Real solace is in taking shelter of Krishna

You see, if you had solace now, you wouldn’t take shelter. The solace is in taking shelter. Yes?! We understand that at the time of death we are in a helpless condition; only Krishna can save us. We can attain the ultimate perfection at the time of death if we just remember Krishna,

anta-kaale ca maam eva smaran muktvaa kalevaram

If we just remember Krishna at the time of death, for sure we attain Krishna. Therefore, if we are complacent, we won’t prepare ourselves; but your state of mind is you are actually concerned. So we prepare ourselves in our life for that final exam by taking shelter of Satsaang, association of devotees, by taking shelter of Srimad Bhagvatam – not just reading as a scholarly study, but taking shelter.

We take shelter of the holy name not only because we are supposed to do it, but because Krishna is there to give himself to us in his name. – Radhanath Swami

This type of enthusiasm is inspired by the shelter that we feel that we desperately need. If we don’t feel that serious need then we don’t take shelter; you can’t take shelter in a complacent mood; you can’t take shelter when you feeling solace from so many other things. So actually the intensity of the feeling of your heart is the solace that Krishna is giving you. The Srimad Bhagvatam is the solace, the holy name is the solace, our seva is our solace, the holy name is our solace and the fear, the concern in your heart is an impetus for us to take shelter of the real solace.

Radhanath Swami speaks on shelter

Vishvanath Cakravarti Thakur explains the six children that were killed by Kamsa; they are called sat-garbhas. The great son of Brahma Marici, he had six children and they committed an offense to Lord Brahma. Therefore they were cursed to take birth in the family of demons. Later on they were cursed to be killed by their own father – in their past life – and he would become Kamsa. It’s a long story: they became the grand sons of Hiranyakashipu. Yes. And they went and did tapasya and got blessings, and Hiranyakashipu was so angry with them because they didn’t get his blessings before going to get the blessings of Brahma. So he cursed them. Ultimately these six children, their only purpose is they just wanted to get out of the way these curses and go back to their position as devotees which they did. And they got ultimate spiritual perfection through this process. But Marici represents the mind and the six children represent the six enemies of the mind, lust, anger, envy, arrogance, greed and illusion. And they must be killed for the mind to become purified. Balaram represents the original Guru who actually prepares the mind and the heart for Krishna’s arrival. Kamsa represents fear of material existence and Devaki represents a devotee.

So Srila Prabhupada explains it in this way: when the devotee has a healthy fear of material existence represented by Kamsa, then a devotee takes shelter of Krishna through the instruction of the Guru who is Baladeva, original guru. By taking shelter, then the six enemies of the mind are killed – lust, anger, pride, envy, greed and illusion. Our fear of material existence represented by Kamsa is an impetus for us to take shelter, as Devaki did. And when these enemies are killed, then Krishna appears within our heart and gives us full shelter forever.- Radhanath Swami