Sharanagati

“This is our hope that by the mercy of our masters we shall be able to serve Shri Shri Radha-Madhava, therefore I offer respects at his lotus feet.” [1]

Can we achieve ragatmika-bhakti by following a raganuga bhakta? And what type of person we should follow – someone who is practicing sadhana very nicely or someone who has raganuga? In certain sense – both. But we should understand the basics. Because there is a practice that our guru gives us a certain person in Vrindavana and tells us to meditate on him or her. That person must be ragatmika, who has the raga. And by following a ragatmika person, you can become a raganuga. If you follow simply raganuga-bhakti, you cannot become raganuga, because this is sadhana. By following a sadhana type of bhakta you cannot become a spontaneous bhakta. If we follow simply raganuga-bhakti, we cannot achieve spontaneous devotion.

But I fully agree – first do the practical service, the practical next step of services.

We are discussing raganuga, ragatmika, vaidhi, sadhana, this and that and nobody knows what to do. So what to do? What is necessary is to follow very seriously the practice, take the instructions to our hearts and study deeply the scriptures. And also put the theory into practice in our life, and always check it – whether it is approved or not. In this way we can achieve valuable achievement. This should be done – be very serious in your practices. Search, search for the absolute truth. And beyond the truth, search for divine love. The practical key to this process is sincerity.

Question of Yashoda: We follow ragatmika person to achieve raganuga. And to achieve ragatmika what should we follow?

Tirtha Maharaj: It will come, it is not that we achieve. It will come as blessings on us. Because bhakti, prema-bhakti comes on its own. We cannot enforce it: “Krishna, I am chanting here for three lifetimes, reveal Yourself!” Not in this way. Just follow the loving principles that we have learned in this process and Krishna will come, Krishna is there. He says in “Bhagavad-gita”: “In sacrificial acts I am always present.” And if we dedicate our life, this is a life sacrifice, Krishna is there, He is permanently there.

But actually ragatmika-bhakti is reserved for the higher ones – those eternal participates, eternal companions of Krishna. Anyway, we are very satisfied of being little particles of dust at the lotus feet of Gouranga.

Question: These ideals are very high and our insignificant try in sadhana-bhakti seems to be very useless. Then what to do? Are we such a hopeless case?

Tirtha Maharaj: Just go to the first pub, check out the people there and immediately you will understand your level – that you have achieved something.