Bhagavad- gitd and other scriptures praise Arjuna fo r his close rela tion ship with Krsna.Arjuna is known for his mood of friendship (sakhabhava).Since relationships are by definition reciprocal,not only is Arjuna known as Krsna's friend,but Krsna a is known as Arjuna's friend.Krsna drove Arjuna's chariot and is therefore called Partha-sdrathi,athe "charioteer of Partha (Arjuna}." This name shows Krsna's pecial relationship with His devotee Arjuna.
Discussions of devotionalsevice often emphasize the activities devotees perform to please Krsna,but the ranscendental rela ·tionship between the Lord and His evotees is dynamic,with the loving exch anges origi·nating rom both sides.Although Krsna is sympathetic to everyone,He s especially favorable toward His devotees.This is called hakta-vatsala,the Lord's affection for His devotees.In hagavad-gita(9.29) Krsna tells Arjuna,"I envy no one, nor am partial to anyone.I am equal to all.But whoever renders service unto Me in devotion is a friend,is in Me,and I am lso a friend to him." It seems contradictory to say that the ord can be "equal to all" and,at the same time,pays special attention to His devotees.In his pur· port to this erse,Srila Prabhupada explains that the Lord takes care of ll living entities, or jivas,who are all part of Him.He rovides all resources necessary to sustain life;indeed, not a blae of grass moves without His sanc·tion.As the Supreme controller who maintains all jivas,Krsna is equal to all.
Onthe other hand,Krsna diistinguishes among His parts according to how they relate to Him.He rewards the living entities according to their degree of surrender:"All of them-as they surrender unto Me-I reward accordingly." (Bg.4.11) It is natural,therefore,that Krsna takes special interest in His devotees,who are completely surrendered to Him and are constantly serving Him with love and devotion
The Lord is a person,and the living entities are also individual persons,although they are minute and the Supreme Lord is unlimited.Theanalogy of a fir e surrounded by many tiny sparks illustrates this concept:The sparks are tiny ompared to the original fire,but the composition is the same.Like the relation·ship between the individual sparks and the fire,an eternal reciprocal reo the living entities and the Lord.
For the devotee,who is favorably disposed toward the Lord in a relationship of loving service,this relationship is very pecial,and the essence of his or her life.Krsna consciousness means that Krsna is the single focus for the devotee's ctions,words,and desires.When this perfection is achi eved, true reciprocity between Krsna and the devotees takes place. Krsna is dear to His devotees, and the devotees are dear to Him.Although He is completely independent and self-satisfied,He accepts service from His devotees, and thus remains at the center of their lives.The reciprocation between Krsna and His devotees,enjoyable for both,is unique.Elsewhere in Bhagavad-gita (6.31), Krsna confirms this reciprocity: "For one who sees Me everywhere and sees everything in Me,I am never lost,nor is he ever lost to Me."
In his explanation of the transcendental reciprocation between the Lord and His devotees,Srlla Prabhupada gives the example of a diamond ring:the diamond looks more beautiful next to the gold, and the gold looks more beautiful next to the diamond.(Bg. 9.29,purport) In this way,the devotees glorify the Lord,and the Lord does not hesitate to glorify His devotees. He appears in this world just to please His devotees and punish de· mons who challenge His authority and trouble the devotees.(Bg. 4.8)
When the pure devotee renders service without asking anything in return,Krsna is obliged and "becomes a kind of debtor to His devo· tees."(Bhag. 3.8.27, purport) This fact is often explained in connection with Radharani and the gopis,who are glorified by Caitanya Mahaprabhu as the topmost devotees. No one can control Krsna,the Sureme Personality of Godhead, but Radharani controls Him with Her devotion.Likewise,He willingly allowed His mother, Yasoda,to bind and scold Him.He showed His universal form to Arjuna and His four-armed form to Bhismadeva upon hearing their prayers. Krsna is the source of pleasure for His devo· tees,and He enjoys fulfilling their desires because their desires are purely Krsna conscious.
Krsna's desire to serve His devotees is prominent in His form as Lord Jagannatha,who presides at the reat temple in Puri,Orissa, with His brother Baladeva and sister Subhadra.Histories of the temple have recorded Lord Jgannatha's pastimes over hundreds of years.Once,Jagannatha and Baladeva disguised Themselves as soldiers and fought a longside Purusottama Maharaja, the king of Puri,in a battle against the king of Kanchi. The king of Kanchi had insulted Purusottama Maharaja for being a street-sweeper.(The king of Purl traditionally sweeps in front of Jagannatha's chariot at the annual Rathayatra festival).The humble king did not take the insult person· ally but as an offense against his beloved Jagannatha,and therefore he went into battle,emerging victorious under the command of me two Lords.
