Sharanagati

Collected words from talks of Swami Tirtha




Most of you are fathers and mothers. So you know how to celebrate a birthday, how to make your kids happy – preparing the whole day; and even before, starting to buy different presents; baking the cake and hiding everything from the kid. And finally when the moment comes, just invite him into the room and then reveal the secrets. This is the way how to celebrate a birthday in a very personal way. You can celebrate a birthday – or any occasion – in a theoretical way, how it is written in the books of etiquette, how it should be done, by rules and regulations. But actually we should put theory into practice.

First, let us try to think and meditate on howKrishnacomes in an official way. And then you will see how one day is long, long, long enough to come from theory to practice. Let us start with the general theory:

Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice, O descendant of Bharata, and a predominant rise of irreligion—at that time I descend Myself.”[1]

This is the general principle. Why and when God comes? When the dharma, or the religion, is declining and irreligion is overwhelming. We might think: “Then let us be irreligious, because then we can invite God very quickly.” That is true, He will come soon, but with thunder and lightning. Better invite Him in another way, when He comes playing the flute, tending the cows. Still to have the information and to know that God comes when it is necessary, this is a very great relief for the practitioners. Because you are not left alone. It is not that God had created the world and then left it alone: “Do as you can!” No, He is taking care and from time to time He is exercising His power and His mercy.

Sometimes human beings are so frustrated, that they feel: “In this situation only God can help, so He should come!” Therefore they pray to Him to appear. But can we produce an overall decline of religion? Can we produce an overall gain of irreligion? Because here He speaks about the general, the worldwide situation: “When there is a global decline of religion I will come.” Can you produce a global decline of religion? No, you dispose only with your private life. So, you cannot produce the general circumstances to push God to appear. Sometimes we are able to create havoc in our own heart and soul, in our own small life – so much so, that only God can resolve these problems, that we have created for ourselves. But whenever divinity appears, a big change is happening. All the inauspicious circumstances will change. Time and space, the dimensions are changing. And all of a sudden from hell it becomes heaven.

How it happens – it is described in the next verse. Because it says: To deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I Myself appear, millennium after millennium.” 

„From time to time I come again and again, because I know that the tendencies are going down. Still, I don’t give up the hope and don’t give up my duty that I should help you – therefore I come from time to time.” This is the reason why He comes – to liberate the pious and to overcome the impious. Both parties will achieve His coming. He comes for the religionists and for the irreligionists also. Chose your side now. Because He can show different faces. He has unlimited faces and one face is very sweet, very charming; the other face is more like strong.

This is the general principle: “I come from time to time to correct the mistakes and help those who need.” That means, by the divine influence all the mistakes can be corrected. Therefore we should become sadhus, because He comes to liberate the sadhus.

This is why and how God comes to this earth. And this is also the principle how to invite Him into our life, into our private life. So we shall examine these two aspects: from the general coming to the specific; from the theoretical coming to the personal; from tattva coming to rasa. This is a glorious path – to come from the general to the specific. And I wish all good success to all of us to traverse this path, to come from tattva to rasa, from the truth to happiness.

Question of Krishna-katha: How much the world has to become irreligious in order God to appear? Because I feel this world is irreligious enough now. Or it happens only yuga by yuga?

Tirtha Maharaj: One name of Krishna is Triyuga – Coming in three epochs. But we have four yugas. So, dear Vyasadeva, there is a little mistake! Four yugas and three avatars – this is not correct! Yet there is no mistake in this system. Because we can see the presence of God in many, many ways. Maybe as yuga avatar He comes in few occasions, but the divine presence is permanent practically. He is present here, He is present in Vrindavana, but we have to qualify ourselves to see, to perceive this. Therefore our real duty is not to examine why and when and how He comes, but our duty is to qualify ourselves to see Him. And to create such an environment inside, so that He can permanently reside there. Then it is absolutely secondary what is happening outside – whether this is Satya-yuga or Kali-yuga, or srishti[2], or pralaya[3] – it does not really matter. Because the lotus throne of your heart is purified and He is sitting there, the Divine Couple is sitting there. Therefore from theory come to practice. Because what is the situation in the outside world – this is theory; but practice is how pure we are to perceive the presence of God, and not to miss His presence.

The next verse says: “One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna”.

Those who know will see. One question is whether you could live with Krishnaor not? But this is tattva. Rasa means: in whose absence you would die immediately. So, from tattva we should come to rasa. We can theoretically say: “Yes, I can live withKrishna.” But a real dedicated soul has no power to pronounce “I cannot live withoutKrishna”, because meanwhile he dies. This is the big question… Usually people think that love means “I can live with this guy.” But actually love means “In his absence I would better die.”

Yet, the divine nature of God’s appearance is a secret. But the knowers of the secrets – they will see. And they will reach the eternal abode of Godhead. Therefore we should become practitioners – in order to become visionaries, seers, keepers of the secrets.



[1] „Bhagavad-gita” 4.7
[2] creation
[3] annihilation



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