Sharanagati

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

(continues from the previous Friday)

“The supremely beautiful place of residence for Krishna is compared to a most beautiful thousand-petaled lotus flower. This shelter named Gokula is a result of His endless or unlimited aspect, ananta, and the whorl of this lotus flower is the residence proper for Krishna.” [1]
Krishna is the God of beauty, right? He is so beautiful that He charms even Himself. You remember, His reflection was astonishing. So what kind of residence can we imagine for this most beautiful entity? You can put Him in a block, you can put Him in a house, you can put Him into a palace, you can put Him into the forest, but ultimately you can put Him into that whorl of a lotus flower. Find the most-most-most beautiful place for the most beautiful God. And in the first verse there was this anadi aspect of Krishna, no beginning; and here comes this ananta aspect –  that serves to Krishna with this most beautiful lotus flower. So no beginning, no end – this is spiritual life. For the select souls. And what about us? There should be a beginning, because before we were living as materialists, right, and now we have started to act, we/to pose ourselves as devotees. So there is a beginning, my dear ones, but there should be no end. Therefore, in case somebody finds his or her way back home, back to this lotus flower where Krishna resides, there is no end. So this is the proper residence of Krishna.
“This transcendental lotus flower has a six-angled center, and this is the realm where Krishna resides. This is the residence of the predominating and predominated aspect of the Absolute, which is a result of their intrinsic nature. In the middle, the support is just like a brightly shining Krishna, resplendent in His own splendor, and He is compared to a diamond pillar, and He is the source of all spiritual energies. And the sacred 18 syllable mantra separated into six different parts, is revealed on these petals of this original lotus flower.” [2]
Very meaningful! Before we thought that it is only some nice symbol of nature, like a beautiful flower. But here we understand that this lotus flower reveals something, and it contains some more secrets. Krishna is standing in the center like a diamond pillar. Isn’t that beautiful? A soft-petaled lotus flower and a resplendent diamond pillar! Om mani padme hum – there is the lotus flower, and there is a diamond in the center. So, our dear buddhist brothers glorify Govinda. In some nice stupas this mantra is running all the time. Some people understand, some people understand it better. I have a devotee friend and when visiting a very beautiful buddhist stupa, you know, they have these prayer wheels where the mantra is written on, and you walk by and you just turn the wheels. And there were like 108 such prayer wheels around the stupa. So, he decided to make a parikrama and chant the mahamantra over these wheels.

(to be continued)

1. Brahma Samhita, 5.2
2. Brahma Samhita, 5.3