Sharanagati

Krishna was alone for some time. Because His parents – Nanda Baba and Mother Yashoda – were very satisfied to have a son, but their friends – King Vrishabhanu and Kirtida Devi – had no children. They had a very complete life, but without fruit, without children. So they were praying, and doing, and waiting – and nothing happened. Finally they had a baby, they found a baby. They were very satisfied: “O, we have a nice daughter, we are so happy, we are so fortunate!” And they didn’t even consider that this little girl was blind: “It doesn’t matter, may be blind, still we are very happy and very satisfied.” You know, in India the beauty of the eyes is compared to the lotus flower. And the love of the parents is so great, that even if the child is blind by chance or by bad fortune, they might call him or her Padmalochana – Lotuseyed. So the love of the parents puts beautiful eyes even to a blind child. Their eye observes the beauty even if there is a lack of good fortune.

So King Vrishabhanu and his wife were fully satisfied: “After so many tribulations finally we have a girl!”Soon the new spread in Vrindavan. And you know, when a family has a new-born baby, they invite guests. They want to share the happiness: “Come, join our happiness! You please also give blessings to the child.” This is a beautiful principle – that whenever we have any happiness, we should invite people and share it. In this way it will grow. And if you have some difficulties, you can also invite people, or at least try to share with some good friends, because in this way your distress will diminish.

So they were inviting the gusts in order to share their happiness. And you know, everybody is very sensitive and very polite in Vrindavan, so Mother Yashoda and Nanda Baba didn’t express their sorrow for the little girl not to have open eyes. You know, when there is a delicate question, you just try to overcome the problem, you say some nice words and then you just go and take some other subject. So they were also approaching and expressing their happiness: “O, you are so fortunate to have a child now…” and then they were going to take some little more chatting and prasadam and this and that.

And the kids were left alone. So when Krishna was not under the care of the parents, what He was doing? Immediately approaching the cradle of Radhika. And you know, if you are disabled in one respect, God compensates in other respect. If you are blind, your ear will be very sharp. Or if you lose your smell, then the taste will be strong. If there is some lack, always there is a compensation. So the little girl in the cradle, without watching and seeing, could understand: “Something important is happening!” Have you ever had the feeling of “somebody is watching me”? Right, you didn’t see, but you felt that “somebody is observing me.” Sometimes you just feel the power emanating from the persona and you can fix it:”O yes, that was it!”

So Radhika had her eyes closed, but She was compensated in a grand scale – She was so sensitive, that immediately She understood: “Something is happening around Me.” And Her feelings and Her sensitivity were so highly arisen, that She wanted to know, She wanted to understand who is there. And all of a sudden Her handicap just disappeared, She could open up the eyes. So She was not blind, She had the eyes, but the lids were closed. But at that moment when Krishna approached Her cradle She opened Her eyes. And what was the first thing that She saw in Her life? God. “My beloved”.

Just imagine if the first look, the first object that you see when you come in this world, when you take birth, is God in front of you – that would be nice. Our eyes are open – but do we see? Better we close the eyes, may be we will see better. Because our eyes are open to illusion; Radhika’s eyes were closed to the world. Her eyes opened only for Krishna. So we should learn this from Her: we should open the eyes, but only to see Him.

From this story, from this example we should understand also why the saints glorify the Lord: “Now, my Lord, as I had seen You, my eyes, my vision have achieved perfection. O, now I hear Your Holly Name – my ears have achieved perfection. O Gurudev, you have come to my home – my life, my home achieved perfection.”

So this should be the approach – we should close our eyes to the illusion and we should open our eyes to the divine truth.