Demoniac Vs. Transcendental Applications of Tolerance

(written on August 20, 2019)

(Reference: BG 15.7)

As long as we are in the material world, suffering will be there. Just because we become a devotee doesn’t mean that we don’t suffer. This is because as long as we are in the material nature, we are still forced to act by the three modes and we are subject to our senses. This explained in BG 15.7 “The living entities in this conditioned world are My eternal fragmental parts. Due to conditioned life, they are struggling very hard with the six senses, which include the mind.” Although suffering is there, we can tolerate suffering. This is explained in BG 2.14 “O son of Kuntī, the nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed.” As it will be explained through certain examples, devotees tolerate suffering by thinking about Krishna, and demons tolerate suffering by thinking about something else other than the situation they are facing.

Examples of Devotees Tolerating Suffering:

1. Jesus. Known as Messiah, the Son of God, Jesus Christ was one of the greatest devotees of the Lord. Because of his growing followers, local leaders feared Jesus. With the help of a man whose name was Judas Iscariot, the Romans arrested Jesus and put him on trial for claiming to be the kings of all Jews. The trial went successfully for the Romans and they decided to crucify Jesus. As part of crucification, Jesus’ hands and feet were pinned to a cross where he was left to die hanging. One could possibly not imagine the amount of pain that Christ was going through, but still he asked God to forgive the Romans saying, “forgive them for they do not know what they do.” His last words were “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit… it is finished.”

2. Haridasa Thakur. Haridasa Thakur was a great devotee of Lord Chaitanya. He would often go for preaching and harinam in various marketplaces. At the time, the Muslims did not like such behavior and used to beat Haridasa Thakur. They used to beat him so hard that he would have died, but astonishingly, even though Haridasa Thakur was getting beaten he never felt pain. He survived 22 such marketplace beatings. Haridasa Thakur could not understand why he wasn’t feeling any pain so he went to Lord Chaitanya. Upon his question, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu turned his back and Haridasa Thakur saw slashes all over Mahaprabhu’s back.

3. Srila Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada, Founder-Acharya of ISKCON went through much suffering but he was able to tolerate it. At the age of 70, Srila Prabhupada crossed the Atlantic ocean. He was placed on a cargo ship that was not even meant for passengers, and suffered tremendous sea sickness and two heart attacks. At that age, possibly no one would have been able to cross the ocean and survive. However, with full belief in Krishna, Prabhupada crossed the ocean and successfully established ISKCON all over the world. As such, there were many more instances in which Prabhupada suffered, but was able to tolerate to fulfill his spiritual master’s instructions.

So it can be seen that whenever devotees suffer, their pain is alleviated because they fully depend on Krishna. This is the way to permanently get rid of any pain and transcend suffering. Devotees have the mindset that any suffering they have is only a small fraction of the karma they were supposed to get. For example Srila Prabhupada wrote in his diary that “The captain tells that they had never such calmness of the Atlantic. I said it is Lord Krishna's mercy. His wife asked me to come back again with them so that they may have again a calm Atlantic Ocean. If Atlantic would have shown its usual face perhaps I would have died. But Lord Krishna has taken charge of the ship.” What should have been an even disastrous commute actually turned out to be less of a problem than usual.

Examples of Demons Tolerating Suffering:

1. Stalin. Stalin was a dictator during WWII who created the fascist movement which lead to kill around 6 million Jews and other minorities in the war. Stalin faced many health problems and had many surgeries. Due to his high position during the time, Stalin was worried the doctors would try to kill him during the surgery, so he decided not to take anesthesia and he beared the pain of an open surgery without a single cry. Stalin was so focused on making sure that the doctors wouldn’t kill him, so he didn’t feel the pain. The doctors were astonished.

2. Ravana and Hiranyakashipu. Ravana and Hiranyakashipu are examples of demons who went through severe penances and suffered without drinking any water, taking any food, or even breathing at some points. However, these demons were able to stand suffering because they were determined to get whatever they wanted to achieve. Ravana wanted power greater than the demigods and Hiranyakashipu wanted to make sure that nobody could kill him. Because they were so determined, they were able to tolerate the suffering.

The problem with the demons is that they are extremely focused on their goals in order to make sure that they do not suffer. However, because of their passion, they are constantly suffering. Stalin, Ravana, and Hiranyakashipu were constantly suffering because they were always fearing whether someone would kill them. So they were only temporarily alleviating the pain. But when someone surrenders unto Krishna, they have full belief that Krishna will take care of them. Hence, although they suffer at times, they can easily tolerate and move on. That is the power of taking the shelter of Krishna.

Unholy Contact:

In the purport of SB 1.7.5, Srila Prabhupada says, “And due to this unholy contact, the pure spiritual entity suffers material miseries under the modes of material nature.” Prabhupada is basically explaining how due to contact with the material nature, the living entity suffers under the modes of material nature. So, the phrase “unholy contact” explains the material nature. The material nature isn’t spiritual hence it isn’t holy. When the soul comes in contact with the material nature, it is not a spiritual thing, but an unholy thing. This is why we suffer.