THE POET SALABEGA
jagannath is Krsna and His transcendental pastimes are unlimited and beyond comprehension. He showed special mercy to His poet-devotee Salabega,whose example illustrates the Lord's eagerness to reciprocate with His devotees. Born in the beginning of the seventeenth century,Salabega was the son of the widow of a Hindu brahmana and Lalbeg,a merciless commander of the Mogul Empire. Although his ruthless father intensely hated the Hindus,Salabega's mother was a fervent devotee of Lord J agannatha,and she taught her son about the Lord.
Once, as a child or young man, Salabega became very ill,and the attending physicians thought he would die.Salabega miraculously recovered when he heard some devotees singing bhajanas (devotional songs) about Krasna and Jagannatha and he began chanting Jagannatha's names.This was a pivotal moment in his devotional life.He remembered his mother's description of Visnu's rescue of Gajendra,the king of the elephants, when chased by a crocodile. Like Dhruva Maharaja and Sri Prahlada,Salabega had inten se childlike faith in the mercy of the Lord.
As he grew older,Salabega learned to sing and compose devotional songs for the pleasure of Jagannatha,whom he sometimes called Kalia,"the dark darling." He eventually lived in Vrndavana,but he became anxious to see Lord Jagannatha in Purl. Because of his Muslim birth,Salabega was denied entrance to the Puri temple,and he returned to Vrndavana in disappointment.Lord Jagannatha, however,is known as patita-pavana, "the savior of the fallen," and so He comes out from the temple every year during the Rathayatra festival to bestow his merciful glance upon all creatures.Salabega planned to visit Puri during the Rathayatra festival
On the way to Pun,however,he fell ill. Lamenting at the thought that he would miss the opportunity to see Jagannath a, he prayed that Jagannatha would wait for him, a sentiment prevalent in one of his songs: satasa pacasha kosha cali na par ai/ moha jivajaen nandighose thiva rahi: "It is very difficult to walk the 750 kosas (the distance between Vrndavana and Jagannatha PurL) to see You. Please remain on Nandighosa until then."
Just then, a miracle occurred.Lord Jagannatha's cart,called Nandighosa,stopped,and no onecould budge it.Jagannatha waited for the arrival of His dear devotee Salabega,who had the opportunity to sing directly to his dark darling and look at Him to his heart's content. Those who had criticized Salabega for his low birth were humbled as they saw the greatness of Salabega's devotion.
Many times after that day, Salabega returned to compose songs for Jagannatha at the spot where the Lord had stopped.Today, his samadhi (tomb) stands nearby on Grand Road.
Salabega's devotion apparently brought the Lord of the universe under his control.In tribute to this pastime,even to this day Lord Jagannarha's cart stops at Salabega's samadhi on Grand Road during the Rathayatra procession.
Salabega's example teaches us that birth does not matter,that pure devotion transcends social status, such as being a brahmana After all, we are not this body but spirit souls. To show the world that anyone can become Krsna's pure devotee, Srila Prabhupada wanted his followers, most of whom were not brahmanas by birth, to be brahminical in devotion and behavior.
KRSNA'S EAGERNESS
Even the most neophyte devotees of the Lord can taste the sweetness of the Lord's reciprocity. It issaid that when we take one step toward Krsna, He takes a hundred steps toward us.When we remember the Vamanadeva,Krsna's in carn ation as a dwarf brahmana,crossed the entire universe with two steps,Krsna's hundred steps toward us are particularly significant. Even though no one is truly eligible to serve the Supreme Lord,He is so merciful that He accepts the devotee's humble attempts.(See Bhag.6.16.25,purport.) The Lord is more eager to reclaim His conditioned parts than they are to return to Him,and He helps His devotees return home,back to Godhead: "Those who worship Me with devotion,meditating on My transcendental form-to them I carry what they lack and preserve what they have." (Bg.9.22) Even ifa devotee does not become completely purified in this lifetime,he or she will be able to continue on the path of devotional service in the next life.Spiritual gains,unlike material gains,are never lost.
The easiest way for us to feel Krsna's reciprocation is through hearing and chanting His names: sravanam kirtanam.When Krsna descended as Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu,He made pure love of God,prema,available to everyone through the chanting of the holy names. In the degraded Kaliyuga, the current age of quarrel and hypocrisy, this is the best method to achieve perfect Krsna consciousness.It is the yugadharma, the prescribed activity for the age. Krsna's names a re endowed with all of His potency,which means He is present in His names. When we chant attentively,He will come to dance on the tip of our tongues.What greater reciprocation do we need than this?
Mohini Radha Devi Dasi graduated from Columbia University with a degree in English literature in 2004. She is a disciple of His Holiness Gopala Knew Goswami and lives with her husband, Narada Rsi Dasa, in New York City.