Sharanagati

(from a lecture of Swami Tirtha, 11.05.2019 morning, Sofia)

(continues from the previous Monday)

Chakori: I have lost my mala and I took it as a bad sign. Because sometimes, when you make an offence, you lose the chance for spiritual practice. On the other hand, non-attachment is a principle that we should follow on our path. I have heard that sometimes this is the mercy of Krishna – to take away from us the things that we are attached to, and this is a way to grow above this attachment. Anyway, in our line, the only one to whom we can be attached is Krishna.

Swami Tirtha: Is there any difference between the mala and Krishna? 

Well, I would not say that we lose the chance for spiritual practice. It is a signal to pay more attention, but the chance is never lost. You have to work very hard, very hard if you want to lose that chance. It is possible, but very unusual.

Attachment exists. But the material type of attachment – this is what we have to give up. And the spiritual attachment is something we have to develop. Because if we are attached to the service of the lotus feet of Radha-Govinda, this is best. So, it is not the attachment itself, it is the substance of the attachment that we have to change. So far we had our attachment to maha-maya, which separates us from divine reality; now we need to shift our attention and to be attached to yoga-maya, which will connect us to divine reality. And on a realized platform Krishna is never lost. Guru is never lost. And service is never lost. 

Chakori: In this connection it is said that we should have less desires, but when we pray, for example, for sweetness or for atonement for our sins, is it proper to pray like this, because it is also a desire?  

Swami Tirtha: Well, as you like. If you want to pray: “Oh, my Lord, give me neutrality. I don’t want to have any desires for You. I just forcibly perform my sadhana here” – if you like you can chant like this. But if others dance in full ecstasy, because they were praying for a few drops of nectar and then a flood of nectar came – everyone will get what they deserve. 

And you know, this non-attachment is like an elementary school of spiritual life. Because if you are full of material attachments, of course it is necessary to come to a non-attached state of kind of introductory spirituality. But a little higher platform of bhakti is called raga-bhakti – attachment. The yoga, the devotional sentiment of attachment. And Mahaprabhu’s guidance is very instructive in this sense. In the Shikshashtakam, His main essential poem, He describes the benefits of chanting the holy names and all the different phases of spiritual ecstasy that you might feel. But at the end He says “Oh my Lord, whether You embrace me or You kick me out, I am Your unconditional servant.” So, You can do whatever you like. But I cannot do whatever I like. Because I am attached to You. You have the freedom, but I don’t have the freedom. 

So, attachment – of course! Spiritual attachment. Spiritual desires. Just remember, when Krishna started to explain to the gopis that: “All right, you want to meet Me, but you know it is not nice that during the night you are walking in the forest, which is a dangerous place. I have a solution for this problem. For example, you can meditate over Me.” And then the gopis start to be really upset. “What? A dry meditation? We don’t need a meditation. We need You.” Is it attachment? Of course, it is attachment. They are not satisfied with some theoretical meditation. No, I want You! 

But I admit, this is a high school, actually this is a postgraduate study of spirituality. Because it is very difficult to understand how is it proper, why, how it happens. Nevertheless, we have to think and we have to understand the process. We start at the beginning and finally we arrive at the final goal. 

I agree, sometimes we are attached to our spiritual positions, spiritual achievements. Let’s say, you are a world-famous acharya, you are accustomed to the attention of people. You feel like, ‘Wow, this is my service. Wherever I go, I just glorify the holy names and everybody is happy’. And very easily you become attached to that position. Isn’t it so? You instruct people to cleanse the temple, but you yourself don’t do it. It’s very easy to become attached to the position and the prestige and the fame coming with spiritual life. But we should never forget our original humble position. And Krishna will take away this false prestige, for sure – for the benefit of His dear devotee. I think this is very good. Krishna says “My devotee is never lost”. 

So, false attachments might also happen. But on the other hand, we need to be very cautious and try to analyse ourselves. And when life and divine mercy start to break our false concepts, we have to be very grateful. Remember when one devotee told Shrila Prabhupada: “Prabhupada, I am your most insignificant servant.” Then Prabhupada said “You are not ‘most’ in any respect”. So, this is human nature – ‘All right, I am insignificant, but I want to be the most insignificant.’ And this is us. We are like this. You don’t want to be a simple guy. You want to be the simplest guy. It is really very difficult to acquire the quality of a humble vaishnava. Many times we try to imitate the form, but we don’t have the essence. Therefore, we need to perform our sadhana – to go deeper and to acquire the proper qualities of a vaishnava. 

(to be continued)