, caring. That’s the change of heart. That’s the miracle which will actually make bring real happiness in our hearts, and and that’s the miracle that will bring happiness in the world. So the miracle from the Bhakti tradition is not just that Prahlad survived all these attacks. That is true.

It’s also that Prahlad’s devotions are vital. Prahlad’s fidelity to the lord, his faithfulness to the lord was unshaken. Not even once did he have second thoughts that I should worship the lord of god. And that is the glory of Shiv Prabhupada also. Shiv Prabhupada came to America.

In many ways, everything that could go wrong went wrong. You know, if some people believe a lot in faith and some people believe in science, you know, okay, this is educated, then God wants me to do this is educated, then God wants to do that. Now, sometimes that science can tell us something, but if you look at the science of what happened, there’s so many signs for Prabhupada. Right on his journey, he got a heart attack. Hey.

This is why God doesn’t want me to do this. And then after that, everywhere he went, he went he went in Pennsylvania. People the host treated him like a curiosity object, not a spiritual teacher. He wanted to hear it from him. And he got to He seemed very interested in becoming a devotee.

And Prabhupada noted to one of his his patrons in India, his Bangladesh in India, saying that he may well, become the first American Vaishnava. And then what happened, this person went on he took he had a he used to take drugs before he had a, drug and relapse, and he went crazy and came to attack robot. And there was no miraculous nazimuddin coming like that teleported robot. Robot is to view the peace. And when left, it was not just a physical threat that he survived.

No. It is much more the amount of demoralization that supported that time. And the person who is supposed to become a devotee, that person flips and becomes crazy and attacks. Naturally, he could have raised the question, could have asked the question, well, is this mission gonna work, ma’am? These people have a change?

No. The fact that Bhopal did not give up his mission, that itself is a miracle. Even if Bhopal had not succeeded, the fact that Bhopal built hundred day temples and owe 70 boats and inspired millions of people to become devotees, that is definitely miraculous. But the fact that Shri Prabhupada’s devotion survived all their deaths, that is also miraculous. So Pradhan’s devotion surviving is a miracle.

And when the threats come in our life, will that question come, does God care? So when the whole world seems to be screaming to us, no, He doesn’t care. Now, if God had been caring, why would Prabhupada subject to such a danger? Why would Prabhupada have his prospector, his pride will turn against him and ready to attack him? So when the world’s is world’s evidence seems to be screaming to us, no one doesn’t care.

At that time, are we ready to turn away from the world? Are we ready to hear a source beyond the world? So that is what Parnell wants to read. Let’s look at the next paragraph. Would anyone else like to read?

Sure. Yes, please. Yeah. If you if you do know is that the one you want me to read it? Yes, please.

Yes. If you do know my suffering, then why do you not step forward to stop it? If instead of stepping forward to help me, I came to know that in those moments, you were smiling while I was suffering. Oh, Lord. How would I be able to maintain my devotion to you?

Thank you. So, basically, here, Arjuna is suffering and Krishna is smiling. So if we come to know that when we are going through something terrible, terrible situation, then the lord is smiling. Can you even get it? How can you be smiling with the situation?

If somebody goes to a therapist and the person is breaking down and the therapist is smiling, you know, probably the client will sue the therapist for emotional wounds, emotional injury. Isn’t it? How do the child smile, mister Chaim? So the so at such times, you know, when the world’s evidence doesn’t seem to support an emotion, there’s a time we need to look beyond the world. We need to look at scriptures.

We look at the times in scriptures when there is an interaction between the peoples and the law. Because Krishna has arranged this world in such a way that the evidence of the world will always be mixed. That sometimes the evidence of the world will strengthen our faith in God. And sometimes the evidence of the world will question our faith in God. Why?

Because this world is made for those souls who do not want to acknowledge anything to do with God. And when I was introduced to Bhakti Yoga thirty years ago, I started, actually, I was introduced to Bhakti my childhood, but I was reintroduced to the philosophical language in Bhakti, to Shiva Prabhupada’s teachings. So I started to get really into this I started sharing about it with all my friends, relatives. So uncles told me, I have a very good relationship with God. I have not seen him ever go to the temple or doing the other person.

What do you mean by good relationship? He says, our relationship is mutual non interference. He’s happy there. I’m happy here. So some people say that I don’t have anything to do with God.

I don’t need God for anything. So for people that, and this God care, I don’t care if God cares or not. This we can be apathetic towards it. But for those who are a bit emotionally minded, so so people may come to such conclusions because the world’s evidence will never be completely unambiguous. So that is saying that believers need no reasons, non believers accept no reasons.

