The Lord bears all the burdens of His devotee. But truly, does He? Why does He? How does He? What then are the duties and obligations of the devotee in this regard? From the lips of Lord Krishna in the Gita, we hear:
ক্ষিপ্রং ভবতি ধর্মাত্মা শশ্বচ্ছান্তিং নিগচ্ছতি।
কৌন্তেয় প্রতিজানীহি ন মে ভক্তঃ প্রণশ্যতি॥
(Gita, 9/31)
[सः (he—that person), क्षिप्रं (swiftly, soon, quickly), धर्मात्मा (righteous-souled), भवति (becomes), शश्वत् (eternal, forever), शान्तिं (peace), निगच्छति (attains, reaches), कौन्तेय (O son of Kunti), प्रतिजानीहि (know with certainty, declare with assurance), न (not), मे (My), भक्तः (devotee, worshipper), प्रणश्यति (perishes)]
Meaning: He (such a person of wayward conduct) swiftly becomes righteous and attains eternal peace. O son of Kunti, know this with certainty and proclaim it to the world—that My devotee never perishes.
In the commentary of Shridhar Swami, we find this: O son of Kunti, you may enter a hall of contention and strife, raise your arm without fear amid the clamour of bells and drums, and declare with bold certainty that even though steeped in grave transgression, the devotee of the Lord cannot be destroyed.
In the Rigveda too we find: "He whom thou protectest cannot be slain or conquered. No sin, whether near or far, can touch him." (3/59/2) Meaning: he whom you protect cannot be destroyed or defeated by any force. No sin from any quarter, distant or near, can touch him. (The Lord protects only those who have purified themselves of transgression and earned His grace through devotion; for the Lord is always the arbiter of justice.)
When a person, casting away outwardly condemned conduct and base nature, develops an inner conviction of truth—a settled intellect that understands "God exists, and He alone is the doer of all things; he alone has beheld the Divine" (as Sri Ramakrishna says in the Kathamrita: "Who is perfected? He whose intellect has become settled in the knowledge that God exists and does all, who has seen God")—when such inner certainty becomes steadfast in the ultimate truth, then he is no longer wicked; he becomes righteous. O son of Kunti, you may boldly declare before all the world that My devotee—he whose mind, life, and innermost soul are surrendered to Me—can never be destroyed under any circumstance.
The scriptures themselves declare that a person steeped in wickedness cannot be a true devotee; his heart will not turn toward the Lord. Yet the Lord Himself says through the Gita: if even the most dissolute of persons develops even a spark of affection for Me, his depravity soon falls away and he becomes virtuous and steadfast. Through repeated refining in the fires of spiritual practice, all tendencies opposed to the Lord fade from within him, and his nature becomes peaceful and serene. Though the devotee may not perform all the atonements prescribed in the sacred texts and traditions, he cannot fall into ruin or meet with suffering. Arjuna and other such devotees can boldly declare to those lacking devotion that the devotee of the Lord is never destroyed.
When those of wicked ways take up the path of devotion to the Lord following their wrongdoing, remorse awakens in their hearts. They come to see themselves as stained and ignoble within human society, and are seized by dispassion and self-reproach. Thus they swiftly gain freedom from the force of lust and anger, and become righteous. The Lord Himself protects His devotee.
Even the darkest of souls, if once they turn with singular focus and unwavering attention to seek refuge in the Lord, are swiftly transformed into the righteous through the fruit of that worship. Such is the glory of devotion that it washes away all wickedness, and as dispassion takes root, one becomes dharmic. The glory of devotion to the Lord is such that His faithful can stand before the doubters and proclaim with pride: No matter how depraved one may be, if one becomes a devotee of Vasudeva, destruction shall not befall him. The Lord protects him.
A believer in the Lord, even if steeped in wrongdoing, shall surely cast off all forms of depravity and soon bear the marks of righteousness, ultimately attaining eternal peace. The supremely compassionate Lord, moved by affection, forgiveness, and mercy, protects His devotee from ruin.
To establish oneself in dharma and set forth the example of devotion in the sight of others—this is the work one must do. Even the most sinful becomes righteous through the Name of the Lord and attains unending peace. Know this with certainty: the devotee of the Lord never faces destruction.
