Calling out to Bhagavan Sri Krishna !

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Calling out to Bhagavan Sri Krishna

( Discourse by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati )

"Bahubhirmilitva yat kirtanam tadaiva sankirtanam – sankirtana means congregational chanting."

Glorification and prayers are included in sankirtana. From an external perspective, one who offers stuti (Vedic prayers) holds a lower position than the object of the prayers. A third party however, can best understand the glories of a person by hearing his prayers.

Chaithanya Mahaprabhu explained that to genuinely call out for Bhagavan Sri Krishna , one has to more humble than a blade of grass (trnad api sunicena). We cannot cry out for someone until we have accepted our own insignificance in relation to that person. We beg for assistance when we are forced to acknowledge our helplessness. Whenever we find ourselves incapable of completing a task on our own, we are left with no choice but to seek another's help. Alone I cannot complete a task that requires five people to accomplish.

Chaithanya Mahaprabhu has instructed us to genuinely cry out for Bhagavan, which means He has urged us to solicit Sri Bhagavan for help. This we have heard from Gurus . However if I cry out to Him with the intention of involving Him in service to me, or if I petition Him for the purpose of accomplishing any task, my cries lack the real humility of trnad api sunicena. Real humility is never found in an external show of humility, which is actually mere duplicity. Calling out to Bhagavan in the mood of being His master, expecting Him to obey like a servant, is ineffective. He does not hear such a call because He is supremely independent and fully conscious. Consequently, He is not controlled by anyone. Until a person's egoism establishes roots in sincere, non-duplicitous humility, his prayers will not reach Bhagavan, who is fully independent.

A person who is more humble than a blade of grass may cry out to Bhagavan, but unless he is endowed with the qualities of patience and tolerance, his calling out will still not bare fruit. If we show impatience by hankering after our own interests, our behavior is in direct opposition to the mood of trnad api sunicena . If we are fully confident that Bhagavan is the Complete Being, and that our calling out to Him will never result in scarcity, we will not experience any dearth of patience. But if I become greedy, intolerant and restless, and if I remain adamant that I will accomplish my task on the strength of my own ability and competence, I will not be able to call out to Bhagavan in the true sense.

If we are excessively vain, we cannot properly call out to Him. And also if we try to annihilate our real self-interest, then we will not be able to cry out to Bhagavan properly. Often, I think that I am obliging Him by my prayers, and therefore I engage in other activities in which I don't need to ask for His help. This mentality also indicates the absence of tolerance.

We therefore require a guardian to save us from such tendencies until we become qualified to sincerely pray in the mood of trnad api sunicena. His shelter and support are necessary to shield us from such unfavourable inclinations. Srila Narottama dasa Thakura says: "asraya laiya bhaje, tanre krsna nahi tyaje, ara sabe mare akarana – one who performs bhajana under the shelter of personalities who are the abode of love for Sri Krishna, is not neglected by Krishna,; everyone else lives in vain."