So the word is such that believers, those who have faith, they will have experiences from within their hearts and confirm their devotion for them. And those who are non believers, they will come up with some explanations for somehow that actually just take explanation how the system is going. So that’s how things will work. So that’s why we cannot rely on our hands alone for the evidence of god’s presence, god’s strength, god’s love. But in history, there are some times when this veil of Maya rings, and then the Lord appears.

And the Lord’s love manifests in the world. And those are the times that we need to dwell on. Those are the times which should become the homes for our heart, the homes for our thoughts. And it is by remembering those incidents that we gain strength, we gain perspective. Now, hybrid tradition has such concept of founding stories.

So for example, the Jewish tradition, the journey of the people to the chosen land, That’s the story that it derives straight from. In our tradition, it is a Rama and the Mahabal, it is a Mahabotam. Why? Because in daily history, we may not see God’s hands all the time. But there are some times in history when God’s hand is seen.

And those who are to be devoted, they need to be able to remember those times. And that’s how our beings are staying under nature. So can we go to the next part? Yes. Oh, like, today?

Any other lady? Question, please? Yes, please. What is this? Bless me.

Bless me. Bless me to remember, oh lord, that you are never smiling because I am suffering. It is through my suffering that I’m becoming more open So Krishna is not suffering, smiling because we are suffering. Krishna is smiling because, say, a a if there’s a doctor. And sometimes the doctors, they can they can observe someone, and they can say, oh, you know, you got this corrugates, you got this disease, you got this disease.

But the patient is in denial. I don’t have any disease. So then, the if the disease symptoms are more so slightly, and that’s when the patient comes to doctor. Please, I need your help. So the doctor smiles not because the patient is okay, but because the patient has come to a place where we will get cured.

So it is that when we are going through difficulties, it is not that Krishna doesn’t know our difficulties. We can read this once again. Okay. If we you my lord. You know my pain.

You know my pain. You feel my pain. You feel my pain. And you want to heal my pain. And you want to heal my pain.

And you want to heal my pain. So the lord is dead, not just somewhere up there, high in the sky, far away. The lord is in here with us in our own hearts at the bottom. So he knows what we are doing. And if he’s not intervening, that that there’s a reason for that.

Now what is that reason? We’ll talk about that, and I’ll conclude. So this last part will take two hours. But not really. So basically, now what we’ll talk about is this one graph which is four quadrant diagram which explains this concept.

That is love and then is anger. Now, love and anger, can both of them go together? There are four possibilities, you know. If there is no love at all and there is no anger, then there is simply apathy. You know, I don’t care for you, and because I don’t care for you, I don’t care what you do also.

Once I’ve tried to do mediation between two people, and one of them said, I know you are handling it to other person. No. I’m not handling it. Anger is an expensive emotion, and I have decided you are not worth it. If somebody starts a mediation like that, that mediation is not very likely to be successful.

But, if we don’t care for a person at all, it’s apathy. Now if there is no love and there is anger, then that is envy. So there is love no love at all. There is eight. The opposite of love would be eight.

Especially with anger, then that is n o d. Now as far as Krishna is concerned, Krishna is never in this category. Krishna always loves everything. So we are talking not from our love perspective. We are talking about the lord’s love.

We are talking about the does the lord care? Does the lord care? So this I can tell you your application. I’m the beneficiary of all living beings. We’ll talk shortly about how.

He’s a beneficial, even of inner negation. Otherwise, I didn’t even know. Now now if there is love and there is no hint, no. That is the sweet expressions of love are there. So when we are in someone who cares for us, selling these cool sweet ambiance.

Now we could talk about romantic love, where there’s a lot of, emotions and hormones and all that. But and there is not not those hormonal kind of infatuation, but here, there’s a deep sense of ease that is there. You call it serenity. Wherein there is love, and there is nothing to agitate them on. We’re just being we are happy with being with that person.

So that is serenity. And there are times when there is love and desire, and that actually shows the intensity of the love. So now love can be seen in both ways, through the absence of anger and through the presence of anger. Say for example, somebody has done something which hurts us a lot. But because we care for that person, we don’t yell at the person.

We try to stay calm. That shows love. Normally, we’ll get very angry when we yell at the person, but because that person is very important for us, we try to stay calm. So that’s one aspect. Now suppose somebody is an suppose a child is child is done something Now scolding should never be the only expression of love.

Then what happened when love is not seen at heart? But the thing is that it is only because I care for you that I’m happy. Good. So sometimes you’ll be angry with the child, you say, for I’m gonna have some mischief or if somebody’s hurting our child. You know, we’ll be angry with that person.

