Sharanagati
Collected words from talks of Swami TirthaAug
30
Question of a visitor (female): In “Bhagavad Gita” the Supreme Lord says: “Abandon all kind of knowledge and just surrender unto Me.” Could you please explain what does it mean?
Tirtha Maharaj: He says: “Give up all dharmas, engagements.”[1]
Visitor: And religion and everything else.
Tirtha Maharaj: Well, I see that you are well informed in the “Gita”. So, what type of answer you like – tattva-type of dry answer or rasa-type of ecstatic answer? Which one do you like?
Visitor: I like the middle ways, is there no middle path?
Tirtha Maharaj: Golden middle path. Well, in the beginning we want achievements in our spiritual progress. Knowledge, mystic powers, renunciation, happiness – different goals are there, ambitions. And from a saint we expect to be reasonable, knowledgeable, controlled. But when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu met His spiritual master – He was on a pilgrimage and there He met Ishvara Puri – the master saw that this young man was very prosperous, He is very bright! So he blessed Him with the chanting of the holy names of Krishna. But you know, at the initiation we receive a name and also a mantra and some little other things also. So Ishvara Puri gave Chaitanya, at that time Nimai Pandit, this Hare Krishna mantra. And the disciple should practice. So, next time He met His master and He started to complain: “What kind of mantra have you given to Me? Before I was considered to be a man of science. Now I have lost my composure. Before I was very controlled. Now as I chant this mantra I cannot help but dancing and jumping. And this does not fit that much a teacher of logic. What kind of mantra you have given to Me?” So, instead of receiving more, so to say, knowledge, He lost and He was ready to give up His education for the sake of divine ecstasy.
Therefore Krishna says: “Give up everything.” What we should give up? The attachments. Because in most of the cases we are attached to our religious formalities also. Give even this attachment up! In a more intimate way it means: “Come closer to Me. Don’t come closer to the religious formalities, come closer to Me! I am the essence of all religion. I am behind all human activities and goals and ambitions. I am residing in your heart, come closer to Me! Don’t be satisfied with My shadow.”
Therefore Krishna says: “Give up everything and don’t be afraid!” So He gives us also the protection.
[1] Bhagavad Gita 18.66