Monday Morning Greetings 2026 #43 – The Fault Is Not the Whole Person!

The Fault Is Not the Whole Person![1] About thirty-five years ago, I called Tamal Krishna Maharaja to ask for a small donation. A friend of ours and his wife were in dire straits, and I thought I should take up a small collection to help them. He agreed before I could give him the caveat, “Do you know what that person did?” When I did tell him, he immediately replied, “Yes, but the fault is not the whole person. I love him!” What he said struck me deeply, and it has stayed with me ever since. Like most of us, I can’t count the number of times people have rubbed me the wrong way or even mistreated me.[2] Nor can I count the number of times that a casual remark, which became embedded in my moral compass, has saved me from the degradation of resentment, especially when the person I was disturbed with was, by all accounts, a sincere devotee. There are many examples of this principle of liberality in bhakti literature. One of the most prominent is the story of Kala Krishnadasa. Although he…