Sharanagati

(from a lecture of Swami Tirtha, 05.01.2017 evening, Sofia)

So we continue our readings about the different reasons why Krishna came to this planet Earth. What was the first reason?

Manjari: There were difficult times for the world.

Swami Tirtha: Yes. This was one reason for Krishna’s descend – to relieve the burden of the Earth.

“Secondly the time had come for the establishment of the yuga-dharma.” What was the yuga-dharma, the prescribed process, in the previous age? This was the temple worship. All the different ages have different main suggested processes for perfection. In the Satya-yuga what was the process? Meditation. For sixty thousand years meditate in one place, eating only dried leaves of trees and sometimes breathing. You see, this is not very practical for this age. We breathe too often. Then in the next age this was the yagyas; and then in the third age – the temple worship, ritualistic worship. Now we live in this fourth age, so what is suggested for this age?

Krishna Priya: Chanting of the holy names.

Swami Tirtha: Correct. You know everything, Priya! Yes, chanting of the holy names. And actually this universal process is emphasized in all the different religious practices. In Christianity how the Lord’s Prayer is going? “Hallowed be Thy name”, right? The focus is on the holy names. Or in Islam they have their malas for chanting of the holy names of God. So, for the present age the holy names of God is the best method. But just one age before, this was the temple worship.

“Yavanas and the other occupying forces in India were destroying temples, people had no faith in the deities and the standard of worship was at its worst. In order to save the situation Krishna appeared in this world, taking with Him the yuga-avatar, the manvantara-avatar, all the other incarnations like Narayana, Rama, Nrisimha, Kalki and others.”[1]

You see again, one main duty of the Supreme is to reestablish the principles of religion. I think this is one very important reason to come. If you are a responsible person, then whatever you have started, you try to take care of it meanwhile. This cycle of creation has started and Krishna is a responsible person, so He is ready to make the sacrifice to descend to this Earth. Although He enjoys full facilities in the spiritual sky, nevertheless He is ready to take the trouble to come to us, just to reestablish the principles of religion.

I have a suggestion for you. Let’s imitate God! If He is ready to come here, let us be ready to go there – to take this little trouble of reaching the supreme platform. If we imitate Him in an improper manner and we try to correct the mistakes of the material world, hardly we will be successful. This is not our responsibility. But if we apply the method properly: that if He is ready to take the trouble to come here, we should be ready to take the trouble to go there, I think that’s a proper application of the theory into practice.

Just imagine, in Vaikuntha there is a gathering today. The devotees, the demigods and all the saintly and heavenly personalities are listening to the lecture there: ‘What is the reason for the jiva soul to come to the spiritual sky? How come that these materially entangled living beings are ready to come to us?’ Everybody is amazed to hear the details of this lecture. It’s a little bit beyond their conception, beyond their wildest imagination. ‘How is it possible that somebody is so far away from us?!’ They have absolutely no information about the material universe. They are blind for matter. They live only in spirit. And they cannot understand what the scriptures tell them. Birth, death, trouble, ignorance, passion – they have no idea what is this. Sounds like some urban legend. And they have a long list of reasons why the human beings, the fallen souls are ready to take the trouble to reach the spiritual sky. 

(to be continued)

[1] Readings from a book of Bhaktivedanta Narayan Maharaj