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The Naivety of the “Saints”
- Fr. Deo Camon, LPT, PhD
- Jan 14, 2021
- 2 min read
When I was in college, I became interested in reading the Bhagavad-Gita, a treatise in the Mahabharata.
One religious leader, Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, mentioned the four types of God’s devotees in a commentary.
What struck me, which even until now made an impression on my mind, is the description of the “First Class Devotee” (which in our language we can almost call as “holy men and holy women”).
The “First Class Devotee” is immersed with God. They are aware of God’s presence at all times.
Furthermore, because they are so immersed with God that they see only God in all things, they do not distinguish between “sinners” and “saints.”
All they can see is the goodness and goodwill of all.
For them, everyone works for the good, and they are so optimistic that for them, all are like them: “saints” and people of “goodwill.”
In fact, according to this scholar, the “First Class Devotee” would even see that what the “evil” people are doing are for the “glory of God.”
For a “First Class Devotee,” everything and everyone is good, even the evils of this world.
Thus, for this type of devotee, everything is for the “purification of the world and God’s glorification.”
The “First Class Devotees” would just allow things to happen because, after all, “things happen for and by the will of God.”
However, the commentator claimed that THIS IS NOT DESIRABLE, at all times.
The “naivety” of the “First Class Devotees” effectively stops them from seeing that others are not like them, that there are rascals and evildoers in this world.
By their failure to make distinctions, they fail to treat people appropriately.
They are like physicians who see everyone as healthy, so they would not treat anyone at all.
Or like a physician who will just apply the same medicine for cancer and sores without distinctions.
However, if all think this way, society would be condemned to the wiles and guile of those who are, in reality, do not have “goodwill.”
There is recklessness in saintly naivety. There are many fake devotees out there and there are also many rascals.
This is why even those in lofty “spiritual” heights need to go down and become one with those who are still struggling.
I bet it sounds like what Jesus did.
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