Sharanagati

(from a lecture of Swami Tirtha, 10.01.2019 evening, Sofia)

Swami Tirtha: It’s never too early to join a spiritual sangha. Sometimes we come a little late. Other times we come on time. What is the age of your dear daughter? 

Answer: Five months. 

Swami Tirtha: You see? For her, it would be very easy to spend the same amount of time in devotional service that she had spent without devotional service. What about your balance? The later you start, the more difficult it is to get that balance. For example, if you start when you are 20 years old, you have to spend the same amount of time in order to have that equal balance. And when you reach 40, you will be on equal terms: with devotion and without devotion. The later we start, the more difficult is to reach that balance. And of course, this is not simply a question of material dimensions, like how many years you had spent in devotional service, because we can be very lazy, although we are here around; and also we can be very intent on our devotional practice. So the intensity also counts – how much dedication we are ready to give to our service. If we start too late, then maybe even this mathematical balance is something we cannot reach in a lifetime. Because if you start at 50-60, it’s not certain that you will have another 50-60 years to compensate your previous lifestyles. 

But fortunately, we have a shortcut. Shall I tell you? Well, you have to become a great personality. Because for them, years count one and a half times. You spent one year and it’s equal to one and a half years. Many times we feel this change of dimensions, don’t we? You spend one day and it feels like a moment. Other times you spend a few minutes and it feels like ages. So even our perception of time depends on our spiritual condition.

This happened to Lord Krishna as well when He visited this planet Earth. He was a small boy and He started to act as a hero. So He was running ahead of His age, counted by the years – it is said at least one and a half times. One year of His was counted one and a half times as age. So when He was five years old, that means He was seven-eight in the depth of reality. Or when He left Vrindavan around nine-ten years old, He was almost fifteen at that time. So if you want to compensate for the lost years of your life, please, very quickly become a great personality and in this way you can speed up your account.

It is said in the Shrimad Bhagavatam – which is practically the most important scientific revelation of God – that even a short time spent in the company of pure devotees or elevated saints will compensate for the many wasted lifetimes of previous births. Therefore we should grab the opportunity provided for us. Full enlightenment can happen in a moment. But the preparation time usually takes a long, long, long period. Who will help us in this preparation? The divine invitation, the urge to avoid material limitations and suffering, the thirst of the soul and also the help from our superiors. 

So, these days we discuss a very special symbolic form – the mandala. Last summer we created a living mandala in Ludashto, in our place. We put the worship and the Holy Name in the center. And then we were all arranged around this center in a concentric, beautiful, harmonious way. Don’t forget that we discussed that in the center of our understanding how we understand the spiritual sky, there is a lotus flower. It is protected by a square shape to isolate it from all that is external to that center. So we can say that the arrangement of Goloka Vrindavan is a lotus mandala. And we tried to create this living mandala in Ludashto, so please recognize the parallels. 

(to be continued)