Sharanagati

(from a lecture of Swami Tirtha, 01.10.2017 morning, Sofia)

Just to remind ourselves: from studies will come the result that you’ll meet your beloved Lord. Have you ever imagined yourself meeting your beloved Lord? Or you just simply follow something without any deeper consideration? Do you have a plan if it happens what will you do? Sometimes we need to cultivate dreams.

Because meeting is a very intense moment. If you meet your enemy it’s very intense. If you meet your lover – also very intense. But mostly what happens in our life? We meet some persons and then we forget about them. Maybe some weak memories will remain, but usually we separate. If you separate from your enemy is it a good feeling? ‘Ah, finally I don’t have him around!’ – it’s a good feeling. If you separate from your lover is that a good feeling? Ah, it’s very painful. In the first case you don’t want to meet again and in the second case you don’t want to be separated anymore. Therefore Mahaprabhu concluded that union is very intense, but separation is more intensive.

And somehow on the practical experience we can also have that as a realization. For example, when we are here together on this weekend in Sofia, it’s good. But when this weekend will finish we shall appreciate it more. ‘Ah, the prasadam! Ah, the devotees! Ah, this mood!’ We perceive more in a deeper, sometimes even more painful manner: ‘It was so nice, so great! And now I’m not there, I’m not in that mood.’ So, Mahaprabhu is correct again – separation is very intense, more intensive than the meeting.

When according to the basic studies we understand that this whole world is made up of dualities – like good and bad, etc. – then we hope that by spiritual practice we’ll get rid of the dualities. But there again – union and separation! My God, what is the difference!?

Many times I’ve told you, but maybe it’s appropriate to repeat it here, once one my dear god-sister asked this question to Gurudev: “We know that material life is basically suffering. And if we observe the life of the gopis, as they are most of the time separated from Krishna, they are also suffering. So what is the difference – suffering here, suffering there? Where is the difference?” And then Gurudev said: “Ah, there is a big difference. Material suffering has an end, while spiritual suffering is eternal.”

So, think twice! How can we resolve this puzzle? How to avoid this, I don’t say unexpected, but unwanted influence of suffering? Hopefully we shall meet something real in our life.

When you meet your lover you think: ‘Ah, these are the golden days of my life!’ Then after some time you establish your family – usually with someone else. Right, it’s very rare if you can establish your family with your first love. Then you say: ‘Ah, that were not the golden days of my life, but these are the golden days of my life.’ Yet sometimes we see that the human relationships are broken or loaded with difficulties. So the best years of our lives very soon might turn into a nightmare. Then you meet the devotees. It’s a chance, great chance. And first we think: ‘Ah, before I thought that these were the golden days of my life, but I was mistaken. Now – this is the golden period. And as this company, this association should be based on spiritual foundation, definitely this should never diminish. Sadhu-sanga is not only having a party or having a good company where we can talk; it’s something else, something higher. Sadhu-sanga is a holy sacrament. It’s one of the main practices of our process – sadhu-sanga, nama-kirtan[1]. So why it is put in such a high prestigious position if we think that this is so cheap just like having a party? No, it’s not.

(to be continued)

[1] Association with saints, chanting the holy names – the first two of the five main practices of bhakti, listed in Chaitanya Charitamrita, Madhya, 22.128