In surrender at the feet of the Lord, all the doors of the soul are flung open. The base and common nature swiftly transforms into the spiritual, and the dharma of divine life takes root. Through this, the Lord draws back the veil of His illusion, destroys all delusion, and shatters all obstacles. The true devotee of God shall never meet with degradation.
Such is the wondrous glory of calling upon the Lord that even the gravest of sinners becomes righteous with haste. All who act possess their faults and failings, yet when devoted with singular dedication, the Lord is conquered—nay, even should death come to the devotee while shrouded in ignorance, the Lord, dwelling in that devotee's heart, shall guard him from falling and from ruin.
Here, why did the Lord speak the word "pratijānīhi"—which means "I declare with assurance" or "I speak as truth"?
When a human speaks thus, we must understand that there is some lack of firmness in their conviction, or some doubt—for when a person speaks truth with complete faith, they do not speak in such a manner. Just as after eating, one does not say, "I solemnly assure you, I have eaten." One simply says, "I have eaten." Rather, one affirms in such a way only when speaking of something impossible or when conviction wavers—"Truly, I tell you... I assure you..." and the like. So why did the Lord speak in such a manner?
One must mark this carefully: God does not here make the promise of His own accord—for He lacks nothing in faith—rather, it is the devotee who may say with assurance, "The devotee shall not perish."—And here lies a certain possibility of faith's incompleteness in our minds. In the actual world, we observe that regarding the mysteries of divine truth, man can neither utterly disbelieve nor believe without hesitation; thus the occasion for such assurance remains.
Moreover, 'perish' here means 'spiritual ruin' or 'the negation of progress in God's kingdom.' From the mouth of God in the sixteenth chapter of the Gita, directed toward the cruel, the greedy, those who work harm upon others, the arrogant enjoyers, He speaks—
Deluded in mind, caught in the snare of delusion, engrossed in the gratification of desires, they fall into foul hell. (16)
These cruel, malicious men, the lowest of mankind in the world, I cast eternally into demoniac wombs. (19)
Born repeatedly into demoniac wombs, deluded, they never reach Me, O Son of Kunti, and thus sink to the lowest state. (20)
Through desire, wrath, and greed, pride, arrogance, malice, and enmity grow so greatly within those of demonic nature that, bent upon perpetual enhancement of enjoyment through the harm of others, they lose their faith. Witnessing the vile expression of such inclinations, God speaks thus from His mouth: He casts them into the wombs of tigers and serpents, and from there into still lower births—as worms and insects. But this particular ruin never befalls the devotee. Should one of demonic nature be steeped in the nectar of devotion to God, he may be liberated from such a fate. Moreover, devotees, even when they endure suffering and poverty, are always protected by God in the worldly realm. We see this happen continually.
We find in other scriptures as well—
Even one burdened with heinous sins, singing ceaselessly the praise of Hari, becomes pure in heart and becomes one who purifies the assembly.
(Brahmanda Purana)
Translation: However grievously sinful one may be, if he continuously chant the praises of Hari, his inner heart becomes purified and he becomes pankti-pavan—one who elevates others, attaining the dignity of the twice-born.
Foremost in all the Vedas, in all scriptural expositions too, and born of a line of Vedic Brahmins, such are known as purifiers of the assembly.
(Manusmriti, 3/184)
Meaning: Those who are preeminent in all the Vedas, in all the Vedic sciences, and born of a Brahminical lineage versed in the Vedas, are known as pankti-pavan—those who purify the assembly.
Swami Vivekananda declares his conclusion: "Beyond these, there exists another class of gurus—those Christ-like beings of this world. They are the gurus of gurus themselves—God incarnate in human form. They stand far above those I spoke of before. Through their touch, even through mere will alone, they can transmit the power of dharma into another. Through their power, even the most debased and fallen of persons can be transformed into saints in an instant. Have you not read how they accomplish this? The gurus I was speaking of are not like these—these are the gurus even of those gurus, the highest manifestation of God to mankind. We cannot perceive God except through them. We cannot refrain from worshipping them; we are compelled to worship none but them." (The Teachers of Devotion—The Perfected Gurus and Incarnations)
How the most corrupt Jagai and Madhai were purified in an instant by the touch of the Great Lord—we find this recounted in the verses of the poet Narottam Das Thakur—
When the Son of Braja became the Son of Sachi,
Balarama became Nitai.
