Is causeless mercy dependent on anything? If yes, then how is it causeless? If not, then how do we get it?
From: Chetan Lasurve
I have set of questions for you regarding the topic ‘MERCY’. The following is the set of question on it.
1) What is ‘mercy?”
2) What is causeless mercy?
3) What do we mean by causeless mercy of lord?
4) What are pre-requirement of causeless mercy of lord?
5) Is causeless mercy dependent upon sukriti or any other devotional endeavour?
6) If dependent on reason please explain how is it causeless?
7) When does causeless mercy of lord comes?
To hear the answer
Transcript
This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Question from Chetan Lasurve Prabhu. I have set of questions for you regarding the topic of mercy.
What is mercy? What is causeless mercy? What do we mean by causeless mercy of the Lord? What are pre-requirements of causeless mercy of the Lord? Is causeless mercy dependent on Sukruti or any other devotional endeavor? If it is dependent, then please explain how it is causeless. When does causeless mercy of the Lord come? Answer. Causeless mercy means that it has no material cause.
It may have a spiritual cause, that is the compassion of the heart or the compassion of the devotees. So mercy in general means, if we look at the normal day-to-day use, is when forgiveness is granted or a favor is granted to a person who is undeserving. Like say a person has been sentenced to death and then the person appeals to the President of America or India, you know, please don’t sentence me to death.
That’s a mercy plea. Yes, I agree that I have committed a crime, I have been legally convicted, but please don’t kill me. So mercy is something which is given when it is not necessarily deserved and mercy is generally contrasted with justice.
Justice is when I deserve something and I get it, that is justice. Mercy is when I don’t deserve something and still I get it, that is called as mercy. So now, at one level, whatever we get in Krishna Consciousness is mercy, because what we are getting is so great.
In compared to whatever we might do to get it, what we do will never be enough. For example, if a pauper wants to purchase the Taj Mahal, how much can the pauper, the beggar on the street, he may get five rupees, ten rupees, fifty rupees, hundred rupees, thousand rupees, five thousand rupees and most of whatever. He can never purchase a Taj Mahal.
It is so great. So similarly, what is our life? It can be destroyed at any moment. It is so short for a few years and by offering service to Krishna for a few years in this lifetime and we don’t even offer Krishna service throughout all those few years.
We do our job, we have our career and most of the time we are thinking of son’s gratification and within all this, we also do some devotional service, fitting it in somehow. So we actually offer Krishna a few hours within a few years of our short life material existence and in exchange for that, Krishna offers us eternal life in return. So what we offer Krishna is so tiny and what he’s going to offer to us in return is so infinite, so unlimited, so supremely glorious and great that it is mercy.
So even the opportunity to practice spiritual life and to return back to Krishna is from the mercy of Krishna. Now what does causeless mercy mean? That means, as I said, it does not have any material cause. Ultimately at one level we can say nothing can happen without cause.
Nothing can happen without some cause. So even when we get the opportunity to practice devotional service or we get a taste in devotional service or we get a insight in devotional service, or we ultimately return back to Krishna. So mercy can come in various ways.
I have just mentioned four ways. We get the opportunity to practice devotional service. So that itself is a form of mercy which millions and billions of people on this planet don’t have.
Because that means that by practicing devotional service, we make spiritual advancement. Or when we are practicing devotional service, we get a kind of service that we like to do. That also is a form of mercy.
So getting service is a form of mercy. Then getting experiences of the taste of devotional service. When we come for some festival and find some beautiful kirtans, beautiful deity darshan or some ecstatic kirtans, and they deeply affect our heart, making us understand how spiritual happiness is actually real and superior to all other forms of happiness.
That is also a form of mercy. And that is a mercy in the form of higher taste. And similarly, mercy can come in the form of clearer understanding.
It can come in the form of realizations. You know, Krishna arranges certain experiences in our life. And when those experiences take place, we also get a realization.
This world is so miserable. Our Krishna Consciousness is so rare and precious. Our Krishna is so kind.
