Dear Pandu,

Please accept my respects.

A true devotee will always think, “My surrender is incomplete.” And he will think, “I have committed so many sins that the reactions I am getting are only a fraction of what I deserve.”

But he will not apply such a view to other devotees. He will not think, “That devotee is suffering. It must be a result of his sins, and this shows his lack of surrender to Krishna.”

Srila Rupa Gosvami, in his Upadesamrita, admonishes us not to think that way. He says:

drstaih svabhava-janitair vapusas ca dosair
na prakrtatvam iha bhakta janasya pasyet
gangambhasam na khalu budbuda-phena-pankair
brahma-dravatvam apagacchati nira-dharmaih

“From a materialistic point of view, one one may see faults in the body of a devotee and view the devotee in terms of conditioned material existence. But one should not see that way. As the Ganges is transcendental and pure, even when seemingly polluted by bubbles, foam, and mud, a pure devotee is always beyond the conditions of the material world.”

In the Srimad-Bhagavatam (10.14.8) we find:

tat te ’nukampam susamiksamano
bhunjana evatma-krtam vipakam
hrd-vag-vapurbhir vidadhan namas te
jiveta yo mukti-pade sa daya-bhak

“My dear Lord, one who earnestly waits for You to bestow Your causeless mercy upon him, all the while patiently suffering the reactions of his past misdeeds and offering You respectful obeisances with his heart, words and body, is surely eligible for liberation, for it has become his rightful claim.”

This indicates that even if a devotee is apparently undergoing the reactions to past misdeeds, when he wholeheartedly dedicates his life to the service of Krishna he is a pure devotee fully qualified for going back to Godhead. To think of such a devotee the way one thinks of an ordinary conditioned soul is a vaishnava-aparadha, an offense to a devotee of the Lord.

In the Bhagavad-gita (12.18–19) Lord Krishna says:

samah satrau ca mitre ca
tatha manapamanayoh
sitosna-sukha-duhkhesu
samah sanga-vivarjitah

tulya-ninda-stutir mauni
santusto yena kenacit
aniketah sthira-matir
bhaktiman me priyo narah

“One who is equal to friends and enemies, who is equipoised in honor and dishonor, heat and cold, happiness and distress, fame and infamy, who is always free from contaminating association, always silent and satisfied with anything, who doesn’t care for any residence, who is fixed in knowledge and who is engaged in devotional service—such a person is very dear to Me.”

To be afflicted by enemies, dishonor, distress, infamy, or excessive heat or cold is usually considered a result of past sinful acts. But here the Lord Himself says that one who tolerantly accepts such travails while steadily engaging in devotional service is very dear to Him. One who is dear to the Lord has attained the perfection of life. Therefore we should not hesitate to offer service to such a person and look to him for spiritual instructions.

Hare Krishna.

Sincerely,
Jayadvaita Swami