That would also be a sign of doubt. The point is that in the world, when Krishna’s love is there, Krishna when a devotee is going to suffer him, it is not that Krishna does not care. So most of the times, that love is seen through the serenity of Krishna. Most of the times what happens is Krishna is serenely. Now now we talk about Krishna is serene, and there are a few times in history Krishna is peaceful.

That does it mean Krishna doesn’t care? Well, not exactly. Krishna cares, and Krishna shows his care by enabling us to also experience serenity even in the middle of the end, even in the middle of the peak. So this is the amazing thing of bhakti that in bhakti, we say, what is God doing for me? Does God care?

By bhakti, it’s not just emotion, it’s not how much we dance in kliptuls. It is not art how much we roll in ecstasy. A bhakti is actually how much is our heart centered How much do our thoughts find their own in Krishna? Our thoughts’ own is in Krishna. What does it mean?

See, we may for various jobs, we may go to various places, but Yeah. You can. Yeah. Various, jobs, we may go to various places, but as soon as the job is done, we come back home. So like that, we may have to think of various things in the world, but as soon as the things are dilated, our thoughts come back to you.

So for us, when we practice bhakti, what happens is almost mystical, there’s an internal effect of bhakti and there’s an external effect of bhakti. The internal effect of bhakti will be that we will find that we are peaceful even in chaos. That if we start practicing Bhakti, how do we know Krishna is carrying the external problems are there? But in the past, those problems would have shaken us, shattered us. Now I start practicing bhakti.

Those problems would seem to affect us so much. And that is Krishna acting from within our heart to calm us. Now Krishna can do that. Krishna will do that, but we need to turn towards him. We need to fix our mind.

We need to remember him. And that’s what I said is the miracle. So was Lord Rasimhadev not helping for Allah till all the time when he was being prosecuted? Yes. Dharana Simadev was there.

And it was because of the Lord’s presence in Prahlad’s heart that Prahlad could stay calm. Prahlad was not affected. So this is something which like, earlier I said, people feel peaceful when they come to the temple. How does that happen? Actually, we’re coming closer to the presence of Krishna.

So essentially, when we grow spiritually, when we habituate ourselves with remembering Krishna, regularly we practice bhakti, we come to temple, we do our mantra jamba, we do our kija, what happens? Initially for us, the world is very big, and Krishna is very small. And in fact, this is what Indra says in his prayers. He says, we used to worship you before, but this Hernikashi was terrorizing us, and that’s why we have to stop worshiping. But now we have removed this terror of Hiranyakashipu, we’ll start worshiping you.

That means since worship was quite condition the conditions are not good, I don’t worship. So the void is very big, the worldly conditions are very big. But as we grow spiritually, as we become advanced devotees, the world becomes small and Krishna becomes big for us. So this was the situation of Indra, and this was the situation of Brah Lad. And so although there was a huge threat for Prahlad, for him the world was small.

Kriya Krishna was pleased with him and he was worshiping Krishna. So if the world is big, then what happens? The world’s ups and downs, they also become very big. Sometimes our mind makes them even more big. But if the world is small, then the world’s ups and downs also become very small.

So that’s how, as devotees, if we practice Bakfi regularly, we’ll find that our resilience will increase, that life will still batter us with problems, but we won’t be that affected by the problems. The problems will not shake and shatter us to that degree because we will have a correction with our lord. And that, the lord is the bigger reality. The lord has a bigger plan. So when we understand Krishna is the bigger reality, Krishna the world is smaller, Krishna will take care of things in the world that he knows.

When a devotee if he has the devotional vision, what happens is, I understand that my vision is a finite vision. And this finite vision is not the final vision. The finite vision is not the final vision. So right now, within my finite experience, I may not be seeing Krishna intervening and helping you. But this is not the final mission.

There are times when Krishna is helping the past. There are times when Krishna will help me in the future. Right now, let me not make my present experience the basis of all my decisions. So Krishna, when he doesn’t seem to be active, he doesn’t seem to be doing anything. He doesn’t seem to be concerned.

He’s still active, and he’s giving us strength and certainty from within. Krishna says, if you become conscious of me, you will pass over the obstacles of the world. What does that mean? The world along with its ob along with its obstacles will become smaller. And by my connection with you, you will come big enough to go over those problems.

So Krishna’s now is seen by the peace that we experience when we go through the difficulties. When you’ve seen that I have both here. So in 2000 I was in 11, I was once really chanting in one of the temples in India. And when I was chanting, I didn’t notice, it was somewhere at those time, I I would not use crutches. I used to wear a brace.

