Surrender (Saranagati). Lecture 1

Introduction to Bhagavad-gita verse eighteen sixty-six

0:00Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya.

0:55So to be discussing this subject matter of śaraṇāgati, to surrender, and the nature of the choice of the verse which describes, or rather prescribes, the surrender is the last verse of Bhagavad-gītā, 18.66.

1:22So we read it together; everyone knows this verse. Sarva-dharmān parityajya, parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ. sarva-dharmān parityajya Abandon all varieties of religion,

2:35mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja, ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ.

Purport on abandoning all forms of religion

3:10mā śucaḥ. Translation and purport by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear.

3:35The Lord has described various kinds of knowledge and processes of religion, knowledge of the Supreme Brahman, knowledge of the Supersoul, knowledge of the different types of orders and statuses of social life, knowledge of the renounced order of life, knowledge of non-attachment, sense and manas control, meditation, etc.

4:00He has described in so many ways different types of religion. Now, in summarizing Bhagavad-gītā, the Lord says that Arjuna should give up all the processes that have been explained to him.

4:17He should simply surrender to Krishna. That surrender will save him from all kinds of sinful reactions. For the Lord promises to protect him.

4:31In the seventh chapter, it is said that only one who has become free from all sinful reactions can take to the worship of Lord Krishna.

4:44Thus one may think that unless he is free from all sinful reactions, he cannot take to the surrendering process; to such doubts, it is here said that even if one is not free from all sinful reactions, simply by the process of surrendering to Sri Krishna, he is automatically free.

5:07There is no need for strenuous effort to free oneself from sinful reactions. One should unhesitatingly accept Krishna as the Supreme Savior of all living entities. With faith and love, one should surrender unto Him.

5:29The process of surrender to Krishna is described in the Hari-bhakti-vilāsa. Anukūlasya saṅkalpaḥ prātikūlyasya varjanam.

5:48According to the devotional process, one should simply accept such religious principles that will lead ultimately to the devotional service of the Lord.

5:59One may perform a particular educational duty, but if by executing his duty one does not come to the point of Krishna consciousness, all his activities are in vain.

6:15Anything that does not lead to the perfectional stage of Krishna consciousness should be avoided. One should be confident that in all circumstances, Krishna will protect him from all difficulties.

6:30There is no need of thinking how one should keep the body and soul together. Krishna will see to them. One should only think himself helpless and should consider Krishna the only basis for his progress in life.

6:52As soon as one seriously engages himself in devotional service of the Lord and full Krishna consciousness, at once he becomes free from all contamination of material nature.

7:05There are different processes of religion and purificatory processes by cultivation of knowledge, meditation in the mystic yoga system, etcetera, but one who surrenders unto Krishna does not have to execute so many methods; that simple surrender unto Krishna will save him from unnecessarily wasting time.

7:28And can thus make all progress at once and be freed from all sinful reactions. One should be attracted to the beautiful vision of Krishna. His name is Krishna because He is all-attractive.

7:46One who becomes attracted by the beautiful, all-powerful, only important vision of Krishna is fortunate.

7:55There are different kinds of transcendentalists; some of them are attached to the personal Brahman vision, some of them are attached to the Supersoul feature, etc.

8:07But one who is attracted to the personal feature of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and above all, one who is attracted by the Supreme Personality of Godhead as Krishna Himself, is the most perfect transcendentalist.

8:21In other words, devotional service to Krishna in full consciousness is the most confidential part of knowledge. And this is the essence of the whole Bhagavad-gītā.

8:35Karma-yogīs, empiric philosophers, mystics, and devotees are all called transcendentalists, but one who is a pure devotee is the best of all.

8:47The particular words used here, mā śucaḥ, which are "do not fear," "don't hesitate," "don't worry," are very significant.

Analysis of surrender in Bhakti-sandarbha

8:59One may be perplexed as to how one can give up all kinds of religious forms and simply surrender unto Krishna, but such doubt is useless.

9:13So, nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale, Krishna, Śrīvāsa, Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī, namaste, Namaste sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe, nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe.

9:40Vāñchā-kalpatarubhyaś ca kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca, patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ. Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Prabhupāda, śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda.

10:06Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare / Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare.

10:11Yat-pāda-paṅkaja-palāśa-vilāsa-bhaktyā karmāśayaṁ grathitam udgrathayanti santaḥ, tadvan na rikta-matayo yatayo 'pi ruddha- srotogaṇās tam araṇaṁ bhaja vāsudevam.

