Sharanagati
Collected words from talks of Swami TirthaOct
21
(from a lecture of Swami Tirtha, 05.05.2018, Rila)
(continues from the previous Monday)
But again, we cannot stop here. “Radhika steals the mind of Krishna. She is the embodiment of His bliss. Therefore, Krishna calls Her Hara.”[1] So Radhika can steal the mind of Krishna. What does that mean? That Divine Love is so attractive. First, we should understand that Krishna is all-attractive. So it’s not that He is running after anything, but everything is running after Him. All-attractive means that everything is running after Him. Except one thing – divine Love. It’s so attractive that Krishna is running after that. Can you visualize the picture? Everybody is running after Krishna. And Krishna is running after Divine Love, Radha. So, everybody is running after Radha.
Therefore in the reflected world, in this perverted reflection, this material sphere, these emotions make you crazy. Therefore, we need yoga, the control of yoga – to kill your emotions. Do you like this message? Alright, then I will specify: to kill your false and mistaken emotions – when you want to find the bliss of your soul in false concepts, in dreams. Yoga will help to control this, and then you can run after Krishna; and following Him, ultimately you will run after Divine Love. “Radhika is the bliss incarnate, the bliss embodiment of Krishna. Therefore now, Krishna calls Her Hara.” You see, it’s very beautiful.
“The happiness of Gokula, the lotus-eyed small son of Nanda Maharaj, who is the master of incomparable bliss and is the dark-bodied, dark-skinned master of incomparable happiness – He is called Krishna.” Here we find a very sweet explanation of Krishna’s identity. He is the bliss of Gokula. Gokula is the environment of Krishna, where He stays, where He lives. And we are advised to live in a holy place. So if you live in a holy place, then you can find your bliss, your happiness in Him. He is the small son of Nanda Maharaj and His eyes are compared to the lotus flower. And He is embodying the supreme bliss. These are three factors, three reasons why He is called Krishna – the darkness, the beauty and the bliss.
“This presiding deity of loving pastimes, who is the full embodiment of beauty and wit and who can always make Radhika very happy, fully satisfied – He is called Rama.” So this Rama is not the explanation of Rama as before. But here everything, all the bliss, is connected to Shrimati Radharani. Because this person who makes Her happy, this is our Rama. So it’s a different identity.
Here we have got some very meaningful explanations on the holy names Hare, Krishna and Rama. All these different little details are connected to sweetness, connected to divine relationship. So I think the first set of explanations we could follow nicely, it was more clear. This one sounds more complicated, more hazy. We might feel that it is beyond our radius. We hardly understand anything about it. Shall we stop our studies here and finish this inquiry into Jiva Goswami’s opinion or shall we go on? You say ‘yes’ – yes, we should stop? Or yes, go on? The second was full of sweet melodies.
Kripadham: Gurudev, can you say in just a few words what is Hare, Krishna and Rama?
Swami Tirtha: You see, that’s what I mean! We don’t understand. To put it short: ‘Hare’ either removes the ignorance of the jiva or steals the mind of Krishna. Then ‘Krishna’ is the bliss embodied and the dark skin son of Nanda Maharaj. And ‘Rama’ is the ultimate beauty who satisfies and makes Radhika blissful.
(to be continued)
[1] Jiva Goswami’s explanation to the mahamantra