When You Offend a Devotee

The greatest pitfall to be avoided on the pathway of Krishna consciousness is be offensive towards a devotee of the Lord. Such an offense is called hati mata, the mad elephant offense. Just as when a mad elephant enters your garden all your plants are destroyed, when one commits the mad elephant offense of being offensive towards a devotee, his spiritual life is ruined and remains off the track until he rectifies himself by with genuine humility, begging forgiveness from the devotee he offended. Therefore we must always be very, very careful not to speak or act in such a way that is offensive to a devotee. Even if our attitude is offensive, this improper attitude will sooner or later manifest in our words and actions. Therefore we must very careful that even our thoughts about each of the devotees are duly respectful and not offensive.

If we have offended a devotee, we should beg forgiveness for the offense. If we think we are so advanced that we are beyond the realm of committing offenses, that is dangerous. Even great devotees sometimes commit offenses. Srila Prabhupada describes as follows in his purport to Sri Caitanya Caritamrita, Adi Lila, Chapter 17, Text 71 how Sacimata, the mother of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu offended Advaita Acarya:

"When Visvarupa took sannyasa, Sacimata thought that Advaita Acarya had persuaded Him to do so. Therefore she accused Advaita Acarya of this, which was an offense at His lotus feet. Later Lord Caitanya induced His mother to take the dust of Advaita Acarya's lotus feet, and thus her vaisnava-aparadha was nullified."

Of course, this is not to say that a neophyte devotee is not to be corrected when he makes a mistake. It is always the duty of the advanced devotees to give proper training and guiding to the neophytes to help them advance of pathway of perfection. And one of the most important lessons, if not the most important lesson, for the neophyte is how to avoid being offensive towards Vaisnavas, the devotees of the Lord.

Lord Caitanya Embraces Sanatana Goswami

Answers by Citing the Vedic Version:

Question: Can an Advanced Devotee See Krishna's Pastimes?

Dear Srila Gurudeva,

I wanted to ask if it is true that a devotee who is advanced in Krishna Consciousness could have the ability to see the transcendental pastimes of the Lord?

Thank You,
Hare Krishna,
Radha Ramana

Answer: If He Is Fully Realized

Srila Prabhupada explains in his purport to Srimad Bhagavatam, Canto 2, Chapter 9, Text 35:

"Factually, the spiritually developed person is able to have the television of the kingdom of God always reflected within his heart. That is the mystery of knowledge of the Personality of Godhead.”

So the answer to your question is “yes" if the devotee is fully realized in Krishna consciousness.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

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