How can we avoid taking Krishna’s forgiveness as a license for our sinfulness?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So, when we say that Krishna overlooks whatever sinful activity that a devotee does, but sometimes devotees may take that as a license for doing sinful activities.
And if we do something sinful, that will create impressions and that will eventually become our character and our destiny. So, how do we reconcile that? See, love is not mathematical. It is not that, you know, we cannot… Krishna, I did this much for you, so you should do this much for me.
It is Krishna is expressing his heart to us when the Vaishnavas are revealing that Krishna overlooks our mistakes. See, when Krishna is approaching with the heart, we should reciprocate with the heart. If we start reciprocating with our logical, skeptical head at that time, you know, Krishna will forgive me, whatever wrong I do, then we are missing the point that is Krishna’s love for us.
Out of his love for us, he is ready to accommodate us and he is ready to facilitate us so that we can be elevated. But ultimately, it’s our choice. And if we think Krishna’s love is a license for staying where we are or for going on further, then Krishna will still love us.
But we will not experience that love. In fact, we will experience only the consequences of our own actions. There are two different things which should not be confused together.
See, we should not think of the law of karma as Krishna’s personal agenda to punish the sinful. Krishna is not a vengeful God. You did wrong, I’ll punish you for this.
No, the law of karma is the way by which Krishna has arranged the material existence. And Krishna is not directly involved. Krishna supervises it, but the material world is Om Purna Madha Purna Mitham.
This world is complete in itself. So, Krishna is not a vengeful God out to punish people. There are laws in the material world and things will happen according to those laws.
So, it is, if a person says that I’ll jump from a hundred storey building and I’ll remember Krishna, that’s when the law of gravity is going to act, isn’t it? So, if I say remember Krishna, then remember also that Krishna has given you intelligence and that use that intelligence will not jump off the hundred storey building. So, similarly, if we are doing something wrong, those actions will have consequences. So, if we indulge in wrong activity, that will create samskaras which will impel us to do similar activities again and again and eventually we may get caught by that.
So, the point here is not to rationalize or license our wrong doing. The focus here is that how much Krishna loves that he’s ready to accommodate and oversee and look over, look beyond some mistakes. Say, for example, in the Bhagavatam, Ajambil chanted the name of Narayan once and he was saved from hell.
But then the mood of Shukadeva Goswami when he tells this and the mood of Shri Prabhupada when he explains it, it is not that we can all commit sinful activities throughout our life and we’ll chant Narayan once. No. The mood there is that even if by one chanting the name of Narayan, you have so much benefit and if we chant the names of Narayan throughout our life, how much benefit we will get.
So, the extraordinary promises or incidents of mercy that are talked about in the scripture, they should inspire us to follow the ordinary process of bhakti with extraordinary determination. The extraordinary process, extraordinary examples of mercy, we should not think that they are licenses for us to do everything wrong and demand that extraordinary mercy. So, this is the mood of a devotee.
We should not think of a devotee relationship with Krishna as a relationship of mutual exploitation. What does that mean? Mutual exploitation means that there’s a boss and there’s an employee. Now, in a material setting, the boss wants to get as much work out as possible and give as less pay as possible.
And the employee wants to get as much pay as possible and do as less work as possible. So, both are out to exploit each other. Now, Prabhupada writes in the first canto purport that we should not envision the relationship of master-servant in that way with Krishna.
Prabhupada says it is the most congenial form of intimacy. So, both of them are giving to each other. So, when we hear declarations like this and Krishna is ready to overlook all sinful activities, Krishna is ready to close the eyes.
Krishna is so kind. Krishna is so merciful. Let me devote myself to him.
Why should I do any sinful activities? It is not that Krishna is going to overlook, so let me overlook. Krishna is going to overlook, so let me do sinful activities. No, that is the self-centered material consciousness.
This should inspire us. Krishna loves so much. Why should I love anything else? Let me focus on loving Krishna only.
So, Krishna gives himself in the relationship so much, let me also give myself in the relationship. So, the extraordinary incidence of mercy should inspire us, should not become justifications for giving up the ordinary process of bhakti. Rather, they should become inspirations for following the ordinary process of bhakti with greater inspiration, with greater conviction, with greater determination.
And then we will relish Krishna’s love for us. Does it answer your question? Any other questions?