Sharanagati

(from a lecture of Swami Tirtha, 08.05.2018, Rila)

(continues from the previous Monday)

Question: You mentioned a positive handicap[1]. What’s a positive handicap?

Swami Tirtha: Do you know what a handicap is? Do you go to horse races? Not really. A handicap is a part of the horse race. Now you might think, ‘Wait a minute, this swami knows everything about horse racing. What’s his engagement?’ But it’s only for the sake of preaching, to be able to give example. Because, you know, they want to make an equal competition between the horses, so they want to provide equal chances for all the horses. Because there are some strong and good horses that are supposed to win, and there are some which are born losers. It’s not that each horse will win the race – it’s impossible. Only one will win. All others are losers – due to capacity, due to age, due to different conditions. Therefore they want to equalize the chances and they put extra weight over the good horses – so that they should carry a more heavy burden, and then it will limit their capacities, and the competition is more equal. This weight is called a handicap. In this way, the ones that are born losers have a better chance.

Spiritual progress is like a horse race. There are some born winners. And there are some born losers. So to give a hope to these born losers, there is some handicap, some hindrance, some difficulties over the strong ones. What does that mean? If you are ready to do some service, you will be loaded with service. Because you are a strong horse, most probably a winner type. Therefore more is expected from you. Your master will load you with services. And not simply load, but overload. Because you can do it. And I’m sure you all feel overloaded. In the company of born winners, everybody feels overloaded. ‘Yes, because I can do it’. But don’t forget this example: once a sannyas disciple of Shrila Prabhupada was standing in front of him. He was in tears, he was crying profusely: “Prabhupada, it’s too much. I cannot do it, I cannot. It’s impossible.” And then Prabhupada said, ‘Yes, it’s possible.’ And gave him one more service.

You might say that this is a legend. But I have seen it with my own eyes. One of my senior god-sisters was the main pujari in Nanda Falva. This was the afternoon arati. We had a curtain and from behind the curtain she was offering the chamara. We were singing and all of a sudden we saw that the chamara stopped. Then she came from behind the curtain and said, ‘I cannot do this anymore.’ We were a little surprised, you know – all of a sudden the main pujari says, ‘No, no, I’m sorry.’ Her husband was leading the kirtan. He also stopped with the mridanga and said, ‘Yes, you can do it.’ And after half a minute she went back and completed the arati. I tell you, this was a heart-rending experience. Sometimes it’s such a difficult struggle with our resistance. But if you get one small piece of advice, ‘Yes, you can do it,’ then you can go back to your service and you can do it. Incredible! It was such an intense and inspired moment – to see the difficulties, to see the victory that she gained. That was an everlasting victory of devotional service over doubts.

Therefore, what is our role here? If you see that somebody is overburdened, just be there. When this is his or her last breath, say, ‘No, no, go ahead, you can do it.’ Those who can do it, they are overloaded. And the other type of horse can ride freely.

So, that much about the handicap. Usually we use this word in the wrong connotation. We think that a handicap is when you are limited or you have some disabilities. No, a handicap means you are extra good and therefore you have to carry extra burden. But if we remember this beautiful expression of Krishna Dasa Kaviraj Goswami in each concluding verse of the Chaitanya Charitamrita chapters – what does he say? “Due to old age and my disabilities, I lean on the stick of the goswamis and in this way I follow my path.”

Pavitra: I would like to thank Gurudev for sharing this story with us. It’s difficult for me to comment, but many details in this story are important. And as a family man this especially made an impression to me, that the prabhu with the mridanga was her husband. Instead of telling her, ‘Woman, what are you doing?’ He said, ‘You can do it.’ A lot of philosophy that we are talking about is imprinted in this sentence. Thank you so much.

(to be continued)

[1] In the text Innumerable elephants