Sharanagati

Collected words from talks of Swami Tirtha




krishna-balarama-arati

Today we came together in order to worship and appreciate the universal principle of the teacher. And this is a very good opportunity for us to think deeply on certain aspects of our life. There is a very nice and very important shloka: yasya deve para bhaktir/ yatha deve tatha gurau/ tasyaite kathita hy arthah/ prakashante mahatmanah. This verse from the Shvetashvatara Upanishad (6.23) says that the true meaning of all Vedic literature will be revealed to those great souls who has very firm and unshakable faith in Krishna and in the spiritual master.

But there is one danger, this danger is called guruism. Guruism is such a process when you focus all your attention on a human being, a person, and you forget about the Supreme. This guruism is very popular, many people practice it, because this is easy to understand and very obvious. But in order to avoid this mistake, this trap, we have to deeply analyze and understand our position and our approach to this truth of the spiritual master. This deep pondering does not mean that we should give up our deep faith and deep connection with our spiritual master. But we should also consider the other point, which is deep faith in the spiritual master and in the Supreme. So if we forget about one and prefer only the other, then this is a giant with one hand. Why? Because the institution of the spiritual master is nothing else than the extended hand of this great giant, called God. One cannot exist without the other. God Supreme, Krishna, and the spiritual master, they should go together, they cannot exist separate from each other.

And what is the ultimate message of all the spiritual science? This is noting else that we should dedicate the two things that we have – our life and our love – to someone. Complete and full surrender is necessary without any reservation. But this is risky – to give your life, to give your faith, to give yourself to some cause. And you are very lucky if it happens properly.

But there is a question: if we can emotionally surrender ourselves in front of a principle? Can you dedicate yourself to a principle? Half or partially maybe we can, yet fully is very difficult. But what is necessary is that we should learn from the holy teachers.

And this whole topic, this whole field of our life is under divine protection, under divine guidance. So yasya deve para bhaktir/ yatha deve tatha gurau/ tasyaite kathita hy arthah/ prakashante mahatmanah – “The true meaning of the Vedic literature will be revealed only to those great souls, who have determined and unshakable faith in Krishna and in spiritual master.”

This verse also has the meaning: ‘If your faith in God is strong enough then don’t forget about your master’. So from both sides we can see this verse. The guruism side is when we focus on the person and forget about the God; and the other side, the other mistake is when we focus only on God and we forget about the principle of the teacher.  Because we can easily say that ‘My faith in God is strong enough,’ but if there is no feedback, then I don’t know if it is strong enough or not. Therefore we need a control, we need a person – like a guidance, like a manifestation – and then we can more properly progress.

 



Leave a Reply