Special Mercy

tat te ’nukampāṁ su-samīkṣamāṇo

bhuñjāna evātma-kṛtaṁ vipākam

hṛd-vāg-vapurbhir vidadhan namas te

jīveta yo mukti-pade sa dāya-bhāk  [SB 10.14.8]

To this verse, Srila Prabhupada comments:

The word su-samīkṣamāṇa indicates that a devotee earnestly awaits the mercy of the Supreme Lord even while suffering the painful effects of previous sinful activities.

Krishna’s abode is all pure, no karma can affect it. If one has to enter that abode, he has to purify himself to the fullest, otherwise there’s no place for him.

In Bhagvad Gita, Arjuna confirms this fact:

arjuna uvāca

paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma

pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān

puruṣaṁ śāśvataṁ divyam

ādi-devam ajaṁ vibhum  [BG 10.12]

“You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the ultimate abode, the purest, the Absolute Truth. You are the eternal, transcendental, original person, the unborn, the greatest.”

Krishna is very merciful and thus to clear off the karmic account of someone who is trying to follow the path to surrendering to him, he sometimes brings some punishments.

Just like, to teach one’s son, out of love, the mother would sometimes give him a slap. And this is completely normal in parental affection.

At one time, Srila prabhupad got poked with a needle in his finger and a drop of blood came out, all the devotees around were very sorry. Srila Prabhupada however shrugged it off saying ” my head was supposed to be chopped off, but krishna is so kind, he only let one drop of blood fall”

Even remembering God in a grateful way in contrasting situations would be really special mercy that I would aspire for.

One devotee once saw a sugarcane juice machine and spoke as follows: “Just like the sugarcane gets crushed by the machine, let the wheel of time crush me and the juice that comes out be offered to Krishna and he be pleased by it”