Page 27 - Powerful Feminine Qualities

Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Krishna, is not only unborn but also avyaya, inexhaustible. His eternal form is
full of bliss and knowledge, and His energies are all inexhaustible.
By steady engagement in devotional service and with the direction of spiritual masters, one can become free of all
misconceptions and come to understand Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Krishna affirms, “By thus
engaging in devotional service to the Lord, great sages or devotees free themselves from the results of work in the
material world. In this way, they become free from the cycle of birth and death and attain the state beyond all
miseries [by going back to Godhead].” (Bg 2.51)
By sincere service, the devotee receives the mercy of the Lord, which finishes wasting one’s life in searching for sense
gratification, which is the ultimate impediment of spiritual life. Krishna make the process of freeing His devotee from
illusion simple and easy. A vivid example is Vidura, the half-brother of Dhritarashtra. Krishna visited Duryodhana and
the Kurus in Hastinapur to negotiate a peaceful solution to the imminent war between the Pandavas and the Kurus.
When He met Duryodhana in the royal palace, He virtually begged him to avoid war by gifting only one village to each
of the five Pandava brothers in return for Duryodhana becoming the King of the entire world. Duryodhana arrogantly
refused. However, he invited Krishna to dine in the royal palace and forget about politics.
Krishna flatly refused to accept dinner from Duryodhana. He preferred to eat in the humble dwelling of Vidura, who
was a poor Brahmana. When Vidura and his wife saw Krishna at their doorstep, they were overcome with feelings of
love and devotion. In the state of ecstasy, Vidura’s wife mistakenly offered Krishna the peel of a banana while she held
on to the banana fruit. Vidura realized the mistake and wanted to correct it. However, Krishna accepted to eat the
banana peel because the wife offered to Him with pure love and devotion. He has said, “If one offers Me with love and
devotion a leaf, a flower, a fruit or water, I will accept it.” (Bg 9.26) Srila Prabhupada has commented, “This is bhakti.
Krishna wants that. Krishna can eat anything. Either you give the pulp or skin, He can eat anything, because He is
all-powerful and everything is equal to Him. (731213 - Lecture SB 01.15.35 - Los Angeles)

The super excellent qualities of Devahuti the ideal wife of an ideal husband
Devahuti was so faithful to her husband, Kardama Muni, that she ignored her own health while serving him with great
devotion, service and respect. She did her service in a selfless manner. Because she disregarded sense gratification
with her husband, her health gradually deteriorated. She assisted him without caring for bodily comforts.
Kardama Muni was awed by his wife’s sincere devotion imbued with a loving service attitude. He noticed the
premature deterioration of her health due to the self-sacrifice of her constant service for him. Devahuti was so
intensely assisting her husband in every detail of his Krishna conscious spiritual duties that she cared not for her own
bodily comfort, nor did she desire sense pleasure for herself. She was a remarkable woman married to a highly
elevated saintly personality.
Seeing his wife’s deterioration of health, Kardama Muni felt obliged to help her develop an avid appreciation of those
spiritual practices he was performing in Krishna consciousness so that she could also make tangible spiritual progress.
He blessed her with spiritual vision so that she could understand the monumental advantages of practicing meditation
on Lord Krishna while practically serving the Lord with devotion and love. By regularly doing this, she shared her
husband’s achievements, which were austerity, meditation on Krishna, and Krishna consciousness. Devahuti received
the divine benediction of Lord Krishna (bhagavat prasadam) because she served her husband, who was a sincere
devote of the Lord, faithfully. She was blessed to develop the following: abhaya - freedom from fearfulness, sarva
duhkhani – all distresses are eliminated such as hankering and lamentation, and gradual development of pure love for
Lord Krishna, which is the highest perfection of divine mercy.
Devotional service rendered to Lord Krishna with the guidance of a bona fide spiritual master reestablishes our lost
relationship with God. Lord Krishna says, “To those who are constantly devoted to serving Me with love, I give the
understanding by which they can come to Me.” (Bg 10.10) The power of love manifested by uninterrupted service and
dedication to pleasing Lord Krishna inspires Krishna to help His sincere devotee my blessing him with knowledge by
which he can come to the Lord without difficulty. Love of God is dormant in the heart of every living being because we

27