However a spiritually elevated person does not make this distinction - for him everyone is a friend and he is a well-wisher of everyone. He sees everyone as a servant of Krishna and a part and parcel of Krishna. Because he is situated in the spiritual conception , he is not disturbed by duality, he is satisfied in executing devotional service to the lord. Because he desires only service and desires that all living entities experience the taste of devotional service to the Lord he considers everyone his friend.
Prahlada Maharaj clarifies this in SB 7.5.12:
When the Supreme Personality of Godhead is pleased with the living entity because of his devotional service, one becomes a paṇḍita and does not make distinctions between enemies, friends and himself. Intelligently, he then thinks, "Every one of us is an eternal servant of God, and therefore we are not different from one another."
So the neither is the Lord an enemy of anyone and neither is His sincere devotee.
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu states "jivera ssvarupa haya- krsnera nitya dasa" - the eternal nature of a living entity is to be a servant of Krsna. Srila Prabhupada elaborates in this regard "As servants of the Lord, we are one, and there can be no questions of enmity or friendship. If one actually understands that every one of us is a servant of the Lord, where is the question of enemy or friend?"
Since the servants of the Lord desire only that the Lord be served and glorified in the best possible way how can there be any question of animosity or envy?
Animosity would come in if the servants were also looking for some satisfaction to their ego - but when Krishna is the center and all servants think about how best He can be served then there is no question of enmity.
I also heard in a class by HH Radhanath Maharaj that Prahlada Maharaj considered everyone as his friend because everyone helped him remember Krishna even the demons who were killing him and even his father Krinayaksipu who was envious of him and wanted to kill him. Infact he prayed to Narsimha dev for his fathers liberation.
Srila Prabhupada then wonderfully elaborates the relationship between the servants and their consciousness in service:
"Everyone should be friendly for the service of the Lord. Everyone should praise another's service to the Lord and not be proud of his own service. This is the way of Vaiṣṇava thinking, Vaikuṇṭha thinking. There may be rivalries and apparent competition between servants in performing service, but in the Vaikuṇṭha planets the service of another servant is appreciated, not condemned. This is Vaikuṇṭha competition. There is no question of enmity between servants. Everyone should be allowed to render service to the Lord to the best of his ability, and everyone should appreciate the service of others. Such are the activities of Vaikuṇṭha. Since everyone is a servant, everyone is on the same platform and is allowed to serve the Lord according to his ability."
We see an example of this in the description of Vaikuntha in SB 3.15.18-19
"Although flowering plants like the mandāra, kunda, kurabaka, utpala, campaka, arṇa, punnāga, nāgakeśara, bakula, lily and pārijāta are full of transcendental fragrance, they are still conscious of the austerities performed by tulasī, for tulasī is given special preference by the Lord, who garlands Himself with tulasī leaves."
Srila Prabhupada states in the purport "The most important thing about the spiritual world is that there is no envy among the devotees there. This is true even among the flowers, which are all conscious of the greatness of tulasī."
If this can be developed in our consciousness we will be able to serve Krishna in a much more attentively and enthusiastically and thus glorify Krishna.
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu states "jivera ssvarupa haya- krsnera nitya dasa" - the eternal nature of a living entity is to be a servant of Krsna. Srila Prabhupada elaborates in this regard "As servants of the Lord, we are one, and there can be no questions of enmity or friendship. If one actually understands that every one of us is a servant of the Lord, where is the question of enemy or friend?"
Since the servants of the Lord desire only that the Lord be served and glorified in the best possible way how can there be any question of animosity or envy?
Animosity would come in if the servants were also looking for some satisfaction to their ego - but when Krishna is the center and all servants think about how best He can be served then there is no question of enmity.
I also heard in a class by HH Radhanath Maharaj that Prahlada Maharaj considered everyone as his friend because everyone helped him remember Krishna even the demons who were killing him and even his father Krinayaksipu who was envious of him and wanted to kill him. Infact he prayed to Narsimha dev for his fathers liberation.
Srila Prabhupada then wonderfully elaborates the relationship between the servants and their consciousness in service:
"Everyone should be friendly for the service of the Lord. Everyone should praise another's service to the Lord and not be proud of his own service. This is the way of Vaiṣṇava thinking, Vaikuṇṭha thinking. There may be rivalries and apparent competition between servants in performing service, but in the Vaikuṇṭha planets the service of another servant is appreciated, not condemned. This is Vaikuṇṭha competition. There is no question of enmity between servants. Everyone should be allowed to render service to the Lord to the best of his ability, and everyone should appreciate the service of others. Such are the activities of Vaikuṇṭha. Since everyone is a servant, everyone is on the same platform and is allowed to serve the Lord according to his ability."
We see an example of this in the description of Vaikuntha in SB 3.15.18-19
"Although flowering plants like the mandāra, kunda, kurabaka, utpala, campaka, arṇa, punnāga, nāgakeśara, bakula, lily and pārijāta are full of transcendental fragrance, they are still conscious of the austerities performed by tulasī, for tulasī is given special preference by the Lord, who garlands Himself with tulasī leaves."
Srila Prabhupada states in the purport "The most important thing about the spiritual world is that there is no envy among the devotees there. This is true even among the flowers, which are all conscious of the greatness of tulasī."
If this can be developed in our consciousness we will be able to serve Krishna in a much more attentively and enthusiastically and thus glorify Krishna.
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