Back to Godhead update.

In addition, today I received a letter from Upendra. I am so happy that he was released after only ten days! That was exactly what I had hoped for when he came to see me—that they would keep him no longer than a week. This incident, in which a devotee is obliged to suffer, should be carefully understood. At first, Upendra was sentenced to three months in prison, but after only ten days he was released. Similarly, whenever a devotee encounters danger or difficulty, he should accept it as the mercy of the Lord. According to the law, Upendra was supposed to suffer for three months, but by the Lord’s mercy that period was reduced to about one week. In the same way, a devotee always understands that whatever suffering comes to him has been minimized by the will of the Lord, for in fact he deserved to suffer many times more. Anyone who accepts this philosophy—that God’s mercy is present even in suffering—and continues to advance steadily in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is undoubtedly eligible to go back home, back to Godhead. (Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Letter to Gurudāsa, February 13, 1968). ⸻ 68-06 You ask, “If the ecstatic love shared between Lord Nārāyaṇa and His devotees in Vaikuṇṭha and that between Lord Kṛṣṇa and His devotees in Kṛṣṇaloka are qualitatively the same, then what is the special advantage of the path of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, whose profound philosophy is so difficult to understand?” The philosophy of Kṛṣṇa consciousness includes the entirety of Vaiṣṇava philosophy. When we say “Kṛṣṇa,” that includes Rāma, Nṛsiṁha, Varāha, and all the other expansions and incarnations of the Lord. Therefore, Kṛṣṇa consciousness includes Vaikuṇṭha consciousness, but Vaikuṇṭha consciousness does not include Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Those who strictly follow the rules and regulations governing Vaiṣṇava practice attain the Vaikuṇṭha planets. But those who develop spontaneous love for Kṛṣṇa go to Kṛṣṇaloka. Thus, although Kṛṣṇa consciousness includes Vaikuṇṭha consciousness, pure Kṛṣṇa consciousness is spontaneous love for Kṛṣṇa, free from all rules and restrictions. This may be illustrated by the attraction between a young man and a young woman. Their attraction is spontaneous; it does not depend upon following rules and regulations. Similarly, when one develops such spontaneous love for God within the heart, that is called pure Kṛṣṇa consciousness. In conditioned life we have forgotten our eternal relationship with God, but by following the regulative principles we can awaken the dormant activities of the soul. Just as a person crippled by rheumatism gradually straightens through prescribed exercises, the regulative principles are meant to awaken our dormant propensity to serve. When that propensity is fully developed, service becomes spontaneous, and that is pure Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Such highly developed consciousness qualifies one to enter Kṛṣṇaloka. The gopīs and the other residents of Vṛndāvana are living examples of this spontaneous love. From the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam we learn how deeply they loved Kṛṣṇa. (Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Letter to Rūpānuga, June 1968).