Krishna's Dealings with His Children: Devotee vs. Non-devotee

(Written on January 31, 2020)

(References: SB 1.9.32)

Krishna deals with the non-devotees and the devotees differently. Srila Prabhupada explains in the purport of SB1.9.32, “It is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā (10.10) by the Lord Himself that He gives His instruction from within the heart of a pure devotee who is constantly engaged in the service of the Lord. Such instruction is given not for any material purpose but only for going back home, back to Godhead. For the ordinary man who wants to lord it over material nature, the Lord only sanctions and becomes a witness of activities, but He never gives the non-devotee instructions for going back to Godhead. That is the difference in dealings by the Lord with different living beings, both the devotee and the non-devotee.”

Lord Krishna is like the leader of living beings and out of all living beings there are those who are prisoners and those who are citizens. The devotees are compared to citizens while the non-devotees are compared to prisoners. The non-devotees have the freewill to do whatever they want to do, in this case, they can act to fulfill their materially motivated desires. Krishna does not interfere with the living entity’s freewill. However, the living entity cannot avoid the fact that he will be subject to the necessary results, whether good or bad. An example could be a criminal. The criminal technically has the freewill to break the law. The judge does not stop the criminal, but the judge will definitely punish the criminal for the actions that he has made. Similarly, this is how Krishna acts with the non-devotees.

However, when it comes to the pure devotee, Krishna acts differently. Srila Prabhupada says in the purport of SB 1.9.32, “The devotees are above this material goodness and badness. They are progressive on the path of transcendence, and therefore they have no desire for anything material. The devotee also knows Śrī Kṛṣṇa as the original Nārāyaṇa because Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, by His plenary portion, appears as the Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, the original source of all material creation. The Lord also desires the association of His pure devotees, and for them only the Lord descends to the earth and enlivens them.” Just like the citizens in a kingdom, the devotees are free from encagement in prison (or this material world). The Lord also desires the association of His pure devotees. The Lord hence gives instruction to the pure devotee through the heart (or through Paramatma). Krishna does this because the desire of the devotee is pure. The devotee only desires for the satisfaction of the Lord, and hence the Lord will bring the devotee closer to Him. This is explained in Bg 1.32-35, “But when one takes the opposite way – namely, when one tries to satisfy the senses of Govinda without desiring to satisfy one’s own senses – then by the grace of Govinda all desires of the living entity are satisfied.”