Reversals Reveal Our Shelter

We have reversals in our devotional service, here is Devaki, she is qualified to have Krsna as her son, and six children are killed and one is like taken from her womb even before birth. How inopportune, what misfortune. Any reversals that we may have, how does it compare to that, yet she is fully under the influence of Yoga Maya, fully protected by yoga Maya. So in her case it took like long long time but sure enough she was reunited with those six sons that were taken from her and reunited again with Krsna and Balaram, because she is under the care of the internal potency. When you are under the influence of internal potency, its not like you dictate what is good and what is bad, what is fair and what is not fair and what is right and what is not right, you are fully under the shelter of internal potency, and whatever Krsna wants that’s the program. When you surrender unto Krsna please bare in mind that things then become on his terms not yours. The other way, Surrender unto krsna under your terms that’s not surrender unto Krsna. Surrender unto Krsna is, “Whatever You want..” just like Chaitanya Mahaprabhu teaches, you can embrace me, you can trample me, you can neglect me and leave me broken hearted, you can do whatever you like. That’s a elevated position but that’s what surrender is, and in that surrendered position, its varieties of loving exchanges only because the essence is not lost, the essence is the one thing, please keep me engaged in your devotional service, unconditionally!! that’s a high platform but that is the teaching that Lord Chaitanya is extending to us.

Its the invitation that he is extending to us, to come to that position of devotional service and keep your eye on that position of devotional service and hear that voice within your heart that says yes and when the circumstances are different than what you like it to be, don’t whine and complain its part of the enhancing of our exclusive shelter in Krsna, when the external things aren’t going right, it happens , it happens to us , it happens to Devaki and it can happen to anybody but in the course of devotional service that’s alright, when we have faith and trust in Krsna we actually have shelter in Krsna , its alright . Fortunately Krsna does not put us in such calamity as Devaki was put through or other great devotees like Pandavas, Kunti, Drapadi and Prahalad Maharaj, but to help us become exclusively sheltered in Krsna, difficulties may be presented .

One of my favorite ones is Sanatan Goswami and his journey to spend time with Chaitanya Mahaprabhu he travelled exactly, he was a minister, he was a chief minister of Nawab Hussain. He was so skilled he found out exactly the places where Lord Chaitanya went, when he went through the Jarikanda forest, he went exactly to those places and in the forest he found the forest dwelling people and what did Chaitanya Prabhu do and say, his life was Lord Chaitanya everything  totally… Then he contracted this illness where his body became filled with yucky smelly pussy oozing sores, wet itches , it smelled back. He began to think what is the use of this body, because when I go to Puri Lord Chaitanya would want to embrace me and I am just going to smear this yucky stuff all over his body, better to get rid of this body. What is the use of it, its just a nuisance its a disturbance. So you know the whole story, he had his plan for Rath yatra, under wheel of the cart, smash, give up my life. Before saying anything to anybody, Lord Chaitanya told him you cannot do that, if liberation was as easy we would all jump in front of the cart. Your body belongs to Me , you cant dispose of it, it’s My property. Each thing he did so i’ll leave and go back to Vrindavan, that nonsense Jagathananda, he cant go and he cant stay and he cant give up his body. What to do, there was only one thing left that very thing that was in the core of his heart, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s shelter, then he embraced him and the whole thing is gone. Haridas thakur understood right away, you are so dear to Lord Chaitanya, he personally orchestrated all of this, so your attachment to him would be magnified to the limit and he just took it away. You are so dear to Lord Chaitanya , he has given so much mercy unto you, inconceivable, being very expert Sanatan Goswami knew what to say actually its you who are dear to Lord Chaitanya because your not only expert in your preaching, your expert in your behavior , your the most dear to Lord Chaitanya.

So when obstacles and reversals come its nice to talk about in the Srimad Bhagavatam class, safely sitting in the temple room and when obstacles come, the real test of where our shelter is, where  your mind go? where is your shelter?  When there is this very difficult circumstance, where is your shelter?  watch and see where your mind goes.

In the whole narration of Brighu testing Lord Shiva, Lord Brahma and Vishnu, the standard was , the measure of greatness of a person can be understood must be measured in terms of how they respond to difficult circumstances. Where is your shelter, where is the seat of your consciousness and where is it directed towards, so Devaki is being appreciated that she was in Yoga nidra, she was totally absorbed in spiritual position, so much so that the externals where like night just like a dream although it happened apparently in a dream and she woke up and it happened in fact , it was all an arrangement of Yoga Maya, thus comforted. We can be comforted when we are aware of the fact that we are , because of taking full shelter of Krsna , we are under the influence of the internal potency that’s shanti, that’s blessing!!.