Category:God's Offers
Theme Analysis
Śrīla Prabhupāda explains the dynamic relationship between the Supreme Lord's offers and the desires of the living entities. The Supreme Lord acts as the ultimate fulfiller of desires; if a conditioned soul wishes to attempt to enjoy the material world, the Lord offers them a suitable material body through the agency of His external energy. However, for those who seek spiritual progress, the Lord offers true guidance from within the heart. The most striking theme is that the Lord frequently offers immense material opulences and even various forms of liberation (mukti) to His devotees to test them or fulfill lingering desires. Yet, pure devotees adamantly refuse these offers, desiring only unalloyed devotional service (bhakti). By refusing these offers, the pure devotee essentially conquers the Lord, making Him a willing debtor to their pure love.
- The Provision of Material Facilities: The Supreme Lord impartially offers different types of material bodies and facilities to the conditioned souls based on their desires to enjoy the modes of nature.
- The Supreme Guidance Within: The Lord sits in everyone's heart and offers specific, personalized direction to His sincere devotees to help them attain the right path.
- The Illusion of Material Benedictions: Material opulence and fame are ultimately bewilderments; advanced devotees consider such offers as impediments on the path of devotional service.
- The Pure Devotee's Refusal: Even when offered the highest forms of liberation by the Supreme Lord Himself, a pure devotee respectfully declines, wanting nothing but the Lord's eternal loving service.
- Explore the synthesized essence of this category in this Vanipedia article: Benedictions and Facilities of God's Offers.
Subcategories
This category has the following 4 subcategories, out of 4 total.
Pages in category "God's Offers"
The following 68 pages are in this category, out of 68 total.
A
- A devotee in an immature position of devotional service may, if offered great opulence, fall from his position due to being in the material world, the Lord (Krsna) does not offer opulence to him
- A pure devotee does not accept any kind of liberation - salokya, sarsti, samipya, sarupya or ekatva - even though they are offered by the Supreme Personality of Godhead
- Acknowledging the benediction offered to him by Krsna, he (Brahma) became the original spiritual master of all living entities
- Actually every one of us already has an arrangement for our standard of material comforts. A devotee should always remain satisfied with the standard of comforts offered by the Lord. This saves time for executing Krsna consciousness
- After this, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu offered flower garlands and sandalwood pulp to all His devoted personal associates
- Although the individual living entity (jiva) and the Lord are both situated within the material energy, the Lord is directing the movements of the jiva soul by offering him different types of bodies through the material energy
- As indicated by the words prag distam, the Lord knew everything. Before anything happened, He had already arranged for His cakra to protect Maharaja Ambarisa. This protection is offered to a devotee even from the very beginning of his devotional service
- As stated in Bhagavad-gita (BG 18.61): The Lord is situated in the core of everyone's heart, and, according to the material desires of the living entity, the Lord offers a particular type of machine - the body - through the agency of the material energy
- As the white incarnation, the Lord taught religion and meditation. He offered benedictions to Kardama Muni, and in this way He showed His causeless mercy
B
- Because of my (Dhruva Maharaja's) state of complete foolishness and paucity of pious activities, although the Lord offered me His personal service, I wanted material name, fame and prosperity
- By spiritual consciousness only can one be free from the contamination of material affection and receive the benedictions offered by the Lord
H
- Haridasa Thakura asked Advaita Prabhu why He was doing something which might jeopardize His position in brahmana society. Advaita Prabhu replied that He was feeding millions of first-class brahmanas by offering the food to Haridasa Thakura
- He (Caitanya Mahaprabhu) explained that mukti-pade refers to the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Visnu, who offers mukti and is therefore called Mukunda
- He (God) descends only to recall these materialistic living beings back to His kingdom, and intelligent persons take advantage of this facility offered by the Personality of Godhead to all living beings
- He (Prahlada) was given everything, but by his that refusal, He (Nrsimhadev) was very much pleased. Not that He was offended, "Oh, I am offering, and you are not accepting?" No
- He delivered all living beings by offering the gift of krsna-bhakti. He explained the Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam in the light of devotional service
