Sharanagati

(from a lecture of Swami Tirtha, 25.08.2016 evening, Ludasto) 

(continues from the previous Friday) 

“Vasudeva could understand that this child was the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Narayana. Having concluded this without a doubt, he became fearless. Bowing down with folded hands and concentrating his attention, he began to offer prayers to the child, who illuminated His birthplace by His natural influence.”[1]

Now comes the prayers of Vasudeva and we understand the story how they achieved the dignified position of becoming the parents of God Supreme. They performed austerities for a long, long time in previous lifetimes; in this way they achieved this position that Krishna agreed to come as their son – not only once, but in different incarnations. And this was one of these events. Such a spiritual ambition – to invite God as your family member! This whole pastime shows how Krishna comes so close, so close to His beloved devotees. And some of them are chosen to be His parents.

Just to quote few verses from these prayers:

“O inaugurator of the material energy, this wonderful creation works under the control of powerful time, which is divided into seconds, minutes, hours and years. This element of time, which extends for many millions of years, is but another form of Lord Vishnu. For Your pastimes You act as the controller of time, but You are the reservoir of all good fortune. Let me offer my respects to You.”[2]

To this prayer the Supreme Lord answers: “My dear mother, best of the chaste, in your previous birth, in the Svayambhuva millennium, you were known as Prishni, and Vasudeva, who was the most pious Prajapati, was named Sutapa. When both of you were ordered by Lord Brahma to create progeny, first you went through severe austerities. My dear father and mother, you endured rain, wind, strong sun, scorching heat and severe cold, suffering all sorts of inconvenience according to different seasons. By practicing pranayama to control the air within the body through yoga, and by eating only air and dry leaves fallen from the trees, you cleansed from your minds all dirty things. In this way, desiring a benediction from Me, you worshiped Me with peaceful minds. Thus you spent twelve thousand celestial years performing difficult activities of tapasya in consciousness of Me.”[3]

This was how they performed their tapasya in order to invite Krishna as their son. “Both of you, husband and wife, constantly think of Me as your son, but always know that I am the Supreme Personality of Godhead. By thus thinking of Me constantly with love and affection, you will achieve the highest perfection: returning home, back to Godhead.”[4]

So, Krishna’s appearance starts with a miracle. He appears in His full divine splendor and instructs the parents about their past lives. Why do we mention this? Because most probably if Krishna appears in our life, He will tell us all the secrets that are necessary, and finally we can get this instruction that: “If you think of Me, you will achieve the greatest perfection and return home back to Godhead.”

Just imagine yourself being a father and a mother in a jail, expecting your newborn baby to be killed. It’s quite dramatic. What can we expect in such a moment? We expect the birth of a normal child and all of a sudden some dazzling beauty appears – even more trouble! But as Vasudeva realized that He is the Supreme Lord, he became very fearless in the end. So strange that my brothers and sisters, we are called by some ‘the Narayanush’ – belonging to Narayan – according to our Gurudev’s name. And why the disciples of Gurudev were so fearless? Because Narayan appeared to them as Gurudev. He was called ‘The Fearless Preacher’, as you know by the title of the book.

So, you are there as a father in a jail to the newborn baby. And what to do now? It’s a very extreme moment. Krishna gave the instruction that “If you think of Me and understand that I am God, then you will achieve perfection,” and then He transformed back into a normal, small child. Helmet down, two of the four hands back, throwing away the shankha and the chakra… Thereafter Vasudeva received an inspiration from the Supreme to take the newborn child from the delivery room at that moment when Yoga-maya, the Lord’s spiritual energy, took birth as the daughter of Nanda Maharaja’s wife.

(to be continued) 

[1] Shrimad Bhagavatam 10.3.12

[2] Shrimad Bhagavatam 10.3.26

[3] Shrimad Bhagavatam 10.3.32-36

[4] Shrimad Bhagavatam 10.3.45