Will our delay in fulfilling our vows to the God be accepted by God?
A devotee (Name hidden) asked like this:
“Hello sir.. I had made a vow to tirupati bhagwan in his temple that if my father recovers, i will bring my father for tirupati darshan and shave my own head there. But due to corona cases in the year 2020, i was a bit afraid to take my father to tirupati at that time.
Later, Since I had recovered from corona and was immune to corona, and I didn’t want to wait more, I went alone to Tirupati and got my head shaved there.
After 4 months (in december) when corona cases went down, I brought my father also to Tirupati darshan and he had a good darshan there.
Sir- is my promise/vow fulfilled, or not? I am confused because i performed my promise in 2 parts, on 2 different days- i did my “head shaving” part in August and then brought my father for darshan in December.”
REPLY:
This shows your good and God fearing heart.
You made a small change in your schedule. That’s all.
Genuine delay in fulfilling our vows to the God will definitely be accepted by the god.
You had given two promises: One was to shave your head for Lord Balaji. Second one was to bring your father to the temple.
Both are separate promises/ vows.
(INITIATION (DIKSHA) VOWS & CHALLENGES IN FOLLOWING THEM! READ HERE!)
There is no conditional need to fulfil both the vows on the same date.
You visited and shaved your head first due to Pandemic issue.
Then, when the restrictions came down, you took your father to Tirupati and make him have darshan.
Just because you fulfilled these two vows on different dates, you feel guilty.
This much of fear is not necessary.
Lord Balaji is Krishna Himself. Lord Balaji is the satva guna adhikari. He never punishes anyone.
If our delay in fulfilling our vows to the God is due to unacceptable reasons, Balaji will make us to visit there and fulfil his vows. He will create such a situation in the life of that devotee.
(How to repent for not following the Vows given to Guru? READ HERE!)
It is in the Tirupati Temple history that Lord Balaji had borrowed wealth from Kubera for his marriage. It is said that He is repaying that loan even now.
So, if a devotee prays that he will donate something to Lord Balaji, the lord may make that devotee to visit and fulfill his vow of donating as it may be helpful to clear His loan He got from Kubera.
Thus, it is said that Lord Balaji will make the devotees to fulfill their vows given to Him.
In your case, you have honestly fulfilled your vows on the different dates.
It would have been accepted by the Lord Balaji.
You need not worry about that. You did not violate your vows.
And, you also prayed to the Lord Balaji that you will bring your father on a later date after the pandemic issues come down.
During the pandemic period, the vows of lakhs of devotees were delayed as the temple was closed for darshan for a few months.
(Should one fulfill the past vows taken to the demigods after becoming a Krishna devotee? READ HERE!)
So, delay due to the distress of the whole planet itself is very acceptable.
Innocent delays are always acceptable.
Just feel free.
I do not like to write not to pray like that to the Lord Balaji, because this custom of shaving head as a prayer is followed for thousands of years in the Balaji temple.
The devotees pray to the Lord when they are distressed. It gives them enormous mental strength to face their problems.
So, these prayers expecting some relief are also approved by Krishna in Bhagavad Gita (7-16):
“O best among the Bhāratas, four kinds of pious men begin to render devotional service unto Me – the distressed (artha), the desirer of wealth (arthathri), the inquisitive (jijnasu), and he who is searching for knowledge of the Absolute (jnani).”
In due course of time, these devotees will start to visit the Lord Balaji just to get His mercy to come up in His service.
So, let us accept these customs of making prayers by the starting stage devotees to the Lord to get relief from distress.
Because, they are depending on the Lord.
(FOUR KINDS OF NEOPHYTE DEVOTEES WHO WORSHIP KRISHNA! READ HERE!)