Sharanagati

In spiritual life and also in practical dealings there are three levels of communication. The first is understanding, the second is compassion and the third is love.

What does it mean understanding? Understanding means that I understand your problems, I pay some attention to you, I give an ear to your problems. Which is rare these days. Very few people are ready to listen. When somebody says: “O, we had a very nice conversation!” usually that means that he was speaking. So to listen to the other person is unusual these days. Understanding is based on listening. But not so much other things are happening. “I’m listening to your troubles, but that’s it.”

The next step is compassion. Compassion means that I pay my attention to you, I listen to you and I’m ready to share your troubles. Because if somebody is ready to share our troubles, the burden is decreased. It’s even more rare than attention or understanding. So this means an active participation. “I’m ready to share with you.”

But the top level is affection or love. When I’m not only ready to listen to you, when I’m not only ready to share your troubles, but when I’m ready to take all the troubles that you have and digest it for myself. So here sacrifice is also included. Self-sacrifice, voluntary self-surrender. And how is that possible without affection?

These are the three levels of spiritual association. And we should come at least to the level of understanding. If you are more elevated you can come to the level of compassion. But when you are really elevated, then you can take away the troubles of people. Who is on this level?

The gurus are on that level. Because their level of surrender is such, that they are ready to become bridges to cross over the troubled waters. They are ready to take all the poison and return you only nectar. This is the exchange. What you offer to your spiritual master? All the poison that you have collected in your life, all the dirt and all the bad things, mistakes and shortcomings that you have collected. He takes it, digests it and gives you some blessings.

There are many gurus who take the assets or the money of the disciples. But there are very few gurus who take the troubles of the devotees. Or who take the sins of the disciples. So in order to be delivered, we should find a proper person. This is our choice. And such compassionate soul will help us in our spiritual progress.

But what is happening? In any tradition if you start the purification process what is happening? You loose everything that is false, you destruct everything that is false and you construct the real one. Better to say you bring to the surface, you reveal the real one. Because when this process of purification starts often we think: “O, I loose myself!” But usually I loose only the false conceptions that I have.

Just like a butterfly is born. From the small worm, unable to move – slowly, slowly the beautiful butterfly is manifested. So it looses the present condition of limited, almost unmovable state. It looses the conditioning of the present situation and comes to a different platform, where she is able to fly. The same happens with a person, who tries to purify himself – looses all the false conceptions and limitations and comes to the butterfly state, when his soul is so much purified, that he is able to fly.

In Bhakti Yoga we can loose only one thing – our bad conditioning. There is no loss.