10:37Krishna, I was wondering why Prabhupāda asked me to speak on this. Yes, he feels that we have a special experience in Russia surrendering to the inconceivable mercy of the Lord. Sometimes it seems so.

11:08But ultimately, this process of surrender is the universal process, and the better we understand what it means, what it implies, the better it is for us.

11:30So, Jīva Gosvāmī, and I mostly base my presentation on this section in Bhakti-sandarbha, which explains what surrender means, emphatically says that surrender can immediately bring you all the perfections in life.

11:53He says in the section of Bhakti-sandarbha that you don't need to do anything else for certain.

12:03All the siddhis, all the perfections, including the main perfection which all the people in this material world are looking for, the perfections of being saved from the miseries of this life, are included into this process of surrender.

12:29And as such, this is the most powerful process, the most powerful tool. We have to know exactly how to use this tool to achieve everything we need. At the same time, Jīva Gosvāmī also says that

12:49if you don't surrender 100%—and who does?— he says, then you will get the perfection, but according to the degree of your surrender. So surrender is the deciding factor in our achieving the results of devotional service.

13:14Sometimes we wonder, we are performing śravaṇa-bhakti and devotional service for so long, but somehow or other the promised results are not happening.

13:26So the key to understand this is this statement by Jīva Gosvāmī where he says that you can only get the results of your practices to the extent of your surrender. To the extent of this inner bhāva of surrender.

13:45The results can be very quick. They don't depend on time, they don't depend on the, you know, even amount of our practices.

13:58They basically depend on this very intimate and internal state of our consciousness in which we perform all devotional activities.

14:08Devotional activities, no matter how devotional they are, no matter how they are externally devotional, how they are related to this Kṛṣṇa, can be in vain.

14:25As A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda says, any process which does not ultimately bring you to this surrender, which he intuits in the purport, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness will be made, will be basically waste of time.

14:45So that's why this particular topic is important and also Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura and his uh introductory song to Śaraṇāgati to this beautiful book of songs.

15:03He says that Lord Caitanya will hear the prayers which are invite to surrender. And he will not hear otherwise the prayers which are not penetrated with the spirit of surrender.

15:25The prayers which are not connected with this complete spirit of self-obligation and self-surrender will not be heard by Lord Caitanya. Jīva Gosvāmī in his Bhakti-sandarbha says that sometimes one prays to the Lord.

15:49And he says the prayers are vyālīka. Vyālīka means cheating.

15:58If there is no sincerity in these prayers, then he says that it will not be heard by the Lord as much as uh the uh clouds clouds of our cheating mentalities can kind of block us from the Lord.

16:25In the same way, you know, when the rays of the sun are filtered through the clouds, they lose the power, they lose the potency.

16:38And you are directly, you know, even in England, if you get for a change, direct rays of sun which is not blown by the clouds.

16:54And you feel warm, you know, maybe a little chilly, but the direct rays of the sun, they have this power. It's called in Sanskrit tīvra. They are, you know, they can be biting.

17:09But you know, the same sun in the same wind and it's blocked, then the same sun loses its power. In the same way, the prayer may be very powerful.

17:27It can reach directly to the Lord and it can bring miraculous effects in our lives. But when it's blocked by our lack of surrender, which is compared with the clouds, then it loses its power.

17:50It loses its power to attract the attention of the Lord. Therefore, better we understand what surrender implies and what it means.

Parasara Bhatta and the rabbit story

18:02And of course, you know it's not a question of intellectual understanding, but intellectual understanding may help to a certain extent to get a clear picture of what it means by surrender.

18:20So I wanted to start this little presentation with two stories. Two beautiful stories. One story I think we talked about was the story of Parāśara Bhaṭṭa.

18:39This is a story of śānta was the successor of Rāmānujācārya and he was the son of Kūreśa and of course Kūreśa was the glorious example of complete surrender.

18:58Rāmānujācārya had a very intimate relationship with Parāśara Bhaṭṭa. And the story goes like this that once Parāśara Bhaṭṭa was going through the forest. And he had a few associates with him.

19:16And he met a hunter, completely rude and brutal person, a hunter who was killing animals, and this hunter was in somewhat perplexed state of mind.

19:31He was somewhat agitated and you know and he started seeing the sādhu, he started pulling out what was there in his heart and something really shocked him and he said what happened with

19:47me today? I caught a rabbit in my trap. And I was very happy because the rabbits are my food and I wanted to kill this rabbit. And this rabbit, when I let him a little loose, he was still something.

