SeeK Refuge in the Lord Alone!!

In the Gita, God says - "Sarva dharmaan parityajya maamekum sharanam vraj. Aham tvaa sarva paapebhyo mokshashishyaami maa suchaha." (Gita 18:66). "Surrendering all duties to Me, seek refuge in Me alone. I shall liberate you from all sins, grieve not." (Gita 18:66).

In Gita, God declares the discipline of devotion (Bhakti Yoga) as the best spiritual discipline. It is complete surrender (sharanagati) to Him. Lord's teachings begin with Arjuna surrendering to God and the teachings end with God asking Arjuna to simply leave all and take complete refuge in Him alone, and not to worry about anything.

In the Gita, God spoke about secret (guhya), more secret (guhyatara), the most secret (guhyatama) and finally in Gita 18:64, He revealed the supreme or most profound, the ultimate secret (sarva guhyatama). The supreme secret that God revealed is "Seek refuge in Me alone." Earlier Arjuna was unable to reach a decision on whether to fight in the war or not. Arjuna said to Lord Krishna, "My understanding is confused as to my duty. So I plead to you to guide me." Lord Krishna says to Arjuna, that you should not fall pray to this dilemma. If you are confused in taking the right decision, simply leave all and take refuge in Me alone. I will liberate you from all sins, you need not worry.

One must therefore renounce all other forms of dependencies. One must not depend on anyone. Give up dependency and reliance on all else. Simply surrender exclusively and entirely to God. Accept Him as both means (saadhan) and the end (saadhya). This exclusive refuge in God is the most confidential and ultimate secret shared by Lord Krishna in the Gita.

Completely Surrender to the Lord.

Give up egoism and throw your whole burden of anxieties on the Lord. Do total self-surrender to Him. You will attain His grace. He will take care of you completely in all ways.

In difficulties and struggles, God will give you strength and inner peace to bear them. This is His grace.

Constant remembrance of the Lord, constant recitation of His Name will fill your heart with Sattva or purity and immense strength and peace to face the most trying conditions with perfect calmness and serenity.

Have perfect trust in God. Do total surrender unto Him. Place yourself in His loving care. Do this with your whole heart and mind, with perfect confidence and faith. Worry not about your future, about money, about your health. He will take care of you. You will have plenty, immense strength and wonderful health.

Repeat this formula very often with intense faith: The Lord is my strength, my support and stay. You will derive strength, power and peace.

After surrendering to the Lord, do not grumble if you get difficulties and troubles. This goes against self-surrender.

God knows what is best for you. He does what is best for you. His ways are mysterious. Know His mysterious ways and become wise.

Egoism and desire are obstacles to self-surrender. Slay these two enemies of self-surrender ruthlessly.

You may accuse Him now and say: He is not just. He is cruel. He has no eyes. Vicious persons are thriving well in the world. I am virtuous and I suffer. There is no God. Later on you will realise that He has done the best thing for you.

Do not pray to the Lord for removal of sufferings. Pray to Him for granting you power of endurance and patience to bear the calamity.

A devotee remains unaffected by adversities, trials and tribulations. He knows and feels that they are all Karmic purgations and are the real messengers of God; he welcomes them calmly.

A devotee alone gets troubles and adversities, because this is his last birth; many Karmas have to be worked out and he must be united with the Lord in this very birth.

He gives immense patience and strength to His devotee to bear troubles and calamities. The devotee is ever calm and cheerful. He is not in the least affected by them as his mind ever dwells in the contemplation of the Lord. He has no body-consciousness.

Murmur not, grumble not. Even a leaf cannot move without the Will of God. What is destined to take place as willed by God, takes place. Face every difficulty and the battle of life with a smile patiently and heroically. Become a brave soldier. Become an Adhyatmic hero.

Troubles and difficulties come to intensify your faith, to strenghten your will and power of endurance and turn your mind more and more towards God.

Pain is a great eye-opener. It is your silent teacher. It is the only best thing in the world. It will make you remember God. Kunti prayed: O God! Lord Krishna! Give me pain always, so that I may ever remember You.

The more troubles and adversities you get, the stronger and firmer will become your faith in God. The worst troubles and adversities that come to you have the greatest purpose and meaning in them. They will mould you into a divine being. Welcome them and say: I am Thine, all is Thine, Thy Will be done, my Lord.

Approach the Lord with Sarva-Bhava with all your heart, mind and soul, with your whole being. Do not keep any reservation. Do not keep any secret gratification. The mind, Chitta, intellect and the ego should all agree to surrender wholly. You will be supremely blessed. You will obtain His full grace.

