Shriman Matsyavatara Prabhu in Assisi

By Madhavipriya Dasi

Assisi, 30 January 2010

Yesterday evening, Matsyavatara Prabhu held a confererence on Bhagavad-Gita and Divina Commedia at Santa Maria della Scala in Siena. More than two hundred people were in the audience. Once again, the Bhakti message becomes a protagonist in places that represent the peak of the Italian and European culture, and it is expressed in that universal language that connects the Orient and the West. Tomorrow, the same event will take place at Palazzo Priori in Perugia.

Today, together with Shrila Gurudeva and some devotees we visit Assisi and the places where San Francesco expressed his Bhakti for God. We concentrate in front of the place where San Francesco left his body on October 3, 1226 and where he had his first mystical vision, the Church of Porziuncola. Here, Shrila Gurudeva begins to speak with words that vibrate of the highest holiness.

“God shows Himself only for His sweet will. His manifestation or revelation to man is not forced by external or logical-material causes. Even undergoing the hardest asceticism doesn’t compel God to give His Mercy. Only thinking of this would be offensive.

To hope to receive the divine Mercy, we should have one aspiration only: realizing our real nature which is the one of servant of the Lord and surrender ourselves to His will. When the soul accepts to let itself go to God, with joy, not passively but creatively, by engaging every quality and talent to His service, the Lord reveals Himself. When our only desire is to serve God and in Him all the creatures, without expecting anything in return, because we are already gratified by doing so, the Lord manifests Himself in our heart. Shri Krishna is conquered only by Love which by definition refuses any forcing.

Here, San Francesco received the Divine Mercy. Here, the Lord revealed Himself to him when Francesco didn’t have any worldly desire left because he had realized their inconsistence and he was searching for the sense of life. Detachment from power and richness and from everything that is corruptible brings us close to God.

When God manifests Himself in our heart, we can hear a special music, which is not produced by material instruments but by the soul.”

While Shrila Gurudeva speaks, in the Church there is the sound of the organ and of chants that glorify the Lord.

“San Francesco decides to leave his body in this place where the Lord had manifested Himself. He welcomes “sister death” in harmony with all of the creatures, the create and the Creator, with that sentiment of pure devotion that joins him to the great Vaishnava Saints and those of all the authentic spiritual traditions. Their message is a message of hope and complete faith in God. Let’s cultivate this rasa in our heart and let’s always keep it with us. He who turns to the Lord with faith and in a sentiment of surrender, receives from Him all of the sustainment and love. If you raise your eyes to the sky, you can hear His voice.”

Upon exiting the church, we immerse ourselves in the singing of Mahamantra Hare Krishna. The names of the Lord enlighten the night, warm-up the hearts and open every way to the Lord.