SARAN (INITIATION) - ITS' MEANING FOR LIFE

While owning that the Buddha must have been the first to use the word Saran (lit., shelter) for initiation, we feel that Sankardew's use and application of it was quite his own. It is as appropriate as it is unique. His Mahapurusism has four Saranas, but it is really one in four. It is the guru (Preceptor) who comes first and sets the ball rolling. He acquaints the jiwa (life) with its own hunger of the heart and thirst of the soul. The guru shows the jiwa its own wretchedness and tribulations it is always undergoing. He says that tri-tap (three sorrows) are there-material, super-natural and spiritual, and affirms that there is a remedy, a panacea, against all these evils. This panacea is nothing else than taking shelter in the feet of God, as everything else is ephemeral and ever-changing.


With a grateful heart the proselyte then moves to Dewa (God) and offers all the entreaties at his feet:

"He krsna ito ghor samsar panthat:
Tini tape atisay huya acho hat.
Tayu pada-padma chaya-chatra bine tar:
Nahike taran ar tap edaibar. 1174.
Tomar caran-yug chatra biparit:
Chaya kari sarvadise barise amrt. 1175.
He Krsna tayu pade pasilo saran:
Apad-grastak mok kariyo raksan. 1177.
-- Bhakti Ratnawali.


'Oh God, I am (almost) killed in this dreadful path of the world being victimized by the three sorrows. I have no other shelter to escape from their attack save and except the shade of the umbrella of thy lotus feet. Thy feet are an umbrella so wonderful that they shower nectar while spreading shade on all sides. So, O God, I take shelter under thy feet; do save the trouble-stricken one.'

But God denies that he may be more potent than his name: for has it not been said:

"Ananta sakati tumi Rama / Laksmana, Sugriva, Bibhisana,
Hanumanta adi maha maha viragane:
Ani taru-lata parvataka / sateka yojana samudraka,
Setu bandhi par bhailaha maha yatane. 636.
He pran-prabhu Raghupati / Rama Rama Rama Rama Rama,
Tomat karia tayu guna nam car:
Bina setu-bandha kari nare / Rama Rama Rama Rama Rama,
Apar samsar samudrar howe par." 637.
-- Namghosa

'O Rama, it is infinite power that you (yourself) possess. Laksman, Sugriva, Bibhisan, Hanumanta and other supreme heroes collected mountains with trees and creepers and bridged the sea hundreds and hundreds of miles long. It is thus that you crossed the sea with so much care. O, Rama, the Lord of my life, five times do I name thee and declare that thy name and glories exceed thee; for men, without making any bridge, cross the infinite ocean of this world (by reciting your name and glory).'

So the proselyte now asks God to grant him the privilege of seeking shelter in his Nam, for he knows:

"Apon namar sang nachadanta Hari:
yei Nam sei Hari jana nistha kari." 514.

'God does not part company with his Nam (name). Know it for certain that where Nam is there God is also.' So he prays:

"Nam-dhan dia mok kina Banamali:
Das pai nalawa Kaman Thakurali. 540.
Nij das kari Hari mok kina kina:
An dhan nalagay Nam-dhan bina". 541.

'O God, do purchase me by giving money in shape of Nam. What master is there who would not buy a slave that offers himself ? Do purchase me as your own slave. There is no need of any money else than Thy Nam.'

When the proselyte thus approaches Nam for shelter, Nam denies that it has any position without Bhaktas (Devotees) that contain it. Bhaktas are considered more foremost than anything else, even more foremost than God Himself. The great Nam-Ghosa was written by Madhawdew as asked by the great master, Sankardew. Madhawdew started with the invocation to God having the ten incarnations as it stands now in the third verse. But Sankardew himself is said to have taken the pen from Madhawdew and to have written the first half of the present first verse of the Namghosa which was thus completed by Madhawdew:

"Muktita nisprha yito, sehi bhakatak namo,
Rasamayi magoho bhakati:
Samasta mastakmani, nij bhakatar basya,
Bhajo hena Dewa Yadupati."

'I bow low to the Bhakta who is averse even to salvation. I beseech for Love that is full of joy. I dedicate myself to God who is the gem of all crowns, but is subservient to the will of His Bhaktas.'

This supremacy and preference given to the Bhakta has been sung in Mahapurusiya scriptures in a thousand ways. And Krsna is said to have told Arjuna in so many terms;

"Bhaktar sesat pare bastu srestha nai:
Tak bhunjibak Sakhi mor iccha yai."

'Nothing can be more desirable than the remains of food of the Bhakta. Oh Arjuna, I myself feel a craving for tasting the remains of my Bhakta's Food.'

"Bhakatak pai yar nabhaila harisa:
Harik paile sito karibeka kisa.
Krsnar Bhakat jana pay thai thai:
Bhaktar Bhakat Sakhi pabalai nai."

'He who has not been moved with joy having met a Bhakta, what can he do if God happens to come across his path personally? Devotees of God are found here and there, but devotees of devotees are few and far between.'

"Mor Guru Bhakatese svarup svabhaw:
Yen bayu-akasar nahi bhinna bhaw,
Sarva-tattva Bhakatak mai Guru mano;
Bhakat-Gurut pare anak najano."

'(Krsna says) Bhaktas represent the true nature of My Preceptor and are not different from MR just as the sky and air are inseparable. I respect Bhaktas, containers of all spiritual truths, as my Guru, and I know no others than my Bhaktas who are my Gurus.'

Thus we see that the chain of the four Mahapurusiya Saranas is a ring where the four are one as the one showed itself in four. It is a cult of Love which seeks direct communion with God being purged of all formalities and rituality's. So it is Mysticism which is "the expression of the innate tendency of the human sprit towards complete harmony with the transcendental order." It is not only not an intellectual speculation, but an investigation of it entails "a definite preparation, a purging of the intellect." To put in the words of Evalin Underhill, "Where the philosopher guesses and argues, the mystic lives and looks; and speaks, consequently, the disconcerting language of first - hand experience, not the neat dialectic of the schools… The Absolute of the mystics is lovable, attainable and alive." "Oh, taste and see !" ___they cry in accents of astounding certainty and joy. "Ours is an experimental science. We can but communicate our system, never its result. We come to you not as thinkers, but as doers." So it is that Madhawdew welcomes us:

"Piyu piyu piyu amiya madhuri Hari-nam…
Durata tejia thaio anya yata mana-kam". 704

'Drink, drink, drink ye the name of God full of ambrosial sweetness. Shake off, ye, all desires of the mind, at a distance.'

"Vicari dekhasa, pamar Manai e
Iha para loke Harise suhrd bandhu. 719.
Majia rahasa, suhrd Manai e, …
Govinda bola Manai, Mukunda bola Manai:
Hari guna-nam apar ananda sindhu. 720.
Brahma-Hare yat saran pasay, anar kon barai." 722.

'Search and find, thou vile Mind, God is the only cordial friend in this world and beyond. Keep thyself immersed, thou friendly Mind, in the shoreless sea of joy that the glories and name of God is. Say Govinda, O Mind ! say Mukunda, O Mind ! He of whom (gods) Brahma and Hara seek shelter, what remains for others to boast?" ###