Sharanagati

(from a lecture of Swami Tirtha, 03.10.2017 evening, Sofia)

(continues from the previous Monday)

“There was a brahmana-vaishnava named Vasudeva Vipra. He was living in Kurma Kshetra, just south of Jagannath Puri. He was a leper, but what type of leper! He had such a compassion that when any worms would fall out of the sores on his body, he would pick them up and place them back in the wounds – to prevent them from dying.”[1]

Sometimes we feel ourselves compassionate, right? Because maybe comparatively you are passionate, but I think Vasudeva Vipra was a very extreme example of compassion. You can do this only if you have hardly any bodily consciousness.

“One day he found within his mind: ‘The Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is coming to the place nearby and I shall have the chance to have His darshan!’” Such a special state of mind! To be able to read reality in such a manner that ‘God is around! I will meet Him!’ “Mahaprabhu really went to that district, but by the time Vasudeva arrived there, Mahaprabhu had already left. Vasudeva was greatly disappointed and fell to the floor crying: “What a misfortune! I couldn’t have His darshan, not even a glimpse of the Lord! He has already left. I’m too unqualified to meet Him.” Mahaprabhu went almost a mile when suddenly He felt some attraction pulling Him back. He ran back, found the leper and embraced him. The leper body vanished and turned into a beautiful figure. Such was the devotion of Vasudeva Vipra.”

Here is an example for this natural state of humility. Or for this service mood that will connect man and God. That focus of meditation is so strong: ‘I perceive His presence, He is near!’ – from the side of Vasudeva. And at the same time, it is so powerful that even from a mile or more away Chaitanya Mahaprabhu noticed this attraction. He was attracted, He couldn’t move forward, He had to return.

And then the miracle started to happen. The master and the servant embraced – irrespective of the condition of the body. And all of a sudden this purification, this transformation happened – by the divine touch the disease was gone, disappeared. And what remained was the beauty – the beauty of the soul.

I think this is a very touching story – just to show, to support what was previously said that the connection, this attraction between a servant and a master is so important that both of them will come closer and they will meet. So, if our meditation, if our prayers, if our chanting – Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare – is pure enough and we surcharge this mantra with the best of our spiritual emotions, then hopefully we can stop Krishna from running away. If it happens that He is running so fast, then we have to follow the footsteps of someone else, who is not running so fast. Ami to’ kangala ‘krishna krishna’ boli dhai tava pache pache…[2] Then we need to follow an acharya. He doesn’t move so fast. Fast enough, no doubt, so you have to collect all your strength and energy to keep up with his speed. But if he has this quality of ‘krishna krishna’ boli – “I will shout, I will sing ‘Krishna! Krishna!’”, then He will hear. And as he is running after his beloved Lord, actually we are also running after Him, after them.

This is called natural humility; this is a relationship. Faith, humility – it’s a relationship. For real faith there must be an object and there must be a subject. A connection or relationship cannot exist without the parties who are involved. All these factors must meet in one point – and this is divine service, divine union. Therefore my suggestion is: please, search for it!

(to be continued)

[1] Shridhara Maharaj, Centenary Anthology

[2] A line of the song Ohe! Vaishnava Thakura by Bhaktivinoda Thakura