We must take shelter of our spiritual master. That is important. We must take shelter again and again otherwise we have no strength. Without taking shelter we will not be able to succeed in spiritual life, we will struggle. We will not be able to maintain our vows, or we will not be able to take vows without taking shelter. It is like that; it is crucial, it is the cutting edge. If one wants to be on the cutting edge, that’s the only way that it will work - otherwise Krsna consciousness cannot take us very far and then we become a social club:
‘and it’s Sunday again and it’s so nice to be here! And we had such a nice birthday party last week and guess what…we’re going to do it today! Yeahhhh! There were three birthdays this week and therefore we are so happy... may you never take birth again!’ ...
Okay and you can have your cake and eat it too, but, ‘may you never take birth again’, it’s nice to sing the song but how to do it? It’s not so easy never to take birth again. And a slip in between the cup and the lip and before you know, another birth again! Hmmm…So to never take birth again is more than just eating cake! It is really a matter of making a commitment of being brave, being very brave and to go before someone and to say:
‘I am…yours!’ It’s a scary thing to do. Very scary to become someone’s property- completely whatever such person says one must do! That is the nature of this guru-disciple relationship.
Transcribed by Savitri Devi Dasi
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, S Africa Durban, September 2010)
