Sharanagati

It is given by Shrila Rupa Goswami: „Take whatever is positive for your growth and avoid everything which is against your spiritual growth!” But sometimes we are so ignorant, that we cannot see what is good and what is bad. Sometimes it is very difficult to decide whether I should do like this or like that. Still, association should be clearly selected.

Of course I am not talking about the newcomers, who need your association to elevate their consciousness, because then you have to give your company – but spiritual company – for them to grow. In that respect you have to be very careful not to give a material kind of company to them. Krishna consciousness or bhakti should not be only a kind of good company; this should be something very high, very divine and prestigious in a good sense. We have to cultivate the dignity of our process; it is not something cheap that you find in every corner, it should be very highly refined.

That kind of spiritual association you should give, you should provide to the people. A devotee should be very gentle, very open and at the same time very dignified, representing Krishna. Do not waste your energy by speaking nonsense, what to speak of stupid actions. We belong to Krishna; our whole existence should reflect, should shine with our dedication.

For the newcomers you have to be a kind of humble authority. And your authority should come from natural feeling of the others, not that you put yourself in this position. You will be respected if you are serious and if you respect others. Try to be always a very dedicated servant of your spiritual master, Krishna and humanity at large and try to represent this idea to others. In this way they naturally will treat you as a kind of authority. What is the basis of an authority – the difference in competence. If I feel that the other person is more competent than me, naturally there is a kind of respect.

What is attractive in a devotee – that he or she is a surrendered soul. Тhe service mood of a devotee is very much attractive. We should cultivate our service mood in order to represent Krishna nicely. Why? Because you are not on your own, as devotee you are not representing yourself – you represent Krishna, your spiritual master and the mission you belong to. So if you are a rascal, everybody will think that Krishna consciousness is full with such guys. If people see a bad example they reject everything. So you should be very careful how to represent Krishna and your spiritual master. From the disciple you can judge the guru. But by your personal mild, gentle character and humility you can catch the hearts.