Category:Anxieties of a Devotee of God
Theme Analysis
The material world is characterized by constant, gnawing anxiety over maintenance, defense, and sense gratification. However, Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that a pure devotee of God is entirely free from these mundane cares. Because a devotee is fully surrendered and deeply situated in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they understand that the Supreme Lord personally provides all necessities. Thus, whether living in a forest or a city, a devotee does not suffer anxiety over what they will eat or where they will stay. Even when others attempt to put a devotee into distress, they remain undisturbed, floating on the transcendental platform above the dualities of heat, cold, honor, and dishonor.
While a pure devotee has zero anxiety for their own material condition, their heart is nonetheless full of intense, transcendental worry. The first kind of spiritual anxiety is rooted in boundless compassion. Following the footsteps of Prahlāda Mahārāja, a true Vaiṣṇava looks at the gross materialists who are frantically pursuing illusory enjoyment (māyā-sukha) and feels deep anxiety for their deliverance. While karmīs worry about money and jñānīs worry about personal liberation, the pure devotee's only anxiety is how to make others genuinely happy by bringing them back to Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
The second type of transcendental anxiety occurs in the highest echelons of spiritual love, particularly in Vṛndāvana. Here, the devotees are so absorbed in affection for Kṛṣṇa that they experience overwhelming anxiety for His personal welfare and pleasure. Mother Yaśodā and Rohiṇī were constantly in anxiety, fearing that Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma might be hurt by monkeys, dogs, thorns, or fire. When Kṛṣṇa was accused of eating dirt, Mother Yaśodā's anxiety drove her to look into His mouth. This ecstatic anxiety is not a material defect; rather, it is a supreme symptom of mahā-bhāva. To mitigate the transcendental anxieties of His pure devotees, who are always eager to see Him, Lord Kṛṣṇa personally descends to exhibit His original Vṛndāvana pastimes.
- Freedom from Material Cares: Because a pure devotee is fully maintained and protected by the Supreme Lord, they are completely free from the anxieties of material survival and dualities.
- Compassion for the Fallen: A true Vaiṣṇava experiences deep anxiety for the deliverance of conditioned souls who are suffering in the pursuit of illusory material enjoyment.
- The Ecstasy of Parental Love: In the spiritual realm, pure devotees like Mother Yaśodā experience intense, ecstatic anxiety concerning the physical safety and welfare of Kṛṣṇa.
- The Lord's Response: To relieve the transcendental anxieties of His devotees, who constantly yearn for His association, the Supreme Lord personally descends to the material world.
- Explore the synthesized essence of this category in this Vanipedia article: Anxieties of a Devotee of God - The Paradox of Transcendental Worry.
Subcategories
This category has the following 3 subcategories, out of 3 total.
Pages in category "Anxieties of a Devotee of God"
The following 47 pages are in this category, out of 47 total.
A
- A devotee is always anxious to see that his time is not wasted in anything which is not connected with Krsna. Consequently he does not like the benefits derived from fruitive activity, yogic meditation or the cultivation of knowledge
- A devotee should always think of Krsna and how to render better service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That should be his only anxiety
- A devotee should not be greedy. It is also recommended that the devotee should be muni, or thoughtful; he should always think of Krsna and how to render better service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That should be his only anxiety
- A Vaisnava is full of anxieties for the deliverance of all living entities from such false enjoyment
- According to the statements of Prahlada Maharaja, material enjoyment is maya-sukha, illusory enjoyment. A Vaisnava is full of anxieties for the deliverance of all living entities from such false enjoyment
- All of the devotees all over the world are simply praying now. They have been placed into great transcendental anxiety, Srila Prabhupada. They are simply praying for your recovery. Do you think that this powder has been successful
- Although the path was very rough, they (the cows) ran toward their calves (Krsna's calf expansions) with great anxiety, each running as if with one pair of legs - SB 10.13.30
- Anxieties of the pure devotees
- Arjuna directly listened to Krsna, and he says, "This is my practical experience, that when I. . ." He was a politician, I mean to say, a fighter. He had so many anxieties. So he used to remember the instruction given by Krsna directly to him
- As soon as he heard my petition, he immediately granted me a pension without reductions. Thus the King granted me a full salary as a pension and requested me to engage without anxiety in the service of Your lotus feet
- At midnight, while Rohini was deeply sleeping, she experienced, as if in a dream, that she had undergone a miscarriage. After some time, when she awoke, she saw that this had indeed happened, and she was in great anxiety
B
