Sharanagati

(from a lecture of Swami Tirtha, 04.01.2020 evening, Sofia)

I feel honored to be here with you. It’s always a good start of a new year to come here and to celebrate together. Once there was a lecturer; there was a big hall full of people and the people were full of expectation. And this very world-famous lecturer came and told the audience: “You are so great, what can I say?” Of course everybody was very satisfied. I can only repeat his message: “You are so nice, what can I say?” Are you satisfied?

Yes and no. Usually this is the situation in life – we are halfway satisfied and halfway not satisfied. It is said, enough is enough. But, you know, the mood, the emotional surcharge for this remark is rather negative. If you fight with someone whom you love… because usually you don’t fight with someone whom you don’t like, right? With an outsider you behave very nicely, as a first-class gentlemen and gentlewoman. But with a dear one you give yourself as you are. So, when you fight with someone and you had enough of his or her arguments and of your own arguments, then you say “Enough is enough! I cannot tolerate your behavior anymore.” Do you know this mantra, ‘Enough is enough’? 

But why should we waste our time with such material activities? ‘Enough is enough’ means you want to read your own story, you are not interested in the version of others. Let’s turn this sad story of egotism. And what happens if you are a spiritual person and you will say ‘Enough is enough’ in a very positive manner? When you are fully satisfied, when it’s not the end of your nerves, but it’s a beginning of a new chapter. 

Life is a progressive process. I was just thinking, when you start your journey, everybody is so nice, so innocent and pure. And for a long, considerable time you can maintain your original purity. But then, slowly-slowly some dust starts to accumulate on you. You make your first mistakes, you have your first ambitions and slowly-slowly this dust accumulates over your heart. Still you are young and attractive, but no longer as pure as a child. And then, later on, if you continue your life journey, the original innocence keeps decreasing and the accumulated dust keeps growing. Enough is enough! We have had enough of the dust accumulated over our hearts. We need to reestablish this original purity of the heart. So, if a spiritual person would say, ‘Enough is enough’, it has a completely different meaning. 

One main urge in life is to acquire. If you don’t have something, you might think that you are dissatisfied because you don’t have it. Then you start to collect things, and now you have, but the contentment is still missing. So, it is not the possessions that make you satisfied. I think this urge is a cosmic principle. We are like a black hole – sucking all that is possible and still not satisfied. If you ask a black hole “Are you satisfied, my dear?”, not even an answer comes. Even an answer cannot escape that intensity of gravitation. 

Enough is enough! Because we know the spiritual cosmography. One end of this energy channel is a black hole, sucking in; but what’s on the other end? It must be a white exit, a source. A container is filled up, while a spring overflows – that’s the difference. So don’t act as a black hole, sucking all the energy, all the information, all the everything that you might possess, and still not satisfied – everything is just disappearing inside. And I don’t say: become a white hole, a white spring – because maybe it’s not for us. But worship reality like this! Because if we worship the ultimate truth as a white source of everything, then it’s a beautiful reality. 

So, enough is enough! Enough of collecting material stuff! 

(to be continued)