Divine Shelter

How we can experience it in this world and distinguish it from false ones.

By Rukmini Vallabha Dasa

Pleasure and protection are basic human needs. We seek different avenues like wealth, career and family to fulfil these needs. We find that shelters found in the world offer only limited and temporary pleasure and protection. Let us discuss how God’s shelter is beyond all these limitations of space and time and the various features of God’s shelter and the means to attain it.

We are pleasure-seeking by nature. We want to experience pleasure forever, and thus we want to stay forever. Therefore, we constantly seek such an eternal existence and unending pleasure. In that quest, we try different sources of pleasure like family, sensuality, social service and intellectual pursuits.

Worldly Shelters

The shelters or sources of pleasure available within this world are constrained by limitations in various aspects. Our ability to experience pleasure and the amount of pleasure experienced from a certain shelter is limited. The ability of a certain shelter to offer pleasure and its very existence is also limited. Let us take the example of a child taking shelter of a mother. The mother cannot offer complete protection to child. For example, she cannot cure all diseases, nor can she offer all types of pleasures to the child, although with her limited resources and ability, she will try her best to offer everything to her child. Moreover, even if she has all the resources, she cannot remain with the child all the time. And ultimately, nature’s law will subject her to disease, old-age and eventually death.

In the same way, the different avenues where we seek pleasure and shelter — whether they are relationships, gadgets, sensual activities, or intellectual pursuits — offer only limited pleasure and exist only for limited time. A great deal of time and energy is expended in procuring, maintaining and securing these shelters. Ultimately, all these endeavors end up in failure and frustration. The Srimad-Bhagavatam, a timeless Vedic Classic, says,

parabhavas tavad abodha-jato
yavan na jijnasata atma-tattvam
yavat kriyas tavad idam mano vai
karmatmakam yena sharira-bandhah

“As long as one does not inquire about the spiritual values of life, one is defeated and subjected to miseries arising from ignorance. Be it sinful or pious, karma has its resultant actions. If a person is engaged in any kind of karma, his mind is called karmatmaka, colored with fruitive activity. As long as the mind is impure, consciousness is unclear, and as long as one is absorbed in fruitive activity, he has to accept a material body.”

In this way, we are bound to fail in our attempts in the world to find an eternal shelter offering eternal pleasure.

Does it mean we are forever doomed to fail in our attempts to find shelter? No. We need to find shelter beyond this world.

Divine Shelter And Its Features

The Bhagavad-gita (2.17) points out that we are constitutionally an eternal spiritual being covered by a temporary material body. The actual pleasure we can experience is also spiritual, not material. Our ability to experience spiritual pleasure is not limited by space and time. This pleasure can be experienced by taking shelter of God through bhakti-yoga, or the yoga of devotion. And unlike the avenues of this world, the ability of God to award spiritual pleasure and security to us is unlimited, beyond the limitations of space and time.

This spiritual pleasure is based on selfless service to God, Krishna. The scriptures describe the lives of several saints and devotees who have taken Shelter of God for various reasons — for gaining wealth, for relieving distress, out of curiosity, or after having acquired full knowledge of God’s greatness and compassion. The story of Prahlada vividly illustrates different aspects of Krishna’s shelter. Hiranyakashipu, his demonic father, persecuted Prahlada for worshiping Lord Vishnu, but Prahlada was undeterred. Having heard from Narada Muni, Prahlada had developed unflinching faith in the protection offered by Vishnu. Amidst all the trying circumstances, Prahlada, being fixed in divine shelter experienced security, satisfaction, hope and happiness.

Our identity and values are core aspects of our existence. They define us and our purpose in life. By identifying ourselves with the body and by depending on temporary shelters, we are bound to face a lot of uncertainty and insecurity. On the other hand, when we realize our identity as indestructible spiritual beings and value our eternal relationship with God, then there is no chance of feeling insecure. Prahlada identified himself as servant of Krishna and valued every opportunity to offer service to Krishna and remember Krishna. Hiranyakasipu tried to disturb and destroy everything belonging to Prahlad, be it his body, his relationship with his mother, friends, status as a prince except his relationship with Krishna. Prahlada always felt reciprocation of Krishna and felt secure in that relationship.

