Question: As spirit souls, jivera swarupa hoi nitya Krsna das. We are constitutionally servants of Krsna, and other impurities in our hearts are not actually permanent parts of our identity. How then do these impurities not dissipate in the direct presence of the Lord? There are so many examples, like the ones given here, as well as the laundry man in Mathura, who did not want to give royal clothes to Krsna and Balarama and even in Mahaprabhu’s time also, there were envious people. How to understand this?

Jayapataka Swami: Just seeing the Lord is not enough. In fact, to see a pure devotee of the Lord maybe more  important, because then when one sees the Lord they will have devotion. Devananda Pandit was against the Lord but his relative Vakreswara Pandit, preached to him the glories of Lord Caitanya and therefore Devananda Pandit changed his vision. So, people see the Lord, but they are blinded by the material energy, so they don’t really see the Lord, because they have no devotion. If they have devotion and they see the Lord, then they have a completely different experience. So the point given here is that we should cultivate our devotion, just like Srila Prabhupada gave the example, one time the Indian Prime Minister was Mr. Shastri, Now if you meet him on the street, you wouldn’t know who he is, he would be like any other Indian, so like that if you see Krsna you don’t realize who He is. It may not have the same effect. But if you know who He is, and then you actually see Krsna for what He is, although He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He is coming down, He is mingling with the human beings and He has all these great qualities, it is a whole different experience. So because these envious kings and other people saw Krsna as an ordinary person, although they saw him they could not appreciate. The Pandavas and others who saw the Lord, they appreciated Him and loved Him. So, we should cultivate devotion. Otherwise, seeing the Lord is – why doesn’t Krsna show Himself to us? We are not ready yet. If we have devotion for the Lord then He will reveal Himself, and we will appreciate it. Did you understand what I said? Today I have a sore throat.
24-MARCH-2020 SRI MAYAPUR DHAM, INDIA