Kunti is begging Krishna not to leave

"Do not leave us." This is the devotee's position regarding the presence of Krishna (or the guru)*

 "O my Lord, You have executed all duties Yourself. Are You leaving us today, though we are completely dependent on Your mercy and have no one else to protect us now, when all kings are at enmity with us?"

Prabhupāda —So this conversation was going on between Kuntī and Kṛṣṇa when Kṛṣṇa was going home after establishing the Pāṇḍavas in their kingdom and finishing the battle of Kurukṣetra. Kṛṣṇa is going back home, Dvārakā, and was taking leave, farewell, from the aunt. At that time, Kuntī offered this prayer. Now she's asking directly that "After finishing Your duty, is it a fact that You are going away, leaving us alone?" This is the devotee's position.

So here Kuntī says —Prabhupada continues— that "If You think, my dear Kṛṣṇa, now we are well established, we have got our kingdom back, so everything is nicely done, so You want to leave us, that is not a very good proposal. Because we are not free as yet. Because we have killed so many kings, all their relatives and friends, they're also planning to come and again fight with us. This is our position." Parāyaṇaṁ rājasu yojitāṁhasām. "They are still engaged. So You don't think that we are already all free from all dangerous condition. We are not. And we have no other protection except Your lotus feet. This is our position." So indirectly she was asking Kṛṣṇa, "Do not leave us."

 Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.8.37. Los Angeles

* My comment. 

I am only an aspiring devotee —if that. But somehow or other, I was drawn like a magnet to Krishna consciousness. I sacrificed my youth for Srila Prabhupada. Then I spent my long life studying him and writing about his teachings and Vaishnava philosophy.

The example I gave earlier, about Kunti addressing Krishna, perfectly illustrates my approach. I heard it early this morning.

I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I don’t believe one can burn up one’s karma just like that, simply by sacrificing one’s youth. That would be too easy. I think it was Prabhupada who said, “You can wash a crow as much as you like, it will always remain black.” But never mind (I’ll check).

Prabhupada’s explanation of Kunti’s attitude toward the importance of Krishna’s presence really gave strength to my own understanding. Even such a great devotee as Kunti Devi implores Krishna not to leave her, for she would feel diminished. That is my philosophy.

When I say I sacrificed the best years of my life, it was to save Srila Prabhupada from the illness that was consuming him and would soon carry him to the other world. We didn’t want our spiritual master to leave us. To that end, month after month, we distributed his books so that he might recover his health. He too didn’t want to leave us. Even if he was not physically by our side, just knowing that he was alive, in flesh and blood, was more comforting and blissful than imagining him in Krishna-loka.

I swear to you, it was love. And to love, there must be two. That, for me, is the definition of personalism. And that is how Prabhupada taught it.

Well, I know it's not easy to understand —once conditioned, the mind deploys all its resources to convince itself that it is right, that it can denigrate anything that doesn't fit its way of seeing things. Yet, we all listen to and read the same books. Must I insist on proving that I am right, that I know better, that I read more, that I have a better grasp of history and philosophy? Vanity!

Yet Prabhupada always comes back to the same ideas, until they sink in. It is not -his- philosophy. He constantly defends himself against this notion. It is the philosophy of his spiritual master, that of the Srimad-Bhagavatam, of the Vedas. The examples he gives for this are striking and diverse, sometimes seemingly contradictory. It is clear that the spiritual master continues to live in the heart of his disciple in his absence. This is a fundamental truth. Some, however, refuse to see it that way, and they use a hammer to pound harder on the nail of distinction.

The truth is that the necessity of Krishna's presence is felt just as much by the pure devotees, if not more, than by the neophyte or the madhyama-adhikari. And in this lecture on Kunti, he insists on this important point. The first step, he specifies, is to seek Krishna's protection, for without it we are lost. And so why wouldn't he protect me, who seeks it like any devotee who sacrificed his youth on the path of bhakti? He gives this example:

--Without his protection, nobody can live even for a single moment. That's a fact. So if you think that "Kṛṣṇa is giving protection to everyone; then what is the use of becoming a special devotee?" No, there is use. Just like the king gives protection to everyone, every one of the citizens. That is his duty. But he has got special protection for his own men. This is the distinction.--

That’s a distinction. Do you understand? Do you see the difference?