Three Things That Might Happen If I Stay With Hari

“I am in everyone's heart as the Supersoul. As soon as one desires to worship the demigods, I make his faith steady so that he can devote himself to some particular deity.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 7.21)

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यो यो यां यां तनुं भक्तः
श्रद्धयार्चितुम् इच्छति
तस्य तस्याचलां श्रद्धां
ताम् एव विदधाम्य् अहम्

yo yo yāṁ yāṁ tanuṁ bhaktaḥ
śraddhayārcitum icchati
tasya tasyācalāṁ śraddhāṁ
tām eva vidadhāmy aham

“I have learned from Bhagavad-gita that Shri Krishna strengthens a person’s faith in other gods. If, for some reason, I approach a devata other than Him, Krishna does not reject the appeal. He is neither angry nor vengeful. He will increase my faith to the point that I will have an attachment. I will think that the other god has helped me, when it has been Krishna the entire time, working in the background.

“Along those lines, I was wondering if the same applied to people who do approach Krishna directly. I understand that worshiping Vishnu, Rama, or Narasimha is essentially the same thing. These are non-different manifestations of the same Supreme Personality of Godhead. Will my faith be strengthened? Will my desires be fulfilled in the same way the devatas help their devotees?”

1. He might remove everything that is currently dear to me

“Since I have worshiped Hari, I have lost my job and the home that I lived in for over thirty years. Seriously, is that supposed to happen? The things that were most dear to me, now vanished, into thin air. In that sense I have become the poorest person in the world. Someone else might be more destitute, but I think the sting of losing something you once had is worse. If you grew up with nothing, you can’t very well understand the pain and suffering from having things snatched away from you.”

2. He might bring me to my knees in hopeless desperation

“Since I have worshiped Hari, I am known to curse at the entire world, on a daily basis. I have lost the association of those dearest to me. Members of my own family and people that I connected with through friendship, understanding, exchange of emotions, and listening.

“What a cruel place we live in. Why are we even here? I feel like it was a waste to even take birth. I would rather not have met these people. If I knew that one day the pain of separation would be this severe, I would not have taken the risk. Better to leave home right away and live in a forest somewhere. Yet no one presented that option to me during youth, so I didn’t find out until it was too late.”

3. He might cripple my attachments to the point that I no longer have any

“I don’t think we ever notice the big transitions in life while they are taking place. We think of our daily life a certain way, based on how we lived in the past. But I noticed recently that since worshiping Hari everything has changed for me. I used to be so attached to several things which are no longer in my life. They are not even important anymore.

“It is like someone took them away by force. I had no choice in the matter. I was trying to survive, so I had to make difficult decisions. It was either this way or that way. The way I went meant severing those attachments. I always thought that one day they would come back, that I would live the old way again, but now I realize that will likely never happen.”

…

Shri Krishna is also known as Hari since He takes away from the devotees, if necessary. Unlike with the devatas, in His role carrying superior standing He employs oversight and discrimination. It is not a business transaction with Vishnu, no matter how much we try.

I can pray as hard as I want to have that person want to marry me, to live happily ever after. If the desire will ultimately do me harm, Vishnu will have other ideas. He might reject the proposal, causing me untold pain and heartache, in the short term. If I find out that Hari was responsible, I might even curse Him to His face.

Yet the devotion remains. The connection is still there. Through the removal of attachments and obstacles, the relationship becomes stronger. I begin to see more clearly and I soon regret not having made the approach sooner in life. He is currently in my heart and has always been there. He is my greatest well-wisher, birth after birth.

In Closing:

When towards devatas directing,
Krishna that attachment protecting.

The same to apply,
When towards Hari to try?

Discrimination the difference,
Demigods mostly indifferent.

Lose everything I might,
But to Lord attachment tight.