Hare Krsna,
The ability to see apparent punishment as mercy needs maturity and surrender to (and love for) Krsna. An immature or neophyte devotee may blame Krsna for the calamities in his/her life. A pure devotee like Queen Kunti will be grateful for the calamities in her life as this gives an opportunity to remember Krsna.
SB 1.8.25: I wish that all those calamities would happen again and again so that we could see You again and again, for seeing You means that we will no longer see repeated births and deaths.
Such pure devotees will never blame Krsna for the sufferings in their lives, but rather see this as special mercy of Krsna, as Lord Brahma realized in one of the previous chapters.
SB 10.14.8: My dear Lord, one who earnestly waits for You to bestow Your causeless mercy upon him, all the while patiently suffering the reactions of his past misdeeds and offering You respectful obeisances with his heart, words and body, is surely eligible for liberation, for it has become his rightful claim.
Srila Prabhupada explains beautifully in the purport, “This unhappiness suffered by a sincere devotee is not technically a karmic reaction; it is rather the Lord’s special mercy for inducing His devotee to completely let go of the material world and return home, back to Godhead… A sincere devotee earnestly desires to go back to the Lord’s abode. Therefore he willingly accepts the Lord’s merciful punishment and continues offering respects and obeisances to the Lord with his heart, words and body.” (SB 10.14.8 Purport)
This reminds me of Srila Prabhupada’s own journey. In 1965, Srila Prabhupada embarked on a challenging journey from India to the United States on a cargo ship called the “Jaladuta”, where he faced extreme seasickness, multiple heart attacks, and a near-death experience while attempting to spread the teachings of Krishna consciousness to the English-speaking world, ultimately arriving in New York City with very little money to start his mission. He had very little money, relying on a small amount of cash and his translated scriptures. Even in India after he took sannyasa and moved to Sri Sri Radha Damodara temple in Vrindavan, things were not easy. However he never blamed Krsna for his difficulties. Rather he was grateful that his spiritual master chose him to preach the message of Lord Caitanya in the West. He saw everything as Krsna’s special mercy. With that mood, he coined a beautiful prayer (Markine Bhagavata-Dharma) in Jaladuta.
boro-kṛpā kaile kṛṣṇa adhamer prati
ki lāgiyānile hethā koro ebe gati
My dear Lord Krsna, You are so kind upon this useless soul, but I do not know why You have brought me here. Now You can do whatever You like with me.
This is the reason I said that seeing punishment as Krsna’s mercy needs maturity. If we have love for Krsna, we will happily accept whatever the Lord bestows on us. Mārobi rākhobi, jo icchā tohārā. “Now I have surrendered. If you want, you can kill me. And if You want, You can keep me.” This is surrender. This is love.
Therefore, I am amazed at the Nagapatnis’ (wives of Kaliya) maturity to see Krsna’s punishment to Kaliya as special mercy on him. They see it as purification.
SB 10.16.34: What You have done here is actually mercy for us, since the punishment You give to the wicked certainly drives away all their contamination. Indeed, because this conditioned soul, our husband, is so sinful that he has assumed the body of a serpent, Your anger toward him is obviously to be understood as Your mercy.
We can also see this from another perspective. The Lord gives special protection to the family members and descendants of a devotee, even though such members are themselves non-devotees! Mahārāja Prahlāda was a great devotee of the Lord, but his father, Hiraṇyakaśipu, was a great atheist and declared enemy of the Lord. But despite all this, Hiraṇyakaśipu was awarded salvation due to his being the father of Mahārāja Prahlāda. Similarly the Lord was kind to Kaliya because he happened to be the husband of the Nagapatnis who are pure devotees of the Lord.
May I therefore pray to the Supreme Lord to grant me maturity and wisdom to see any punishment or suffering or distress as special mercy of the Lord. May I accept them with gratitude. The merciful Lord arranged this for my purification so that I may return home, back to Godhead soon.
“Just as one cannot approach the sun without becoming fire, one cannot approach the supreme pure, Lord Kṛṣṇa, without undergoing a rigid purificatory process, which may appear like suffering but which is in fact a curative treatment administered by the personal hand of the Lord.” (SB 10.14.8 Purport)
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Krsna Katha 