Category:Becoming Enemies
Theme Analysis
This analysis explores the dynamics of conflict in human and divine relationships. Śrīla Prabhupāda observes that in the material world, relationships are inherently unstable; friends are constantly 'becoming enemies' due to the cheating propensity, financial disputes, or family friction. Even the most intimate bonds, such as those between father and son (as seen with Hiraṇyakaśipu and Prahlāda), can turn adversarial when Kṛṣṇa consciousness is introduced. However, the analysis also reveals a transcendental dimension to enmity: the Supreme Lord, desiring the pleasure of fighting (vīrya-rasa), arranges for His pure devotees to descend and play the role of enemies. Thus, while material enmity is based on envy and impermanence, divine enmity is a loving exchange that facilitates the Lord's pastimes.
- The Fragility of Material Ties: "Unity is never permanent." A slight disagreement or a financial dispute can turn a best friend into a bitter enemy.
- The Devotee's Challenge: A devotee tries to be the friend of all, but the demoniac nature of the world often responds with hostility.
- The Internal Enemy: The uncontrolled mind is the primary enemy. If trained, it becomes the best friend.
- Divine Conflict: Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme, and to satisfy His fighting spirit, He requires worthy opponents like Hiraṇyakaśipu (formerly Jaya and Vijaya), who become enemies to facilitate His līlā.
- Explore the synthesized essence of this category in this Vanipedia article: When Friends are Becoming Enemies - A Material and Spiritual Analysis.
Subcategories
This category has the following 4 subcategories, out of 4 total.
Pages in category "Becoming Enemies"
The following 63 pages are in this category, out of 63 total.
A
- A devotee does not create enmity with anyone, but if someone becomes his enemy, that person will be vanquished by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, despite whatever benedictions he may have received from other sources
- A devotee does not think anyone as enemy. Samah sarvesu bhutesu mad-bhaktim labhate param. Samah. He knows that "Nobody can become my enemy unless Krsna desires. So why shall I think of him as my enemy?
- A devotee knows that, Nobody can become my enemy unless Krsna desires. So why shall I think of him as my enemy? Krsna has desired him to act as my enemy just to correct me, to make me more advanced in spiritual life. Why shall I take any action upon him
- A devotee or saintly person should not be dreadful to others, nor should anyone be a source of dread to him. If one treats others with nonenmity, then no one will become his enemy. There is the example, however, of Jesus Christ, who had enemies
- A pure devotee is never disturbed in any circumstances. Nor is he envious of anyone. Nor does a devotee become his enemy's enemy. BG 1972 purports
- After Kamsa's death King Jarasandha became a great enemy of Krsna, and there were many fights between Jarasandha and Krsna
- Although the Supreme Personality of Godhead may become the so-called enemy of the living being, this is His chivalrous pleasure
- Although two friends may be living peacefully together, due to their propensity to cheat they become enemies when there is a transaction between them
- As far as transactions with money are concerned, if one person cheats another by a farthing or less, they become enemies
- As one should not try to be killed by embracing an enemy, a tiger or a snake, one should not blaspheme the Supreme Personality of Godhead and become His enemy in order to be put into hellish life
B
- Balarama again turned toward Rukmini and informed her that the current duty of the ksatriya in human society is so fixed that, according to the principles of fighting, one's own brother may become an enemy
- Because a sadhu lives in this way (looks on all living beings as his brothers), he does not create enemies. If there are enemies, they become enemies out of their own character, not out of any provocation on the part of a sadhu
- Because Krsna wants to fight, some of His devotees come down to this material world to become His enemies and fight with Him. For example, the Lord descended to kill Hiranyakasipu and Hiranyaksa
F
- Fighting spirit is there; anger is there. Where He shall exhibit? And therefore Krsna incarnates, He becomes angry, and a devotee becomes enemy, and this is Krsna-lila, nitya-lila. It is going on
- For Krsna's pleasure you can become His enemy, you can become His friend, you can become anything. That is bhakti-yoga. Because your aim is how to please Krsna
- For the time being, people may remain friends, but eventually they become enemies again and fight over money. Sometimes they marry and then separate by divorce or other means. On the whole, unity is never permanent
H
- He (Jaya) doesn't mind that "I am going to be enemy of Krsna." The principle is that he's following. If Krsna says that "You become My enemy," I can become His enemy. That is bhakti-yoga. Yes. I want to satisfy Krsna
- He (Krsna) sends some devotee in the garb of enemy and Krsna comes here to fight with him. At the same time, to teach us that becoming enemy, enemy of Krsna is not very profitable. Better become friend. That will be profitable
- He is equal to everyone; no one is his enemy, and no one is his friend, but one who is envious by nature can become the enemy of Lord Siva. Therefore Sati accused her father (Daksa) : No one but you could be envious of Lord Siva or be his enemy
- He sends some devotee in the garb of an enemy and comes here to this material world to fight with him. At the same time, the Lord teaches us that becoming His enemy is not very profitable and that it is better to become His friend
- Hiranyakasipu and Hiranyaksa were formerly Jaya and Vijaya, the gatekeepers in Vaikuntha, but by the desire of the Lord, they became His enemies for three lives
- Hiranyakasipu, he always defied the son's, the small child. His only fault was he was chanting Hare Krsna. And even the father, what to speak of others, he became his enemy. So don't think that Krsna consciousness will go without any difficulty
- Hiranyaksa, Hiranyakasipu. They were Jaya-Vijaya in the Vaikuntha world. So they came here, and Krsna asked them that "If you become My enemy, then within three births you will come back. And if you remain friend, then seven births"
I
- If I become enemy to you, you become my enemy. If I am friendly to you, you are my friend. So a Krsna conscious person does not see anyone as something other than son of God
- If we divert our mind to thoughts of material enjoyment, then our mind becomes an enemy, and if we concentrate our mind on the lotus feet of Krsna, then our mind is a friend
