Sharanagati

“Not to disrupt the minds of ignorant men, attached to the fruitive results of prescribed duties, a learned person should not induce them to stop work. Rather, by working in the spirit of devotion, he should engage them in all sorts of activities (for the gradual development of Krishna consciousness).”[1]

This verse tells about the wise and about the non-wise. The verse itself is very instructive: the wise should not disturb the mind and the mentality of those, who are non-wise. From this we can understand that until we want to change the mentality of another person, we are not wise.

But who is a real wisdom person? Who is a real saint; because we expect form a wise man to be saintly also. We can say that a saintly person is someone, in whose company others also try to behave like saints. Does he give any disturbance to others, such a wise person? Sometimes yes, because we are not on the platform to act correctly. Still, as he is tolerant and patient enough, and he knows that this is a step-by-step process, in this way he will help to change his or her mentality – by herself, by himself! Not that I change the mentality; he will be ready to change himself. The wise man is so generous, that he does not want to preserve the dignity of changing another person’s mentality; he distributes this dignity to you – you can change yourself.

But what are the criteria of a wise man? This we can understand from the mirror, from the reflection. Because what are the criteria of a non-wise? The non-wise is attracted to the results, to the fruits. If we examine ourselves: for how long we are attracted to the results of our activities! For such a long, long time! Sometimes devotees are laughing at a simple attraction, attachment of other people – outsiders, so to say: “Ah, he is attracted to money, he is attracted to wealth, he is attracted to success,” or whatever. But if we examine ourselves, we can see that we are also attracted and attached to the results of our activities. Right: you practice bhakti and you want to become a bhakta. This is an attachment! Or, to be more general, you want to be spiritual just to enjoy the spiritual happiness. Or you perform a purification rite in order to become purified. And when it does not happen, you are frustrated. That means: non-wise. Because the wise man is non-attached. It means: very loving and very caring, but not involved.

Let us become wise! Why should we stay stupid, being limited by the troubles of the limited conceptions? Divine consciousness opens the horizons. Just like when your eyes are closed, then somebody will come and with a torchlight of knowledge will open up the blinded eyes.

Real wisdom is the practical capacity to love. Such wise men we all should become in order to be able to practice purified divine love.

And it says: “Do not disturb those, who are attached. But still, be like a good trainer. The good trainer knows that this guy will not be able to run the hundred meters in ten seconds. But he invests the hope into the guy to train him to run the best according to his capacities. Who is the trainer and who is the runner? You should become the trainers for yourselves. And you should run. So that you should be able to see the potential in yourself: I can run the hundred meters!  But do not wait for other wise men from outside to give you disturbance – disturb yourself!

What is the solution: we should not enthuse people for neglecting their duties, but we should help them to perform in devotional mood. If you are your own trainer – push yourself to do devotional service. Do not put the spiritual master into the difficult situation that he has to push you to do devotional service. Usually guru is not a gendarme – coming with a whip to push the devotees for devotional service. We have to feel: dedication toKrishnais good for me. Because this verse also shows that activity is the treatment, the cure.

So, be active in dedication, do not disturb others, but show good example. For actions speak louder than words. If we are dedicated to our God-given or guru-given service, people slowly, slowly will understand this point. Just to summarize the lecture in one sentence: be wise.