When someone is doing something wrong to us how can we know what Krishnas plan is for us in that situation? Should we tolerate or should we fight back?

Hare Krishna Prabhu. Prabhu, so when someone does something wrong to us, how can we know that it is Krishna’s plan, that we are in that situation? Should we tolerate or should we fight back? Okay. So, at one level, we can say that nothing happens without Krishna’s sanction.

Sometimes the word is used that not a blade of grass moves without God’s will. But you know the word will has a spectrum of, has a range of meanings. Will can refer to intention, but will can also refer to permission.

Intention is where I want you to do it and you do it. That’s my will. But permission means that, okay, you want to do it, I’ll let you do it.

So, not everything that happens is Krishna’s intention. But nothing happens without Krishna’s permission. So, these two different things are there.

It’s important to understand this. So, for example, if we keep these two in mind, let’s say if this is Krishna above us and we are here below. So, something is happening to us.

Now, of course, it’s not just something happening to us. We could say that there is someone who is doing something to us. And now, is it Krishna who is allowing that person to do that thing to us? Well, yes.

So, in that sense, what is happening is Krishna’s plan in the sense of Krishna’s permission. If that person is doing something bad, that may not be Krishna’s intention. It is Krishna’s permission.

Now, the important thing to understand is that Krishna’s plan doesn’t just happen to us. Krishna’s plan is also meant to happen through us. Krishna’s plan is meant to happen through us also.

See, that’s why surrender has these two distinct dimensions. Surrender is, I like the way Draupadi surrenders. How does she surrender? Raises his arms.

At the end of the Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna says, I surrender to you. Now, does Arjuna raise his arms? No, Arjuna raises his arms. He raises his bow in readiness to fight.

So, Draupadi and Arjuna, both are surrendering, but the mode of their surrender is very different. Draupadi is accepting Krishna’s will. Krishna, whatever you want to happen, I accept it.

On the other hand, Arjuna is accepting the responsibility to do Krishna’s will. That to do Krishna’s will. Krishna, this is what you want me to do, and I will take up the responsibility to do that.

So, the principle of surrender is the same. The mode of the surrender is almost opposite. See, there are two things in life.

There are some things in our control, some things not in our control. And there are some situations where nothing is in our control. At that time, we just accept that whatever is happening is Krishna’s will, I accept it.

But when we are in a situation where things are in our control, at that time, we have to accept the responsibility to do Krishna’s will. So, that is Arjuna’s mode. So, when I started giving classes 26-27 years ago, one senior devotee had given me 10 points about how to give classes in bhakti.

And the last point was, depend on Krishna. But, followed by the bracket, depend on Krishna, but only after you have prepared your class. So, before I give the class, I have to prepare.

I can’t just depend on Krishna and be irresponsible. So, the idea is that we cannot equate accepting Krishna’s will with passivity. So, that this person is doing something bad to me is Krishna’s will.

But then, in essence, it is Krishna’s plan. But what does Krishna want me to do at this point? And how do I know that? For that, I have to consider how can I best serve Krishna in this situation? And how can I best serve Krishna? This is a slightly long answer. But for us to understand that, should we just tolerate or should we fight back? Well, it depends on what is the best way I can serve Krishna in this situation.

So, often tolerance is talked about a lot in the bhakti tradition. And it’s very important. But tolerance, its importance can sometimes be misunderstood or misapplied.

Before Krishna talks about tolerance in the Bhagavad Gita, he talks about intelligence. Before telling Krishna, before telling Arjuna, tam siddhi kshesu bharat, tolerate, Krishna says, understand that the soul is the real you. So, we could say tolerance, what Krishna means by tolerance.

Does Krishna mean that, oh Arjuna, the Kauravas have committed so many atrocities against you. Just tolerate them all. Is that the meaning of tolerance? No.

The meaning of tolerance in the Bhagavad Gita for Arjuna is, you have to fight against Bhishma and Drona. And that’s very painful for you. But you have to tolerate.

So, the intelligence is required to know what to tolerate. Without that, we may end up tolerating that which should not be tolerated. Isn’t it? So, how do we know what to tolerate and what not to tolerate? Intelligence tells us what are the big things in our life and what are the small things in our life.

If our intelligence is not very good, then we make small things into big things. And that’s how big things end up becoming small things. So, our intelligence helps us to understand what is a big thing and what is a small thing.

And then after that, it is tolerance that enables us to keep small things small. And when we keep small things small, then we can keep big things big. So, you can keep big things big when you can keep small things small.

So, both of them fuel each other. So, the point is that, say, when somebody is hurting us, somebody is treating us badly, so at that time, we have to decide what is the big thing in the situation for me. Now, if that person is just one-off in a bad mood, or they had some bad day, and because of that they are doing it, and, you know, okay, it’s not a big deal, let me keep it small.

And let me just live it, forget it, and move on with life. But if that person is doing it regularly, and because of that, my mind is so disturbed that I can’t do anything at all. I can’t function, I can’t be peaceful, I cannot serve Krishna.

Then that has become a big thing over there. So, that is interfering me from doing the big thing. And maybe that person is doing that to others also.

And then everybody is getting disrupted by that. If that has become a big thing, then we cannot treat it as a small thing in the name of tolerating it. So, when to tolerate something, when to not tolerate something, we don’t focus on the principle of tolerating, we focus on the principle of serving.

How best can I serve Krishna? And for my service to Krishna, what needs to be tolerated, and what does not need to be tolerated? That becomes the criteria for us to decide. Does this answer your question? Thank you.