​How is liberation Krishna’s mercy when its pleasure is insignificant in comparison with bhakti?

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so how is liberation the mercy of Krishna when it is just like a drop of water as compared to the ocean now there is the devotional perspective and there is the philosophical perspective and these two should not be confused so for example, from the philosophical perspective, the worship of the devatas is good because at least the person is not a materialist that person is not a godless atheist that person is a pious, religious materialist so from the if you consider tamoguna, rajoguna, sattvoguna the person who is a worshiper of the devata, that person is definitely somewhat elevated, much more elevated than those who are godless materialists from the devotional perspective which is the ultimate perspective that is less intelligent I’ll permit this as Krishna says but relatively speaking, if we see if we focus too much on the ultimate perspective and do not look at the, we could say philosophically, from the material hierarchy level it can distort our perception of reality for example, if we go to a place where, you know, you are going to a new city and you want to start preaching and at that time, there are people who are there who are interested in the propagation of dharma, but they may not worship us, they may worship us as devatas but if we teach bhagavad-gita, they are interested in helping us they are interested in arranging programs, providing resources and facilitating the conduct of things, so now as compared to them all the other people, they are apathetic so if we see from a practical perspective they may not be devotees of Krishna but they are quite favorable to overall the culture of dharma and that, that being favorable is no small thing in the practical conduct of life in this world so if you want to see it, we sometimes think that, if that bhakti and the perfection coming from bhakti is like one rigid cut-off point one circle and everything outside it is maya so if you are a devotee go to Goloka and everything else is low class, but actually rather than seeing it like that, dharma is not just one circle with a rigid cut-off point, it is a set of concentric circles of expanding latitude, expanding radii so a person who is practicing demigod worship, they are also doing some level of dharma and they may not be doing a high level of dharma, they may not get eternal benefit by that immediately they may not go back to the spiritual world but they are definitely higher than common people so now the problem comes when the demigod worshippers think that this is all I need to do and I don’t need to do anything more, then it may become a problem but relatively speaking they are definitely better than those who are non-devotees now in the time of Bhaktivinod Thakur there was an iconoclast Indian leader, Swami Dayanand Saraswati iconoclast means he was very strongly against deity worship and he wrote a very strong article condemning the Shakti Puja, the goddess the goddess worship, see this is like this, this is like this and Bhaktivinod Thakur who is a harmonist wrote a whole long article defending the worship of the goddess and he says this is required, this is not the highest but there is a Vedic program in which people are in Tamoguna, they can also be elevated, so he is very respectful, he says the learned Swami doesn’t seem to have understood the purpose of the Vedas which is to elevate people gradually and therefore the worship of the goddess is also important for elevating people who are in Tamoguna so actually Bhaktivinod Thakur he defends Shaktism at that time why is that? because he sees that is also part of the broader Dharma so similarly we as devotees if we focus too much on only the transcendental aspects of Bhakti then the whole Vedic program for gradual elevation which is there we can become very derisive or dismissive of that, sometimes devotees got to speak of Mukti, they think oh I am going to go to Goloka, Vaikuntha Vaikuntha is like my backyard you know Vaikuntha is also the spiritual world, life eternal with the Supreme Lord so when the great Acharyas from their very transcendental perspective they give us a vision of how things they see now we can appreciate their vision but that vision doesn’t cancel the validity of other things, other things are also important and they need to be given importance so now is Mukti a blessing as compared to Bhakti? Yes, Mukti is definitely deprivation for the soul the soul does not get the nectar of loving and serving Krishna but from the point of your material existence it is a great thing, Prabhupada himself gives the example of what existence in Brahman is like suppose somebody has a terrible disease say I once had TB, I was one year I was sick and after that I took the treatment and the doctor told me that you cannot start normal activity now, for 2 to 3 months you are in convalescence convalescence means the disease is no longer there in the body but the body’s health and energy has not come back at that time actually one is not in great pain as one was as we were when we were diseased we are not in pain when we are in convalescence so Prabhupada explains that impersonal liberation is like convalescence where the material enjoying mentality is no longer there but so the disease is not there but the health and the energy for doing practical activity that is also not there that means the desire to serve Krishna and connect with Krishna is also not there so now from the point of view of healthy life convalescence is also state of it’s not a very pleasant state, you just have to sit in one place and do little things, you can’t do much but from the point of view of the sick state convalescence is like blessing there is no pain in the body, there are no you are good actually, so the Acharyas are describing from the perspective of spiritual health and the impersonal liberation is like convalescence that may not seem very great but from the point of view of material existence it is great it is definitely a great thing to actually be free from birth, old age, disease and death to be free from the miseries of material existence to be free from the torment of material desires it is there is the Atma’s nature is Satchitananda and the Atma’s nature is also to be a part of Krishna so, because the soul is finite the soul is finite when the soul becomes self-realized that means one understands I am Atma at that time the soul gets some pleasure because the soul is finite the pleasure that the soul experiences is finite but when the soul performs Bhakti and connects with Krishna because Krishna is infinite, the connection with Krishna gives enormous happiness that’s why in Bhakti the happiness is far far greater than in Mukti, in Mukti also one has realized I am Brahmasmi, I am Atma I am the soul and as soul, the soul is Satchitananda, so there is happiness in Brahman realization also as compared to Bhagwan realization, as compared to Bhakti it is very less because Bhagwan is infinite, we are finite but as compared to the false, temporary illusory pleasures of this world, that is real happiness, Krishna says Brahma Bhuta Prasannatma Nashochati Nakanchati Samah Sarveshu Bhuteshu Madh Bhaktim Labhate Param so in 1854 he said when one comes to the Brahma Bhuta level, when comes one realizes that I am Brahman, I am spirit I am the soul, at that time Prasannatma, one becomes joyful and this is not the joyfulness that is coming from Bhakti because Krishna is saying at the end of this verse that at that stage Madh Bhaktim Labhate Param, one gets Bhakti to be, pure devotion to be and what is the happiness? Nashochati Nakanchati Samah Sarveshu Bhuteshu, one is not craving, I want this, I want that one is not lamenting, I lost that, I lost that no, one is self satisfied so how is Mukti a liberation Mukti a mercy of Krishna because it’s like a person who has been terribly sick and the doctor comes and one magic touch and the whole disease is gone that is a great mercy that is a great miracle but it is not a complete miracle because the normal health has not yet been fully restored ok any other questions? yes