20:08This rabbit started circling around my feet, circling and circling and circling. And ultimately he came very close to the feet and put his head on my feet and completely surrendered. And in this moment my heart melted.

20:30And I thought, I can't kill this friend. I have to let him free and I let him free and I can't figure out why did I do this. He was totally shocked by this incident or this thing. And then Parashad Bhak heard this story.

20:55He fainted. All big sattvic symptoms appeared in his body and, you know, the hairs could have tears into his eyes and he helped me to faint.

21:08And when he came back to his senses, his associates asked him, "Why did you faint? What happened with you when you heard this stupid story? Simple story." And Parasharbada said, "You know, this read never read Paramātmā.

21:31He didn't study scriptures. And still, out of natural instinct, he surrendered.

21:41And this stupid, cruel hunter, he never promised that he would deliver anyone who will surrender unto him. But still he did it out of natural instinct because he couldn't do otherwise. He he just he just he just couldn't do it."

22:04And he said, "How fortunate we are. We read Bhagavad-gītā where Krishna directly says in prominence. Krishna says that kaunteya pratijānīhi na me bhaktaḥ praṇaśyati.

22:18You just declare it boldly that if somebody surrendered unto me, somebody has become my bhakta, he will never be he will never perish in this world, and here he says in this verse, famous verse of Bhagavad-gītā, if somebody surrenders unto me, I will protect you."

22:39And he says, "How fortunate we are, we know about this. And we are human beings, so we have developed brain by which we can surrender." And he said, "And how unfortunate we are.

22:53Because despite of knowing this, we still don't surrender. We still don't have the trust and belief that we don't do enough to show the world that completely surrendered the thing."

23:08So this is a this is a very beautiful story which proves that this process of surrender is very natural. And it's ultimately a very natural process for those who feel one's dependence on the Lord.

Sivananda Sena and the surrendered dog

23:31If this feeling of dependence on the Lord is there, then the process of surrender, like in the case of this rabbit, you know, this rabbit, somehow that we felt this is the best way to do in this difficult situation. Just surrender at the feet of this hunter."

23:51And of course the next story which shows the power of the surrender, of the process of surrendering, and how surrender ultimately brings about the mercy of the Lord is again the story of an animal, of the dog of Śivānanda Sena.

24:12Well known the story described in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta and the dog just you know just street dog, completely homeless dog. So the devotees went to Purī,

24:36the group of devotees from Yatra walking from nowadays and following and you know the samples in charge and you know it's it's usual for the dogs. Dogs are actually quite intelligent people.

24:55Much more intelligent than the rest of the people. So they're looking for somebody for a master. There is one advantage of being a dog. You know you don't have too much pride. Especially street dogs, especially in India.

25:20They're quite humble creatures. Of course those in the West are different. Quite proud. That's the difference between India and the rest. And they walk in the field. They are big ego. So uh and uh this is again very natural.

25:48Uh the dogs they looking for a master and this dog went together with this devotion she will not understand and she will not understand when he you know when he saw that this dog is completely totally surrendered in the sense that he follows all the rules, he follows them, he just doesn't want to leave them, you know.

26:11Again in a very natural way, very spontaneous way. If somebody takes shelter of you, if somebody just follows you, you kind of feel like you know protecting you.

26:26I remember, you know, some time ago I was in Vrindavan and every day I used to go around Vrindavan with the parikrama. And at the same day there was a special dog meeting in Krishna Balaram Mandir.

26:42He would go around Vrindavan, he would go with him and this dog was probably he was probably śānta, I don't know. But at least he was there all the time at the uh entrance

27:00of festival and he would see somebody and heading towards the parikrama road, he would follow him very diligently. And this dog, you know, uh it's amazing also. Every day he will do it.

27:16With everyone he would go with them and then certain sections of Vrindavan there were some other dogs who were very possessive, you know, this is how they start you know, biting this dog and you know barking again.

27:46But he was he was he was still following, you know, ahead of the circumambulation, you know. And it was very touching to the heart.

27:59And you see that somebody is just no matter what, whatever impediments are there, whatever whatever difficulties are there, if somebody is still following and following you, you know you feel like protecting him.

28:13So the first day we ran there and this other dogs attacked this dog.

28:20So next time when they went to the parikrama I took a stick to protect my dog from these other dogs because again it's a very natural and spontaneous kind of thing which you feel like doing, you know, if you feel that something is surrendering.

