Sharanagati

(from a lecture of Swami Tirtha, 11.01.2019 morning, Sofia)

(continues from the previous Friday)

Question: Can the mandala structure be likened to the Jagannath Puri temple? 

Swami Tirtha: Yes! That temple is also huge. It has four gates to the cardinal directions. And also there are some special exits. It’s very important. Shall I tell you why? The walls of this temple are tall. The main entrance is signified by a column – this is the Garuda column. In all the main temples of Vishnu you will always find Garuda in the front. Just like, in the case of Shiva temples, you will always find Nandi, his bull. Who is Garuda? 

Devotee: The carrier of Vishnu.

Swami Tirtha: Of course, because if Vishnu wants to go somewhere, Garuda must be there, right? ‘My lord, if you want to go, I can take you’. In a prestigious family, the driver and the car will always wait in the front – in case the lord wants to go somewhere, we are ready. Garuda is there to show us this readiness to serve. In one beautiful temple Garuda is with one leg on one knee, facing the temple. Beautiful! If you approach, immediately you will remember: I have to serve, I have to be ready. 

So, at the main entrance in Jagannath Puri the Garuda column signifies this direction. There is another main gate where the mahaprasadam is transferred out of the temple. Because you know that the Jagannath temple is very famous for its prasadam. In this temple they have more than 200 cooks, 54 offerings per day, one and a half tons of rice is offered per day. So, Jagannath Puri is swimming in mahaprasadam. What is the concept behind this? There they worship Krishna as Jagannath, the Lord of the universe. And they consider that the Lord, the source of the whole universe, should enjoy all the facilities of the universe – all belongs to Him. Therefore they say, ‘Jagannath likes prasadam, He likes to eat’, and they want to serve Him so much, that it is said that His fingers are always wet. Such a beautiful concept! To serve God permanently with whatever He has given to us, to offer it back to Him. Beautiful! Even from this one thing you can understand the whole philosophy. 

But if you cook, there is some waste, garbage. So, there is a special exit from this temple complex, from which all the peelings and garbage and this and that is just hurled outside in one spot. 

So, yes, we can say that sometimes temple complexes also represent a kind of mandala structure. You can observe this especially in Shri Rangam – a very, very famous sacred city in South India. The tallest gopuram, entrance tower, in the whole of Asia is there. And it is really like a city itself. Mahaprabhu also visited this place – so when you approach the temple, in front there is a small chapel commemorating His visit. And when you enter the first gate, this first circle is very similar to the external world – you will find shops, eating, clothes, different merchants, almost the same as outside. When you enter the next gate, there is no foodstuff anymore. When you enter the next gate, there are no saris anymore. And the closer you come to the essence, only spiritual objects are sold – like flower garlands and incense, something that you can bring to Vishnu, since it’s a Vishnu temple. And when you enter the main inner yard, there are only brahmins chanting their hymns. It’s a beautiful representation – that we come from the external world, conditioned with so many needs and desires: ‘I’m hungry, I want to find something nice for myself’ – this is where we come from. When you take one step – no food. When you take another step – no fancy items. In this way we are trained to leave all material concepts behind. Finally, we will meet divinity. 

Actually, in this temple, the very special deity of Ramanuja Acharya is worshiped, his samadhi shrine is there. And there was a gatekeeper. We could enter this whole temple complex, but this gatekeeper said, “No way, here you cannot come”. At that time we were incognito, in trousers. So “no entry in trousers.” But fortunately there was another devotee, who was traveling in dhoti. Then the resistance of the gatekeeper melted and he said: ‘All right.’ That means, on the external periphery of the mandalas you will meet the gatekeepers as well. But if you have a good friend, a good guide traveling with you, you will have no problems with the gatekeepers. 

So please, cultivate your inner, your external and your divine mandalas. Whenever you chant, in this beautiful rosary you can also see a mandala – a symbol of the circular dance of Radha and Govinda. And when, by the invitation of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, you are invited into this chanting, you can dance around the lotus flower and the diamond pillar.