Sharanagati

(from a lecture of Swami Tirtha, 08.05.2018, Rila)

(continues from the previous Monday)

Let me quote something here. First, listen! “A religion without mystery is just like a religion without God. If you ponder over the divine mysteries, you have to protect the humility of your heart, the respectful attitude of your thoughts and the sanctity of your soul. You shouldn’t compromise philosophy by mixing the things. You shouldn’t compromise logic with the unfounded  approach. And you shouldn’t compromise common sense with neglecting it.” And now, pay attention. “If you are unable to prove something,” – that is, by empiric search – “if you are unable to prove something, with that you should agree. If you cannot scrutinize, cannot understand something – that you should believe. And if you cannot believe something – that you should admire, love, and follow. In this way, your ignorance will be dispelled by your faith, your doubts will be eliminated by your respect and your faith will be a proven fact for you, just like the vision of your eyes. Put out the light of your insignificant individual candle and you will see the illuminating bright disk of the sun of merits.”[1]

Appreciation or adoration as a way of understanding – such countenance! How was that? “If you cannot prove something, you should agree with it.” Wait a minute, for 500 years we have been educated not to agree to anything. Doubts – this is the essential message of higher education. And we agree. But we apply this method only to one topic – our own doubts. Doubt your doubts. A double negation is a positive asserting. So, if you cannot explain something, agree with that point.

Actually, my Gurudev gave the same advice. He said, ‘If you visit India and if you don’t understand something, respect it from a distance”. Isn’t that useful? There are a lot of things that you don’t understand when you visit India. There are a lot of things that you don’t understand even here, without even moving a step. So, if you cannot prove something, agree with that point – it is a revolutionary approach! If you cannot understand something, believe that. Again, a totally different approach to this reality – we try our best with the mind, with the intellect; when it fails, we give a credit of faith. And if you cannot believe something, that you should admire. Plato said, philosophy is the ability to admire. And not only admire, because admiration means there is a distance between us. But that you should affectionately admire, love. And follow.

Alright. So, here is prema-bhakti – the unconditional, natural inclination of the soul towards God Supreme and the Divine Couple as a goal. Here is chanting the mahamantra as a means. Can you prove that?

Answer: With time.

Swami Tirtha: Time, time – what is that exactly? So, we cannot prove it, right? We cannot prove this; then what should we do? If you cannot prove something, then?

Answer: Agree.

Swami Tirtha: Shall we agree on this point, that this is our goal – the unconditional divine love; and the method to reach there is chanting the Holy Name? Yes. Maybe we cannot prove it, but we can all agree on that. Because that invitation is charming. Believe the unbelievable – this is called transcendence. Alright, we agreed. Can we understand the efficacy of this process? Don’t say ‘with time’ – sorry, we cannot take that argument. All right, maybe you can, but I cannot. I cannot understand how it works. I have learned certain principles about bhakti as a process. We cannot scrutinize how it works, because it’s a hidden mystic process. Nevertheless, if you apply the method, it works very effectively – this is the second feature. You don’t know how it works, but it’s very effective. And also, it comes on its own. You cannot force it. You try, you try, but it doesn’t come. When you don’t try, it comes. But please, don’t quote me: “Tirtha Maharaj said that we shouldn’t try”. No, you have to try. But all rights are reserved by Krishna. So, it comes on its own. We cannot enforce it. Bhakti is independent. And the fourth aspect is that it’s overwhelming – when it comes, it will wash you away. I think this is quite a nice definition of prema-bhakti.

(to be continued)

[1] The author of the quote will be revealed in the next issue