Prahlada, Mira and Sakku Bai were tortured in various ways. But the Lord gave them strength and peace. They did not feel torture even a bit. He gave them Darshan and blessed them.

Lord's grace is in proportion to the degree of self-surrender. The more the surrender, the more is His grace.

Path of Surrender.

1. Self-surrender is a direct, valid mode of God-realisation.

2. Self-surrender is the easier and surer means of God-realisation.

3. Self-surrender is a safe and sure means of God-realisation.

4. Nothing can be achieved without surrender to the Lord.

THE TECHNIQUE

5. Surrender yourself and all your belongings at the feet of the Supreme. Live a dedicated life of Godliness.

6. Think that nothing is yours and everything belongs to God. This is surrender to God.

7. Give the power of attorney to God. Let Him do whatever He wants. You will have no worry or anxiety. You will be peaceful.

8. Surrender contains intense love and faith.

9. Surrender must be complete. You cannot have any part of yours.

10. The entire being, mind, intellect, Chitta and egoism, must be surrendered to the Lord.

11. Desire and egoism are two great obstacles to self-surrender.

12. If the mind says: I am Thine, my Lord; if the ego says: I must become a High Court Judge; if the intellect says: I am a great devotee; and if the Chitta says: I must attain Siddhis; this will not constitute perfect, unreserved surrender. This is only cheating the Lord, the inner ruler and witness.

13. After surrendering to the Lord, you should not grumble, fret and fume, when any trouble comes. You should not complain to the Lord: O Lord, You have no eyes. You have no compassion. If you complain then there is no meaning in your surrender.

THE FRUITS OF SURRENDER

14. Through surrender the devotee immerses himself into the eternal essence.

15. You can endear yourself unto the Lord only by self-surrender.

16. The more the surrender the more the grace.

17. The degree of grace is in direct proportion to the degree of surrender.

18. You do not lose anything in surrendering to the Lord. You become one with the Lord by surrendering to the Lord. You possess all the Aisvaryas of the Lord. You attain fullness.

MANTRA FOR SURRENDER

19. Sri Krishna Saranam Mama, Sri Krishnah Saranam Mama, Harih Saranam, I am Thine, all is Thine, Thy Will be done my Lord, are formulas for effecting self-surrender.

20. Surrender comes out of intense love and unshakable faith in God.

21. Intense Bhakti can only be attained by the Grace of God.

22. This is Prapatti Yoga or the Yoga of self-surrender.

Bhaja Govindam Verse 11

मा कुरु धन जन यौवन गर्वं

हरति निमेषात्कालः सर्वम् ।

मायामयमिदमखिलं हित्वा    बुध्वा

ब्रह्मपदं त्वं प्रविश विदित्वा ॥ ११॥

maa kuru dhana jana yauvana garvaM

harati nimeshhaat kaalaH sarvam

 maayaamayamidamakhilaM buddhvaa

 brahmapadaM tvaM pravisha viditvaa

(maa = do not; kuru = do / act; dhana = wealth; jana = people; yauvana = youth; garvaM = arrogance / haughtiness; harati = takes away / steals away; nimeshhaat.h = in the twinkling of the eye; kaalaH = Time; sarvaM = all; maayaa = delusion; mayaM = full of / completely filled; idaM = this; akhilaM = whole / entire; buddhvaa = having convinced; brahmapadaM = the state / position of Brahma / God-realized state; tvaM = you; pravisha = enter; viditvaa = having known / realized.)

 (dhana jana yauvana garvaM maa kuru = do not boast of wealth, youth and friends (because); kaalaH nimeshhaat.h sarvaM harati = In a moment Time steals everything; idaM akhilaM maayaa mayaM = all this is just delusion (Maya); buddhva = having convinced; tvaM brahmapadaM viditvaa, pravisha = know the Brahman and enter into It and merge in It.)

The false sense of security provided by youth, wealth, one’s relatives, friends and other worldly possessions often make a man proud and egoistic. Such people are so arrogant because of their wealth or influence in the society that they refuse to believe there will be a change to this status later. They do not hesitate to insult others and harm innocent people. With money power, they build a fortress of strength around them. Unfortunately, there is a very powerful army who can break into this seemingly impenetrable citadel: the all-destroying Time. It stealthily comes and steals away all this in a moment.

Sri Sankara cautions against this wrong attitude of man, which causes a lot of avoidable misery later for him and those around him. For him, he will soon understand that the great destroyer Time changes the whole situation overnight. Youth is not everlasting. Neither is wealth. It doesn’t take long for a poor man to get rich or a rich man to reduce to rags. Wealth doesn’t remain constant with anybody. Money can be lost in many ways: misfortune, theft, cheating, quarrels, illhealth, etc. With money gone, relatives and friends desert. Most relatives and friends surround us only for our money, hoping to enjoy a little of the good fortune. If the purse is empty, no friend or relative will stay with us for long. Fortune and misfortune come and go. What we experience is not permanent.