And I had a brace and a walking stick. So I was walking, and I didn’t notice that there was a little water over there somewhere. And my leg went by the water, and I slipped. I slipped, and I completely fell. And this leg was already very limp because of, polio, and I had osteoporosis and other things.

And when I fell, it was a minor fall, but a severe fracture. Yes. Several hours of surgery had to be done. And I have an old friend who’s named Eastwick. He said to me, he wrote the name and said that he was saying, you were in the temple of God.

You were chanting the news of God. And at that time, you had an accident. So what is the use of your worshiping God? So, actually, that was one of the most transformative experiences for me. I I fell at a terrible pain.

I tried to chat, but I just couldn’t focus on the chat. See, Bhakti is not mechanical. So, one month, what the way I connect with Krishna the most is through the Bhagavad Gita. Reciting the Bhagavad Gita as well says, remembering the Bhagavad Gita as well says, contemplating. Bhagavad Gita also, they’re not just then then I stopped chatting again.

The pain just came back. And initially, we thought it was not a very big fall. We thought it was a problem. But, the pain kept persisting. Then we went to, doctor.

The doctor’s immediate So now I was reciting the Vedas verses and experienced so much relief. Now I now I was chanting the Vedas verses, not out of devotion to Krishna, but out of wanting to avoid the pain. I hope one day I’ll chant my devotion. But the point was, and I told him this, see that same same experience which is from an atheistic perspective will be, what’s the point of worshiping God? In the temple of God, while chanting the ring of God, you fell down and you had accident.

But that same experience from an external perspective and internal perspective, is the inner part. Now, that was one of the experiences that convinced me about the reality of Krishna consciousness to elevate oneself, elevate us above our body situation. That doesn’t mean we get ourselves into pain unnecessarily. It’s not that we put ourselves in pain and say, let us see if I can remove it, so I can go walk. We’re not like that.

But the point is that Krishna may not seem to be intervening, but Krishna is intervening. So, Pabrila, the fact that Krishna was there was what enabled him to stay fixed in his devotion. And there are times when Krishna manifests his anger. So finally, when Hiranyakrishiko decided enough is enough, what happened? He sent his son back to school and said, let’s see.

Maybe this is just a phase that he can go through. Some people think maybe practice Bakhtin’s an impatuation. They go away. So maybe this is a space. So but then what happened was his teachers came back and said, k, the oh, his instead of his face going away, all our students are going away.

He has infected all our students. Everyone has become a rego kid. Now his father said, now I will take matters in my own hands. He wanted to not just kill Prahlad himself, he first wanted to kill Prahlad’s spirit. And therefore, he said, where is your Vishnu?

You claim to worship him, Dhanu Gharazi, saying he’s everywhere? Is he here in this pillar? Which the problem with the world is that often the foolish people are super confident. And the bigger problem with the world is that the wise people are super doubtful. So atheists are confident there is no God.

And theists are worried, will God heal the world heal the world? So, Girindika, she was super confident, she slammed the pillar. That form that had never been seen before, that form was seen. Namrogam Namah Anushan, nor animal, nor human beings. I I’m getting away with it.

The Lord’s anger was such that he would have immediately heard Pernani Kishipo part. But he was waiting. He was waiting till it was sunset. And when it was sunset, Hiranyakashiva thought, you know, see, in this particular battle, Hiranyakashiva was smaller. Normally, the odds are against the devotees.

But in the simudhi manifested, he manifested in a giant form. To the place between the inside and outside of the room. And there, just now he was dragging him along and he was just trying to get out. Now Viranya Kashipu had wanted to break the spirit of Pranayama, and the Simadev broke the spirit of Niranayama. Because for Hirany Kashipu, he said, I am so powerful, I can control everyone.

And the Lord came in, but before he came there, he was completely dominated. It’s like, you know, sometimes through boxer, somebody, I’m a champion boxer. And there, one boxer catches the other boxer in one deadly group. Another boxer So Yes. Operation successful.

Patient initiated. So now, lord, but But he was very angry, but that anger was not towards the soul of. And it was Prahlad also, he he saw his father being killed. He did not he did not bring joy. Oh, you tried to kill me.

Now you have been killed. And nor did he feel remorse. Oh, my father has been killed. Dad, what is his emotion? His emotion was concerned.

Because there would be joy. But you try to now you try to challenge me, my devotion. That’s what that will do. Sometimes, some devotees get pleasure in some bad happening to those who are opposed to God. And God is not getting that joy.

