Category:Enemies of Devotees of God
Theme Analysis
A hallmark of a pure Vaiṣṇava is universal compassion. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that an advanced devotee possesses twenty-six primary qualities, prominent among them being ajāta-śatrava—one who is never envious and never makes anyone an enemy. Even when faced with severe persecution, a pure devotee remains peaceful, viewing the hostility of others as a purifying arrangement orchestrated by Lord Kṛṣṇa to accelerate their spiritual advancement. Therefore, instead of retaliating, the devotee desires all good for their aggressor, just as Vidura remained a constant well-wisher to the envious Dhṛtarāṣṭra.
However, the material world is treacherous by nature. Śrīla Prabhupāda notes that simply by practicing and preaching Kṛṣṇa consciousness, a devotee will inevitably attract enemies. This is a historical fact demonstrated by the lives of Prahlāda Mahārāja, Jesus Christ, and the Pāṇḍavas. The world is so deeply infected by the modes of passion and ignorance that even a nondevotee father can become a deadly enemy to his own saintly son, as was the case with Hiraṇyakaśipu.
Despite being surrounded by hostility, a devotee has nothing to fear. While the Vaiṣṇava is perfectly ready to forgive and excuse their enemies, the Supreme Personality of Godhead is not so tolerant. Kṛṣṇa is always in the background, witnessing the actions of the envious (sura-dviṣām). He personally intervenes to protect His surrendered servants and vanquish their aggressors. Interestingly, this divine intervention is an expression of the Lord's absolute mercy; when Kṛṣṇa personally kills the enemies of His devotees—as He did with Hiraṇyakaśipu and those struck by Arjuna's arrows—those enemies are instantly purified of all material contamination and attain salvation.
- The Forgiving Nature: A pure devotee never considers anyone an enemy, viewing persecution as Kṛṣṇa's arrangement and always wishing the aggressor well.
- The Inevitability of Envy: The material world is so treacherous that simply practicing and preaching God consciousness will inevitably generate enemies, even within one's own family.
- The Supreme Protector: While the devotee forgives, Kṛṣṇa does not tolerate insults against His servants; He actively intervenes to protect the Vaiṣṇava and defeat their enemies.
- Purification Through Punishment: Because the Supreme Lord is absolute, anyone killed by Kṛṣṇa or His empowered representatives on the battlefield is immediately purified and granted salvation.
- Explore the synthesized essence of this category in this Vanipedia article: Enemies of Devotees of God - Ajāta-śatrava: The Friend of All.
Subcategories
This category has the following 8 subcategories, out of 8 total.
A
D
Pages in category "Enemies of Devotees of God"
The following 47 pages are in this category, out of 47 total.
A
- A devotee has nothing to fear. He is protected from the attack of enemies, from the attack of Yamadutas. How is that? There are many hundreds and thousands of instances - Prahlada Maharaja, Haridasa Thakura
- A devotee is also always kind to everyone, even to his enemy. BG 1972 purports
- A devotee is never envious of anyone, even his 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 highly advanced Vaisnava devotee is a friend to all living entities, and consequently he is a friend to his enemies also. In fact, he does not consider anyone to be his enemy
- 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
- A serpent may be very angry and ready to bite, but the furious snake is helpless when faced by a blazing fire in the forest. Although an enemy of a devotee may be very strong, he is compared to an angry serpent before the fire of devotional service
- All the sages said: Dear Dhruva, O son of King Uttanapada, may the Supreme Personality of Godhead known as Sarngadhanva, who relieves the distresses of His devotees, kill all your threatening enemies
- Although Arjuna is addressed herein (BG 4.5) as the mighty hero who could subdue the enemies, he is unable to recall what had happened in his various past births. BG 1972 purports
- Arjuna is reluctant even to kill his enemies, let alone his relatives. BG 1972 purports
- As soon as Arjuna shot an arrow at an enemy, that enemy became purified of all material contaminations and became eligible to be transferred to the spiritual sky
B
- Because He (God) is all-powerful, He is not subject to the conditioned soul's arguments regarding His existence or nonexistence. He is pleased to protect His devotees by killing their enemies. He enjoys both the killing and the protecting
- Because such persons are very much affectionate toward Krsna, they cannot be defeated by demons like the associates of Kamsa (or by the internal enemies, the senses) - SB 10.8.18
- Because the devotee knows that the Lord is his supreme protector, he thinks - What harm can the so-called enemy do? Thus a devotee is confident about his protection
D
