Sharanagati
Collected words from talks of Swami TirthaJun
21
Did I tell you the story when we visited one old vaishnava lady in Vrindavan? It was very beautiful! I wanted to bring some news for our mataji ashram. Some advice, some impression, some message from an old vaishnavi. Then the devotees told me: “O! Here is some very old lady and she was cooking for Shrila Prabhupad. You should come to visit her.” So we went. We did not know Bengali, she did not know English, so it was a perfect combination. And she was old enough to understand only what she wanted to. But she was a beautiful character! I went with an elderly devotee, sixty years old. We entered her room – a small room, fully packed with everything – and we started to play the humble part, humility part. I was just standing there and my old friend was trying to sit on the floor. Then this old lady immediately shouted at him: “You cannot sit there! Sit on the bed! I’m your mother, you should take my advice!” All right, we understood that we had no more words. She sited us first, then she went up to one of her boxes. And some old cakes she took from that boxes. Very strange taste they had, but she gave them with so much love, that we had to eat. So she was taking full care of us. Then, we started to ask her: “You know, we came from a far away country. Do you have some advice for our matajis there?” We were equipped with all the stupid western stuff – microphone and recording machine, and like this, and like that… And you know, we had a mike like this and I told her: “Have you some message to the matajis in Hungary?” She took the mike and said: “Hare Krishna?” Because the maximum understanding of technical things for her was the telephone. She said: “Hare Krishna?” and then she was perplexed and said: “No answer! No answer is coming!” Then I understood: finish with all the technical stuff. And somehow I also understood that this was the message. We should chant very sincerely.
Whenever I remember this story, my heart just melts. Because she was really just like a second mother. Although almost unable to move, she was walking like this – so slow, almost could not move the feet, she decided, that she will visit a very far away temple. Another lady helped her to put the sari on and ready everything. But after five meters, she said: “Ah, no! Today I will not go.” She was very, very sweet…
Never be enamored with technique, with instruments, with the stuff; always search for the essence! Whoever comes here, try to make him happy. So simple.