All the destitute were saved by the name of Hari—
Jagai and Madhai bear witness to this.
In the middle section of the 'Chaitanya Charitamrita' we find—
Through even a shadow of the Name your sins shall vanish.
By taking the Name again, you shall attain Krishna's feet.
How remembrance of the Divine purges one of sin—we hear this from the lips of the Nectar of Teachings—
"One must have such faith in the Lord's name—what! I have uttered His name, will sin still cling to me? What bondage remains for me, what sin?...When one speaks the Lord's name, body and mind become entirely purified."
What the Lord spoke through the Gita—these words are of grace, what grace cannot accomplish—concerning this, we find in the Nectar of Teachings an utterance most reassuring—
"There are not eight bonds, but eight snares. And what if they remain! If the Master's grace descends, the eight snares can vanish in a moment. Do you know how? Like a room dark for a thousand years—bring in light and the darkness flees in an instant. It does not go bit by bit! Have you seen a magician's trick? He ties a rope, heavily knotted at many points, one end at a fixed place and the other end he holds in his own hand; he shakes the rope once or twice. The moment he shakes it, all the knots come undone. Yet others, struggling desperately, cannot untie those same knots. When the Master's grace falls, all the knots come undone in a single moment."
In the Gita too, the Lord Krishna speaks of this elsewhere—
O Partha, there is no destruction for him in this world or the next.
For none who does good, beloved, ever comes to ruin. (6:40)
Meaning: O Partha, even though one abandons Vedic rituals, the yogi who has fallen from the path does not perish in this world, nor does he attain an inferior body in the next. O child, the reason is this: one who walks the path of good never meets with ruin.
The Upanishads too speak thus:
Iha ced aśakad boddhum prak śarīrasya visrasaḥ.
Tataḥ sargeṣu lokeṣu śarīratvāya kalpate.
(Kaṭhopaniṣad, 2/3/4)
Meaning: In this world, if one attains knowledge before the body falls away, that alone is true fortune; otherwise, bound by ignorance, one takes on bodily form across the manifold realms of creation.
The yogi who has fallen from the path, even without sacrifices and rituals, attains the state of the pañcāgniividaḥ—the knower of the five fires—and reaches Brahmaloka. The Manusmṛti teaches that one who maintains five fires in his dwelling is called the pañcāgnividaḥ. ("Trināciketus pañcāgnis trisuparnah ṣaḍaṅgavit," Manusmṛiti, 3/185) According to the Chāndogya Upaniṣad, when one contemplates heaven and earth, the rain-bearing clouds, grain, and man and woman as the sacrificial fire—or when one practices the meditation of five sacrifices—this is the knowledge of the five fires, and he who practices it is the knower of the five fires. The Śruti declares: "Pañcāgnayal ye cha trināciketas," meaning he who knows the five radiant fires stationed in the four directions and above is the pañcāgnividaḥ. The five fires are these: four fires blazing in the four directions and the sun-fire in the center—the five heats. Here the symbolic fire becomes the object of meditation, and this knowledge is fundamentally the doctrine of the transmigration of the soul.
Just as a patient establishes a relationship with a physician, so too does a man, recognizing his own helplessness, establish a relationship with God when he places his trust in God's power. That is to say: when a man, struck by worldly suffering and recognizing his own powerlessness to dispel it, simultaneously believes that by God's grace his weakness can be overcome, that he can be delivered from worldly sorrow, then swiftly does he become a devotee—"kṣipram bhavati dharmātmā." Does a hungry man delay eating when food is placed before him?
So long as a man perceives any strength, any capacity, any excellence within himself, he does not attain that state of ananyabhakti—"I am God's alone, and God is mine alone." He becomes ananyabhakta only when he sees that no one else is capable of alleviating his suffering. Once he is ananyabhakta, he becomes dharmātmā, a devotee of God.
