Surrender to the Rasik Saint - Translation of Sri Kripaluji Maharaj's discourse

Surrender to the Rasik Saint

My translation of Sri Kripaluji Maharaj's discourse spoken in Hindi,
published in the Quarterly News Letter (April-June 2004) of Barsana Dham

Namaste.

It is declared in Veda:

AtmAnam rathinaM viddhi zarIram ratham eva tu...

As given in the verses Kathopanishad 1.3. 3-9.

There is the chariot with its traveller seated inside. The chariot is driven by five strong horses through whose mouths five powerful reins are fastened to control the horses. The driver takes hold of the five controlling reins and directs the five horses.

All this essential equippment for a successful journey is given to each and every individual soul. The Supreme Lord, Krishna is simply waiting for the arrival of all travelers, thus hoping to see them reach their blisful destination of Peace and eternal happiness.

The material body is compared to a chariot. The five senses of the body are the five horses of the chariot while the mind is the reins that holds and controls the horses. The power of reason with the so called knowledge "buddhi" is the driver of the chariot. The passenger of the chariot seated inside is the individual spirit soul. Under the direction and control of the knowledge (wisdom), the five senses with the help of mind ropes, relentlessly serving the passenger, the spirit soul, who is continuously seeking and traveling to the destination of divine happiness in every life.

Try to understand this analogy more deeply - The passenger as the soul, the body as the chariot, five senses as the five sense organs consisting of eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin, the mind as the reins that hold the horses, the driver as the intellect and wisdom, the spiritual journey is going on from time immemorial to reach the divine destination. Not even for a second the travel is interrupted.

But who is working so hard without a second of rest? All the actions are accomplished through mind alone. Every action is first a thought and then it materializes into a deed. This mind could never be free of thoughts and in other words the mind could never be actionless.

In Bhagavad Gita. 3.5 Lord emphasizes:

na hi kazcit kSaNamapi jAtu tiSTHaty akarma kRt...

Mind is never thoughtfree nor action free. It cannot be quietened even if you determine to choose inaction because it is still involved in the process of thinking, thinking of being inactive!

Work and actions are two kinds, one being mental as well as physical, the other being purely on mental plane.

Vedas have said:

sa yathA kAmo bhavati tat kratur bhavati
yatkratur bhavati tat karma kurUte
yatkarma kurUte tadabhi saMpadyate

According to our desires we make our plans and decisions. According to our plans and determinations we perform various types of work, putting our thoughts into actions. The result of those actions becomes our own natural existence, whether it is good or bad.

Bhagavad Gita 3.33

sadRzaM ceṣSTate svasyAH
prakRter jnAnavAn api
prakRtiM yAnti bhUtAni
nigrahaH kiM kariSyati

Even a man of knowledge acts according to his own nature consisting of three Gunas, for everyone follows the nature he has acquired from the three modes, Gunas of nature. What can repression accomplish?

Shankara's Gita Bhashya, III-33: prakRtir-nAma pUrva-kRta-dharmA-dharmAdi samskAraH vartamAna- janmAdau abhivyaktiH

meaning, 'prakRti (individual nature) is nothing but the accumulated samskAras (vAsanAs) arising from dharmic and adharmic actions of our past lives individualised and earmarked for this life of of ours'.


So the whole responsibility lies upon the mind and its thoughts as well as its decisions.

Bhagavatam says:

cetaH khalvasya bandhAya muktaye cAtmano matam

Bondage or liberation, happiness or misery, the cause for both is simply attributed to the mind alone.
To criticize the sense organs is wrong. The senses are not the culprits nor the spirit soul but the mind which is the doer.

But the mind itself is being governed by higher authority of buddhi (knowledge and wisdom) and they are always working together in every individual.

This buddhi (knowledge and wisdom) is previously compared to the able driver of the chariot, who holds the reins in the form of mind which controls the horses in the form of five senses.
So all the blame for the wrong misleading actions has to be put on the 'buddhi' which is responsible for the delay in reaching the desired destination.

So whole-heartedly surrender to the great spiritual Master and try to acquire right knowledge from God realized Saints as Veda urges the spiritual seekers:

uttiSThata jAgrata prApya varAn nibodhata
kSurasya dhArA nizitA duratyayA
durgaM pathas tat kavayo vadanti

(Kathopanishad 1.3.14)

"ARISE! AWAKE! ATTAIN the Highest Wisdom
from approaching the God Realized Saints.

The Saints describe THAT PATH to be
as IMPASSABLE as a RAZOR'S EDGE,
which is sharpened and
difficult to TREAD upon."

Look dear seekers, the knowledge you have is only material and your wisdom is also not divine. So you cannot tread upon the difficult spiritual path with your worldly wisdom.
For a successful journey to Divine Bliss, surrender your material knowledge to the Saint's Divine wisdom and unite your mind to the Saint's transcendental vision and realization.

Jaya Sri Radhey!

source http://www.basanadham.org/

Namaste all.

