Where Does Krishna Say That He Always Tries To Please His Devotees

“As stated in the Bhagavad-gita, Krishna always tries to please His devotees, and the devotees try to please Krishna. As the devotees always think of Krishna within their hearts, so Krishna also thinks of His devotees within Himself. When Kubja was converted into a beautiful society girl, she wanted Krishna to come to her place so that she could try to receive and worship Him in her own way.” (Krishna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vol 1, Ch 47)

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Friend1: Bhakti-yoga is about pleasing the Supreme Personality of Godhead. I get that.

Friend2: Remember, it’s more than just speculating on what to do.

Friend1: What do you mean?

Friend2: Well, suppose a person wants to please God. They believe in Him, but they want to progress further. They’ll think up of ways to do that.

Friend1: Sure. Understandable.

Friend2: They might decide to do good deeds. Be kind to others. Be charitable. Don’t tell lies.

Friend1: Those are all good. You don’t agree?

Friend2: It’s certainly beneficial to go down that path, but again this is just speculating. The atheist can do the same things. Are they pleasing God?

Friend1: I would think.

Friend2: On the one hand they are giving in charity and on the other they are telling people that God doesn’t exist, that this life is it. You think that will please Him? Would it make you happy if I said that your parents don’t exist?

Friend1: Some people would be very happy to hear that.

Friend2: Take any person that is dear to you. Someone else then criticizes, to the greatest extent.

Friend1: Right. I get what you are saying. So bhakti-yoga is the authorized way to please God?

Friend2: There you go. Exactly. You have the desire. You have a specific objective. Now go down the right path. The guru shines the light of knowledge on the outside, while on the inside the Supreme Lord is doing the same.

“To those who are constantly devoted and worship Me with love, I give the understanding by which they can come to Me.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 10.10)

Friend1: Okay, that’s fine. It’s a given that the devotee is trying to please. I read somewhere in the purports of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada that Krishna is always trying to please the devotees, too.

Friend2: Oh, for sure. He is not a statue, you know. Don’t be fooled into thinking that just because the deity in the temple was originally stone, wood or brass that there is a lack of potency. God can do anything with any aspect of His transcendental body.

Friend1: I’m not really debating the point, but what if someone asks for proof?

Friend2: You mean through pastimes, lila?

Friend1: Or a specific verse, say from the Bhagavad-gita. Does Krishna say anywhere that He is always trying to please the devotee?

Friend2: It’s implied for sure. He says that one who sees Him everywhere is never lost to Him. This means active oversight, as opposed to indirect supervision offered to those under the control of the modes of material nature. And from the pastime angle, you could take Krishna’s stealing of butter from the homes of the neighbors in Gokula as the best evidence.

Friend1: Yes, the butter thief.

Friend2: He knew what would please the gopis, and so He would always do that. He met with the hunchback woman named Kubja in Mathura and pleased her in the way that she wanted.

Friend1: Is there one specific verse, though?

Friend2: Krishna also says that the devotees always think of Him, that they derive great pleasure talking about Him. For such people He shines the lamp of knowledge from within. He guides them. That is giving pleasure back. There is no way to deny it. Any person who really challenges you on this point is envious of Krishna. They want to take away His supreme standing over all that be, just like the foolish who think that He assumes the form of the visible incarnation.

“Fools deride Me when I descend in the human form. They do not know My transcendental nature and My supreme dominion over all that be.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 9.11)

Friend1: Makes sense to me. If He wasn’t trying to please His devotees He wouldn’t have been on the chariot with Arjuna to begin with.

In Closing:

From Bhagavad-gita verse to state,

That deriving pleasure great.

Of His deeds devotees talking,

Steadily on bhakti path walking.

Guru on outside shining the light,

Krishna the same on inside bright.

Reciprocal, pleasure looking to give back,

Like into gopis’ homes for butter attack.