60
Perfect Questions, Perfect Answers
kaunteya pratijānihi na me bhaktaḥ praṇaśyati
[“O son of Kunti, declare it boldly that My devotee never perishes.”] Because the spiritual master takes the risk on account of Kṛṣṇa.
BOB:  Your suffering is not the same kind of pain . . .
ŚRĪLA PRABHUPĀDA:  No, it is not due to  karma . The pain is there sometimes, so that the disciples may know, “Due to our sinful activities, our spiritual master is suffering.”
BOB:  You look very well now.
ŚRĪLA PRABHUPĀDA:  I am always well . . . in the sense that even if there is suffering, I know Kṛṣṇa will protect me. But this suffering is not due to  my  sinful activities.
BOB:  But let us say when I—in the town I live in, I take boiled water because some of the water has disease in it. Now, why should I drink boiled water if I have been good enough not to get a disease? Then I may drink any water. And if I have been not acting properly, then I shall get disease anyway.
ŚRĪLA PRABHUPĀDA:  So long as you are in the material world, you cannot neglect physical laws. Suppose you go to a jungle and there is a tiger. It is known that it will attack you, so why should you voluntarily go and be attacked? It is not that a devotee should take physical risk so long as he has a physical body. It is not a challenge to the physical laws: “I have become a devotee. I challenge everything.” That is foolishness.
anāsaktasya viṣayān yathārham upayuñjataḥ nirbandhaḥ kṛṣṇa-sambandhe yuktaṁ vairāgyam ucyate