Sharanagati

This is real knowledge when we see not only the fragments, but we see the whole picture. Just imagine yourself going too close to a picture. You will see all the small little pixels of the picture but you will have no idea about the whole picture. You take a distance from the picture, and then from a certain distance the picture will be very clear. Go further – again you will lose this clear-cut picture. It will diminish so much, will become so small that you will not be able to perceive it. So, we need a certain distance to get the full picture. That means our perception is limited. Until you are in your practitioner’s form, in your sadhaka-deha, keep this distance. But when we reach the perfection stage, there is no distance anymore.

We should focus our vision in order not to see only the fragments, but to get the whole picture. If you start from the other direction, you have to have such a sharp vision, so that you see not only the whole picture, but the fragments also. How to understand this? First we learn that there is the Supreme Lord,Krishna. Just like if you take an excursion to the mountain. You see the highest peak. And you are invited by the peak: “Come!” So, you start your journey and still you see the highest peak, your goal. But then soon you realize that there is a small hill you have to climb first. Then there is a valley. Up and down, up and down you go, but still your highest peak is in front of your eyes. This is your false conception: the peak and me! Or: me and the peak! Later on you begin to see that there are some others, who are walking the path with you. Some are quick in their walking, others are lingering behind. Later on you will see the small little grass on the path… So you will have a more detailed picture, but still you will have your goal ahead of you.

The same happens in the spiritual life also. First we understand that there is Supreme Lord Krishna. Krishnaand me. Or: me and Krishna. Two of us – it is a good combination. Later on you look around and you say: “Hey! There is Krishna, but there is guru also.” A third person. “All right, Krishnais high, so I can surrender to Him. All right, this guru is also high, this is a quite high conception, I can surrender to guru also. They say it is necessary, so let us do it. I can become an ornament in his mission.” But that means I did not check who is coming with us, who is coming with me. Because there are some others walking the path. They are called vaishnavas. “God is there – all right; guru is there – we accept; vaishnava – what is this?! What is the necessity for that? All right, our holy trinity – God, guru and me – enough! Why should be anybody else in this picture?” That means, we have not realized that we should walk this path together with others. We have to surrender to all devotees. And all the future devotees also. Because there are two types of people – the bhaktas and the non-bhaktas; usually we use this separation. But we should change our vision: there are only two types of people – the already devoted and the future devotees. So we have to surrender to each and every present and future vaishnava. BecauseKrishna says in “Shrimad-bhagavatam”: “You can pour your oblations into the ashes if you worship Me in the temple but you neglect My living entities.” This is a major mistake, definitely identified byKrishna. “If you try to formally, officially worship Me but you neglect My creatures, I will not accept your worship.”

And why it is said that it is just like when you pour your oblations into the ashes? Because if you throw something over the ashes, there is no result. If you throw something into the fire, it will burn. The sacrificial fire creates a connection between this stage of existence and the higher one. And whatever we bring to throw it into the fire, it will be delivered to the higher authorities – your desires and your karma also. So first of all we should sacrifice for the sake of the Supreme Lord, then all right, you can sacrifice for your own sake, and you can also sacrifice, burn up your sins. Therefore the sacrifice will purify the atmosphere. It will purify our energies also. It will purify our existence.

Question of Premananda: Gurudev, we have this very special case of ourBlackPeak here in Vitosha, that you do not really see from below. The peak you see is not actually theBlackPeak. How would you comment such a situation? Can it happen on our path also?

Tirtha Maharaj: Especially when it is covered with white snow. Then you will not see theBlackPeak. BecauseKrishna is black, and there is somebody in this picture, who is white.