surrender / submission
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Everyone has to surrender to someone superior. That is always the nature of our living condition. At the present moment we are trying to surrender to someone-either to society, or to our nation, family, state or government. The surrendering process already exists, but it is never perfect because the person or institution unto whom we surrender is imperfect, and our surrender, having so many ulterior motives, is also imperfect. As such, in the material world no one is worthy to accept anyone's surrender, nor does anyone fully surrender to anyone else unless he is obliged to do so. But here the surrendering process is voluntary, and the Lord is worthy to accept the surrender. This surrender by the living entity occurs automatically as soon as he sees the beautiful youthful nature of the Lord.
(More...) Sometimes when we hear that great sages and devotees go to the forest and engage themselves in devotional service or meditation, we become surprised: how can one live in the forest and not be taken care of by anyone? But the answer, given by a great authority, Narada Muni, is that such persons are well protected by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Saranagati, or surrender, means acceptance or firm belief that wherever the surrendered soul lives he is always protected by the Supreme Personality of Godhead; he is never alone or unprotected. Dhruva Maharaja's affectionate father thought his young boy, only five years old, to be in a very precarious position in the jungle, but Narada Muni assured him, "You do not have sufficient information about the influence of your son." Anyone who engages in devotional service, anywhere within this universe, is never unprotected.
(More...) The Lord is addressed here as artabandhu, which means friend of the distressed. As stated in Bhagavad-gita, after many, many births of executing severe austerities in search of knowledge, one comes to the point of real knowledge and becomes wise when he surrenders unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Mayavadi philosopher who does not surrender unto the Supreme Person is understood to be lacking in real knowledge. The devotee in perfect knowledge cannot forget his obligation to the Lord at any moment.
(More...) One cannot come to the precincts of Krsna consciousness unless he touches the dust of the lotus feet of a person who has become a mahatma, a great devotee. This is the beginning of the surrendering process. Lord Krsna wants everyone to surrender unto Him, and this surrendering process begins when one touches the lotus feet of a bona fide spiritual master. By sincerely rendering service to a bona fide spiritual master, one begins his spiritual life in Krsna consciousness. Touching the lotus feet of a spiritual master means giving up one's false prestige and unnecessarily puffed-up position in the material world. Those who remain in the darkness of material existence due to their falsely prestigious positions-so-called scientists and philosophers-are actually atheists. They do not know the ultimate cause of everything. Although bewildered, they are not ready to surrender themselves to the lotus feet of a person who knows things in their proper perspective. In other words, one cannot arouse Krsna consciousness simply by his own mental speculation. One must surrender to a bona fide spiritual master. Only this process will help one.
(More...) " 'The six divisions of surrender are the acceptance of those things favorable to devotional service, the rejection of unfavorable things, the conviction that Krsna will give protection, the acceptance of the Lord as one's guardian or master, full self-surrender and humility. [Hari-bhakti-vilasa 11.676]
(More...) So our Krsna consciousness movement is teaching people to become submissive to the authority. That is the beginning of knowledge. Tad viddhi pranipatena pariprasnena sevaya [Bg 4.34]. If you want to learn the transcendental subject matter, which is beyond the scope of your thinking, feeling and willing... Mental speculation means thinking, feeling and willing, psychology. But subject matter which is beyond your thinking. So God or anything about God is beyond the limit of our thinking, speculation. Therefore, we have to learn it submissively. Tad viddhi pranipatena. Pranipata means submission. Prakrsta-rupena nipata. Nipata means submission. Tad viddhi pranipatena pariprasnena. First of all find out somebody where you can fully surrender. Then you enquire about transcendental subject matter. Just like Arjuna is following strictly. He has first of all submitted to Krsna, sisyas te 'ham sadhi mam prapannam [Bg 2.7]: "My dear Krsna, we are talking friendly, so on equal level. So You will speak something, and I shall speak something. In this way we shall simply waste our time, and there will be no conclusion. Therefore, I submit as disciple. Whatever You will say, I will accept."
(More...) Therefore a devotee, when he understands thoroughly that "Here is one Supreme Person, who is the leader, who is the controller, who is the maintainer of everything," then he surrenders unto Him and becomes His devotee. You see? We, Krsna's devotee, we are not fools and rascals. We have got our reason. We have got our philosophy. When we know that Krsna is actually the supreme controller, the Supreme Person, the supreme maintainer, then we surrender. Then we become Krsna's devotee. It is not blind. It is not blind. We are strongly convinced that that one person is the Supreme Person. Therefore we surrender. We are not blind followers.
