Good afternoon! I am hoping life is going well for you.

Your first point, in regard to our good and bad situations not always being a result of our good/bad
deeds is very valid. Everything in life is variegated and multifaceted of course and the statement I made
is not exempt.

The Lord takes special care of those persons who surrender unto Him. Due to the natural humility of one
who is approaching the Lord, they may accept suffering situations as a result to their own past sinful
activities, but in reality, those so-called suffering conditions are being administered by the personal hand
of the Lord for various purposes. One such purpose may be, as you stated, to display the glory of the
Lord. An example of this can be found in our text Chaitanya Charitamrita (text describing the life and
teachings of the Lord in His most recent appearance) where a pure servant of the Lord, Sanatana
Goswami, contracted a disease that caused wet sores all over his body. The Lord who has descended in
his most recent in carnation as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu later embraced Sanatana, clearing his body of all
sores. Another reason may be to exhibit the glory of the devotee of the Lord, or one who is in pure love.
We have many examples of this in various texts, but I will again refer to the most recent accounts from
the Chaitanya Charitamrita. Haridas Thakura (born ~1450), a celebrated saint and exemplar in humility
and incessant prayer, he was born of a Muhammadan family but later took shelter of Lord Chaitanya
Mahaprabhu. Because of sectarian vision, one Mohammedan administrator could not recognize that he
was in fact an exalted saint, and the administrator became angry to see that people were accepting him
as such. He reported to a local Mohammedan kind who had him brought to him. He was ordered to give
up his chanting of Lord Krishna’s names and say the Kalma (prayer of the Mohammedans) to which
haridas replied; "The Supreme Lord is one, though His names might be different. The
Hindu shastras are the Puranas and the Muslim sastra is the Koran. Everyone acts as he
is inspired by the Lord, as also do I. Some yavanas become Hindus and some Hindus
become yavanas, to worship the Lord. Oh Maharaja, you can now judge me." And
continued, "Even if you cut my body into pieces, I will never give up the chanting of Hari
nama.(Krishna’s names) " [C. B. Adi 6.94]. After hearing this, it was ordered that he be
beaten in 22 marketplaces, (no one survives but a few) and the king said if he doesn’t
die after that then he will know Haridas speaks the truth. Throughout the beatings he
unceasingly called upon the Lords holy names and didn’t feel any bodily inconvenience.
By the end, the persecutors became worried, they knew he was saintly, but the king
would be unhappy. Haridas, in deep humility, not desiring to be a source of distress for
them, ceased his external consciousness and went into deep meditation on the holy
names of the Lord. Upon seeing his body, the king had him thrown into the Ganges
river. He floated for some time then came to external consciousness again and began
walking. Lord Chaitanya appeared to him and showed him how He had taken all the
beatings, thus Haridas was left without bodily pain or even marks.

So indeed, one may not always be experiencing suffering due to their own past actions
but instead may be a recipient of the Lords causeless mercy. In general, for those acting
independently from the will of the Lord, they must face the reactions of their past
activities. Those surrendered are freed of sinful reactions by the Lords causeless mercy
and are glorified in the Lord at the end by remaining humble, tolerant, and always
surrendered to Him, regardless of the external situation.
I suppose to some degree the question of how these countless sinful actions and
thoughts may be cleansed has been answered but I will discuss it slightly to clear up
any confusion.

Our answer would not be that impious acts are countered by pious acts. Ultimately,
piety and impiety are within the realm of duality. The only truly auspicious action is that
done in pure love for the Lord without any personal motivation, done simply to please
the Lord. Even pious acts here tend to be tainted with subtle desires for fame,
recognition, etc. and are thus still within the realm of reactionary work; although they
are uplifting, they are not enough. In the Bhagavad Gita (18.66) Lord Krishna instructs
His devotee, to give up all fruitive action, all endeavors to understand reality by
cultivating analytical knowledge of matter and spirit, all endeavors for mystic
perfection, and to just surrender unto Him, and that He will protect his devotee from all
sinful reactions. The only means to be completely freed of sin is to accept the shelter
and causeless mercy of the Lord. Our own endeavors to fix it will only cause further
entanglement.

As for the name, it is a name of the Lord or one who is serving His desire to bring fallen
souls back to Him, it means the uplifter or deliverer of the fallen souls. The word das at
the end of my name is more accurate to my position which means the servant. I serve
those who are patita pavana.

I will address your second statement on sanctification with this quote:

“The personified Vedas here answer that there is no chance of material illusion
continuing to act on devotees of the Lord because even in the earliest stages of
devotional service all fear and attachment are removed by the Lord’s grace.

Time is the root cause of all fear in this world. Indeed, with its three divisions of past,
present and future it creates terror at the prospect of impending disease, death and
hellish suffering — but only for those who have failed to obtain shelter at the feet of the
Supreme Lord. As the Lord Himself says in the Rāmāyaṇa (Laṅkā-khaṇḍa 18.33):

sakṛd eva prapanno yas

“To whomever even once surrenders to Me, pleading ‘I am Yours,’ I give eternal
fearlessness. This is my solemn vow.” Furthermore, in the Bhagavad-gītā (7.14) the
Lord says:

daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī

“This divine energy of Mine consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult
to overcome. But those who have surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it.”
I understand that the conception most Christians hold of Christ being the only way will
simply cause one to disregard all these statements of other scripture as false. As I
mentioned in our discussion upon meeting, in principle that is also accepted within our
tradition, but it is not limited to one individual.

“Only out of His immense compassion does the Personality of Godhead reveal
Himself as the spiritual master. Therefore in the dealings of an ācārya (one who teaches
by example) there are no activities but those of transcendental loving service to the
Lord. He is the Supreme Personality of Servitor Godhead. It is worthwhile to take shelter
of such a steady devotee, who is called āśraya-vigraha, or the manifestation or form of
the Lord of whom one must take shelter.” According to this principle which Christ
exemplifies, and the instructions of previous saints, we accept Christ as a specifically
empowered incarnation who descended to uplift souls and bring them back to the
Father. I don’t have much else to say in this regard. Our mission is non-different from
that of Lord Jesus, and I do not see any reason to try to convert anyone from one faith
to another but am simply presenting these points for contemplation.

Other points can be further elaborated on and understood from different angles of
vision, I am happy to do so as it is purifying and helping me to be better in my service.
We do maintain a very tight program and I ask that you forgive me for taking extended
periods to respond. I value your inquiries and wish to respond thoroughly.

Here are a couple short clips that may give some clarity on the final points I spoke of.

https://youtu.be/1XZJBXt8P1E

https://youtu.be/RvCB_BcTGj4

Your servant and friend,

Patita-pavana das