Sharanagati

Question of Hari-lila: We do not know Krishna personally, so it is very
difficult to direct my emotions to a person, whom I actually don’t know.

Tirtha Maharaj: Previously, when our Gurudev could not be in Hungary quite
often, people who wanted to become devotees could not know him. And those who
wanted to join, had this shortcoming of the situation: “I do not know him!” Then we could suggest these newcomers: “You should examine the disciples.” Because by
the disciples you will know the guru. If you examine the son, you will
understand the father. Can you apply it to your question? We do not know God.
But you can know, you can understand His servants. Therefore for example from a
guru, from a connection to a guru, we understand so many things about the
connection to Krishna. Actually, by serving guru and the vaishnavas we learn how
to serve Krishna, because they are close.

And pure devotees have one secret: if you excavate the heart of a pure devotee,
what will be there? Inside the heart of a pure devotee you can find the
characteristics of Krishna and you can find Krishna Himself. “I am not living in
Vaikuntha, I am not living in the hearts of the yogis, but where My devotees
glorify Me with devotion – there I live.” So, the dwelling place of Krishna is
the hearts of the pure devotees. Even about the Universal Form, Virat Purusha,
it is said that the dwelling place of Virat Purusha is humans. Because you know,
the eye is the sun, the bones are the hills, etc. And His dwelling place is
humans. But this is general.. Krishna is specific! His specific place for living
is the pure heart of a pure vaishnava. From this we can understand, that if we
approach a pure vaishnava, if we approach a guru and the vaishnavas, then we can
understand how is Krishna.