Category:Awarding Devotees of God
Theme Analysis
The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, is the ultimate benefactor of all living entities. When a soul engages in unalloyed devotional service, the Lord personally takes charge of their spiritual advancement. The name Hari indicates that the Lord removes all inauspiciousness from a devotee's life and awards them the supreme benediction: transcendental love of Godhead and direct, personal association in the spiritual sky. Because devotional service is entirely absolute, a devotee does not need to practice separate paths like karma, jñāna, or yoga. Kṛṣṇa is fully competent to award a devotee all material power and opulence, but He does so exclusively to aid their spiritual advancement, just as He awarded Dhruva Mahārāja an eternal Vaikuṇṭha planet within the material universe.
The Lord's awards are not always in the form of obvious opulence; sometimes His greatest awards appear as apparent setbacks. If a devotee fails to complete the course of bhakti in one lifetime, the Lord mercifully awards them another chance by granting birth in a family of pure devotees or wealthy aristocrats. Even when a great devotee like Bharata Mahārāja makes a purposeful mistake and is awarded the body of a deer, it is a special benediction designed to immediately rectify his error and increase his desire for mature devotional service.
The discriminating nature of the Supreme Lord's benedictions contrasts sharply with the awards given by demigods. Lord Śiva, for example, is extremely merciful and quickly awards whatever his worshipers desire, a leniency that demons often exploit to cause danger to others. Lord Kṛṣṇa, however, carefully awards only what is eternally beneficial. He is always pleased with His sincere devotees and perpetually ready to bless them. Recognizing this transcendental system, the bona fide spiritual master acts as the Lord's representative to award spiritual titles, such as gosvāmī, to qualified individuals worldwide, regardless of mundane protests or social conventions.
- The Supreme Reward: The highest award given by the Lord is direct association and unalloyed, transcendental love of Godhead.
- Spiritualizing Opulence: Any material opulence awarded to a pure devotee is actually a spiritual asset intended strictly for advancing in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
- Merciful Rectification: Seeming setbacks, such as falling from the path or taking a lower birth, are actually the Lord's merciful awards designed to rectify and elevate the sincere soul.
- Divine vs. Demigod Benedictions: Unlike demigods who award material boons indiscriminately to demons, the Supreme Lord awards only that which fosters eternal, spiritual well-being.
- Explore the synthesized essence of this category in this Vanipedia article: Awarding Devotees of God - The Supreme Benedictions of the Lord.
Subcategories
This category has only the following subcategory.
Pages in category "Awarding Devotees of God"
The following 16 pages are in this category, out of 16 total.
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- A devotee need not practice yoga, karma or jnana to achieve a successful result. Devotional service alone is competent to award a devotee all material power
- According to Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti, there are two classes of paramahamsas, namely the brahmanandis (impersonalists) and the premanandis (devotees), and both are awarded their desired destinations, although the premanandis are more fortunate
- Although Bharata Maharaja was awarded the body of an animal, he did not forget what had previously happened due to his purposeful mistake
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- The form of the Lord is described herein (SB 4.8.45). The Lord's face is perpetually very beautiful and pleasing in attitude. To the devotees who see Him, He appears never to be displeased, and He is always prepared to award benedictions to them
- The lord (Siva), being very merciful, quickly awards all the blessings the devotee asks of him. The demons take advantage of this leniency and sometimes take benedictions from Lord Siva which can be very dangerous to others
- The lord, being very merciful, quickly awards all the blessings the devotee asks of him. The demons take advantage of this leniency and sometimes take benedictions from Lord Siva which can be very dangerous to others
- The planet awarded to Prince Dhruva Maharaja is a fixed Vaikuntha planet, installed in the material atmosphere by the will of the Supreme Lord, Vasudeva
- The word hari has different meanings, of which two are foremost. Hari means that He takes away all inauspicious things from the devotee's life and that He attracts the mind of the devotee by awarding him transcendental love of Godhead
- There is an undercurrent of protest against our awarding the title gosvami to the American Vaisnavas of the Krsna consciousness movement
- This awakening of divine consciousness enthralls a devotee, who thus relishes his eternal transcendental mellow. Such an awakening is awarded only to those convinced by devotional service about the transcendental nature of the Personality of Godhead
- This planet (awarded to Dhruva Maharaja), although within the material world, will not be annihilated at the time of devastation, but will remain fixed in its place
- To immediately rectify his mistake, for a short time he (Bharata) was awarded the body of a deer. This was just to increase his desire for mature devotional service