- Because a devotee is always engrossed in Krsna consciousness and engaged in devotional service, all such material circumstances (if others try to put a devotee into anxiety) cannot woo him. BG 1972 purports
- Bodily symptoms which express overwhelming ecstatic love: bashfulness, concealment, remembering, argumentativeness, anxiety, thoughtfulness, endurance, happiness, eagerness, haughtiness, envy, impudence, dizziness and alertness
H
- He (a devotee) may construct a temple for the Lord, and for that he may take all kinds of anxiety, but he does not construct a big house for his personal relations. BG 1972 purports
- He (Prahlada Maharaja) went on to say: I am not very anxious about living in this material world. I have no anxiety for myself because somehow or other I have been trained to be Krsna conscious always
I
- If others try to put a devotee into anxiety, he is not disturbed. It is by the grace of the Lord that he is so practiced that he is not disturbed by any outward disturbance. BG 1972 purports
- In Los Angeles the neighbors of our temple are sometimes very envious. "You do not work," they say to our Krsna conscious devotees. - You have no anxiety. You have four cars. You are eating so nicely. How is that
N
- Narada Said: Therefore give up your (Yudhisthira) anxiety due to ignorance of the self. You are now thinking of how they, who are helpless poor creatures, will exist without you
- Not caring what will happen in the next birth, gross materialists are simply busy enjoying during the present short span of life. A Vaisnava is always anxious to give all such bewildered materialists the real happiness of spiritual bliss
O
- O Madhusudana, because of Your appearance, I (Devaki) am becoming more and more anxious in fear of Kamsa. Therefore, please arrange for that sinful Kamsa to be unable to understand that You have taken birth from my womb - SB 10.3.29
- Ordinary karmis are busy acquiring money for sense gratification, and ordinary jnanis are socially aloof when they speculate on liberation, but actual devotees and saintly persons are always anxious to see how the people can be made happy
- Out of affection, King Bharata accepted the small deer as if it were a prince. This is called moha. Due to his anxiety over the deer's absence, the King addressed the animal as though it were his son. Out of affection, anyone can be addressed as anything
P
S
- Sometimes disturbances come, but the agonies and anxieties of the devotees are at once mitigated when they think of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in His beautiful form or the smiling face of the Lord
- Sri Krsna descends for the specific purpose of mitigating the anxieties of the pure devotees, who are very anxious to see Him in His original Vrndavana pastimes
- Sukadeva Gosvami spoke this verse (SB 10.6.3) to mitigate the anxiety of Maharaja Pariksit
T
- The cows began licking the calves' (Krsna's calf expansions) bodies in anxiety, as if wanting to swallow them - SB 10.13.31
- The devotee becomes transcendental to all dualities, such as heat and cold, honor and dishonor. Being freed from all dualities, he feels transcendental bliss, and he no longer suffers cares and anxieties due to material existence
- The devotee should not be anxious about cooking food; whatever is available in the forest or in the city among the fruit and vegetable groups should be offered to the Deity, and the devotee should be satisfied eating that
- The devotees have no anxiety over what will happen next, where they will stay or what they will eat, for everything is maintained and supplied by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who has promised, kaunteya pratijanihi na me bhaktah pranasyat - BG 9.31
- The devotees of Vrndavana were all very anxious to hear those pastimes
- The directions were to come from within, and there was no necessity for anxiety in that task. Such instructions of buddhi-yoga are directly imparted by the Lord from within, as confirmed in Bhagavad-gita
- The Lord will never fail to care for His devotees who are fully surrendered unto Him. In any case, the devotee is always protected, and therefore he should not be at all anxious for his maintenance
- The pure devotee does not have to worry about the necessities of life; he need not be anxious because when he removes the darkness from his heart, everything is provided automatically by the Supreme Lord. BG 1972 purports
- The thieves, thinking it dangerous to remain, went away and left Him (Lord Caitanya). The child was brought within the house and given to mother Saci, who was in great anxiety, and she became satisfied
W
- When mother Yasoda and Rohini were unable to protect the babies (Krsna & Balarama) from calamities threatened by horned cows, by fire, by animals with claws and teeth they were always in anxiety, & their household engagements were disturbed - SB 10.8.25
- When the transcendental sound of Krsna's flute is heard, the devotee's anxiety to continue to hear that flute enables him to penetrate the covering of the material world and enter into the spiritual sky
- When Yasoda & Rohini were unable to protect the babies (Krsna & Rama) from calamities threatened by monkeys, dogs & cats, & by thorns, swords & other weapons on the ground, they were always in anxiety, & their household engagements were disturbed - SB 10
- While in material existence, he (the devotee) lives very peacefully and blissfully, without cares and anxieties, and after quitting this body he goes back home, back to Godhead