Sharanam Sharanyam – Part 4 [granthra]

This is the concluding mail o the series on ‘Sharanam Sharanyam’ which is a transcription of the class given by our beloved Guru Maharaj in Rajkot on Srimad Bhagavatam verse 3.25.11.

tam tvaa gataaham sharanam sharanyam / sva-bhrtya-samsaara-taroh kuthaaram
jijnaasayaaham prakrteh purushasya / namaami sad-dharma-vidaam varishtham

Devahuti continued: I have taken shelter of Your lotus feet because You are the only person of whom to take shelter. You are the axe which can cut the tree of material existence. I therefore offer my obeisances unto You, who are the greatest of all transcendentalists, and I inquire from You as to the relationship between man and woman and between spirit and matter.

Maharaj was insisting that we should correct our behaviour pattern. Purity in our behaviour is a must. The confidential thing about purity is that, the more purity you have, the more things will be arranged according to your wish. Purity must be there. We do not have to do anything. He will arrange. We are in the material world and we have our responsibilities but there is a short cut way to complete the responsibilities and that is to understand and observe purity in our behaviour. The behaviour pattern must be crystal clear. Nobody should doubt us. Once you shut your eyes from that contamination, then everything becomes very transcendental. Your responsibilities are taken care of. He is carrying on anyway. What are we doing? Children are there. Grand children are there. They are growing up and studying and working. What are we doing anyway? We catch our heads and think, ‘oh! What happened to them?’ There is no end to this. We cannot do anything and unnecessarily we catch our head and that should stop.

Contamination in behaviour should not be there. Both men and women should be very careful and very clean in this regard. Because we do not understand Krishna, purity is completely away from us. Anything we come across, we have our material rods to apply to it and there we commit mistake. Our material rods do not work. If it has worked so far, it is because of Krishna’s mercy but it is not supposed to work.

One day vaanaprastha situation is there. Retirement is there. Everybody has to face this situation. In the western world, varnaashrama is completely absent but we see so many divorces, marriages, and remarriages. Because they are not following the behaviour pattern of Bhagavad gita, so much difficulty is there. This somehow Srila Prabhupada wanted to correct. Those who are following Srila Prabhupada, in western civilization also, they are bit better than the ordinary crowd. This is how this process is well tested and purity has its own way. Why grandfather is respected so much? Because he was the head of the family and he did not run like a dog here and there.

The reason we are running here and there is because we have not come to ‘Sharanam Sharanyam’. We must first find out our Sharanyam or the living entity who is worth taking shelter of and then there is surrender or sharanam. But we do not find sharanyam. Till that time we are kicked out. Because we are not going to transcendence which is worth taking shelter of, we are going to that which is not worth taking shelter of. If we go to the wrong sharanyam, we are going to be kicked. Those who choose this correctly, their position is secure. Srila Prabhupada, when we went to America, he did not have anything at all. When he got down from the ship, he did not know whether to go to the East or West or North or South. But he could achieve so much because sharanyam was there. His surrender was complete. To what did he surrender? We think that he surrendered to Krishna, but if we really seriously think, he was surrendered to Srimad Bhagavatam and that is why he took a vow to translate the whole thing before he dies. That Srimad Bhagavatam we kick out and our sharanyam is gone. We surrender to so many people at work and at home and serve them. We should do our service, but rest of the time; everybody should know and see that we are with Bhagavatam. That will protect you.

Unless sharanam sharanyam is there, the axe or kuthaaram is not there. To cut the tree of material life or samsaara, the axe is required. When correct surrender is there, automatically axe will be there. So we are situated in samsaara, even then we are not attached. That is the secret. Once the axe or kuthaaram is there, jijnaasaa is there. That is inquisitive to know Krishna. Till that time you are not sincerely inquisitive of the atma tattva, till that time you are defeated. But those who are attached to Bhagavatam, are not attached to the temporary things and relationships. Hence be attached to Srimad Bhagavatam and this is Sharanam Sharanyam -. Surrender to that which is worth taking shelter of.

All glories to Srila Prabhupad! All glories to H.H. Mahavishnu Goswami Maharaj!

Thank you very much,
Yours in the service of Srila Prabhupada and Gurudev,
Vaijayanthimala devi dasi,
Abudhabi.

Disclaimer: This article was originally published in the Yahoo Groups granthraj – run by the disciples of H H Mahavishnu Goswami Maharaj – by the devotee name mentioned above. The posting in this article, is original realizations of our Guru Maharaj and the devotee who wrote this. Any comments regarding this article would be passed on directly to the devotee. In this article, ‘Maharaj’ and ‘Gurudev’ implicitly refer to our spiritual master H H Mahavishnu Goswami Maharaj.

Related posts:

1. Sharanam Sharanyam – Part 3 [granthraj]
2. Sharanam Sharanyam – Part 2 [granthraj]
3. Sharanam Sharanyam- Part 1 [granthraj]