Sharanagati

(from a lecture of Swami Tirtha, 10.05.2019 morning, Sofia)

Today in the morning, as we are in a small intimate inner circle, I don’t want to talk about the difficulties of life, because we take our lessons on that topic every day. For sure, in the evening we shall return to the second reality of life – disease. But before that I would like to return to the definition of knowledge that we discussed – this is verse 8-12 in the Thirteenth chapter of the Gita, The Nature, the Enjoyer and the Consciousness. I think these all are very important topics: what is this material nature around us; who is the enjoyer of the whole system; and finally, what is consciousness? And meanwhile in this discussion, which is a little dry, we receive this knowledge – what was the beginning of wisdom? Humility. And what was the end of that list? The philosophical search for the absolute truth. 

But let’s check these elements again. First is humility. What is real humility? Humility is not the feeling of being humiliated, because that is a destructive feeling, while humility is a constructive feeling. If we see something great, something more important than us, naturally we become humble. If we see the divine splendour, we will become very humble. Just in the case of Arjuna. Once he said to Krishna “You know, it’s a great feeling to be the best archer in the world”. But when he saw the cosmic form of Krishna, he said “I’m a little perplexed now. Maybe I committed some mistakes before. I didn’t know who You are”. So, sometimes we are not aware of the proper position of ourselves and of the others. And due to this, we might commit mistakes. But if we take a humble position, there is no chance for mistakes.

Of course, Shrila Shridhar Maharaj always says: don’t play the humble guy with a stupid person. Humility we have to apply with the saints. To a saintly person you can be really humble, because he will not misuse that. And it helps us to acquire some knowledge, as it is discussed here. If you pose yourself to know everything, then who can teach you? You say “I know, I know”. Go ahead, show yourself, show your talents! But if you say, “I’m in need! Very humbly I ask, please enlighten me in the spiritual knowledge”, then it will come. 

Then pridelesness. Just recently somebody asked what are the signs of pride. You know, we have this very strange disposition that we can be proud of anything. If you have something, it is reasonable; but you can be proud of not having anything. We have this very stupid behaviour, this tendency to be proud of everything that we have or we don’t have. And it is not very easy to get rid of that pride. There is a remedy, of course. If we humbly serve others, this is the best way to get rid of false pride.

Then what is next? It’s non-violence. After two thousand years the western psychology understood this ‘non-violent communication’. And here it is mentioned in the very beginning of the list. Non-violence is like an eternal science that we can apply in all different fields of life. I think it is quite normal that we don’t kill our fellow human beings. But I don’t think that the difference between a cannibal and a vegetarian is only a question of taste. So there is something more to polish in this non-violence. And also, in other fields of life; it is not only the physical violence, but especially for spiritual practitioners the spiritual violence is a very important topic to avoid. How many times it happens that you intrude into the life or the mental system of others in a very brutal way? 

Once Gurudev was on an excursion with some devotees and one of them trampled upon some insect. He was very sorry for that and showed Gurudev: “I made such a mistake!” Then Gurudev said: “This is what we cannot avoid. You see, violence is always there, some parts we cannot avoid. But what we can avoid, let’s try to avoid that.” What you cannot, you have to express your sorry for that. I cannot say atonement, because how can we correct a mistake which is irreversible. 

But even to these limitations, we have to use the next principle, which is tolerance. Sometimes we have to tolerate the limitations that we are forced to go through. What you can change, you can change. What you cannot, you have to tolerate. But in many cases you are very weak in your faith. And you say, “I cannot”. Then what will your spiritual master say? 

Answer: “Yes, you can.”

Swami Tirtha: Of course! So, don’t ask a sadhu. If you don’t want to be removed from your zone of comfort, don’t ask a sadhu. Otherwise you have to tolerate his words. 

(to be continued)