(More...) So one has to become submissive. That submissiveness Krsna..., Arjuna is teaching us, sisyas te 'ham sadhi mam prapannam. "I am now submitting myself to You, not that equal position with You, friend and friend equal position. That I am giving up. I am becoming Your disciple, submissive," sisyas te 'ham sadhi mam prapannam [Bg 2.7]. Prapannam means submissive. And that is the way. You cannot speculate. Your speculation has no value. Athapi te deva ciram vicinvan [SB 10.14.29]. Ciram vicinvan, you can go on speculating for many births, many years, still you will not be able to understand the ultimate goal of your life. It is not possible. Therefore all the sastras, they advise that you go to a guru. Guru means weighty, one who has got more weight, one who can teach you. Because everyone thinks that "I am learned. I am all-learned. Who can teach me?" No. Nobody is like that. Everyone requires instruction; therefore the Vedic system is adau gurvasrayam: to make one's life fruitful, one must approach guru.
(More...) So this is submission. The process of understanding transcendental subject matter is not by challenge but by submission. The whole bhakti process is submission. That is Caitanya Mahaprabhu's preaching.
(More...) So Kapiladeva could understand the desire of His mother. The mother was submissive, because to understand the saṅkhya-yoga, bhakti-yoga, it requires... The first condition is submission. Tad viddhi pranipatena [Bg 4.34]. You cannot understand the saṅkhya-yoga system or bhakti-yoga system by falsely being proud that you are very learned scholar or speculator. These things will not help. You have to hear about Krsna very submissively and accepting, not challenging. Then you will be able to understand. Sthane sthitah sruti-gatam tanu-vaṅ-manobhih. You remain in your position. It doesn't matter what you are; simply you hear about Krsna. There are so many things about Krsna we can hear. Even if we are not educated, we can hear from a person who can speak rightly. But that person must be selected, not ordinary person, not professional person, but here it is said, tattva amnayam. Amnayam means by disciplic succession.
(More...) The qualification is: unless one is sinless, he cannot understand Krsna. He cannot understand what is krsna-bhajana. But if one is eager-he's actually very eager-he can do it immediately. What is that? Surrender to Krsna. Sarva-dharman parityajya: give up all these nonsense so-called religious principle. Simply surrender to Krsna, "Krsna, I was forgotten about You. Now I surrender unto You fully. If You like, You can kill me; if You like, You can give me protection." This is surrender, not business: "Krsna, if You give me this nice thing, then I will surrender." That is not surrender. That is business.
(More...) So without surrendering to Krsna, you cannot understand. Krsna reserves the right not being exposed to the fools and rascals. He is simply for the devotees. Bhaktya mam abhijanati. He never said, "By jnana mam abhijanati, by karma mam abhijanati, by yoga mam abhi..." No. He rather says,
(More...) So if I give up everything, that I may be doubtful, "Then how things will go on? How I shall live if I give it...?" No, you shall live if you believe in Krsna. Raksisyati iti visvasa palanam. If Krsna says that "I shall give you protection," so why shall I not believe it? This is called surrender, full surrender, that Krsna..., "Let me engage myself in Krsna's service as Krsna orders."
(More...) So to get out of this, only the mercy of Krsna. He can do everything. He can immediately take out from this entanglement. Otherwise how He is Almighty? I cannot get out. The fish cannot get out, but the..., if the fisherman wants, he can get him out immediately and throw in the water. Then he gets life again. Similarly, if we surrender to Krsna, He can get out immediately. And He says, aham tvam sarva-papebhyo moksayisyami ma sucah [Bg 18.66]. You simply surrender. As the fisherman is seeing, "Fut! Fut! Fut!" but if the fish surrenders... He wants to surrender, but he does not know the language. Therefore he remains within the network. But if the fisherman likes, he can take it out and throw in the water. Similarly, if we surrender to Krsna... For that surrendering process this human life is meant. In other life, the fish cannot; but I can. That is the difference between the life of the fish and my life. The fish entangled in the network, he has no power. He is doomed. So doomed, doomed, in this way, by nature's mercy, he gets evolution. Jalaja nava-laksani sthavara laksa-vimsati [Padma Purana]. The living entity is entangled in the network of this material nature. He has to go through nine lakhs' species of this aquatic life. There are nine lakh species of fish in the water. Who knows it? The sastra says. One who has seen. Who has seen how many varieties of fishes are there? But there are many, many varieties. From the sastra we get information of the whale fish, timi. And there is another fish which is called timiṅgala. Timiṅgala means he is so big that he swallows up this timi, whale fish, like a small... [makes gulping sound] Finished. [laughter] They are called timiṅgala. So you have not seen. We have not seen. But the sastra says.