Even in difficult situations, the sincere seekers of Beloved God must keep up their unconditional surrender to the Divine Beloved, Lord Krishna Who is very well familiar with our doubts and shortcomings as He is living right in our heart.

sarvasya cA 'haM hRdi sanniviSTo
mattaH smRtir jnAnam apohanaM ca

-B.Gita 15.15

Bhagavan Krishna said:

And I am seated in the hearts of all;
from Me are memory, knowledge, as well as their loss;

There is nothing we can hide from God nor from a God-realized Saint. Moreover They are very much capable of removing the unfavorable things on the devotee's path of surrender.

Lord Krishna has declared:

ananyAzcintayanto mAM
ye janAH paryupAsate,
teSAM nityAbhi yuktAnAM
yoga kSemaM vahAmyaham

(Gita 9.22)

Meaning: To those men who adore Me alone,
thinking of no other,
who are earnestly and constantly engaged
in uniting their minds to Me,
I provide every gain and all security.

Being well aware of this sublime fact, we, the devotees should relax and continue our Divine service (mental, physical and monetary) according to our capacity and strengthen our Divine Love.

The human life and Divine association of a Saint are precious treasures and not to be lost nor wasted by our lack of faith and wholehearted surrender.

SB 11.2.29: For the conditioned souls, the human body is most difficult to achieve, and it can be lost at any moment. But I think that even those who have achieved human life rarely gain the association of pure devotees, who are dear to the Lord of Vaikuntha.

It is also said in Vedas and Bhagavatam that the doubts about God and Rasik Saints exist until the soul is liberated from Maya, Lord's illusory power and until the dawn of Divine knowledge.

Lord Krishna said to devotee Uddhava:

SB 11.20.30: The knot (of ignorance) in the heart is pierced, all
doubts as well as misunderstanding are cut to pieces
and the chain of fruitive actions is terminated when I ( the Lord)
am seen as the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

So we must have unflinching faith in Divine phenomenon
and patience until the final revelation and clearing
up of all doubts in our material mind which is nothing
but a product of Maya.


mana mAyA te hI banyo
mAyA te sansAra,

yAte mana bhAvata sadA
yaha sansAra asAra!

- Bhakti Shatak . 36 . Sri Kripaluji Maharaj

Meaning-

The mind has been created by Maya and
the MaterialL world is also a visible product of Maya!
Therefore, the mind has spontaneous affinity
to the material world!
So always reflect upon this fact and realize
the material world (including the doubts
as well as the facts created in the material mind)
are devoid of spiritual essence.


No one can understand God's (or His Saint's)
actions without His Divine Grace. It is well proclaimed in
our Scriptures. I've quoted many on this thread as I've studied
them and heard some from Sri Kripaluji Maharaj many times.

Here are a few:

When Lord Brahma, the Creator who created the Universe
from nothing, was bewildered with Lord Krishn's
playful pastimes with the cowherds, admits with
humility in this sweet verse given in Bhagavatam:

B 10.14.2: My dear Lord, neither I nor anyone else can
estimate the potency of this transcendental body of
Yours, which has shown such mercy to me and which
appears just to fulfill the desires of Your pure
devotees.

Although my mind is completely withdrawn from material
affairs, I cannot understand Your personal form and
actions. How, then, could I possibly understand the
Divine Bliss You experience within Yourself along with
Your pure devotees?

SB 10.14.29: My Lord, if only one is favored by even a
slight trace of the mercy of Your lotus feet, he can
understand the greatness of Your personality.

But those who speculate to understand the Truth and Your
Supreme Divinity, are unable to know, even though they
continue to study the Scriptures for many years on
their own merits.

----------

Also when Lord Brahma had no Divine knowledge and did
severe penance to discover his own Origin being the
Supreme Lord, declares this statement in Bhagavatam:

SB 2.6.35: Although I am known as the great
Brahma, perfect in the disciplic succession of
Vedic wisdom, and although I have undergone all
austerities and am an expert in mystic powers and
self-realization,

and although I am recognized as such
by the great forefathers of the living entities, who
offer me respectful obeisances, still I cannot
understand Him, the Lord, the very source of my birth.

SB 2.6.36: Therefore it is best for me to surrender
unto His feet, which alone can deliver one from the
miseries of repeated birth and death.

Such surrender is all-auspicious and allows one to
perceive all happiness. Even the sky cannot estimate
the limits of its own expansion. So what can others do
when the Lord Himself is unable to estimate His own
limits?

SB 2.7.41: Neither I nor all the sages born before you
know fully the omnipotent Personality of Godhead. So
what can others, who are born after us, know about
Him?

Even the first incarnation of the Lord, namely
Sesha, has not been able to reach the limit
of such knowledge, although He is describing the
qualities of the Lord with ten hundred faces.

SB 2.7.42: "But anyone who is specifically favored by
the Supreme Lord, the Personality of Godhead, due to
unalloyed surrender unto the service of the Lord, can
overcome the insurmountable ocean of illusion and can
understand the Lord."

But those who are attached to this body, which is
meant to be eaten at the end by dogs and jackals,
cannot do so.

--------

So the 'Perfect Master' has to be approached by sincere seekers with an attitude of a humble devotee just as a trusting child approaching his loving mother.

The rest is all upto His Divine Grace!

Jaya Sri Radhey!


From: http://forums.delphiforums.com/jayaradhey/messages?msg=30.84