Thanks for this Tesh!
| 28. Dec 2008 from HH Sacinandana Swami |
Letter to Disciples and Friends |
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Dear Disciples and Friends,
Please accept my blessings and heartfelt greetings. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
A long period has come to an end—a period when I was busy in America, Russia, and India and could not communicate with you due to the constant travel and numerous lectures I was asked to give. (On December 10 I will return to Croatia and to my service of writing “The Vedic Way.”)
But today I was thinking of you and I prayed for all of you in a Vrindavan forest near the banks of the Yamuna River. Then suddenly I felt I should write you and address you with a subject close to my heart.
But even as I thought this I realized that there are many subjects I would like to address…. Therefore I can only pray that soon we will meet again and share with one another our thoughts to our hearts’ satisfaction—the latest at my birthday celebration or whenever I come to visit you.
For now I would like to ask you to reflect on an understanding that has become more and more important in my life.
A Rare Jewel: Passive Spirituality I gained this realization at the Govardhana Retreat, and it is simply this: When we hear about Krishna and both lovingly chant His name and offer Him prayers everything becomes possible—but not by our power.
There is a plane where we clearly are no longer acting based on ego, karmic limitations, material nature, etc. How do things take place on that plane? By Krishna’s sweet and potent will. We can call this “leaf spirituality.” A leaf does not act of its own volition. Rather, it is picked up by a mighty and benevolent wind and carried effortlessly, dancingly, jubilantly, and powerfully to its next destination. We could also call this “passive spirituality.”
I saw this phenomenon with a female sannyasi from an impersonal yoga tradition who somehow wandered into our retreat. She has been living in Himalayan caves, drinking water from the Ganga’s streams, and eating whatever forest roots she could gather along with anything she was able to humbly beg from the homes of the kindhearted. This woman was accustomed to practicing hours of silent meditation at a stretch. Dressed in saffron robes, the tiny bag over her shoulder held all her possessions. Our sannyasi attended the first session of the retreat and spontaneously decided to participate in all the sessions that followed, including japa and kirtana, lila-katha, and discussions with the devotees.
What influence was at work here?
Giriraja’s sweet mercy storm lifted this yogini up and made her dance in the devotional current of His mercy—a leaf in the wind of grace.
At the end of the retreat she came forward excitedly—maybe even a little afraid of her newfound courage—and said to me, “Forty years of deep meditation on the Brahman have left an open wound in my heart—a wound that expands every day. It is the wound of discontent. Here in Vraja I have discovered the medicinal balm that can cure my pain—and she called this balm “the mind-attracting sweetness of Sri Krishna.”
How nicely put. Her words confirmed my deep conviction about “passive spirituality.” Most of us have been taught to be achievers, to actively work to make things happen. This is actually the school of anxiety.
Real spiritual life means to be in “receiver’s mind”—the state in which we receive divine grace. That is the school of overwhelming bliss. In this school the highest attainment, the priceless jewel, is bhakti—divine love, which is always a gift from above.
As we begin to taste Krishna consciousness, we should water our taste with the nectar of hearing about Krishna and chanting His holy names in the good company of steady devotees. Be assured that if you do these two things, your taste will grow.
And when taste grows, quite often the unexpected fruit of divine love will drop into your heart and you will find yourself crying tears of ecstasy.
Sometimes, a beginner is given a preliminary sip of that nectar—like yesterday, when this Himalayan yogini cried beautiful, soft tears during kirtana, tears that washed away any remaining resistance to the Lord’s arrangements for her.
All glories to Sri Krishna’s powerful mercy, which can enable all souls to obtain the Lord’s loving sidelong glance and one day, His direct darshan.
Reflections on Krishna’s Mercy and the Gradual Process of Surrender At the beginning of our spiritual life we might have experienced something quite similar to the yogini—a sudden rush of conviction and the strength to move forward. But after this initial investment from above we might find ourselves no longer quite as strong or willing to surrender. We usually also find that the surrender required of us cuts deeper. What should we do?
I feel compassion for sincere devotees whose surrender is halted either by attachment, fear, or rebellion. We should know that Krishna Himself helps such devotees by sending them tests—tests that force them to take shelter of Him. When such tests come our way, somehow He also grants us the intuition that we can pass them only if we surrender more. Confronting God-sent tests may surprise us at first. Then, when our strength seems insufficient to overcome the obstacle, we feel helpless, then hopeless. Strangely, it is often from the place of hopelessness that we find hope again—but only if we finally surrender to Krishna through it all and seek His help.
Whenever Krishna tests us He remains nearby, hoping we will become wise enough to turn to Him. But He is aware that many souls take their time to surrender. He says,
After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.
Let’s try not to keep Krishna waiting for so long. Instead, let’s meditate on the advice given in text 83 of the Sanat-kumara Samhita:
The wise say: “I surrender to Sri Sri Radha and Krishna. Whatever is mine is in truth Their property. Everything is for Their sake. Everything is meant for Their enjoyment. It is not meant for me.”
I acknowledge that it is not always easy to maintain such consciousness. Rather, we tend to find this level of surrender either when we’ve been brutalized by our karma or overwhelmed by love of God. These are, of course, extreme states, and most of us live somewhere between these extremes—therefore we don’t find it so necessary to come to this surrendered point.
But take courage! Surrender is an incremental process. To help yourself, think about the five gemlike statements made in the above verse of the Sanat-kumara Samhita The same book lovingly encourages us in the next verse to “think of these five ways of surrender day and night. Never become tired of thinking of them.”
The day we surrender fully we will probably ask ourselves, “This feels so wonderful. Why did I take so long to do it?”
Krishna’s dear associate Uddhava, who was previously attached to intellectual understanding, finally learned about full surrender in devotion. He said:
My dear Lord, for one who is being tormented on this terrible path of birth and death and is constantly overwhelmed by the threefold miseries, I do not see any possible shelter other than Your two lotus feet, which are just like a refreshing umbrella that pours down shower of delicious nectar.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 11.19.9)
May we all experience this cooling and refreshing shelter as soon as possible. |