And at the same time, his emotion, people will think because of me my father was killed. His emotion are not all self centered. The emotion was centered around his father’s. He said, he did a pray to him, Narsimhadev, And what did the Lord say? That actually that 40 generations of a devotee’s family are all unified because the person becomes a devotee.

So for the Lord, although he was angry with Hiranyakashibu, that anger was not a venom. Hiranyakashibu thought The Lord smiling joyfully on him. The Lord listening profusely. The Lord seeping him on his lap. The Lord putting his hand on his head.

Then the Lord getting up and putting Prahlad on the throne is you who will be the ruler. It still remains small. The Lord will remain big. So there are times in our life when we will see Krishna’s hand in our life. We’ll see things happen in such a way, yeah, this this couldn’t have happened without Krishna.

There is synchronicity, there is what’s called serendipity. Things don’t happen. And there are things like that have happened in this group. So when those happen, we gain conviction from those witness that actually, Krishna is there and Krishna cares. And because Krishna cares, that is why he is he it’s not that he cared at that time, he doesn’t care now.

He always cares. So let me remember your smile, Hamid, by suffering, as a sign of your confidence and competence that you can tackle in any and every problem no matter how gigantic it seems to you. So last sentence, would I Yes. Not that the Lord doesn’t care. If we are suffering and the Lord seems to be smiling, that doesn’t mean he does not make an animus.

He doesn’t care. It just means the lord is having some plan. He’s taking his time. He is capable. The lord could have been killed in a negative way.

The lord let this time pass so that the world would know the glory of the beloved. Sometimes it is seen through the cheap actions that happen in the world, many times it is seen through the actual changes that happen within our heart. In how our heart stays steady in the love of our Lord. So let’s summarize. I talked about three main points.

I talked about how we understand that lords love as does Krishna care? Does the lord care? That was the topic. When we were discussing this, normally, when we practice bhakti, you know, we have a certain expectation. What is God doing for me?

When we go through life, we practice devotion, and we expect it to improve our worldly situation. And that’s a reasonable expectation. How sometimes, instead of improving the worldly situation, what happens is, our situation may worsen. And at that time, how do we process that? So if we look at the world itself, the world’s evidence can sometimes strengthen our faith, because some things happen which can strengthen our faith.

But many things can happen in the world which can weaken our faith. So that’s why we cannot rely on the world for our faith. Then what what do we do? We turn towards scripture. And there we discuss the divine dynamic that there is a dynamic of love and anger.

So the Lord is never up having apathy there. There’s no love and no anger. The Lord never has enmity towards anyone. So these two are not true at all. And what is true?

That the Lord when his love is there, but there doesn’t seem to be any anger, there doesn’t seem to be any concern, that is where the Lord gives us serenity. The Lord helps us to experience an almost mystical calm, even when the world is a turbulent place. So this is where what happens? We are here and initially the world is big and God is small for us. But eventually what happens?

The as we grow spiritually eventually what happens is that the world becomes for us, the world becomes small, and Krishna becomes big for us. So this is the situation of. This is a a serious devotee. This is the situation of Indra who represents more of a materialistic kind of a devotee. So now this serenity comes because Krishna has become bigger than the world.

And we see the last part. So when there is there are times when Krishna experiences expresses intensity. Intensity is where the Lord’s love becomes manifested in this world. So the lila that is performed over here, this lila and such lila’s will not only lila, these should become the home for our thoughts. It is by remembering these things, these past times that the lord intervened, that the lord protected devotees.

The lord’s protection became manifest at a material level. Like, Billy, he was in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain, is not the final vision. So we, with faith, with patience, we wait. We keep maintaining our devotion to the Lord and that devotion will be vindicated. Yes.

So Prahlad was glorified. The Lord had a bigger plan, but it did not intervene in particular time. So maybe the Lord will intervene in this time. And the miracles that the Lord does, the miracles can sometimes be external where the situation just changes dramatically, where the miracle can also be internal where we can be peaceful even amid the chaos. External miracle is the chaos just disappears, the trouble disappears.

The external miracle is that the trouble may remain, but we don’t really trouble. We may have it with trouble, but, you know, we live with pain rather than pain, rather than envy, because we now live with our Lord. So let us pray, Lord Rasamade, that, my dear Lord, the day you have demonstrated your Prahlaj’s love for you and your love for Daliyah, let this Prahlaj become the home for my heart. Let me remember that this historical evidence of your love for for those who are devoted to you, and let that remembrance sustain in times when I feel the glory. When I feel the problems are overwhelming.

Let me remember you, oh lord, and find serenity and shelter in strength in that remembrance.