Continuing our series on sharanagati, we are presenting an article by Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj wherein he describes the all-important role of Krishna in the life of a devotee.
Excerpted from Amnaya Tattva
It is Krishna Himself who gives us life and takes our life. No one else can give or take our life. So we do not need to be so fearful of our environment and association. How much can we actually protect ourselves? We have seen that Indira Gandhi was shot by her own bodyguard. Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated though he was a very pious man and dear to nearly everyone. So the only saviour of anyone’s life is Krishna. If Krishna wants us to be saved we will be saved, and if Krishna wants us to die then we will die. There is a saying in Bengali, rakhe Krishna mare ke, mare Krishna rakhe ke, “When Krishna protects you no one can kill you but when Krishna wants to kill you no one can protect you.” So the mood of the surrendered soul is,
mārabi rākhabi yo ichchhā tohārā
nitya-dāsa prati tuyā adhikārā
(Sharanagati: 11.3)
“Krishna, You may kill me or protect me as You wish. You are the sole proprietor of Your eternal servant.”
This kind of submission and dedication is very valuable. Our real safety is found only in surrender and devotion. What Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur has explained is very serious; it is not easy to quickly catch this conception of full dedication to the Lord and full dependence upon His mercy. So we are considering some percentage in our devotion, someone may be 10% devoted, 20% devoted, 50% devoted, or 100% devoted.
The only obstacle to surrender and dedication is ego. If someone has no mundane ego they can easily connect with the transcendental plane and leave behind their mundane attachments. Everything mundane—our body, our possessions, etc.—is part of Maya’s illusory environment. It is temporary and does not belong to us. When our ego is bewildered by the illusory environment then our proper knowledge and consciousness of Krishna’s eternal service is covered by mundane attachment and that egotistic attachment creates a great obstruction between us and the Lord.
ahaṅkāra-nivṛttānāṁ, keśavo nahi dūragaḥ
ahaṅkāra-yutānāṁ hi, madhye parvata-rāśayaḥ
(Brahma-vaivarta Purana: 3.9.9)
The scriptures explain that mundane ego is like a great mountain that blocks our contact with Krishna and His transcendental abode. But when our ego will disengage from the mundane then it is very easy for us to contact with the transcendental abode and feel the Lord’s guardianship. Tad dure tad v antike (Sri Isopanishad: 5), “The Lord is very far from us if we are not surrendered and dedicated. But the Lord is very to near us if we are surrendered and dedicated.”
Krishna is always with us, He lives in our heart in the form of Paramatma. From within our heart He observes everything we do and all the reactions we create for ourselves. Whenever we consciously surrender to Him and act according to our nature as His eternal servants He removes all of our karmic reactions, fills our hearts with happiness, joy, and beauty and gives us entrance into the ecstatic world of Goloka Vrindavan Dham.