- Devotee will have to meet so many enemies. Just like we have got this from the life of Lord Jesus Christ. When he was being killed by others, he said, to excuse them, "God, they do not know what they are doing." That is devotee's position
- Dhrtarastra must have been very glad that Arjuna was not going to fight & was instead leaving the battlefield for the begging profession. But Sanjaya disappointed him again in relating that Arjuna was competent to kill his enemies. BG 1972 purports
- Don't think that a devotee will not have enemies. A devotee may have anything. Oh, he may be attacked by enemies. He may be attacked with severe type of diseases and so many things. But he will be protected
- Duryodhana was as strong as the King of heaven, still the sons of Prtha, the Pandavas, were able to snatch away their kingdom from him. Both Garuda & the Parthas are pet devotees of the Lord, and thus it was possible for them to face such strong enemies
E
- Even if devotees fall down, they are still strong enough to traverse the heads of their enemies
- Even though his life may be threatened, he is not at all afraid. He does not even treat an enemy like an enemy. Such are the qualifications of devotees
- Even when performing devotional service a devotee has to create many enemies. Prahlada Maharaja himself had experience of this, for even his father became his enemy
- Except Your lotus feet, we have no other shelter. And so far our safetiness is concerned, we are already encircled by so many enemies, because in the fight one's father has died, so his son is preparing to fight with us. So we are not at all free now
H
- Hanuman, the great servitor of Lord Rama, engaged his wrath upon his enemies for the satisfaction of the Lord. BG 1972 purports
- He (a pure devotee) thinks that one is acting as his enemy due to his own past misdeeds. Thus it is better to suffer than to protest. BG 1972 purports
- 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
J
- Jesus Christ also was killed by the sura-dvisam, those who were envious of him. What was his fault? His only fault was that he was preaching about God. Yet he had so many enemies, who cruelly crucified him. Therefore Krsna comes to kill such sura-dvisam
- 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
S
- Savyasacin refers to one who can shoot arrows very expertly in the field; thus Arjuna is addressed as an expert warrior capable of delivering arrows to kill his enemies. BG 1972 purports
- Since God is the witness of everyone's actions, He witnesses the actions of the enemies of His devotees & He is inclined to punish them. In other cases He simply witnesses what the living entities do and gives the results of one's sinful or pious actions
- Suhrdah sarva-bhutanam. Sadhu is not enemy. Ajata-satrava. He does not create enemy, but the world is such that if you become devotee, even your father will be enemy
T
- That a devotee of the Lord is the only perfect living being is explained herein (SB 1.19.16) by Maharaja Pariksit. A devotee of the Lord is no one's enemy, although there may be many enemies of a devotee
- That is devotee's qualification. He prays for everyone, even of his enemy. And he could not be killed. That he knew. But those rascals, they thought they were killing Jesus Christ. That's all
- The devotee must serve the Lord sincerely, and Krsna is always in the background to protect him and, if need be, to equip him fully to fight with his enemy
- The five brothers, headed by King Yudhisthira, underwent all sorts of difficulties because of the conspiracy of their cousins, headed by Duryodhana. But in the long run King Yudhisthira was enthroned by Lord Sri Krsna, and his enemies were vanquished
- The material world is such that a nondevotee father becomes an enemy of a devotee son
- The pure devotee of Lord Krsna is never inimical to anyone, nor can any sane person be an enemy of a pure devotee
- Therefore he (Arjuna) considers himself fit to go to the forest to live a secluded life of frustration (he was reluctant to kill his enemies). BG 1972 purports
- This is Vaisnava. He is ready to excuse even the greatest enemy. But Krsna does not want. If you insult His devotee, the devotee may excuse, but Krsna will not excuse. This is Krsna's position
- To protect His devotees, the Lord sometimes has to kill their enemies. For example, to protect Prahlada Maharaja, the Lord had to kill his enemy Hiranyakasipu, although Hiranyakasipu attained salvation because of being killed by the Lord
V
- Vidura never became an enemy of Dhrtarastra but continued to be his well-wisher, & at the last stage of his life, it was Vidura only who proved to be his real friend. Such is the behavior of Vaisnavas like Vidura: he desires all good even for his enemies
- Vrtrasura told Indra, "If you want to kill me, since I am your enemy, take this opportunity. Kill me. You will gain victory, and I shall go back to Godhead. Your deed will be equally beneficial for both of us. Do it immediately"