swan entangled in stem of
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Imported quote 14416 "My dear Krsna, please help me die immediately so that the swan of my mind may be encircled by the stem of Your lotus feet. Otherwise at the time of my final breath, when my throat is choked up, how will it be possible for me to think of You?" The swan takes great pleasure in diving within water and being encircled by the stem of the lotus flower. This entanglement is sporting joy. If, in our healthy condition, we think of the lotus feet of the Lord and die, it is most fortunate. In old age, at the time of death, the throat sometimes becomes choked with mucus or blocked by air. At such a time the sound vibration of Hare Krsna, the maha-mantra, may not come out. Thus one may forget Krsna. Of course those who are strong in Krsna consciousness cannot possibly forget Krsna at any stage because they are accustomed to chanting the Hare Krsna mantra, especially when there is a signal from death.
(More...) There is an intimate relationship between the swan and the lotus stem. So the comparison is very appropriate: without becoming a swan, or paramahaṁsa, one cannot enter into the network of the lotus feet of the Lord. "My Lord Krsna, I pray that the swan of my mind may immediately sink down to the stems of the lotus feet of Your Lordship and be locked up in the network; otherwise at the time of my final breath, when my throat is choked up with cough, how will it be possible to think of You?"
(More...) There is an intimate relationship between the swan and the lotus stem. So the comparison is very appropriate: without becoming a swan or paramahamsa, one cannot enter into the network of the lotus feet of the Lord. The mental speculators, as it is stated in the Brahma-samhita, even by dint of learned scholarship, cannot even dream of the Absolute Truth by speculating over it for eternity. The Lord reserves the right of not being exposed to such mental speculators. And because they cannot enter into the network stem of the lotus feet of the Lord, all mental speculators differ in conclusions, and at the end they make a useless compromise by saying "as many conclusions, as many ways," according to one's own inclination (yatha-rucam). But the Lord is not like a shopkeeper trying to please all sorts of customers in the mental speculator exchange. The Lord is what He is, the Absolute Personality of Godhead, and He demands absolute surrender unto Him only. The pure devotee, however, by following the ways of previous acaryas or authorities, can see the Supreme Lord through the transparent medium of a bona fide spiritual master (anupasyanti). The pure devotee never tries to see the Lord by mental speculation, but by following the footsteps of the acaryas (mahajano yena gataḥ sa pantha). Therefore there is no difference of conclusions amongst the Vaisnava acaryas regarding the Lord and the devotees. Lord Caitanya asserts that the living entity (jiva) is eternally the servitor of the Lord and that he is simultaneously one and different from the Lord. This tattva of Lord Caitanya is shared by all the four sampradayas of the Vaisnava school (all accepting eternal servitude of the Lord even after salvation), and there is no authorized Vaisnava acarya who may think of the Lord and himself as one.
(More...) Link to this page: https://prabhupadabooks.com/?qg=863
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