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A devotee does not think anyone as enemy. Samah sarvesu bhutesu mad-bhaktim labhate param. Samah. He knows that "Nobody can become my enemy unless Krsna desires. So why shall I think of him as my enemy?

Expressions researched:
"a devotee does not think anyone as enemy. Samah sarvesu bhutesu mad-bhaktim labhate param"

Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

In the higher status of life, a devotee does not think anyone as enemy. Samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām (BG 18.54). Samaḥ. He knows that "Nobody can become my enemy unless Kṛṣṇa desires. So why shall I think of him as my enemy? Kṛṣṇa has desired him to act as my enemy just to correct me, just to make me more advanced in spiritual life. So why shall I take any action upon him as enemy?"
Lecture on BG 16.13-15 -- Hawaii, February 8, 1975:

So the Māyāvādī philosophers, they cannot understand. They are thinking that "Why these people are taking so much trouble, dancing jumping?" They cannot under... Therefore they feel displeasure. They feel disturbance because they are not purified. So āśā-pāśa-śatair baddhāḥ. The demonic principle is to become bound up by their desires, but if you are on the spiritual platform, then all your desires means loving service to the Lord. That is wanted. So the demons' desires is described here. There is nothing to be explained. We have got practical experience in the material world. They are always thinking, idam adya mayā labdham: "Now, today I have earned five hundred dollars" or something more or less. Mayā labdham means "I have got it." Imaṁ prāpsye manoratham: "Again I shall get tomorrow so much money, and my bank balance will increase to such and such strength." Idam asti: "I got so much, and so much will be added, and the balance will increase." Idaṁ me bhaviṣyati punar dhanam: "In this way I will increase the amount of my wealth more and more."

There is no question of "how much love I have increased for Kṛṣṇa." That is bhakta, bhakti. But where there is no bhakti, they are thinking of this material increase. Asau mayā hataḥ, thinking others are enemy... Actually, in the higher status of life, a devotee does not think anyone as enemy. Samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām (BG 18.54). Samaḥ. He knows that "Nobody can become my enemy unless Kṛṣṇa desires. So why shall I think of him as my enemy? Kṛṣṇa has desired him to act as my enemy just to correct me, just to make me more advanced in spiritual life. So why shall I take any action upon him as enemy?" Of course, this stage is meant for very highly elevated devotee. That is not meant for ordinary devotee. But the fact is this: "How one can become my enemy? If I am Kṛṣṇa's servant, how one can become my enemy? If one is acting as my enemy, it is Kṛṣṇa's desire. I have got some defect, and he is correcting me." Therefore it is called samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām (BG 18.54). That is the topmost devotee's conception.

But when we are preaching, we have to come to the second stage. There are three stages of devotional life. The first stage, or the lower stage, the middle stage, and the top stage. So this kind of conception, that "Nobody is my enemy," that is on the topmost stage. That is not to be imitated. When you are preaching, you have to come to the middle stage. Even if you are on the top stage, you have to come on the middle stage because you have to discriminate: "Here is a devotee; here is a demon." On the top stage there is no such thing as demon and devotee. The top stage, the devotee sees: "Everyone is engaged in Kṛṣṇa's service. Simply I am not engaged." This is topmost devotee's vision, that "I am lacking Kṛṣṇa's devotion."

Just like Rādhārāṇī thinks that "All others, they are engaged in Kṛṣṇa's devotion, but I could not." Caitanya Mahāprabhu said. Caitanya Mahāprabhu said that "I have not a pinch of devotion to Kṛṣṇa. Then if you say, 'Why you are crying?' that is to make a show." Caitanya Mahāprabhu said that "I am crying for Kṛṣṇa just to advertise Myself that I have become a big... But actually I have not a pinch of devotion to Kṛṣṇa." "No you are so great devotee. Everyone says." "No. Everyone may say, but I am not." "Why you are not?" "Now, because without Kṛṣṇa, still I am living. That is the proof that I have no love for Kṛṣṇa." This is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's statement. "If I had any drop of love for Kṛṣṇa, how I could live so long without Kṛṣṇa?" Śūnyāyitaṁ jagat sarvaṁ govinda-viraheṇa me. So this is love of Kṛṣṇa, that "How can I live?"—separation from Kṛṣṇa. This is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's philosophy. And the Gosvāmīs followed them. They never said that "Now I have seen Kṛṣṇa." Never said. The Gosvāmīs... Caitanya Mahāprabhu also said that "I was dreaming Kṛṣṇa. Why you got Me awakened? I lost the chance." But the Gosvāmīs, they said that

he rādhe vraja-devike ca lalite he nanda-sūno kutaḥ
śrī-govardhana-kalpa-pādapa-tale kālindī-vane kutaḥ
ghoṣantāv iti sarvato vraja-pure khedair mahā-vihvalau
vande rūpa-sanātanau raghu-yugau śrī-jīva-gopālakau

They were simply feeling separation. In Vṛndāvana they lived, but they never said, "Last night I saw Kṛṣṇa was dancing." Never said. They said that "Kṛṣṇa and gopīs, Rādhārāṇī, where you are all?" He rādhe vraja-devike ca lalite he nanda-sūno kutaḥ: "Where you are?" Kālindī-vane kutaḥ govardhana-kalpa-pādapa-tale: "Either on the..., near the Govardhana Hill or on the bank of the river Yamunā, where you are?" This is called bhajana, devotion in separation, feeling separation. So in this way we shall increase our aspiration more and more. That is required. That āśā, that hope, that expectation, will lead us to the topmost platform of devotion.

Page Title:A devotee does not think anyone as enemy. Samah sarvesu bhutesu mad-bhaktim labhate param. Samah. He knows that "Nobody can become my enemy unless Krsna desires. So why shall I think of him as my enemy?
Compiler:Krsnadas
Created:02 of Nov, 2012
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=1, Con=0, Let=0
No. of Quotes:1