- He was thinking: May the Lord of the universe, of whom I have taken shelter, kindly be pleased to offer me a son exactly like Him
- Here we can see that the Lord is sufficiently pleased with Brahmaji, and therefore He offers His causeless mercy to him so that Brahmaji may have the factual realization of the Lord by His mercy only
I
- If one worships the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Lord will never offer him such condemned benedictions (like those of the demigods). On the contrary, it is said in the Srimad-Bhagavatam (10.88.8), yasyaham anugrhnami harisye tad-dhanam sanaih
- If the authorities or the leaders of society do not give special respect to the brahmanas then the path of progress will be lost to human civilization. The Lord personally wanted to teach this, and therefore He offered so much praise to the Kumaras
- If we do not take direction from the Vedas but act whimsically according to our own choice, we are sure to be punished by the laws of the Lord, who offers different types of bodies in the 8,400,000 species of forms
- If you do not be satisfied by the natural comforts offered by God, or nature, if you want to create artificial comfort, then you have to create another discomfort for counteracting. They do not know that
L
- Lord had offered him (Dhruva Maharaja) the rule of the world for thirty-six thousand years because in the beginning he was under the spell of the material energy and wanted to take revenge against his stepmother and rule over his father's kingdom
- Lord offers the worshipers the benedictions they desire even if they worship only part of His transcendental body because the He is complete
- Lord Visnu was very pleased with Maharaja Prthu's good character and behavior and offered him a benediction
M
- Mucukunda continued, "You (Krsna) are the S P of Godhead, and You can offer me anything I want, including liberation. But who is such a fool that after pleasing You he would ask from You something which might cause entanglement in this material world"
- My dear Lord, what You have said to Your unalloyed devotee is certainly very much bewildering. The allurements You offer in the Vedas are certainly not suitable for pure devotees
- My dear Lord, You are the best of the demigods who can offer benedictions. Why, therefore, should any learned person ask You for benedictions meant for living entities bewildered by the modes of nature?
O
- O Supreme, because I (Prahlada) was born in a family full of the hellish material qualities of passion and ignorance, what is my position? And what is to be said of Your causeless mercy, which was never offered even to Lord Brahma, Lord Siva or Laksmi?
- One should not attempt to please the Supreme Personality of Godhead by concoction. One must first be prepared to serve the spiritual master, and when one is qualified he is automatically offered the platform of direct service to the Lord
- One should try to keep himself satisfied in any condition of life - whether distress or happiness - which is offered by the supreme will. A person who endures in this way is able to cross over the darkness of nescience very easily
P
- Prahlada flatly refused in the presence of Nrsimhadeva. - Sir, we are so prone to accept this material benediction, & Your great personality is offering. So this is a great allurement. Kindly save me. I am not a merchandise man, that I want something
- Prthu frankly tells the Lord that the Lord's offerings of benedictions in the form of material facilities are certainly causes for bewilderment. A pure devotee is not at all interested in bhukti or mukti
- Pure devotees do not ask anything from the Lord for their personal benefit. Even if offered personal benefits, pure devotees do not accept them, because their only desire is to satisfy the Supreme Personality of Godhead by transcendental loving service
S
- Sanaka Muni addressed the Lord as follows, "Auspicious persons, who are fortunate enough to be engaged in glorifying Your attributes and who actually know what Your transcendental position is, do not even care to accept liberation offered by You"
- Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya concluded, "Even though he is offered all kinds of liberation, the pure devotee does not accept them. He is fully satisfied engaging in the service of the Lord"
- Since Lord Narayana is absolute, His transcendental qualities are described as one. Thus His punishments and His offerings of favor are both of the same value
- Since the omnipotent Lord is situated within the heart of everyone, He can give directions to His sincere devotees by which they can attain the right path. Such directions are especially offered to the devotee, even if he desires something else
T
- The different forms of the living entities are different dresses offered by the illusory, external energy of the Lord according to the modes of nature the living being desires to enjoy
- The facilities of living in the creation of the Lord are equally offered to all living entities
