Question: We know that Krishna resides in each and every person’s heart as Paramatma but how do we see Krishna in the hearts of our enemies, people who hate us or are envious of us? It is very difficult to connect with Krishna in such a situation. It is so much easier for me to see Krishna in the heart of a spider or a roly-poly rather than in a person who dislikes me.
Answer by Romapada Swami:
In life, we experience different situations, which award us the opportunity to practice/apply the qualities of a devotee that we have learned from the scriptures.
Circumstances like this really test our realization of “You are not the body” and to forgive others for the darkness they carry within them due to bodily conceptions.
Srila Prabhupada writes in the purport to SB 4.11.13 “There are three stages of devotional life. In the lowest stage, a devotee is simply concerned with the Deity in the temple, and he worships the Lord with great devotion, according to rules and regulations. In the second stage, the devotee is cognizant of his relationship with the Lord, his relationship with fellow devotees, his relationship with persons who are innocent, and his relationship with persons who are envious. Sometimes devotees are ill-treated by envious persons. It is advised that an advanced devotee should be tolerant; he should show complete mercy to persons who are ignorant or innocent. A preacher-devotee is meant to show mercy to innocent persons, whom he can elevate to devotional service. Everyone, by constitutional position, is an eternal servant of God. Therefore, a devotee’s business is to awaken everyone’s Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is his mercy.”
However, if the envious person is causing a lot of disturbance to one’s spiritual wellbeing, then one can keep some distance from such envious persons.
