Sharanagati

(from a lecture of Swami Tirtha, 03.05.2018, Rila)

We don’t ask just for the sake of asking questions, but we ask as a sign of divine cultivation. Do you see the difference between questions and inquiries? If you want to understand the divine science of the holy name, inquiry is the proper method. Questions have no end. It is said: a fool can ask much more questions than a wise man can answer. But inquiry means a proper method of studies. Therefore today we have to inquire into the art and science of the holy name.

Harer nama harer nama harer namaiva kevalam/ kalua nasty eva nasty eva nasty eva gatir anyatha. Harer nama – the name of Hari, the Supreme Lord. Repeated three times. Kevalam – exclusively. Kalau – this is our age, Kali Yuga. Na asti – no other, doesn’t exist. Gatir – to reach the goal, reach your destination. Anyatha – other method. So we can say that in this age of conflicts and hypocrisy there is no other way, no other way, no other way to reach perfection, salvation, than chanting the holy names of the Supreme Lord.

This is like a motto of our inquiries. It comes from Brihan Naradiya Purana and is like a guideline for this age. You know that Mahaprabhu has picked the best shastra, the best Purana –the Bhagavata Purana. There the first verse is an invitation for meditation: satyam param dhimahi – “Let’s meditate over the supreme truth!” And the last verse is a glorification of the holy name, that will purify us of all the contaminations of this age.

So, from many different sources the glories of the holy name are supported. And here three times are mentioned the glories of the holy name and also that there is no other alternative. This is not a question, but an inquiry: why three? Why not two, why not one? Mahaprabhu was such a genius that whatever He heard once, He was always able to remember. How many times you have heard that it’s time to surrender to the Supreme? Where is your genius?

All right, if you cannot remember if it’s mentioned once, two times is enough. In Sanskrit prosody and in philosophical shastras, if they want to stress something very seriously, they repeat it twice. But three times…? Either we are very stupid because we cannot remember, or this topic is so important that it’s stressed three times.

Three times – why? Because all the living beings in this manifested universe are under the influence of the three gunas. I think you all know this very well. When you are under the influence of ignorance, you don’t crawl out of your bed. Some experts say that this is depression, but it’s not – it’s the influence of tama-guna. Actually, here is one secret: the heavy load of life as it is exercises a pressure over human beings. And then our answer to fight against this pressure is de-pression. So, pressure and depression – they go together. Of course, in devotional circles this is very theoretical, because you taste the nectar of the holy names every morning, so what is depression? It doesn’t exist for us, right? We want to live more and more according to the spirit, not according to the body-mind complex. And we want to find our way back home, back to Godhead in the spiritual sky. There is no pressure there! The only reason for the gopis, for example, to have any depression is the weather. If the weather is good, Krishna is going out to take care of the cows, so they don’t meet Him. If the weather is bad, Krishna doesn’t go out to tend the cows and they don’t meet Him again, so they are again crying. Usually for people here, when the sun is shining there is no depression, they are happy. But these gopis are always crying! Whether it is sunny or rainy – they always cry. So think twice what is your ambition.

But anyway, back to our topic – everybody is under the control of the three gunas. Sometimes tamas overcomes us – then you feel morose and depressed; other times you are influenced by rajas – then you feel elated; very rarely there are some touches of sattva – isn’t that so, because sattva means peace, happiness, all the good that you can achieve here. But everybody is under the control of the three gunas. And if you take any pill that is under the control of the three gunas, it will not help you. You can apply any method – coming from human beings or from speculation or whatever – it will not help you. We need something that comes from beyond. Right, it’s very logical – if something is inside a system, it cannot help you to reach out of the system. Therefore we need a transcendental method. We need the pills of nectar.

The holy name is beyond the three gunas. And it is stressed: you will be able to overcome the influence of tamas, also the influence of rajas, and you can even go beyond the limits of sattva. So that will bring you freedom, spiritual freedom. You can overcome all these difficulties.

(to be continued)