Surrender – with love. Srila B.A. Paramadvaiti Maharaj about the prime essentials in Krishna Consciousness. What it means, and what it does not mean.
"What we are aspiring for in this process of spiritual life, it's definitely not an ordinary thing. [–] It is actually the supreme goal of life, which can only be produced upon coming in contact with a true source of spiritual energy, and by reciprocating to that source with the appropriate attitude, which is called surrender. [–] Mundane surrender is the war situation: people pull out the white flag and announce their unconditional surrender to the enemy. This is not the surrender which the spiritual master calls upon. [–] In spiritual life, the word 'surrender' means to embrace the greatest of all loving invitations, without any shaking."
We held a mela (gathering) between May 3 to May 9 to celebrate the visit of our beloved Gurudeva, here comes a short report!
Day 1
Gurumaharaj arrived in the morning, and we gathered at Arci's and Vasudeva's place, from where we went on a walk in the forest, where Gurumaharaj gave a Sunday chat about the financial challenges in maintaining a devotional lifestyle in modern society. Jay Lalita from Berlin (far right in the picture) also graced us with her presence, and a lecture that she gave the day before (on the appearance day of Nrsimha). Afterwards we shared anecdotes about events which had strengthened our belief in a higher power.
"Dovetailing with Krishna". An incredibly cool Srila Prabhupada explains bhakti yoga – the yoga of devotion, the spiritual technique used in Krishna consciousness. Which also translates to the meaning of saranagati, surrender.
The temple frequently gets donations of all kinds: fruits, kitchen machines, tea-lights, chick pea flour and clothes for the Deities, vaccum cleaners, cars, even a cat and a peach tree. And money: from betting company gambling (not betting, but playing out different betting companies against each other), and from some business involving import of american cars... And what not. (Read more here [1] and here [2] and here [3] and here [4], and about Felix the cat here.)
Recently, two very nice and generous flower dealers started donating for the Saturday Feast every week: flowers for a fortune's worth every Saturday, in this small temple... When the altar is full, we put flowers beneath the altar, at the temple room entrance, and in the windows; and we make garlands, for the one who gives lecture, and for the Deities, and for the pictures of the spiritual masters; and what's left we save for puspanjali (flower petal rain) for the Guru puja on Sunday morning... Here are some pictures of the altar from last Saturday:
Whatever beautiful and valuable things we come across, we cannot but surrender ourselves to them. That is the criterion. If we come across anything higher within our vicinity, our appreciation means surrendering ourselves unto that. So according to the degree of our surrender, we have to measure what degree of quality of truth we have come across. That can be measured only according to the degree and intensity of surrender, or how much we could surrender to what we came into connection with, to the point of no return.
Abhay Charan das: You say we should love everyone, then God will be happy. His message is, we should love everyone. Then why, God sent us to this material world if He really loved us? Why [...] this pain?
"You have to give your heart and soul to the Absolute domain of love. Yes, that is the level of the Absolute. The world of love. Which is beyond the desire, hankering and lamenting. The world of love is such a fine domain, that in that world of love, you can actually unite yourself with the sweet will of the Absolute. That is the key issue here. Uniting your soul with the sweet will of the Absolute, Who is always favoring devotion and devotees. [–] He has the absolute good planned out for you, but you want to separate from His will, and want to get the relative good, and make it an absolute."
"He is sweet, and has a sweet will, and He has you included in His sweet will. But you have to surrender to His sweet will."
"Surrender to the Absolute. Surrender from the heart, from the heart core, to the Absolute. Understand, that only in love for the Absolute there is an absolute, positive good, expecting you – you are waited for. The Absolute has created you, and wants you to join the sweet embrace of the Absolute. [–] The Absolute wants your absolute good, because you are absolutely part of it, but because you have the absolute function of the free will, as being a part and portion of the Absolute, you also have to exercise your absolute capacity of decision-making, that 'I want to be in contact with the Absolute, I want to unite with the Absolute, I want to embrace the sweet will of the Absolute, and I don't want to take my mental powers to separate from the Absolute', because as soon as you do that you become confined by the relative. Because in the Absolute everything is one; in love, everything is one."
"When somebody goes into the material world and tries to turn towards the Centre, he's a devotee. [–] The thing is that when there is a friction between those who want to go away and those who want to go to the spiritual world, then the Lord comes, then the Absolute comes out of the Centre, and He says 'Oh, you want to give trouble to those who want to go to Me, who want to come to Me, in the Centre? That means it's a curse upon you. You go further away, you go deeper into illusion, and I will protect My devotees.'"
Come over to Nimaihuset on Saturday the 2nd May and celebrate the appearance day of yet another incarnation of The Absolute:
Sri Narasimhadeva — Krishna, the Source of Consciousness, the Original Person, taking the form of a lion-man, descending for the sole purpose of protecting one single devotee.
There will be bhajans (singing of mantra songs), lecture, arati (altar ceremony), and prasadam (sanctified vegetarian food)!