(More...) In the Bhagavad Gita we are informed that the constitutional nature of the individual entity is spirit soul: he is not matter. Therefore, as spirit soul, he is part and parcel of the Supreme Soul, the Absolute Truth, the Personality of Godhead. We also learn that it is the duty of the spirit soul to surrender; for only then can he be happy. The last instruction of the Bhagavad Gita is that the spirit soul is to surrender completely unto the Supreme Soul, Krishna, and in that way realize happiness.
(More...) My dear Lord, O head of the Yadu dynasty, now I have come to my senses, and I am taking shelter of Your lotus feet. Please engage me in Your service. In the Aparadha-bhanjana a pure devotee expresses his feelings: "My dear Lord, I am ashamed to admit before You that I have carried out the orders of my masters named lust, anger, avarice, illusion and envy. Sometimes I have carried out their orders in a way most abominable. Yet in spite of my serving them so faithfully, they are neither satisfied nor are they kind enough to give me relief from their service. They are not even ashamed of taking service from me in that way. My dear Lord, O head of the Yadu dynasty, now I have come to my senses, and I am taking shelter of Your lotus feet. Please engage me in Your service." This is another instance of surrendering and taking shelter of the lotus feet of Krsna.
(More...) One should not bother about his personal or family maintenance or sustenance. If one is actually surrendered in body and soul, he should always remember that his only concern is to be engaged in the service of the Lord. Regarding complete self-surrender, there is a nice description in the Eleventh Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam, 29th Chapter, 32nd verse, where the Lord says: "A person who has completely surrendered unto Me and has completely given up all other activities is protected by Me personally, both in this life and in the next. In other words, I wish to help him become more and more advanced in spiritual life. Such a person is to be understood as having already achieved sarsti [having equal opulences with the supreme]." It is also confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita that as soon as a person surrenders unto the lotus feet of Krsna, Krsna takes charge of him and gives him a guarantee of protection from all sinful reactions. He also instructs from within, so that the devotee may very quickly make advancement towards spiritual perfection.
(More...) This self-surrender is called atma-nivedana. According to different authorities, "self" is differently defined. "Self" is sometimes considered to refer to the spirit self, or soul, and "self" is sometimes considered to refer to the mind or to the body. Full self-surrender, therefore, means not only surrendering one's self as spirit soul, but also surrendering one's mind and body to the service of the Lord. Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur has sung a nice song in this connection. While offering himself as a fully surrendered soul, he said, "My mind, my household affairs, my body, whatever is in my possession, my dear Lord, I offer to You for Your service. Now You can do with them as You like. You are the supreme possessor of everything, so if You like You can kill me, or if You like You can give me protection. All authority belongs to You. I have nothing to claim as my own."
(More...) Sri Yamunacarya, in his prayers to the Lord, has expressed a similar idea in the following words: "My dear Lord, I may be living within some body as a human being or as a demigod, but whatever mode of life, I do not mind, because these bodies are simply by-products of the three modes of material nature, and I, who am in possession of these bodies, am surrendering myself unto You."
(More...) In the Hari-bhakti-viveka, there is a statement regarding how one can offer his body in self-surrender. There the devotee says, "My dear Lord, as a sold-out animal has no need to think about his maintenance and sustenance, so, because I have given up my body and soul unto You, I am no longer concerned with my maintenance and sustenance." In other words, one should not bother about his personal or family maintenance or sustenance. If one is actually surrendered in body and soul, he should always remember that his only concern is to be engaged in the service of the Lord.
(More...) Srila Rupa Gosvami says that devotional service in friendship and devotional service in self-surrender are two difficult processes. Therefore such relationships with the Lord can very rarely be seen. Only for the advanced devotees are these two processes easily executed. The purport is that it is very rare to see surrender which is mixed with sincere ecstatic devotion. One must give himself completely to the will of the Lord.
