Kṛṣṇa Reciprocates

It is all a question of surrender. Verse eleven states: All of them, as they surrender unto Me, I reward accordingly." Actually Krsna is seated within the heart of every living entity. So there is no question of fooling the Supersoul. He is not impressed by outward show, and He is not impressed by ritual, but He is impressed by a loving heart. There is a nice verse in the Holy Bible which says, "Seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you." The point is that the Lord responds in exact proportion to the striving of the living entity. If we want Krsna ten percent, it is ten percent that we will get. But if we surrender everything that we have (and actually we have nothing which is not already Krsna's save and except the false ego which we have manufactured in our conditioned state), then Krsna will likewise give Himself. It is something like the mother who hears her child beginning to whine, and so hands him a toy. Then when he whines again she gives him another and another, until the point is reached when the child will not be quieted with any toy. At that point the mother picks up the child and gives him herself.

Similarly, when we become thoroughly disgusted with all of this paraphernalia, and when nothing else will satisfy, Krsna will give us Himself. In this connection, one great saint has prayed, "O my Lord, when will that day come when I will have no more taste for the inebrieties of this world, and I will take to the nectar of Thy loving service? When will that day come when my ears will become stopped up from hearing of Thy glories, and my tongue will be forever engaged in chanting Thy holy name?"

Actually, no one ever becomes the loser by giving to Krsna. We may be giving up ten percent, or fifty percent, or one hundred percent of what we have, but count it any way you want, ten percent of nothing or fifty percent of nothing or one hundred percent of nothing is still nothing. It is all illusion, maya, that is all. But if I get ten percent of the Infinite, that is infinite, and we cannot imagine what is one hundred percent of the Infinite. One may give up a worthless body, or the worthless conception of "I" and "mine," but Krsna can give one a body like His own, and a conception of I and mine which is spiritual, and therefore in perfect relation to the Absolute, a body not subject to birth and death, but one which is eternal and full of bliss. In short, such a man has Krsna, and therefore all the resources of all the opulences of the Almighty.

Krsna is so kind that He reciprocates with the devotee just as the devotee would like to have him. To one He is master, to another He is friend, to another He is son and to still another, He reciprocates in the supreme exchange of the perfect lover. Krsna awards equally all devotees in their different intensities of love for Him. Thus the devotees can serve Krsna personally, and as such they partake of His sac-cid-ananda nature, because no one can be in the presence of Krsna without experiencing bliss.

And even the impersonalists, who are envious of Krsna's personal form, who are fearful of having an eternal personality because of their material frustrations, and who are so frustrated with material existence that they want to commit spiritual suicide, they will also be rewarded by Krsna accordingly. Krsna allows them to merge into His effulgence, called the brahma-jyoti, but that certainly is not the most desirable position. We have information that those who attain this brahma-jyoti eventually fall down to material existence again to exhibit their dormant desire for activities.

Activity is the actual condition of the living entity, and such a condition of non-activity is against our spiritual nature. So we should not strive to give up activity, but we should strive to practice sanatana-yoga, or the eternal activities of the living entity. Verse fifteen of Chapter Four says, "All the liberated souls in ancient times acted with this understanding and so attained liberation. Therefore, as did the ancients, you should perform your duty in this divine consciousness." And verse eighteen says: "One who sees inaction in action, and action in inaction, is intelligent among men, and he is in the transcendental position, although engaged in all sorts of activities."

So we can understand that this sanatana-yoga or eternal activities of the living entity is not exactly a question of whether one is materially active or inactive, but rather, a question of his consciousness. Therefore there are three concepts in the Sanskrit: One is karma, one is vikarma, and the third is akarma. Karma means to follow prescribed regulations, as laid down by the great authorities and scriptures, for good work, for good results, for fruitive activity, for gaining some material benefit or heavenly happiness. These activities are always performed with some good result in view, and therefore ultimately there must also be some reaction. Vikarma is just the opposite. It means acting for one's personal sense enjoyment, or according to one's personal whim, disregarding the directions of the scriptures or authorities. Therefore there is reaction, but the consequences are always inauspicious or bad.

But akarma means to work in such a way that there is no reaction. The first mantra of Īsopanisad says: "Everything animate or inanimate that is within the universe is controlled and owned by the Lord. One should therefore accept only those things necessary for himself, which are set aside as his quota, and one must not accept other things, knowing well to whom they belong." So the conclusion of Īsopanisad is that everything belongs to the Lord. Everything is His energy, and therefore He is the ultimate proprietor of everything that is.

So if a man can become a servant of Krsna and use things only as Krsna directs, then certainly for that man there is no reaction, any more than there is legal action against the bank teller who just does his job nicely, without claiming any of the millions of dollars he is handling as his own. He is simply transferring it from one account to another on behalf of the bank. But if a teller tries to keep some of the funds for himself, he is called an embezzler, and is immediately thrown into jail. Similarly, the living entities who do not do everything for Krsna are actually thieves.