


Sharanagati
Collected words from talks of Swami Tirtha
“My ever-blissful nature will be revealed and achieved only by those great souls who do not posses anything, who have overcome their passions, who are compassionate to all living beings, whose intelligence is not covered by desires and who are always faithful to Me in their minds.”[1] So this is the secret of achieving the blissful divine nature – not to possess anything, to be peaceful, to be purified, to overcome the passions, to be compassionate, with purified intelligence and faithful mind.
Not possessing anything? Is that possible? Practically we use so many things, right? For example, Lakshminath Prabhu has got more than hundred goats, so how not to possess? We need grass and so many instruments, so many things we have! It is said that in a general household they have some ten thousand different items. In the beginning is easy, it’s only one suitcase, but next time you move with a TIR camion. But don’t have this feeling of possessing! And it is easy with items, it’s easy with objects, right? Because I declare it boldly, “It belongs to God! I am not the possessor, I am only the servant, I am only the care-taker.” But what about human beings? What about your emotions? Do you possess your emotions? Do you possess your wife? Do you possess your children? That kind of attachment should also be given up. It is not the loving care that we should give up, no! It’s the attachment, give up the attachment.
When we arrive here on this planet earth, although we come naked, still we have a big bag in our mind full of attachments and full of ideas and full of plans to accomplish. So even then we are not so innocent. Even then we have something to give up, some attachment. But not to possess anything – I think this is a very high quality, very high requirement. And how can we achieve that? How can we achieve that “I give up something”? You know, in Vrindavana the monkeys collect the spectacles. If you walk with glasses, the monkeys steal your glasses. How you can reclaim your spectacles? Did you try? It happened to you? You have to give something in exchange. They obtain your spectacles and then you are a little blindfold. Then you should give something to them – then in exchange they will give it back. So this monkey is clever enough to give up one attachment in exchange for another, which is more tasty, more satisfying to the belly, because he cannot eat the spectacles. But he is clever enough to achieve banana or pea-nuts by stealing your spectacles.
In the same way, how can you give up your attachments? Only if you get something better. In this way we are non different from the monkeys. We can give up something only if we get something better in exchange. So not to possess anything is possible only if you start to possess something. And what is this something? This is divine love. If you possess prema, you don’t need anything else. And this is the great secret! Try to possess that, by which you will have everything. Because we collect so many stupid little items, thinking that by collecting this and possessing this I will have something, but then finally you will have yourself empty-handed: “I did not achieve anything in this lifetime.” So collect only one thing, by which you will have everything. And forget about the many different items by which you will lose the one important thing.
(continues the next Monday)
[1] Shrimad-bhagavatam 11.14.17
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