(More...) In the Hari-bhakti-vilasa there is the following statement about self-surrender: "My dear Lord, a person who has surrendered himself unto You, and who is in firm conviction that he is Yours, and actually acts in that way by his body, mind and words, can actually relish transcendental bliss."
(More...) In the Nrsimha Purana, Lord Nrsimhadeva says: "Anyone who prays unto Me and takes shelter from Me becomes My ward, and I protect him always from all sorts of calamities."
(More...) The Lord instructs that one has to become fully Krsna conscious to discharge duties, as if in military discipline. This verse clearly indicates the purpose of the Bhagavad-gita. The Lord instructs that one has to become fully Krsna conscious to discharge duties, as if in military discipline. Such an injunction may make things a little difficult; nevertheless duties must be carried out, with dependence on Krsna, because that is the constitutional position of the living entity. The living entity cannot be happy independant of the cooperation of the Supreme Lord because the eternal constitutional position of the living entity is to become subordinate to the desires of the Lord. Arjuna was, therefore, ordered by Sri Krsna to fight as if the Lord were his military commander. One has to sacrifice everything for the good will of the Supreme Lord, and at the same time discharge prescribed duties without claiming proprietorship. Arjuna did not have to consider the order of the Lord; he had only to execute His order. The Supreme Lord is the Soul of all souls; therefore, one who depends solely and wholly on the Supreme Soul without personal consideration, or in other words, one who is fully Krsna conscious, is called adhyatma-cetasa. Nirasih means that one has to act on the order of the master. Nor should one ever expect fruitive results. The cashier may count millions of dollars for his employer, but he does not claim a cent for himself. Similarly, one has to realize that nothing in the world belongs to any individual person, but that everything belongs to the Supreme Lord. That is the real purport of mayi, or unto Me. And when one acts in such Krsna consciousness, certainly he does not claim proprietorship over anything. This consciousness is called nirmama, or nothing is mine. And, if there is any reluctance to execute such a stern order which is without consideration of so-called kinsmen in the bodily relationship, that reluctance should be thrown off; in this way one may become vigata-jvara, or without feverish mentality or lethargy. Everyone, according to his quality and position, has a particular type of work to discharge, and all such duties may be discharged in Krsna consciousness, as described above. That will lead one to the path of liberation.
(More...) Krsna Himself, for our example, is following in the line of Vedic instructions, and instructing His disciple, "Just do your duty for My sake." Krsna is urging Arjuna to do his duty, not because He needs it, but because this is the path of spiritual advancement-for everyone: "As the ignorant perform their duties with attachment to results, similarly, the learned may also act, but without attachment, for the sake of leading people on the right path." (3.25). That means that the wise man and the so-called ignorant man are asked to perform similar duties, but we should not assume that they are on the same platform. The consciousness is different. The ignorant is acting because he thinks that he is going to get something. He goes to church or gives some charity, but in the hope of getting something back, either material or spiritual. But the wise man is doing these same things for a different reason-because it is the desire of Krsna. That is called devotional service. Therefore, the action is the culmination of surrender. Verse thirty says: "Therefore, O Arjuna, surrendering all your works unto Me, with mind intent on Me, and without desire for gain and free from egoism and lethargy-fight."
(More...) the Lord is revealed not by one's speculative power or by one's verbal jugglery over the Absolute Truth. Rather, He reveals Himself to a devotee when He is fully satisfied by the devotee's service attitude. "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 gatah 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...) This humbleness of the pure devotee who is one hundred percent engaged in His service puts the devotee of the Lord in a trance to realize everything, because to the sincere devotee of the Lord, the Lord reveals Himself, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gita (Bg. 10.10). The Lord, being the Lord of intelligence in everyone (even in the nondevotee), favors His devotee with proper intelligence so that automatically the pure devotee is enlightened with the factual truth about the Lord and His different energies. The Lord is revealed not by one's speculative power or by one's verbal jugglery over the Absolute Truth. Rather, He reveals Himself to a devotee when He is fully satisfied by his service attitude. Sukadeva Gosvami is not a mental speculator or compromiser of the theory of "as many ways, as many conclusions," but He prays to the Lord only, invoking His transcendental pleasure. That is the way of knowing the Lord.
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