- If you do not like to become friend of Krsna, then you become enemy of Krsna, if you like. Because you cannot go beyond these twelve rasas
- In family life a man is supposed to live happily with father, mother, wife and children, but sometimes, under certain conditions, a father, mother, child or wife becomes an enemy
- In India the caste brahmanas have become enemies of the Krsna consciousness movement because we elevate foreigners, who are supposed to be mlecchas and yavanas, to the position of brahmanas
- In the material world there may be a relationship between friends, but as soon as there is a slight disagreement, the friendship breaks, and the friend becomes an enemy
- In the West also, the parents of the young people who join this movement have also become enemies. We have no business creating enemies, but the process is such that nondevotees will always be inimical toward us
- In this verse (SB 4.21.21) the word sadhavah ("all great souls") is very significant. When a person is very great and famous, many unscrupulous persons become his enemies, for envy is the nature of materialists
- It is our practical experience in this material world that the same person who is one's friend today becomes one's enemy tomorrow. Our relationships as friends or enemies, family men or outsiders, are actually the results of our different dealings
- It is the sadhu's business to be very tolerant. When one becomes a devotee, many people become one's enemy, because in this age people are asuric, demoniac
J
- Jagara, wakefulness. As stated in the Padyavali (326): Radharani addressed Her very dear friend Visakha, Indeed, it (sleep) has become My enemy. Therefore I have not slept since the departure of Krsna
- Jarasandha was a relative of Kamsa, the maternal uncle of Krsna, and therefore after Kamsa's death King Jarasandha became a great enemy of Krsna, and there were many fights between Jarasandha and Krsna
- Jaya and Vijaya inwardly knew that Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but they purposely became His enemies to be delivered from material life
- Just like there are mosquitoes, there are flies, there are birds, there are other animals, or other enemies in the human society: my friend has become enemy, so he's trying to give me some displeasure. So this kind of. This is called adhibhautika
- Just like we sometimes want to fight, mock fight. So in the Vaikuntha world there cannot be any fight. So because Krsna wanted to exercise His fighting spirit, He sent His devotee. He became enemy and He fought
K
- Kamsa was attached to bhakti-yoga by dint of fear of his death. Thus bhakti-yoga is so powerful that even becoming an enemy of the Lord and always thinking of Him can deliver one very quickly
- Kesava Chatri became a diplomat when questioned about Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Although he knew everything about Him, he was afraid that the Muslim King might become His enemy
- Krsna had no business to take part in the battle, because He is God, samo 'ham sarva-bhutesu na me dvesyo 'sti na priyah, He has no enemy. Nobody can become His enemy. If he becomes enemy of Krsna, he will be vanquished. Therefore He has no enemy
N
- Narada had informed Kamsa that in his previous birth Kamsa was Kalanemi, a demon killed by Visnu. Consequently, Kamsa became a great enemy to all the descendants of the yadu-vamsa, the Yadu dynasty
- Nirvairah. You should not be anyone's enemy. Others may become your enemy. Because it is quite natural. Anyone who comes with the message of the Supreme Lord, there are persons who become his enemy
O
- One who does not understand the transcendental nature of the body of Krsna becomes His enemy and decries Him or fights with Him. The destination of such enemies is to merge into the Lord's Brahman effulgence
- One who does not understand the transcendental nature of the body of Krsna becomes Krsna's enemy and defies or fights with Him. The enemies eventually merge into the Lord's Brahman effulgence
S
- Sometimes conditioned souls exchange money, but in due course of time, enmity arises because of cheating. Although there may be a tiny profit, the conditioned souls cease to be friends and become enemies
- Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura has commented that because the words "bow" and "arrow" are used in this verse (SB 7.15.42), one might argue that the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the living entity have become enemies
T
- The all-spiritual body cannot be wounded, and a devotee cannot become the enemy of the Lord (Krsna). Had it been so, Bhismadeva would not have desired to have the very same Lord as the ultimate destination of his life
- The confidential treatment of the weapon brahmasira was explained to Arjuna, and Dronacarya was promised by Arjuna that he would use the weapon if necessary when he (Dronacarya) personally became an enemy of Arjuna
- The fact is this: "How one can become my enemy? If I am Krsna's servant, how one can become my enemy? If one is acting as my enemy, it is Krsna's desire. I have got some defect, and He is correcting me." Therefore it is called samah sarvesu bhutesu
- The Lord ordered the gatekeepers to go down to the material world to become His enemies so that He could fight with them and His fighting desires would be satisfied by the service of His personal devotees
- The material world is such that a nondevotee father becomes an enemy of a devotee son
- There are many examples, such as Prahlada Maharaja. He was only five years old, a pet child, but because he was a devotee of the Lord, his father became his enemy. This is the way of the world
- To become enemy of Krsna, that is not a joke. He has to fight with Krsna. It is not ordinary thing
- Today in the material world I may be relishing my love for my son, but tomorrow my son may be my greatest enemy. There is no eternity in this kind of love. Or, if my son does not become my enemy, he may die
W
- We appointed this Vena king of the state in order to give protection to the citizens, but now he has become the enemy of the citizens. Despite all these discrepancies, we should at once try to pacify him
- We have to tolerate. Just like Prahlada Maharaja. So much tribulation, even his father became enemy. So Krsna consciousness is like that - even one's father becomes enemy, what to speak of others
- When a family member becomes an enemy it is very difficult to live in family life or remain a householder. Generally such situations occur in the material world
- Whenever Krsna desires that He is to fight with somebody, another must prepare himself for fighting, becomes His enemy