Bhagavatam-daily 11 – 11.07.01 – Krishna appreciates our faith in him amidst adversity

Shreem bhagavan vacha bhagavatam 11 7 1 so the first first words spoken by krishna within the uddhava gita till now there has been the inquiry or rather the background setting by uddhava he has not asked any specific questions but he has just expressed my dear lord please don’t leave me i cannot tolerate separation from you so please take me also with you back to your abode and he has expressed in the last verse his complete faith that just by devotional service one can attain life’s supreme perfection so now the lord begins by first addressing the circumstances and confirming uddhava’s assessment of those circumstances as you have spoken about the mahabhaga a greatly fortunate one actually this to be a devotee is greatly fortunate to be an intimate devotee is even more fortunate and now to be your devotee you will be able to be so advanced devotee that one can understand one’s the lord’s plan is even more fortunate so uddhava is that kind of atama mahabhaga so the program that the plan that i have designed you have understood you have spoken that plan very well yeah and therefore it is according to that plan that brahma bhava lokapalaha so the lokapalaha is the pala is those who protect like krishna is gopal so those who are the protectors of the various worlds those lokapalas likes just brahma and bhava shiva they are now they are now asking me requesting me to return to my abode here they use the word swaravasan we discuss about that what the significance of the word swarga is over here swara is over here so krishna is sarveshwareshwara he is the lord of all lords but he is not a not the kind of god who delights in parading his supremacy he delights in the intimacy of love and that’s why in his highest abode that is in golopandav and he conceals his subordinate supremacy so that devotees can love him uninhibited and when he descends to the world at that time also in order to set an example for others he often plays the role which seems to be more or less like that of a human being so for example the lord may perform his prescribed duties may respect the brahmanas may even worship the devatas because these are all parts of the general dharmic principles that common people are expected to follow the lord sets an example for others so in extraordinary emergency situations sometimes the demigods may come to the lord and beseech him for help but normally the lord treats the demigods as if they are worshipable and he’s a human being he’s a mortal and he’s having a relationship with them of a man with god so externally it appears as if devatas came to him and told him now the time for your pastimes is coming to an end so please withdraw yourself now but a devotee understands that these demigods are also ultimately controlled by krishna and the bhagavatam itself depicts how the demigods went to vishnu asking for help so it is not that the demigods are controlling krishna actually they couldn’t control the situation so they went to vishnu and asked him to appear and they know that in response to that appeal the lord has appeared so if you look at the complete picture of the bhagavatam there’s no ambiguity about who is in control but the lord while playing certain roles plays those roles well and accordingly lets the demigods go away in the sense that they can take the whatever positions required for them so the demigods are asking him swarvasam now normally the word swarga refers to heavens but along with that it also refers to the basically the higher abode in a generic sense so what the specifics of the higher abode may be that will vary now we understand that the highest abode is the abode of the supreme lord and it is that abode that we are ultimately meant to attain but and that is the abode to which the lord belongs but the lord also demonstrates pastimes by which karmakandis can stay fixed in the path of karmakand those who are not really mature enough pure enough spiritually evolved enough to recognize that they can attain that they can actually attain life eternal they think that life heavenly that they can have better material happiness that is the life’s ultimate perfection and although krishna through his philosophical education as in the bhagavad-gita counters this misconception but he knows that for people in general it’s not so easy to give that misconception so that’s why he also encourages them on the path of progress of dharma he recommends the rapid pathway up but for those who can’t take the rapid path he also facilitates them to take the slow path up so doing some level of dharma and going to punya is far better than being adharma and going to hell so at a level of karmakand often it is depicted that krishna went to swarga and the pandavas also went to swarga the mahabharata depicted like that and every book has its own mood and purpose and we can’t look at pastimes in different books from different perspectives as if they are directly the same so the sridhar swami who explains that these pastimes are to be understood based on kalpa bhed that they occur in different kalpas and in different kalpas the lord demonstrates different principles so the lord goes back to the spiritual world but transitionally he may go to heaven for some purposes so now the point is that this context that now the lord is going to leave this world so the lord appreciates and vindicates uddhava’s faith and uddhava says that actually yes this is happening by your plan krishna says yes it is by my plan although things may seem to be going wrong although things may seem that the demigods are telling me to do things but i am still in control and all this is my plan so it’s important for us to always remember that no matter how much things seem to be going wrong ultimately krishna can integrate them all into his plan and he can bring good out of bad also so rather than worrying too much about how things are going wrong we should worry about whether we are doing the right thing by staying connected with krishna by maintaining our faith in krishna and by trying to serve him to the best of our capacity so uddhava’s refusal to get bewildered by the inconceivable turn of event that is going to happen the lord departing the yarus fighting in a fratricidal war uddhava’s refusal to be bewildered by this is continuing the faith that actually even through this there is a plan of the lord that is appreciated by krishna over here and as it is said that you know don’t tell god how big your problems are tell your problems how big god is so no matter how much things seem to going wrong krishna is greater and krishna is always in control and by remembering this by praying to him by maintaining our faith in him and by trying to serve him in whatever situation we are in we will actually please him and he will give us his mercy