Is Krishna Partial? - Part 4

Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudev.

This is in continuation of the previous offering titled, "Is Krishna Partial?" wherein we were meditating on responses from Sukadev Goswami and Narada Muni to Parikshit Maharaj and Yudhishtir Maharaj on this topic. In the previous offerings we saw that,

1. Krishna is transcendental to material modes and hence He is impartial.
2. The prominence of goodness, passion and ignorance decides the victory.
3. Everyone enjoys the fruits of his qualitative activities (karma).
4. Krishna responds according to one's receptiveness.

Now let us see the influence of time factor upon us.

5. Time's influence is impartial: Sometimes time is favourable and sometimes it is unfavourable. Sometimes the time factor acts in the favour of the demigods and sometimes in favour of demons as well. In SB 7.4.26, Krishna advises demigods to wait till time is favourable for them. So they had to go on hiding. H H Mahavishnu Goswami Maharaj gave a nice lecture on the influence of time upon every one, irrespective of whether he is a pious person following the religious principles or not. The following is an excerpt from his lecture.

"This is what Krishna is suggesting to the demigods. Once there was a great fight between the demigods and demons. It was so very hard that the demigods had to disappear, had to become invisible. If the demons see the demigods, they will kill them. The demigods were forced to be invisible, to the extent they were defeated. So the demigods went to Vishnu and prayed, "Lord, what is our mistake we are defeated like this?" So Krishna advised them that, "Time is not favourable to you at the moment." In our lives also things are not many times favourable. Vishnu advised them that, "Because time is not favourable to you, you please agree to the proposal put forward by danavas, You should agree. SB  8.6.24, 'yūyaṁ tad anumodadhvaṁ' means 'time is not favourable for you'. 'yad icchanty asurāḥ surāḥ' - 'therefore you should accept.' It is the order of Krishna. "You accept." It is not, "Please accept." No, no please. That is the practical way.

When the time is not favourable we should have to be dependent on them. And whatever they say we agree. So the time is not favourable. The Jews were fighting from the beginning with the Muslims. So once they conquered Mecca also. Mecca and Madina are their pilgrim places. So they were under the control of the Jews. The Muslims requested them, "Please just give us the two places so that we can carry out our pilgrimage, and the rest of it you can have it." So somehow they agreed. "All right. These two villages you take." So they had to accept that and the whole of Arabia came under the control of the Jews. Because at that time, time was not favourable to them. So they had to agree to the proposal of the Jews. This is very practical. Otherwise you are wiped off. In our lives also the time goes on changing. Many times it is favourable and many times it is not favourable. 'Not favourable' is always longer than favourable. If time is the representation of Krishna then we have no other way but to go to Krishna to make the time favourable. He can make it, we can't do anything about it. So it is His weapon. So we have to go to Him. That is why the awareness of Krishna consciousness is required.Otherwise we need not worry about this Krishna consciousness. In SB 1.9.14 and 15, Bhishmadev says in the very famous verses,

sarvaṁ kāla-kṛtaṁ manye bhavatāṁ ca yad-apriyam
sapālo yad-vaśe loko vāyor iva ghanāvaliḥ
yatra dharma-suto rājā gadā-pāṇir vṛkodaraḥ
kṛṣṇo ’strī gāṇḍivaṁ cāpaṁ suhṛt kṛṣṇas tato vipat

In my opinion, this is all due to inevitable time, under whose control everyone in every planet is carried, just as the clouds are carried by the wind. O how wonderful is the influence of inevitable time. It is irreversible - otherwise, how can there be reverses in the presence of King Yudhisthira, the son of the demigod controlling religion; Bhima, the great fighter with a club; the great bowman Arjuna with his mighty weapon Gaandiva; and above all, the Lord, the direct well-wisher of the Pandavas?

In the purport Prabhupada writes, "The inevitable kaala, or time, controls even the action of the air and other elements. Everything, therefore, is controlled by the supreme kaala, a forceful representative of the Lord within the material world. Thus Yudhisthira should not be sorry for the inconceivable action of time. Everyone has to bear the actions and reactions of time as long as one is within the conditions of the material world. Yudhisthira should not think that he had committed sins in his previous birth and is suffering the consequence. Even the most pious has to suffer the condition of material nature. But a pious man is faithful to the Lord, for he is guided by the bona fide brahmana and Vaishnava following the religious principles. These three guiding principles should be the aim of life. One should not be disturbed by the tricks of eternal time. Even the great controller of the universe, Brahmaji, is also under the control of that time; therefore, one should not grudge being thus controlled by time despite being a true follower of religious principles... Despite the power of pious acts, the power of personalities, the power of expert management and the power of weapons under the direct supervision of Lord Krishna, the Pandavas suffered so many practical reverses, which can only be explained as due to the influence of kaala, inevitable time. Kaala is identical with the Lord Himself, and therefore the influence of kaala indicates the inexplicable wish of the Lord Himself. There is nothing to be lamented when a matter is beyond the control of any human being."

So Maharaj's solution to difficulties arising due to the influence of inevitable time is, "Keep quiet and go on (with your devotional service), these things (our difficulties) will also go on according to their own way and disappear one day."

Krishna willing we shall continue more on this topic in the subsequent offering.

Thank you very much.
Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudev,
Uma Prathap
Abu Dhabi.