If someone is really determined in one’s devotional service, why would that person fall?

From Promila Mataji

Lord Krishna says in the Gita, Arjuna great yogis fall too mamamaya duraritya. And therefore, surrender to Me, He says. So, does this shloka mean that it’s not necessary that the one who is determined in devotional service is also a fully surrendered soul? I ask this because why would a fully surrendered soul commit a mistake?

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Hare Krishna, question from Pramila Mataji if someone is really determined in devotional service why should such a person fall down in the Bhagavad Gita Krishna says that that even great yogis can fall away and therefore surrender unto me so now if someone surrenders to Krishna then why will one fall away and if one has fallen away does that mean that one was not surrendered if somebody is very determined to practice devotional service why would such a person commit a mistake that will lead to a fall down answer we are not talking here about some insentient things which some people say unbreakable bond these two things are connected together and they will never break now so two things may stay like that but actually we are talking here about a relationship between us and Krishna and we are individuals and as individuals we undergo different situations so under different situations we may face we may have different emotions and under the influence of different emotions we may act differently at times so our connection with Krishna when we say surrender surrender would have been much easier if it had been just a one time event Krishna now I surrender to you forever I am surrendering to you but actually surrender is not a one time event surrender is a moment to moment event and that is what makes it challenging so now certainly if we surrender to Krishna we will be protected from Maya but as I said every moment we have to surrender to Krishna lifelong and that is what makes it a real challenge and it is not that the way of surrendering is always the same some life can put us in through situations when how to surrender may also seem to be difficult and that time one needs the guidance of Krishna from within and one has to be able to connect to Krishna one has to have some supporting devotee, friends or guides around we don’t know what kind of challenges we will face ahead in life so of course Krishna does say he will give intelligence to a devotee and if one is determined one will not fall this is the resolve that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu expresses he is quoting the Avanti Brahmana from the 11th canto he says that as has been taught by the past great souls I will with determination what will I do by being determined in taking shelter of the lotus feet of lord Mukunda I will cross over the unsurpassable ocean of material existence so that is true if we are determined to take shelter of Krishna then we will not fall or even if our grip on Krishna’s lotus feet loosens then immediately before we go too far away we will be able to realize that the grip is loosening and I am going off track and will be able to come back on track again so in principle one who surrenders to Krishna and one who practices devotional service determinately as an expression of surrender to Krishna such a person will not fall away now in practice as I said how to surrender is not always clear and sometimes our past conditionings may also come up now our past conditionings are like a background noise which is there but sometimes they just become big spikes and they just push us during those times to do the desires may become so strong that we seem to be overpowering of course if we take shelter of Krishna they will not be overpowering sometimes out of carelessness or out of circumstance one may put in tempting situations where the temptation is so great and somehow at that time one is also weak and one falls so normally one would not go in that situation and normally one would not be so weak but sometimes these things happen so the point is that we should not judge others from a value judgmental superior position that okay this person this person was not determined this person is loose, is irresponsible this that no as much as possible we try to be sympathetic and compassionate and at least understanding considerate depending on what the person’s position is in devotional service etc but we don’t judge others okay this person was lazy in spiritual life we don’t have to look down on others especially when you are saying in an objective sense it is true that if somebody has fallen away that means that person has had some lapse in the practice of devotional service because of which there is a fall so there is no doubt about that but now what caused that lapse that can vary for pure devotees it may just be the will of the lord Parikshit Maharaj putting a snake around it is entirely the will of the lord and Parikshit Maharaj was induced to feel that intense thirst and then he was induced with the idea of putting that garland so it’s entirely the will of the lord now Bharat Maharaj getting attached to a deer it’s not entirely the will of the lord Vishwanath Chakradhak could say in his commentary that by the impelling of his past karma and so he got tempted at that time as a Kshatriya he also had a tendency that I should protect others in order to protect the baby deer also but then there was also the fact that he did not have any association with him nobody was there to correct him so that means there are multiple factors in the case of Ajamil he was going for a service but then he saw something and he meditated on it and then he was overpowered by the conditions so if you look at each of these in Parikshit Maharaj’s case there is absolutely no fault it’s entirely the will of the lord in Bharat Maharaj’s case yes there is a fault that he got attached and in Ajamil’s case we could say the fault is even more because he actually dwelt on it, meditated on it and then in one sense Bharat Maharaj never fell away from dharma to adharma he just fell away from the higher level of dharma to some lower level duty whereas Ajamil fell to adharma so the technicalities are significantly different in each of these but the point is there was a lapse in one’s practice now what caused that lapse it could be past karmic conditioning surfacing it could be present exposure to present tempting situations it can be multiple factors involved and we can in an analytical or objective sense try to analyze so that we can learn but we shouldn’t be in a judgmental sense and say that this devotee is not determined this devotee is unsurrender we shouldn’t cast aspersions on other devotees in that mood and we should try as much as possible whenever such things happen that we be careful and we learn carefully how all we can stay determined what weakens our determination and what are the ways in which we can always stay connected with Krishna and pray to Krishna that whenever such situations come difficulties that we make the right choices and keep moving forward so to conclude in principle yes a surrendered devotee will not fall away due to maya if somebody falls away that means there was a lapse in their surrender but if we can learn something from that well and good but we should not use that to make value judgments towards others and minimize other devotees Thank you. Hare Krishna