The transitory nature of the world and its pleasures should awaken us from our slumber. We must apply our intelligence and know that these things are in essence just illusions (Maya). “What is Maya? It is none other than the desire that obstructs the spiritual growth of an aspirant”

Our goal should be to know the Supreme principle Brahman and to merge our little consciousness in it. The Atman, which resides inside us, is the true and everlasting principle.

Bhaja Govindam Verse 10

वयसिगते कः कामविकारः

शुष्के नीरे कः कासारः ।

क्षीणेवित्ते कः परिवारः

ज्ञाते तत्त्वे कः संसारः ॥ १०॥

vayasigate kaH kaamavikaaraH

shushhke niire kaH kaasaaraH .

 kshiiNevitte kaH parivaaraH

GYaate tattve kaH saMsaaraH (10)

(vayasigate = vayasi + gate, when age has advanced / gone; kaH = who / what use (in the sense of kva?(where)); kaamavikaaraH = sensual / sexual feeling; shushhke = in the drying up of; niire = water; ka = what (use) is the; kaasaaraH = lake; kshiiNe = spent-up / weakened state of; vitte = wealth; kaH = what (use) for; parivaaraH = family (is there?); GYaate = in the realized state; tattve = truth; kaH = what (use) is; sa.nsaaraH = world / family bond.)

(vayasigate = when advanced in age; kaH kaamavikaaraH = what is (the use of) sensual feelings ? ; shushhke niire = when dry; ka kaasaaraH = what (use) is a lake ?; kshiiNe vitte = when wealth is depleted; kaH parivaaraH = what (use) is the family ? GYaate tattve = known the Truth; kaH sa.nsaaraH = what (use) is worldly life ?)

Without the cause, the effect has no existence. Sri Sankara presents this fact here with four examples. There is no place for carnal feelings as we advance in age; The lake is no lake if the water in it dries up; There are no relatives if we run out of wealth. In the same manner, there is no samsaara (worldly life) for the person who has understood the Eternal Principle.

The cause of sexual feelings is youth. Health and vigour gradually shrink as we age. The body loses the earlier potential to perform. There is no escape from this transformation. Lake, once dried up, is no longer called by that name. Relatives, family members, all of them surround a person only when he has money. As soon as his wealth is gone, the people desert him or may even try to harm if possible. People surrounded him only due to his wealth and position, unconsciously hoping for a share of his fortune. When the person is no longer giving them this hope, people find no use for his company and go after somebody else.

As soon as we know the cause of our Existence, the delusion of the world goes away from our eyes. The world holds no charm for the person who has experienced the principle of spirituality: God alone is Truth and the world is a delusion; He is the eternal principle behind the ever-changing world drama.

The driving force in life is the worldy desire. When a spiritual aspirant succeeds in curtailing this, when he is able to dry out the lake of desires, where is the Samsara for him ? The material world and its attractions fail to charm the aspirant: he has found more durable thing. When the darkness of ignorance vanishes with the light of Knowledge of the Self, mundane things won’t interest his mind.

What remains in the man from whose mind lust and greed are entirely eliminated? The Bliss of Brahman beams in him.

Bhaja Govindam Verse- 9

सत्सङ्गत्वे निस्सङ्गत्वं

निस्सङ्गत्वे निर्मोहत्वम् ।

निर्मोहत्वे निश्चलतत्त्वं

निश्चलतत्त्वे जीवन्मुक्तिः ॥ ९॥

satsaNgatve nissN^gatvaM
nissaNgatve nirmohatvam.h .
nirmohatve nishchalatattvaM
nishcalatattve jiivanmuktiH .. (9)

(satsaN^gatve = in good company; nissaN^gatvaM = non-attachment / detachment; nirmohatvaM = non-infatuated state / clearheadedness; nishchalatattvaM = tranquility / imperturbability; jiivanmuktiH = salvation + freedom from bondage of birth.)

(satsaN^gatve nissaN^gatvaM = Through satsanga (company of good and holy people), non - attachment (is achieved); nissaN^gatve nirmohatvam.h = by non-attachment, non- infatuated state; nirmohatve nishchalatattvaM = through non- infatuated state, tranquility; nishchalatattve jiivanmuktiH = from tranquility, freedom from bondage of birth.)

