05.29: Krishna’s ways: Not always pleasant, but always benevolent

The Bhagavad-gita (5.29) states that knowing Krishna to be our greatest well wisher is essential for attaining lasting peace. When things go wrong, disrupting our material lives and sometimes even our spiritual lives, a doubt may cross our mind: is Krishna really my well wisher?

While dealing with such doubts, careful thought will help us understand the difference between the pleasant – that which feels good – and the benevolent – that which breeds good, i.e., produces a good result. A surgery doesn’t feel good, but it breeds good. Similarly, Krishna being the supreme doctor may act in ways that are not always pleasant, but are always benevolent.

When we are being surgically operated through the upheavals of the world, intelligence and patience are indispensable assets for us to maintain our faith in Krishna. Intelligence ensures that we don’t mistake the unpleasant to be the malevolent, and lose our faith in Krishna. Patience ensures that we wait till the smokescreen of the unpleasant dissipates and the reality of the benevolent manifests, thereby vindicating and strengthening our faith.

When we have thus realized Krishna to be our well wisher, then no worldly disturbance can steal away our peace.