Sharanagati

(from a lecture of Swami Tirtha, 09.01.2019 morning, Sofia)

(continues from the previous Friday)

If, for example, you write a letter with milk on a piece of paper, then it’s invisible. Nobody can read your letter. If you are too full in love or too much want to hurt somebody, write your letter in milk. Nobody will understand it. Nobody can read it; only those who know how to decipher your hidden letter. And how does this happen? Tapaha – with fire. If you heat it, the letters will be revealed. In our symbolic understanding, what is the milk in the human being?

Answer: Nurturing?

Swami Tirtha: Biologically, yes. But spiritually, it is our life. And what is love? It is the essence of the milk, the ghee. These two things we have in reality – we have our life and we have our love, prana and prema. And these two things we have to give away. So if you start to add heat to the milk, then it will be condensed. Symbolically, everything comes together; if we apply the heat of tapas, of austerity in our life, then this hidden purified message will be revealed. We can get rid of the bad conditionings or the direct anartas that we have. Also, we can get rid of the false attachment due to some good qualities. Then your heart chakra will be purified. And then the flow of energies for those who meditate will be unobstructed. This is a realistic self-analysis, self-reflection: don’t deny your shortcomings, rather face them. And with this austerity that is all around your heart chakra, your heart lotus, try to purify them. 

Of course, this system concerns only the general human beings. There is some other symbolism of the lotus flower, let’s say, in the mystic, symbolic understanding of the environment of Radha-Govinda. But this we shall discuss another time. Maybe you have some questions or remarks? 

Question: As I understand it, this symbolism of the different qualities distributed on the lotus petals according to the cardinal directions is meant for self-analysis. And if we would like to know our hidden tendencies, we should practice this method? 

Swami Tirtha: Yes. But, many times we said that you have to make your heart, your emotions a little more intelligent and you have to combine some feelings with your intellect – so, if we compare our heart lotus to the thousand-petaled lotus, if you compare these two lotuses, then you can remove some petals, right? Self-analysis and purification mean that you remove something and you adjust to something higher. So, it’s not enough to identify that, ‘Yes, on the southern petal of my heart lotus there is this cruel intention. I’m satisfied with this realization. Nice, finally I can understand what is there in my heart.’ No, certain things you have to remove. So, self-reflection is the first step and then self-purification is the second step – to remove all these obstacles. 

Of course, now your question should be how to do this. But what is the answer to all the how-to questions? Chant more. Because, what is the message of the first verse of the Shikshashtaka? Cheto darpana marjanam – the heart is like a mirror, purify the mirror. Remove the bad instincts, the bad characteristics from there. Purification of the heart – we know the method for that, we only have to apply this proper method. Chanting the holy name should purify the heart. And, if you truly believe that, if you return to this self-analysis after, let’s say, after one year, you should meet a different person there. Shrila Prabhupada said, if humanity would follow the regulative principles only for one month, all the karmic balance of this planet would be changed, improved a lot. So, our activities are a very important contribution to the benefit or the fall and disintegration of the whole world. 

But, as I told you, this self-analysis is for the general mass of people. Because what will you find in the lotus heart of a pure devotee? Treasures, hidden treasures. If something is purified, it is just pure. There is nothing wrong there anymore. Gurudev said, if we have devotion, then even our shortcomings turn into precious stones. 

Paramananda: I would like to ask Gurudev to describe what is the symbolism of these different directions and what are the representatives of the personality of Godhead for the different directions. 

Swami Tirtha: This we shall discuss next time. Because actually this is like a lotus mandala. And all the associates of Krishna and Gauranga are distributed in this mandala. In that respect this lotus is called yoga-pitha. Yoga-pitha means the place of connection, of unity, where the essence is. In Govinda-lila this is the center of the rasa-dance. And in Gauranga-lila this is a very special tree in Mayapur – a neem tree. You can guess what happened under this neem tree – a nice boy was born. 

Gita Govinda: When is the next time when we shall discuss this? 

Swami Tirtha: When we shall get the inspiration. It’s not according to the calendar.

(to be continued)