Sharanagati

“Oh, Gurudev! Even one drop of your mercy makes your servant more humble than a blade of grass. Please, give me some strength to tolerate all trials and difficulties, and please, liberate me from the desire for any selfish prestige.

Oh, my lord and master, please bless me with the ability to respect all living beings properly. I will be able to sing the glory of the Holy names in the highest ecstasy when I receive your mercy and all my sins will finish at that time.

Oh, my lord and master, when this servant of yours will achieve your mercy and will be blessed by this? I am a very lowly simple person, I have no strength, no understanding, but please accept me among your loving servants.

If I examine myself, I find no values in myself, therefore your mercy is so necessary for me. If you are not merciful to me, only my tears are falling and I cannot maintain my life for a long time.”[1]

Kripa bindu diya, one drop of your mercy, what does it mean? One drop of divine mercy is just like an ocean of divine ecstasy! One is connected to the other, and as guru is a divine function, therefore the guru principle is always connected to the divine source. We are connected to the guru principle, and guru has big capacity. He can drink the nectar deeply. We have weak capacity, we can drink the nectar slightly. So therefore, the guru has a channeling function also – to stop the great flow of nectar, in order to prevent the disciple to be washed away and to provide the nectar drop by drop. If you have to treat a kid with some medicine, do you give him the whole bottle? No, you give drop by drop. In the same way, one drop of Sri Guru’s mercy can give full perfection, full liberation.

Sounds very promising! We have the desire to receive at least a few drops of nectar, but these drops of nectar will make us humble. From this you can see that the spiritual process is absolutely non-material. All material processes will tell you how to become stronger, more puffed up, more show up. Here is one process which will teach us how to become more humble. Is that popular these days? It is not popular. Still, we all sit here, searching for some real treasure. And the entrance for the real treasures is through humility. Not humiliation, but humility. What is the difference? Humiliation means that somebody wants to exercise his power over you, while humility means that I bow down, that I recognize the authority, I see the difference between my position and the position of the superior. Real humility means that you understand your capacities and your competence. And the position of superior and subordinate, so to say, is simply a little difference in competence. Otherwise, the soul is the soul, still the competence is little different. So humility also means that you act according to your competence. You don’t go beyond.

“Give me the strength, the ability to appreciate everyone accordingly! Oh, my lord and master, when I will achieve your mercy? Shakti-buddhi hina – I have no strength, no knowledge, but please, accept me among your beloved ones.”

Because those, who have received their new identity, they start to develop a new life. Before your life was limited, now your life expands. Spiritual life is like a new dimension.

“If I examine myself, I don’t find any value, therefore your mercy is so necessary for me. If you are not merciful to me…” – this is the action, lack of mercy, and what is the reaction? Tears. And prana na rakhibo ara – “I cannot maintain my prana for a long time”. So, this is a prayer for a new life. One drop of mercy of our master can give us a hope of new life.

And this is not a poetic exaggeration, this is the truth. Therefore we worship this principle, the guru-principle, because this is a divine function. And the guru is such a light that can enlighten others, so therefore we are very blessed if we have that drop of mercy.

[1] Song of Bhaktivinoda Thakura