Sharanagati

(from a talk of woman’s roles with Swami Tirtha, 13.08.2018, Ludashto)

(continued from the previous Friday)

Labanga: Gurudev once said that children are born in families as a karmic consequence. But apart from that, are there those who come not because of karma, but out of karma?
Swami Tirtha: Some kids are born out of dharma. Or they are born for dharma. As Krishna says in the Gita: “I am the sexual life which is not against dharma”. So this means there are some kids that will come out of dharma. And He mentions: “I am the ultimate goal”, so there will be some kids who are born to fulfill dharma. Prophets also come to this planet Earth, Lord Jesus also came in some way or another. Even sanyasis come from mothers. So you are a sacred institution.
Once in the classical times a lady disciple mentioned about her spiritual master: “In case my master has to come again to this planet Earth, I am ready to become his mother”. Wow! Isn’t that dignified? Isn’t that a service mood? Isn’t that for dharma? Incredible! So please, worship these classical ideals.
Shyama Tulasi: Does the fulfillment of a woman’s duty obligatorily go through her having children?
Swami Tirtha: No, that is not obligatory. But it is a very good chance, this is the general way. I had seen, sorry to say if somebody will feel targeted, but sometimes when the young ladies live in the ashrams, many times they complained: “Ah, it’s so difficult, ah, today I’m so tired I cannot wake up for the morning arati. No, no, this service is too difficult for me”. But when they started to have their children – five years no peaceful night, without any comment. So I think that to have kids is a very good lesson, a very good chance for selfless service. It is not obligatory, but what is obligatory? Give your life to someone, dedicate yourself to something. Seva is obligatory. In what form – it doesn’t matter. We have to dedicate ourselves to something.
Adidevi: When we were discussing about dignity, it seemed to me that it was also about humility. Dignity almost equals humility. A week ago I came across three definitions of humility given by Bhakti Vigyana Goswami. They were very similar to what Gurudev said. Bhakti Vigyana’s words were that humility means knowing what your purpose in life is. Humility means inner softness. Humility means adaptability – to have the intelligence to adapt in any situation. And actually, humility and dignity become one term – is it so?
Swami Tirtha: In that sense we can say yes. Because in our understanding humility is not equal to humiliation. Humility is a high power, irresistible. While nobody wants to be humiliated, it’s not positive, it’s not good.
So don’t forget about your timeframe. Once I met a lady on a lecture. She was around 50. And she said: “Ah, now my full interest is in the spiritual things. I go to this lecture, I go to that lecture, I want to practice. And when I was young – only love… “I think this is very realistic. But why not invite spirituality in the company – I don’t say as a substitution – in the company of this amorous romantic period. Don’t lose your time, romance will go. I’m not pessimistic, I’m realistic. What will stay? Spiritual values, spiritual achievements will stay with us. So combine it. Bhaktivinod Thakur says: “Even if you fight with someone, combine that with Krishna.”
I think the timeframe is very important. Age will also bring some dignity. Because you can focus more on the eternal values. And you have a lot of experience. So why not have this wisdom on time? Why be late? Start now.
Also, we discussed service and sacrifice. Be ready to dedicate your life to something, somebody, some ideal, some service. We also discussed: to achieve something is rajas, to lose something is tamas, to maintain something is sattva.

(to be continued)