KRISHNA PERSONALLY CARES FOR HIS DEVOTEES

KRISHNA PERSONALLY CARES FOR HIS DEVOTEES
The following story illustrates how Krishna cares for those
who have really become His devotees.
Once there was a brahmana devotee of Krishna, who had
read many scriptures and many commentaries on the Gita
and Bhagavatam. from the beginning he never took any employment.
Every day, he would beg for just one hour in the
early afternoon, when most people take their main meal. Ills
wife would prepare whatever he collected, and the couple
would subsist solely on that. The rest of the time he would
study the scriptures, and hear and chant Krishna’s holy
names, glories and pastimes.
The brahmana and his wife were very content together, living
on whatever Bhagavan gave them. They had no material
desires at all. They only read the Gita and contemplated spiritual
topics. While he was reading the Gita every day, he would
have many spiritual realisations, and he wrote them down so
that he could publish them for ordinary people to understand.
That is how he was engaged in bhajan.
One day, he read verse (9.22) in Bhagavad-gita, and he began
to analyse it as follows: ‘Devotees become situated very
close to Krishna when their minds are fully self-controlled,
when they meditate exclusively on Krishna and worship Him
in every way (especially through the medium of hearing and
chanting His names, glories, qualities and pastimes) for

Krishna’s happiness, and not for themselves. Even if a person
of bad conduct engages in this type of exclusive bhajan,
then Krishna will accept him. And if that exclusive sentiment
is not there, then Krishna will never reveal Himself. This verse
is related to devotional service in practice [sadhana], and not
to the stage of perfection. Krishna protects and maintains
those who have taken exclusive shelter of Him.“
This brahmana was very humble and surrendered by nature,
and many nice sentiments arose in his heart as he was
studying this verse. Then he came to the last line, which says,
yoga-ksemam vahamy aham: “When My devotees engage in
worship [bhajan] like this, I will supply all of their requirements
such as food and water, and even collect them and
carry them (vahamy) Myself.“
The brahmana stopped reading and thought, “How can this
be right? I am more than seventy years old now, and so far
Bhagavan has never looked after us directly like this. We have
been engaged in exclusive bhajan, yet today there is not a single
mouse in our home. Why? 5ecause there is no food in the
house, not even any foodstuffs for today’s meal! We don’t
even have any earthen pots to catch the rainwater. We just
take whatever comes when I go out to beg. Doesn’t Bhagavan
see this? Isn’t He in every soul witnessing everything? He
certainly hasn’t taken care of us as He is saying in this verse.
Maybe if we require something, He would inspire someone
else to come and help us, but He would never carry a burden
for us on His own head. I can’t accept this. Krishna cannot
possibly have spoken this verse. Someone else must have inserted
it.“ Thinking like this, he scratched this line out with a
red pen.
That day, he had to tear a piece from his wife’s cloth to
cover himself when he went out to beg. As he went out, he
thought, “Krishna will carry what we require on His own
body? Perhaps He would inspire a king or some wealthy person
to come and help us, but would the all-knowing and allpowerful Prabhu carry anything on His own head? I don’t
think so. I have heard that he made the poor brahmana Sudama
into a king, but He didn’t physically carry any burden for
him. I have never heard this.“
He put it out of his mind and went begging, but he was
unsuccessful. He wandered here and there, but by three
o’clock he still hadn’t collected a single thing. One man said
to him, “Baba, I am sorry, but our house is impure. One of
our family members has just died, so we cannot give anything
for the next three days.“ It was the same wherever he
went, and he started for home empty-handed.
Meanwhile, what was happening at his home? A beautiful
young boy arrived at the gate. He had a dark complexion
and wore bright yellow cloth, and on his shoulders he carried
a long stick with a bag of goods on each end. The bag on
one end contained rice, dahl, ghee, and spices, and the bag on
the other end contained sugar, vegetables, and different
things. The boy did not appear to be strong enough to carry
the load. He was quite young — perhaps only fourteen years
old — and His limbs were very delicate. He was perspiring
heavily. When the boy came to the gate, He called out, “O
Mother! O wife of My guru! Please open the door!“
The brahmana’s wife replied, “What are you saying? My
husband has no disciples.“
The boy replied, “gut I am a disciple of your husband.“
She thought, “Who is this? Where has He come from?“
She could not open the door because she didn’t even have
enough clothing to cover herself properly, but Krishna understood
everything, and He handed His own shawl through
the door for her to wear. He said, “Mother, Guruji has sent
Me. We have collected all of these things today. He caught
hold of Me and sent Me here, saying that he will be coming
soon. I asked him to please wait a minute so that I could get a
drink of water, but he said, ‘No, You can drink water later. Go
to my home immediately.’ He could see that I am such a young

boy, but he still loaded all of this on Me and sent Me here.“
When the brahmana’s wife heard this, she began to weep,
thinking, “Such a tender young boy, and He is perspiring as
well! Doesn’t this brahmana have any mercy? He himself will
come empty-handed, after loading everything on this poor
boy? He has no mercy.“
Then the boy showed her His back and said, “Mother, he
has also scratched Me with his nails.“
“Oh! It looks as if it will bleed!“ exclaimed the brahmana’s
wife, and she took Him on her lap. “My son, when he comes,
I will give him a good talking to! He poses as a great, selfcontrolled
devotee, but he can’t even show mercy to a child!
My dear son, please come inside.“
She brought Him inside and said, “Sit here and I will prepare
something for You to eat. You won’t leave here until I
have fed You.“
She went to the kitchen and began to prepare the rice and
dahl and vegetables that He had brought. While she was engaged
in this way, there was a knock at the door; her husband
had arrived.
“Open the door!“ he said.
The brahmana’s wife went to the door in a very angry mood,
and said, “Have you come empty-handed, without bringing
anything yourself? You loaded everything on that poor boy,
and then scratched Him with your nails? Don’t you have even
a little mercy?“
“What? What are you talking about?“ the brahmana asked.
“You know very well. I’m talking about that boy you sent
here loaded up with everything you collected.“
“Who? I don’t know anything about all this!“
“You loaded it all on that poor child and you have brought
nothing yourself!“
“Where is He then?“
“Come inside and see for Yourself!“
They went inside the house, but the boy was nowhere to

be seen. They searched the entire house, and all they found
was a thread of yellow cloth where He had been sitting.
After they had searched for the boy and found that He was
not there, the brahmana took his Gita in his hands and opened,
He was surprised to see that the scratches he made with the pen on the Gita were
not there.