Sharanagati

(from a lecture of Swami Tirtha, 08.01.2017 morning, Sofia)

(continues from the previous Monday)

What can we say about divine love? There’s nothing to say, but a lot to perceive.

Love of Godhead is the natural function of the soul. Nothing else. So, if we come closer to our spiritual identity, naturally this will happen, this will flow. Therefore in this life we have no other duty than to remove the obstacles to this original identity to manifest more and more. Some very insignificant things we have to remove – illusions, attachments, anarthas… They are very insignificant compared to the objective. In the golden light of divine love hardly you can see these insignificant things.

It is said, Mahaprabhu was like a golden volcano of divine love. Due to Him we have some understanding about the glories of the holy name. And also we can join the nice tradition of those who chant. Because what is the meaning of devotional life? To celebrate! It is not the hard work, it is not the self-control and this and that – no! To celebrate! To celebrate the union of the Divine Couple. This should be the motivation for us in any field of our life. Most of the time we have our jobs, we have our family affairs, we have so many responsible engagements in the world. Let’s do everything in that mood, in that spirit. ‘Whatever I do today, whatever I say today, whatever I think today – I want to celebrate the union of the Divine Couple.’

Krishna is beauty, Radhika is love. So, what else is there in this creation? Therefore, as we discussed many times, what is religion? The meeting of Beauty and Love in the heart of humans. This is our religion. Divine beauty and divine love should meet in our heart. And in order to achieve that sometimes we have to forget about all the written formalities.

Nevertheless we need to prepare a little bit. These days we agreed, first we have to stabilize our consciousness. We also agreed we have to express our willingness to do something. Also we understood that we have to come closer to Krishna, to be a close companion. Sometimes we might feel superiors to Him, like taking care of His things, of His needs. And also we agreed that we have to construct the inner temple in our heart, the shrine of bhakti.

And how to start there in your heart if you want to change your heart into a temple? First we need to clean a little bit. There’s some dust, there’s some old stuff there, some cobwebs – we have to remove that. Why? Because if you want to invite the Divine Couple, They like only good places. So we have to provide the best place – the most clean, the most pure, the most nicely decorated.

But fortunately originally our heart is just like a lotus. So we only have to let it blossom to the full extent. If everything is ready – clean, nicely arranged, decorated – then you have to extend an invitation. Without the invitation They don’t come. And what is the invitation? Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare! – ‘Please my Lord, please my Goddess, accept Your place on the throne of my heart!’

(to be continued)