Suffering is inevitable in this world, but merciful Krishna is ready to deliver us from all the sufferings. We just have to be ready to accept his grace.
Sin causes suffering. So, if we are suffering now, it implies that we committed sins in past either in this life or in past lives. We have taken many births and so we do not know how many sins we have committed.
Now if we are going to be subjected for suffering for each sin then we can easily understand how difficult our future will be. In fact, living entities are forced to take animal body because of the kind of sin he/she committed.
But the Lord, our father, does not want us to suffer. So, while concluding the teachings of Bhagavad Gita, Krishna, the Supreme Lord, says to Arjuna and through Arjuna to all of us that we should give up everything and take his shelter. And he further says that if we do so then he is going to free us from all the sins.
Krishna said this about 5000 years ago but unfortunately, we the suffering souls did not show much inclination to take Krishna’s shelter. So, Krishna came again about 500 years ago as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to tell us the necessity of giving up sinful life and taking shelter of Krishna. By his personal example, he taught us how to take became devotees of Krishna.
Chanting is the medicine for all the sufferings
Mahaprabhu propagated chanting of Hare Krishna Mahamantra because this great chant will deliver us from all miseries. Extolling the glories of the mahamantra, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says that this mantra has the potency to cleanse our heart of all impurities and liberate us from the repeated cycles of birth and death.
As we have been committing sins life after life, so the sins are so deep rooted in our heart that it appears that it is almost impossible to give it up. We are so much habituated by sinful life, that we keep committing sins even though we know that sins are dragging us to hellish life.
For such fallen souls Lord Chaitanya has come. He has given us great hope that if we chant the names of Krishna sincerely and attentively then our heart will get cleansed of all impurities which forces us to commit sins. The holy name of Krishna i.e. the Hare Krishna Mahamantra can deliver us from all the sufferings. This is the best medicine for all the fallen souls like you and me.
Examples of Mahaprabhu’s mercy
If we study the life of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu then we find that he delivered so many sinful people by helping them to connect to Krishna and to himself too because he is none other than Krishna with the mood of Srimati Radharani. People were mesmerised seeing him chant and dance.
In fact, anyone who saw him got purified. There was a Muslim tailor who once saw Mahaprabhu singing, dancing and chanting. Mahaprabhu showed his mercy upon him by showing him his original form. The tailor became maddened with joy seeing the beautiful form of the Lord and became his devotee.
“Saying “I have seen! I have seen!” and dancing in ecstatic love as though mad, he became a first-class Vaiṣṇava.” CC Ādi 17.232
What to talk of human beings, the merciful Lord even delivered animals. Once a dog accompanied Srila Sivananda Sen when he was going to see Lord Chaitanya in Jagannath Puri. The fortunate dog got to see Mahaprabhu and the dog got delivered and attained Vaikuntah.
“Let me repeatedly offer my respectful obeisances unto the beelike devotees who always taste the honey of the lotus feet of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. If even a doggish non devotee somehow takes shelter of such devotees, he enjoys the aroma of the lotus flower.” CC Ādi 10.1
In this fallen age of Kaliyuga we are all fallen. But Chaitanya Mahaprabhu who is none other than Krishna has come here to deliver us from sinful life which is the cause of all the sufferings and take us back to the spiritual world. Indeed, he is the friend of the fallen souls. Are we ready to become his friend?
Three Reflections
- If we are suffering now, it implies that we committed sins in past either in this life or in past lives.
- A tailor became maddened with joy seeing the beautiful form of Lord Chaitanya and became his devotee.
- Chaitanya Mahaprabhu who is none other than Krishna has come here to deliver us from sinful life.
Ask Yourself?
- Do I believe in the mercy of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu?
Action Item
- To know the mercy of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu read “The Pastimes of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu in His Youth” given in Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta.
