Sharanagati

Collected words from talks of Swami Tirtha




Radha crying

I think we can agree that to be selfless is very difficult – you work, you do and there is no feedback. You serve your Gurudev – and no feedback. You prepare your subji and he is not eating. Or you chant your mantras and no tears are coming to your eyes. You have to be selfless. And you have to follow the duty. If you cannot do your spiritual service from dedicated love, then do it as a matter of duty.

Money – as compensation, as a goal or as an ambition – is very brutal, so sometimes we are ready to be a little selfless if there is no financial feedback. But think, if you don’t receive any emotional feedback, no good words, no thanks, nothing – it is very difficult to be selfless, isn’t it? It is practically impossible – you try to do, do, do, but then you say: “Wait a minute, this is useless! This person is not paying any attention on me. I try to serve, I try to do my best, but no result!”

So, to really be selfless is very difficult. And what is mentioned in the last verse of “Shikshashtakam”? Something extreme, I tell you! So beware! Don’t pray that too much, because it will manifest.

“Krishna may embrace me with love…” Ah, that is nice! “…or trample me under His feet…” A-ha, this is the selfless part. “… He may break my heart by hiding from me. After all He does not regard any moral standard…” Let’s skip this part. “Let Him do whatever He likes, for He is the only Lord of my heart and He will remain like this forever.”

So this is my ambition – to be a selfless servant of Yours from lifetime to lifetime. It is not: “Give us our daily bread.” From lifetime to lifetime I am Your selfless dedicated servant. If you pray like this, Krishna will help you to act according to your words.

Selflessness is one of the great qualities of a divine or spiritual personality. And the other is to escape the pride. Because if there is an audience, it is very easy to be a great saint – if many people see how great you are and they are amazed of your sacrifice, and everybody is running to serve you, although you are a great renunciate. Therefore many times you can see that the gurus in the beginning are thin, but at the end they are big-bellied.

Think for yourself. You are not acting as renunciates yet formally, but I think that we all have to renounce and dedicate so many things of our life. So many attachments we lose, so many desires are unfulfilled – that is renunciation. So many attachments you have to give up – sometimes by force, sometimes coming to a higher point of view. Therefore it is said: what you don’t give, this is what you will lose. Therefore it is better to give. Anyway, we shall lose everything sooner or later. There is no pocket on the coffin. What can you bring with you? Better to be selfless and dedicated, and without pride.

But whenever and whoever of you will become a renunciate, please, be very careful, because renunciation generates power. Practically all spiritual practices generate power. Right, if you chant your mantras, the bombs are blown. You collect, you generate so much spiritual power that you have to give it somewhere, you have to use this energy. Especially if you really renounce the worldly ambitions. If you don’t waste your energy in worldly ambitions, that means you have a surplus of energy. This will create an attractive aura around you and some people will be moved by that. But never believe to the easy and cheap attention. Never become an enjoyer of a situation. Always stay like a servant. That is very safe.



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