Sri Sankara here gives us a ladder to climb up to the level of salvation. The first step is satsanga: the company of holy people, saints, good men and women. This is the basis of all further steps. The flow of knowledge is from the guru to disciples. This has been the method of transmission of this knowledge through generations, through centuries.

 It is a well-known fact that good character is developed from the company of good people and degradation is likely to follow the company of the wicked. Hence the spiritual aspirants desirous of God realization should attempt to keep only the company of really good people; if available, men who have seen God. Satsanga helps them know which is real and which is transitory; which leads to God and which leads away. Equipped thus with true knowledge, the aspirant slowly develops non-attachment to things of the world. The Gita lays great stress on non–attachment; It is termed Anasakti Yoga. This attitude of renunciation of worldly pleasures and charms is required for further progress. The spiritual aspirant who is non-attached slowly gets free from delusion. The Maya of the world fails to mislead such a sadhaka. When he meditates on the Lord with the mind thus purified, he is sure to reach a state of tranquility. The tranquil mind soon realizes Truth. The Yogi now attains freedom. Freedom from the chain of birth and death; freedom from ignorance, misery, transitory nature of the world. This was the aim of his sadhana.

The ladder thus shown by Sri Sankara is similar to the one given in the Gita: In Gita, Sri Krishna shows a ladder which goes down – to degradation:

“Dhyaayato vishayaan pumsah sangasteshuupajayate Sangaat samjaayate kamah kamat krodhobhijayate Krodhaat bhavati sammohah sammohaat smruti vibhramah Smrutibhramshaat buddhi naasho buddhinaashaat pranashyati.” - (Bhagavat Gita Chapter 2, slaokas 62 and 63)

“Brooding on the objects of senses, man develops attachment to them; from attachment comes desire; from desire anger sprouts forth. From anger proceeds delusion; from delusion, confused memory; from confused memory the ruin of reason; due to the ruin of reason he perishes.”

 He who is dead as it were when alive, that is to say, as desire-less as a corpse, becomes competent for Brahma–jnanam ie knowledge of the supreme.

Bhaja Govindam Verse- 8

काते कान्ता कस्ते पुत्रः

संसारोऽयमतीव विचित्रः ।

कस्य त्वं कः कुत आयातः

तत्त्वं चिन्तय तदिह भ्रातः ॥ ८॥

kaate kaantaa kaste putraH

saMsaaro ayamatiiva vichitraH

 kasya tvaM kaH kuta aayaataH

tattvaM chintaya tadiha bhraataH… (8)

The realistic view on life’s situation may not be to our liking; but it will give clarity of thought necessary for a true spiritual aspirant. The Acharyas seldom despise earthly relation of husband and wife, father and son, etc. The scriptures assert the sanctity of such relationships that form the moral foundation of society. But spiritual aspirant should be keener and contemplate more. We must wonder who we really are. Before my birth, who I was, where I was ? Who was my wife before our marriage ? A daughter of somebody. One fine morning she entered my life. Like this, I have no clue who were my sons or daughters. After death, all these relationships come to an end, whether we like it or not; whether we accept it or not. Yet people foolishly think all this is permanent. Strange indeed are the ways of the world. The more we brood on the transient nature of all these things, the more we will come closer to truth, which will be a good beginning for spiritual life.

Spiritual aspirants should not misunderstand that family life is the end and aim of life. All earthly relations will come to an end, sooner or later. Hence we should understand that God alone is our true relative: he alone is our mother, our father, our relative, our friend. Do your duty to wife and children; but give your love only to God.

The wife of this life may not be that of the next one; the same is the case with other relatives. The Upanishads tell the story of a husband and wife whose only son died. They were so grieved that they approached a holy man and pleaded with him to resurrect the dead son. The holy man tried to convince that it is a futile task. The son, anyway has to die at a later date; It doesn’t make any difference even if he gets another span of life. However, the attachment on the son was too much, and the sorrowful parents did not accept any excuses. At last, the holy man had to apply his supernatural powers and wake up the boy from the dark realms of death. Responding to the holy ministrations, the boy opened his eyes and looked around. The holy man asked him: “Aren’t you happy to come back to life? Don’t you recognize your parents? Here is your mother crying for your coming back; Here is your father waiting for you to open your eyes….’’ The boy looked puzzled and asked the holy man: “I cannot understand anything. Which father are you talking about ? Which mother ? Sometimes I was a son, sometimes father, I was mother, I was husband. Now I don’t know about which parents you are talking about. Leave me alone; let me go back from where I came”. This story precisely tells us the facts of life, though harsh.

These earthly ties are transitory. Today they seem to be the be-all and end-all of life, and tomorrow they vanish. Your real tie is with God.