When a devotee suffers more than a nondevotee, won’t this send a wrong message to atheists or novice devotees?

From: Malathi

Naturally a devotee undergoes greater troubles compared to a non-devotee, would not this be a wrong inference to the atheists/novice devotees around about devotion? How should a devotee handle such situations?

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Transcript

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question from Malati naturally a devotee undergoes greater troubles compared to a non devotee would not this be a wrong inference to the atheist novice devotees around about devotion how should a devotee handle such situations answer it is not always necessary that a devotee will undergo more sufferings than non devotees in fact among all the sufferings that are there the troubles of the mind especially when the mind is completely under the control of passion and ignorance are far greater for materialistic people than they are for devotees sometimes as devotees when we try to control the mind we start feeling how much the mind is troubling us but even materialistic people are troubled by the mind devotees have so many desires to give up whereas materialistic people have so many desires to fulfill and the mind torments everyone but the point is that materialistic people have practically no shelter from the tormenting of the mind whereas devotees if they take shelter of Krishna and chant his holy names and absorb themselves in the philosophy they can certainly go beyond the troubles of the mind so at the level of the mind certainly for many devotees at least the troubles of the mind decrease although occasionally when the anarthas attack the troubles may seem to be more but when the anarthas attack even materialistic people are troubled because fulfilling the anarthas creates complications for everyone sometimes because devotees living a culture living according to values that radically differ from the present culture a devotee may have to go through greater inconveniences a devotee may face ridicule or neglect from the social circle in which he or she is acting doing the profession or living but at the same time a devotee can get another social circle which is far more caring and fulfilling the social circle of devotees there are different kinds of devotees also in the devotee circle and we have to find out those devotees with whom we can gel nicely and we get far deeper and richer relationship with devotees than what we lose if we actually find ourselves being neglected or derided by our professional or for relational social circle so anyway even if it happens that a devotee undergoes greater troubles than a non devotee actually speaking that itself is an opportunity for a devotee to demonstrate the potency of Krishna consciousness yes, in this world troubles will come for everyone because Krishna says that this world is a place of misery, so when troubles come in a devotee’s life, rather than a devotee blaming Krishna, why is this trouble coming? a devotee considers oh, Krishna said in the Bhagavad Gita that the world is a place of misery, and now Krishna has given me confirmation that this world is actually a place of misery, so then when we start taking shelter of Krishna then that shelter of Krishna takes us beyond the reach of misery how does that happen? suppose there is extremely hot weather everybody is sweating, but the person comes inside an air-conditioned room in the air-conditioned room there is no heat so like that when one is forgetful of Krishna then one is tormented by the Trividhata but as soon as one comes within the Krishna-conditioned room one brings one’s consciousness close to Krishna then at that time one experiences a sublime joy that counteracts all miseries so if we don’t take shelter of Krishna when the troubles come then we may even become resentful Krishna, I am trying to serve you why are these troubles coming in my life? Actually those troubles are coming ultimately because of our own past misdeeds but those troubles also offer us the opportunity to experience for ourselves and to demonstrate for others the transcending potency of Krishna consciousness as devotees who are in the material world trying to practice devotional service we are also sick we also still have the enjoying mentality we still also have the residual karmic reactions to beer so therefore our situation extremely speaking is not different from the materialistic people both the devotees and the non-devotees are like sick patients in a hospital but the devotees know what is the treatment and have started taking the treatment the non-devotees don’t know what is the disease and so don’t even know what is the treatment, what to speak of starting the treatment so although both may apparently be in a similar situation externally both may be in pain and suffering but for one the person who has started the treatment because he has been diagnosed properly the pain is going to get decreased and is going to be eliminated eventually whereas for the other person the pain is going to increase so for the materialistic people for the non-devotees we have all sympathy and respect for them but as long as they don’t start practicing devotional service whatever they are doing is usually going to implicate them in further karma and they are going to get into more suffering because of that as a consequence on the other hand, the devotee, because of knowing what is good karma, bad karma because of stopping bad karma and because of practicing devotional service which burns up the reactions of past bad karma is going to slowly but surely become free from all suffering so externally the devotees and non-devotees both experience the heat of material existence but the devotees know that there is a realm where I can go, where I can get relief from that heat and if we go there then we can actually experience the relief and not only can we experience the relief if we really take shelter of Krishna in the times of misery then those who come in contact with us also become surprised how is this person, though this person is under so much suffering so peaceful, even joyful in fact many of the devotees who in their final days took shelter of Krishna and actually transcended the normal fear and misery and terror of death that characterizes most materialistic people, now on this website there is a story of a Mataji devotee Surabh Priya Mataji if you search for article how my cancer became a blessing you can find that, so she had painful cancer breast cancer which spread through the bones but she took shelter of Krishna even her relatives, even the doctor who was treating her was amazed to see how she was so tolerant and transcendent amidst torturous bodily pains, so in fact the miseries of material existence are the greatest opportunities to experience for ourselves and to demonstrate to the world the transcending potency of Krishna consciousness and if we actually take shelter of Krishna and experience the relief and thereby transcend the miseries, transcend the miseries doesn’t mean the problem suddenly disappears but the problem doesn’t bog us down, when we place Krishna in our mind then the problem cannot dominate our mind and whatever is required we do to deal with their problem but we don’t let it completely devastate us, if I get a terrible disease if I lose my job if some relationship gets wrecked these are things which can happen even for devotees but for many people this particular problem, it so much occupies and pervades and dominates them mentally that their whole life gets disoriented and often they need to take shelter of either counseling psychologically or then first of all they go into drugs or things like that when such problems come up but a devotee by taking shelter of Krishna can transcend those problems and by that if we actually take shelter of Krishna then those situations can become the occasions for many non devotees or upcoming devotees to have their faith in Krishna and Krishna consciousness boosted so I had written a poem long ago so yes, miseries will come but when we have the shelter of Krishna we transcend those miseries and then we realize that without the power of devotion I would have been wrecked, maybe even devastated by these miseries but here I have been able to tolerate and transcend them, so in this way when we respond to miseries gracefully by taking shelter of Krishna then that can deepen our faith and can deepen the faith