So when we get thoughts, insights, that help us understand how what has been taught by Krishna Conscious Philosophy is real, that is called realization. And to get such realizations in terms of the understanding of the reality of the truths of Krishna Consciousness is also mercy. Similarly, another kind of mercy can be that ultimately we are in the time of death transferred back to Krishna.
So mercy is not a one-time event. It is a continuous opportunity that Krishna is presenting us. And we tap some of those opportunities and we neglect or reject most of the other opportunities.
So now, these opportunities are causeless because they don’t have a material cause. While explaining 1.2.6 in the Srimad Bhagavatam, he explains it as causeless. Prabhupada explained this word causeless from our point of view.
He says that we should not perform devotional service with any material motive. We should do it for the sake of pleasing Krishna and loving Krishna. Shri Vishnachakra Thakur, one of our prominent previous Acharyas, who has also commented in the full Srimad Bhagavatam, explains this word ahaituki from the perspective of Krishna.
So he says bhakti is ahaituki. How does a person become a bhakta? He says, is it by punya? No, if it is by punya, then it will not be ahaituki. It will have a cause.
Then, is it because of Krishna’s mercy? If it is because of Krishna’s mercy, then Krishna will come under the charge of discrimination. That he is giving his mercy to some people and he’s not giving his mercy to some people. And Krishna is known to be completely impartial.
He is equal to all. So Krishna cannot be partial. Then what is the cause of the mercy? So there are no material causes because material causes cannot produce bhakti.
And the supreme cause of all causes, the supreme spiritual cause is Krishna. Krishna cannot be the cause because he is impartial. Then he says, actually, is it because of the mercy of the devotees? He says, yes, this is the correct answer.
That when devotees decide to extend the mercy of Krishna to someone, and they either go out of their way and give an opportunity for service to somebody, or they explain the philosophy systematically and give a clear understanding, or they perform ecstatic kirtans or decorate deities very beautifully and give people a taste for devotional service, then they are actually extending the mercy of Krishna to those people. So now, if devotees are the cause, then wouldn’t that make bhakti haituki? Wouldn’t it make bhakti as having a cause? He says, no, because the mercy of devotees will come when people get the association of devotees. And association of devotees is an element of bhakti.
So, you know, there are nine steps in bhakti. Adho Shraddha Sadhu Sangha Vajanakriya. And similarly, among the 64 forms of devotional service, which are talked about by Rupa Goswami in the Bhakti Rasamrith Sindhu, Sadhu Sangha is one of the most important limbs.
So, when the conditioned soul gets mercy, he gets it by the favour the devotees extend to him. And because the favour of devotees can come when somebody comes in the association of devotees, and coming in the association of devotees itself comprises the limb of bhakti. So therefore, bhakti is not caused by anything outside of itself.
In that sense, bhakti is independent, it is self-dependent itself. And when a person gets the mercy, then that person’s spiritual advancement becomes steadier. So, this is how the causeless mercy has no material cause and is not caused by Krishna, but it is caused by the favour extended by devotees.
And that’s why it is important for us that through our behaviour, through our strict following of the principles of devotional service, and through our following the specific instructions the devotees may give us, we try to please them. Because when we please them, then through them Krishna’s mercy comes to us. So, we certainly have a direct relationship with Krishna, but because we have rejected and neglected Krishna for so long, who knows how many lifetimes, that now there is a wall created between us and Krishna, which we only have built by our neglect and rejection.
So now, at present for us, Krishna’s will manifests through the devotees, and our service to Krishna goes through the devotees. And then Krishna’s mercy comes down to us through the devotees. So, this is the process.
First, Krishna’s will manifests to us through his devotees. And when we abide by the will, when we say like Arjuna, I’ll follow your instructions, then our service goes to Krishna through his devotees. And when our service goes to Krishna, then through the devotees again, Krishna’s mercy comes down.
So, this is how the whole process of devotional service is dynamic, reciprocal and ecstatic. And this is how causeless mercy comes in our lives. Thank you.