- The form of the Lord as worshiped in the temples is called arca-vigraha or arcavatara, the worshipable form, the Deity incarnation. This facility is offered to neophyte devotees so that they can see the real form of the Lord face to face
- The illusioned living entity appears in so many forms offered by the external energy of the Lord. While enjoying in the modes of material nature, the encaged living entity misconceives, thinking in terms of "I" and "mine"
- The impersonal time factor is the background of the material manifestation as the instrument of the Supreme Lord. It is the ingredient of assistance offered to material nature
- The Lord confirms this benediction (to become cats, hogs and dogs and enjoy material happiness) in Bhagavad-gita: Whatever a person aspires to receive from Me, I offer him as he desires
- The Lord is so merciful that due to Dhruva's execution of devotional service He offered Dhruva the ultimate Vaisnava goal
- The Lord may offer liberation or material happiness to a devotee, but after some devotional service has been executed, particularly in Mathura during the month of Karttika, the devotees want only to attain pure devotional service unto the Lord
- The Lord offered him (Daksa) the daughter of Pancajana named Asikni, who was suitable for Maharaja Daksa to enjoy in sex. Indeed, Daksa received his name because he was very expert in sex life. After awarding this benediction, Lord Visnu disappeared
- The Lord sometimes offers benedictions to the neophyte devotees who have not yet understood that material facilities will not make them happy
- The purport to this verse is that the Lord easily offers liberation, but He rarely agrees to offer a soul devotional service because by devotional service the Lord Himself becomes purchased by the devotee
- The saint Narada Muni continued: Although Prahlada Maharaja was only a boy, when he heard the benedictions offered by Lord Nrsimhadeva he considered them impediments on the path of devotional service
- There may be big fire, but the birds are dancing in the street. They have no problem, because they are living under condition as they have been offered by God
- These dirty things of fruitive work and empiric philosophy can be removed only by association with the Supreme Lord. The Lord, being omnipotent, can offer His association by His inconceivable potencies
- These facilities offered by the Lord to the living entity constitute the sixteen kinds of perverted support in terms of the knowledge-gathering senses, the working senses, the mind and the five material elements
- This is the opportunity offered to you by the Lord - take advantage of it and set exemplary activities so that our countrymen may know what is the duty of a bona fide Indian
- Those who are actually thieves and rogues do not recognize or acknowledge the benedictions offered to them by the Supreme Lord, and they cannot render Him devotional service
- To save a surrendered soul from repeated birth and death, the Lord purifies him of contamination by offering him a little distress. This cannot be understood by a nondevotee, but a devotee can see this because he is vipascit, or learned
W
- When Dhruva Maharaja was offered a benediction by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he replied, - O my Lord, I am fully satisfied. I do not need any material benediction
- When he was offered a benediction by Lord Nrsimhadeva, Prahlada Maharaja said: My dear Lord, I have no problems and want no benediction from You because I am quite satisfied to chant Your holy name. This is sufficient for me
- When he was offered a benediction by Lord Nrsimhadeva, Prahlada Maharaja said: My dear Lord, I only lament to see others bereft of Your love. I am simply lamenting for them and devising various plans to deliver them from the clutches of maya - SB 7.9.43
- When he was offered a benediction by Lord Nrsimhadeva, Prahlada Maharaja said: My dear Lord, whenever I chant I immediately merge in an ocean of transcendental bliss. I only lament to see others bereft of Your love
- When Prahlada Maharaja was offered a benediction by Lord Nrsimhadeva, he refused to accept it and instead declared that a devotee should not be like a vanik, a mercantile man who gives something in exchange for some profit
- When Prahlada Maharaja was offered a benediction by Nrsimhadeva, Prahlada rejected all kinds of material benedictions, but he prayed to become the servant of the servants of the Lord
- When Prahlada Maharaja was offered benediction by Nrsimha-deva, due to his great devotion and tolerance he refused to accept any benediction from the Lord, thinking that such acceptance was not befitting a sincere devotee
- When the florist was offered benedictions, he begged from the Lord that he might remain His eternal servant in devotional service and by such service do good to all living creatures
- When the SP of Godhead creates different types of bodies, offering a particular body to each living entity according to his character and fruitive actions, the Lord revives all the qualities of material nature, sattva-guna, rajo-guna and tamo-guna