Sharanagati

(from a lecture of Swami Tirtha, 05.01.2018 evening, Sofia)

(continues from the previous Friday)

“There is a description of Krishna’s feeling for His vayasyas in Vrindavana. He once said to Balarama, “My dear brother, when My companions were being devoured by the demon Aghasura, hot tears poured down from My eyes. And as they were washing My cheeks, My dear elder brother, for at least one moment I completely lost Myself.”[1]

You see, the almighty God becomes tired, the omniscient God forgets about Himself – acts, poses as if He doesn’t know what to do. Isn’t that an intimate moment? When we are ready to show our weaknesses. You are not ready to show your weakness to an enemy, because they will immediately take advantage of it. But with a friend you feel safe – whether he sees you as strong or he sees you as weak. You feel safe, you know that he is there for your benefit, he is there for your support. Actually this network, this intimate relationship is something we should provide to each other. Don’t be afraid to admit your weaknesses. Devotees will not take advantage on this. Because we want to function under different principles then the world outside.

You might think that a friend is a friend, but “Within Gokula, Krishna’s vayasyas are generally divided into four groups: (1) well-wishers, (2) friends, (3) confidential friends and (4) intimate friends. Krishna’s well-wisher friends are a little bit older than Krishna, and they have some parental affection for Him. Because of their being older than Krishna, they always try to protect Him from any harm. As such, they sometimes bear weapons so that they can chastise any mischievous persons who want to do harm to Krishna. Counted among the well-wisher friends are Subhadra, Mandalibhadra, Bhadravardhana, Gobhata, Yaksha, Indrabhata, Bhadranga, Virabhadra, Mahaguna, Vijaya and Balabhadra. They are older than Krishna and are always thinking of His welfare.”

Now I’d like to ask my fellow brothers whether you have elder or younger brothers? Who is a younger brother here? Who has elder brothers? And who has younger brothers? What do you think? What is better? To be an elder, a senior brother, or a younger?

Prem-Prasad: The younger, because you will be taken care of.

Swami Tirtha: Of course! If you are the younger and you have a senior brother, he will always take care of you. All right, it has got a price – sometimes he will chastise you. If you are in a fight, he will beat you. But if somebody else wants to beat you, he will protect you for sure. This is the situation here – those who are senior, elder to Krishna, always want to protect Him, this is their nature. If you have younger brothers, do you want to protect them? No question, of course! ‘I can chastise him, but if somebody wants to beat him, they will have a hard time with me.’

This is for the well-wishers. Just to give one example for this protection: “One of the elderly friends said, “My dear Mandalibhadra, why are you wielding a shining sword as though you were running toward Arishtasura to kill him? My dear Baladeva, why are You unnecessarily bearing that heavy plow? My dear Vijaya, don’t be unnecessarily agitated. My dear Bhadravardhana, there is no need to make these threatening motions. If you all look more closely, you will see that it is only a thundercloud upon Govardhana Hill; it is not the Arishtasura in the shape of a bull, as you have imagined”.[2]

So, they have mistaken the cloud to be a demon, therefore they wanted to protect Krishna with all the weapons that they have.

(to be continued)

[1] Nectar of devotion, Ch. 41

[2] Nectar of devotion, Ch. 41