A devotee never falls, for he is devoted to God alone—his practice and his goal are God himself; he possesses no power of his own; God's strength becomes his strength. Here a question may arise: if the devotee never falls, why does the Lord say to Arjuna in the eighteenth chapter, "Atha chet tvam ahaṅkārān na śroṣyasi vinaṅkṣyasi" (18/58)—"If you, overcome by pride, do not listen to my words, then you shall perish"? The answer is this: because the Lord has already acknowledged Arjuna as his devotee—"bhakto 'si me sakhā ceti" (Gītā, 4/3). The devotee can fall only if he abandons his surrender to God and takes refuge in pride—"ahaṅkārān na śroṣyasi." So long as he remains under God's protection, he can never meet with ruin.
The devotee stands before God as an unripened child before his mother, while the sage stands as a mature boy. Though a mother loves all her children equally—both small and grown—she must tend the younger one far more closely than the elder. Even so, the Lord completely protects His sheltered devotee and takes upon Himself their welfare—both the gaining of what is lost and the preservation of what is gained (Bhagavad Gita, 9:22). But who shall bear the burden of the sage's welfare? Therefore, while the seeker of knowledge may fall from his practice, the devotee never falls from grace. Brahma and the other gods have said to the Lord:
Ye hano harindavindaksha vimuktamaninas tvayy astahhavad avishuddhabuddhayah.
Aruhy krichhrena param padam tatah patanty adho 'nadrita yushmasddhrayah.
(Shrimad Bhagavata, 10:2:32)
Meaning: O lotus-eyed Lord! Those who do not take refuge at Your feet, and whose minds remain unclean for want of Your devotion—though they may fancy themselves liberated, they remain truly bound, however much they deceive themselves.
Tatha na te Madhava tarakas kvachid bhrashanti margattvayhi bandhasauhridad.
Tvayabhigupta vicharanti nirbhaya vinayakannika pamurdasu prabho.
(Shrimad Bhagavata, 10:2:33)
Meaning: But O Lord! Those who are Your true devotees, who have poured out their love at Your holy feet, never stumble from their path as do the self-absorbed knowers. Protected by You, they move fearlessly—they even tread upon the heads of the mighty commanders of obstacles, and nothing can hinder their way.
In praise of the Lord, the Ramcharitmanas declares—
Je gyan man bimat tav bhav hrani bhakti na aadari.
Te pai sur durlabh padadi parat ham dekhti hari.
Vishwas kari sab asa parihri das tav je hoi rahe.
Japi nam tav binu shram tarahi bhav nath so samramhe.
(Uttarkand, 13:3)
Meaning: Among seekers of knowledge-yoga, some deficiency may cause their downfall; but among devotees of the path of bhakti, even if something is lacking, they do not fall.
Therefore the Lord has said—
Badhyamano 'pi madbhakto vishayen rajitendriyal.
Praya pralgalhhaya bhakti vishayen 'n abhhibhuyate.
(Shrimad Bhagavata, 11:14:18)
Meaning: O Uddhava! Even those devotees of Mine who have not yet conquered their senses, and who are repeatedly drawn and bound by worldly things—yet through the power of their ever-deepening devotion to Me, they are rarely overcome by these things.
"Na vasudevabhaktanam ashubham vidyate kvachit" (Mahabharata, Anushasana Parva, 149:131)—that is, "For the devotee of the Lord, nowhere and never can any evil befall."
"All the schemes of desire could not touch him. The Lord of Lakshmi has kept him safe." (Shri Ramcharitmanas, Balakand 125/4). That is to say: "...all the cunning stratagems of Kamadeva failed to sway the divine sage Narada. At last, the sinful god of desire trembled at the weight of his own transgressions. To touch one who has taken refuge in the Lord of Lakshmi—this is utterly impossible!"
'Kaunsteya pratijaanihi'—the Blessed Lord asks Arjuna to make a vow, for even the Divine cannot evade the promise of a devotee. Devotion is the Lord's sole weakness. Thus He said to Durvasa—
Aham bhaktaparadhino hasvantantra iva dvija.
Sadhubhigrastahridayo bhakterabhaktajanpriyah.. (Shrimad Bhagavat, 9/4/63)
Meaning: O twice-born! I am wholly subject to My devotee, not free unto Myself. The faithful are supremely dear to Me. They hold complete dominion over My heart.
In the words 'Kaunsteya pratijaanihi na me bhaktah pranasyati'—My devotee shall never perish—seekers ought to hold firm the conviction that they can never fall, for they belong to the Divine Himself. How can a heart that is the very dwelling place of God ever be destroyed?