Sharanagati

Question of Giridhari: Gurudev, when had started this going down? What were we lacking in order to start going down and when did it start? When we have started going on the slope? Not that it is so much important, but I am thinking that somehow you also confirmed that every fall is a pillar for a success. This is also fall down, but then what is a success and what were we lacking in order to happen like this? In shastra it is said, that “those who reach My transcendental abode, they never leave it”[1]. Are we coming from somewhere else then?

Tirtha Maharaj: Yes.

Giridhari: From where?

Tirtha Maharaj: Check that picture out. On the bottom part there is the material sphere, on the upper part – the spiritual sky, and on the middle section this is a place of origin of the spirit souls.

Giridhari: But they are eternal? So, they don’t have a birth? And still, they are coming from somewhere, and they are going to somewhere?

Tirtha Maharaj: Coming and going is not a birth and death. This is like a field of energy – this tatastha-shakti. What is the origin of the spark? It is the fire, right? The spark is inside the fire and you cannot distinguish spark from the fire – until it comes out. So, origin and birth is not the same. Because everything has a cause, and the cause also has a cause, and the final cause is Krishna – God. Isvarah paramah krishnah sac-chid-ananda vigrahah anadir-adir govindah sarva-karana-karanam[2] – The cause of all the causes this is Krishna. So the tatastha-shakti is one energy of Krishna and we are part of that energy. But its perfection is limited. Therefore the souls can fall, so to say, they can come under the influence of the material energy, although they by nature belong to the spiritual energy. So, the success is that even if you come here, you find the way back home. This is the success.

Giridhari: This is touching another question of mine which I asked one or two days ago. How deep is the change? What is happening to the soul? How deep is that change, if the soul is finally unchangeable?

Tirtha Maharaj: The soul doesn’t change.

Giridhari: The same as the coal and the diamond. The essence is not changing but something is changing. Then what is changed?

Tirtha Maharaj: The consciousness is changed. If we had the enjoining mentality the desires, we can say that this is a distortion of the original function of desires. Because desires should be in harmony with God. The selfish desire means opposing God’s desires. The soul doesn’t change, only the consciousness changes. So, therefore we have to change our consciousness back to the divine Krishna consciousness.

Question of Yadunath: Gurudev, please, can you tell whether practices like so’ham and shivo’ham are actually practices for going out of the false ego consciousness? I mean the classical practices.

Tirtha Maharaj: In most of the cases not really. But we in the vaisnava line, we are very positive about so’ham. Everybody knows what is so’ham?

Answers: No.

Tirtha Maharaj: How not?! When you breath, how is it? “So… ham…” In Sanskrit it means: so – that is saha -“he”, and ham is aham – “me”. “He and me”- so’ham. And if you start breathing in a reverse order, then how is it? Ham-sa – and what is the meaning of hamsa in Sanskrit? This means “a swan”. The purity, the soul bird – hamsa, who lives in Hamsa-kunda – Ludasto. Yes, the name is Hamsa-kunda, Ludasto in Hungarian is Hamsa kunda, Swans’lake.

But in most of the cases people use so’ham as a merging mantra – that “I am He”. We have a little different concept that “He and me”, “me and Him”, we are united. But the vaisnava version is a very positive version, we always say “yes” to so’ham. So, if you say “yes” to so’ham how is it? In your language! Now we are here in Sofia! Da (“yes” in Bulgarian), so’ham! Daso’ham – “I am a servant”. So, we are very positive about so’ham. Say yes to so’ham. “Yes, I am a servant!” This is the real explanation of so’ham. Then we shall make no mistake. Because the last-last mistake, last-last trap of the spirituality is that you mistake one for the other. You think that you are Him. So, be positive about so’ham – say “yes”.

[1] Bhagavad Gita 15,6; Bhagavad Gita 8.21

[2] Brahma Samhita 5.1