Sharanagati
Collected words from talks of Swami TirthaMay
14
(from lecture of B.K.Tirtha Maharaj, 25 of May 2006, Sofia)
Awakened divine love brings great transformations in our ideals. Because first of all, in the beginning we are very ego-centered. There is only one reason that we are ready to do anything – and this is for our own benefit and sake. If you are a brutal materialist, you work only for your satisfaction. And if you are a brutal spiritualist, you work only for your own liberation. This is the first impetus – you work for your own benefit. This is what drives you, what makes you move – MY benefit. This is a neophyte stage.
Second stage is when you learn how to come together with others, how to tolerate others and how to work with others. And not only with, but FOR others. That’s the next little step – come together, work together and work for each-other. This is the practitioner level. And what is the third level?
Third level is work for the mission. I mean – the larger family, the wider scope. Work for the benefit of MORE than your own limited small group. Become more renounced, more generous to others.
And then the fourth is the master level – work for God – which also includes all the other levels.
So don’t stop on the first plan! Don’t work only for yourself. Be ready to share with others and cooperate with others. Help the mission grow. And don’t forget – everything we do should be done for the satisfaction of Krishna.
Unless one performs service, he cannot attain Krishna. Krishna says in the “Shrimad Bhagavatam”: “My dear Uddhava, neither through ashtanga yoga – the mystic system to control the senses – nor through impersonal monism, nor analytical study of the Absolute Truth, nor through the study of the Vedas, nor through austerities, charity or acceptance of sannyas order can one satisfy Me as much as by developing unalloyed devotional service unto Me.” This is the glorious position of a devotee.