The purpose we pursue is another important aspect of our life. It determines the plans we make and the priorities we set in our life. If our purpose is centered around a material accomplishments like career, wealth and social status, which are temporary and bound to change, then we are prone to experience confusion, frustration and emptiness. In the case of divine shelter, our purpose is to progress in our relationship with God, Krishna. Since both Krishna and we the living entities are spiritual beings, we are beyond the influence of time and not subject to change and destruction. If devotional service becomes our purpose in life, we can experience stability in life. Prahlada initially experienced persecution at the hands of his father. Then, after the death of his father, he experienced great prosperity and success. Since Prahlada was fixed in his relationship as devotee of Krishna, he was equipoised and grounded amidst success and defeat.

Being in a world of duality and impermanence, suffering is but inevitable. We need solace to make sense of difficult situations in life and proceed ahead. The material paradigm of life is not based on the actual purpose of human life and world. Therefore, it can only provide a superficial explanation for the distress we go through. The respite provided by a material shelter is temporary and filled with duality. It can further entangle us to a potential suffering in the future —— like scratching an itch that aggravates the itching. On the other hand, the divine shelter of God can help us make true sense of the difficulties we go through based on the concept of destiny and sojourn of soul through multiple lives. God’s love for us is eternal, unconditional and uninterrupted, while the external suffering is transient. Prahlada amidst all reversals and rejections found acceptance and assurance in his relationship with Krishna and always cherished every opportunity to serve Krishna.

Contentment is an outcome of experiencing completeness under a shelter. When one is full i.e. when one’s sensual, emotional, intellectual and egoistic needs are fulfilled, one does not have any external demands and expectations. Material pleasures may promise and give a sense of completeness, but the completeness cannot be sustained and wanes in a very short time. On the other hand, the sense of completeness offered by devotional service is real and sustainable because Krishna is eternal and Krishna’s love for all the souls is eternal. Krishna is all-attractive, most attractive and ever-attractive. Prahlada was fully absorbed in remembering Krishna. He lost all attraction to the royal opulence, comforts and indulgences and the promises of power, prestige and popularity as a prince.

The nature of our minds is to offer various material propositions. The mind is described as the worst enemy when it is materially absorbed (Gita 6.6). By engaging in devotional service, the material desires stored in the mind get gradually purified. As the mind gets gradually freed from the vices of lust, anger and greed, one can experience uninterrupted tranquility. Prahlada was very pure and saw everything in relation to Krishna. He saw his father with compassion and did not harbor any malice for his actions.

When our actions are centered on material relationships, our mind becomes a storehouse of material desires. In this way, one gets entangled more and more, and life becomes complicated. On the other hand, devotional service frees one from material involvement. The deeper we go into the divine shelter, the more one is freed from material needs and material desires. Prahlada’s life was centered on remembering Krishna. Therefore, he lost all interest in worldly politics and diplomacy that were taught in his school.

Krishna’s shelter is not meant to just offer protection from material entanglement but to offer a personal and everlasting relationship. Krishna has an exquisite and enchanting form, and he has numerous beautiful qualities like compassion. One can relate with Krishna in various moods of servitude, friendship, parenthood and conjugal love. Krishna can simultaneously love everyone and make everyone feel loved. Prahlada was tasting the sweetness of such relationships with Krishna at every moment.

Devotional practice consists of hearing about Krishna, chanting Krishna’s names and rendering service. We need to integrate these devotional practices in our daily life, balancing them with our family and worldly responsibilities. Devotional practices become easy and joyful when performed in the association of like-minded devotees. As we become more steady in our practice and pure at heart, Krishna reciprocates and offers his shelter more and more. Then, we can experience the several aspects of divine shelter of Krishna beginning from security to sweetness.

Rukmini Vallabha Dasa, a disciple of His Holiness Radhanath Swami, began practicing Krishna consciousness in 2010 and serves full time at ISKCON Pune. He is a research student at Bhaktivedanta Research Center, Mumbai and blogs at https://spiritualwisdomonline.com