In the Bhagavad-Gita, Krsna tells Arjuna to abandon all types of mundane religion and just surrender to Him. He promises that if one does that he will be protected from the result of all past sins. Krsna reinforces it by saying “Do not fear”.
Many understand that this verse means that one should abandon his family, his job, and his mundane education and just join a temple, surrendering to the institution. They understand that if they do that, Krsna (represented by the institution) will take care of them and they will not have any reason to fear.
In the early days of our movement “surrender to Krsna” meant abandoning all one’s possessions, dropping his academic education, and going to live in the temple, hoping that the temple would supply all his necessities. Surrender to Krsna is obviously always good from the spiritual side, but this particular approach offered some challenges, which caused difficulties for many devotees.
One problem with this approach was that there was no “plan B”. Devotees would just abandon everything and surrender to the temple authorities, frequently breaking up with their families and would face serious difficulties when things would not go out as expected, or when material desires would start to knock on the door. A few challenges with this model:
– There was frequently not a clear agreement on what devotees were supposed to provide and expect from the temple or communities. This would lead to frequent misunderstandings and disputes. Frequently temples would just take the service of devotees, taking them as volunteers, and use all the resources into expanding the mission, without reserving money to care for devotees who would later become sick for example.
– There was not a clear idea of what to do with devotees who would want to enter into family life. Frequently the deal was that the temple would take one as long as he wanted to be a brahmachari, but the ones who decided to constitute a family later would have to leave and fend for themselves.
– Devotees would expect that temple authorities would care for their needs, but more often than not the authorities would not be able to properly care for their needs, be it due to lack of sufficient material resources, or just due to lack of experience or expertise. This would also cause serious problems. There are very few leaders qualified enough to really care for people in the age we live.
When we combine such challenges with the general lack of life experience devotees had at these times, it’s not surprising how many problems appeared and how many devotees faced difficulties in life due to dropping their material education to live in the temple and later feeling that the society let them down for not supporting them when they decided to enter into family life or when they ceased to be capable of accepting the rigors of renounced life.
Nowadays this model of devotees abandoning everything and going to live in the temples is still applied in some situations, but we can say that it is in decline. In most places, it has been replaced by a model where devotees are encouraged to study and have professions, so they can be financially independent. In such a position, devotees can donate their time and money to spread Krsna Consciousness, without being dependent on the Society for their maintenance. As long as we don’t have leaders like Maharaja Yudhishthira, capable of really taking care of people at all levels, this is probably a better model for most, especially for the ones in family life.
There is a difference between surrendering to Krsna without expectation of return and surrendering to the institution hoping that the institution will take care of one’s needs. The first is spiritual, but the second is more like a business deal that can be broken. One who surrenders to Krsna will be protected, at least in the spiritual sense, but one who surrenders to the institution may not have such a guarantee.
Another point we could discuss is about problems we have in the institution. If Krsna is in control, why do problems happen? Why couldn’t Krsna just create a perfect institution to which everyone could just surrender?
The short answer is that an institution is perfect only to the degree that its parts are perfect. Unfortunately, we are not all perfect, therefore the institution can’t be perfect. Krsna could create a perfect institution if all of us would perfectly cooperate with Him, but because not all of us are capable of doing it, Krsna respects our free will, but the result is that due to our imperfections, the sum of the parts is also imperfect.
A perfect institution would be possible only if it would accept only perfect people, but it would not be useful for us, because then we would not be accepted in it.
Another point is that any institution is an impersonal entity. We are not supposed to surrender to any impersonal entity but to Krsna in the form of His representative. Surrender can only be offered to a person and this person has to be a bona-fide representative of Krsna.
The next question is how can Krsna allow leaders to commit mistakes that can create so many problems for other devotees? We can better understand the situation by studying the pastime of Govardhana.
We can see that in Govardhana Lila we have Indra who (although also a sincere servant of the Lord) was in a position of power and prestige, and thus became arrogant due to it, we had the innocent cowherds, who were put into difficulties due to the wrath of Indra, and we had Krsna. This situation is actually very similar to most cases of injustice involving devotees and leaders in the past, present, and future, and the way it was solved is a great lesson for all of us.
When Indra attacked Vrindavana, the cowherds did not try to fight him but instead took shelter in Krsna. At this point, Indra had completely lost his intelligence and was trying to mass-murder all the inhabitants of Govardhana just because they stopped worshipping him. Krsna could just have killed Indra as he did with many demons, but being Indra also a devotee Krsna opted for a pacific situation, just lifting the mountain and protecting His devotees, letting Indra pour down the rains until he came back to his good sense. In the end, although the devotees were put in apparent difficulties, they were perfectly happy because they spent this time with Krsna. Eventually, Indra came back to his senses and went to beg forgiveness for his mistakes. In other words, the cowherds were protected and Indra learned his lesson, simultaneously. Nobody was harmed on either side. That’s how Krsna likes to act when His devotees are involved. Krsna sees the good one does and overlooks the bad.
In the end, we see that, even after trying to commit genocide, Krsna opted to maintain Indra in his post, understanding that his mentality was already corrected and he would not commit the same mistake in the future. As He said: “Indra, you may now go. Execute My order and remain in your appointed position as King of heaven. But be sober, without false pride.” (SB 10.27.17)
So, when we see a situation where there is a leader mistreating other devotees, he should understand how Krsna sees it. Krsna does not like to harm his devotees, that’s His all-merciful nature. He does not forget the services one performs, even if later he commits mistakes. Instead, he prefers to rectify mistakes by different means.
Similarly, we see situations of leaders who commit serious mistakes, are caught, regret it, and, receiving the opportunity of continuing their services end up serving for many years after that, this time with a more proper consciousness. Leaders who insist on their mistakes may receive more severe punishment, of course, but this is all in the hands of Krsna.
The second point is that there are always difficulties in this material world. Sometimes they are caused by our own mind or body, sometimes by other people, and sometimes by superior forces. These are all agents of Krsna who are there to make us understand that this material world is not a good place and become more strongly connected with Him.
As long as one is devoted to Krsna, he can be sure of Krsna will protect him in all tribulations. Be it caused by the forces of mature, police, thieves, or prideful leaders. The Pandavas also went through so many tribulations, but in all crucial moments, Krsna protected them and they were triumphant in the end. The question thus is not how to stop the forces of nature that cause us troubles, but how to remain connected with Krsna in all circumstances.