Sharanagati

After so many lifetimes finally we have come to the shelter of Krishna and we try to avoid Him as much as possible. Do not be such fools this lifetime also! Do not try to avoid Krishna!

It is easy to be Krishna conscious when Krishna does not want anything. But when He wants to take something from you, this is the time to prove your humility and surrender. Do not forget: whatever you do not give, either illusion or Krishna will take it away! The problems come when we try to preserve something for ourselves. If you deeply consider that you have many millions of lifetimes behind your back, the next question will be: how many lifetimes you have in front of you? You have tried everything possible in the material life. Do not be such fools to waste your time again with material endeavors! You had already been kings and beggars, dogs and sannyasis, leaders of big missions and fools number one, you had been women and men many times, so what? What is the result? The result is that somehow by the mercy you are here. We are not so much concerned about the past, because past is history; and the future is mystery. Right now here is the center of the Universe. Here you can get eternity in your hand and this is the real mystery – how our material existence and our divine existence meet in one point, how eternity can be traced in a moment.

When the spiritual association is coming from the same nest, the same level, the question of difference in the competencies is deteriorated. It is very easy to see the good qualities of a person if you meet him only once or twice a week. But when you live together and you sleep in the next sleeping bag, then all the shortcomings of the other will be manifested. In this way it is very easy to lose the respect for others, because we see the full picture. But at this moment we should examine ourselves. Many times we see that the other devotee is full of mistakes; but if I examine myself, I should conclude that I have even more mistakes. And if he tolerates my presence, I should also tolerate his presence. I am accepted in the company of the devotees; it is not that everything is revolving around me.

In this way we can help each other to grow nicely. Sometimes there is a very stupid period of life when devotees start to contest with each other – either inside the ashram or inside the family. But if you can avoid this, then you spare so much time. We should compete with ourselves and respect the others. When we are over this fighting and contesting period, then we will become real spiritual friends. This is very rare and precious gift of Krishna – a relation in which you have full trust. This level of association is very beautiful part of our spiritual life. This is the god-brother, god-sister level. In many cases we do not have brothers and sisters. But as you join the devotional family you will have big family. We can say that I was searching for friends, but instead I have found brothers and sisters. One rasa higher.

You should see Krishna in everybody’s heart and if you really become conscious about that, then all the formalities will be melted and you will understand that finally we all are spiritual brothers and sisters. In this way we should try not to avoid Krishna this time.