28:46Um, and the same way to understand in this particular story of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, what is that? You who special vegetarian for this dog and take care of him.

Surrendering directly versus through a devotee

29:06I don't know what happened because of this mercy of Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita to this poor creature involved in the Lord of the World. So this is basically, there are two ways of surrender which are there.

29:25You can surrender directly to the Lord. Because Krishna Himself says that surrender unto Me, and Śrīla Prabhupāda explains the connection of this goal. This is one way of surrendering to the Lord. You surrender directly.

29:50He demands it, He wants it, and we know this is to the best of our interest, and somehow or other we do it. And it may be difficult because we don't have the right hands, no, we are not feeling the connection as the Lord.

30:07So the other way of surrendering unto the Lord is to surrender to a devotee.

30:13And if you surrender to somebody who is surrendered, if you surrender to the devotee of the Lord completely, then the effect is absolutely the same. Oh Lord, there's no difference.

30:27Like in this story, because the dog was surrendered to Śrīvāsa. And all the devotees saw this amazing scene when Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu would give the pulp of the coconut, raw coconut to this dog.

30:49And by eating His mahā-prasāda, he was eating to the dog.

30:53And the dog was, you know, and not only this, Lord Caitanya directly told this dog or saying to this dog, you know, "You chant: Kṛṣṇa, Govinda, chant, chant, chant."

31:09And the dog was very intelligent; the dog, it's amazing how intelligent the dog was due to the association with the devotees.

31:16Lord Caitanya would tell him, chant, Hare Krishna, Govinda, and the dog would only chant Krishna, Krishna, Kṛṣṇa," because he knew the siddhānta, he knew the doctrine. And again, you can, and this is a, you know, the

31:36amazing display of the mercy of the Lord. Because nobody, dogs don't, you know, don't say Krishna.

31:45Their tongue is not really made to do some audible sound; they can only say the dog was saying Krishna, Krishna. that basically means mercy. The holy name, it is said Svayama Vaspuratyata.

32:15When this inclination to serve comes, then the holy name comes to our tongue on its own accord. So basically this is the illustration how the mercy, the visible mercy of the Lord, came upon the dog.

32:34And the dog became a body was changing 60 hours. But he used to chant the mantra, eating of the mahā-prasāda. And the next day he disappeared. He was and everyone knew where he By this process of surrender.

32:59And that's again the illustration of this point. When the surrender is complete, when there is a complete surrender, uh you reach all the perfection.

Surrender as the core of Bhagavad-gita

33:11The perfect destination and the perfect result is there with you and there is no doubt about it. So let's try to go a little deeper into this dimension of surrender.

33:29What does it mean complete surrender and what does it mean non-complete surrender? If you look at Bhagavad-gītā, basically this message of surrender, Śrīla Prabhupāda says that this is the essence of Bhagavad-gītā.

33:48That the essential message of Bhagavad-gītā, he says this in this purport: the essential message of Bhagavad-gītā is just abandon everything else and surrender to us. And don't worry.

34:00So Śrīla Prabhupāda says that if you worry, how you can abandon everything, this is useless.

34:08That's the end of his purport of his that he says if you still have some worry, it means that you don't something is wrong with you.

34:16You know uh and yeah we will hear how Jīva Gosvāmī analyzes this surrender, but let's first take uh talk about Bhagavad-gītā detail.

34:27We can see that the surrender is the beginning of Bhagavad-gītā and the end of Bhagavad-gītā. But Bhagavad-gītā only starts when Arjuna surrenders himself completely.

34:43That's one of the verses which you can legitimately say that this is the beginning, the start of Bhagavad-gītā is this verse of Kārpaṇya-doṣopahata pṛcchāmi tvāṁ dharma-sammūḍha-cetāḥ. Then Arjuna says I enough is enough.

35:02I'm completely bewildered. I am completely perplexed. I don't know what is good for me, what is not good for me, and therefore śiṣyaste 'haṁ śādhi māṁ tvāṁ prapannam — I am prapanna. I am completely surrendered unto you.

35:19Just tell me what to do, tell me in very definite terms, what am I supposed to do? And this is the beginning of what I would call the beginning of the surrender process.

35:36But we can see very clearly in this particular example, even though Arjuna says in the beginning, "Can you surrender the soul? Tell me what to do?"

35:46In the very next verse he says, after a couple of verses he says, "Na yotsya" iti Govinda. You know, "I'm a surrendered soul, tell me what to do, but I'm not going to fight." That's a very, you know, very typical.

36:08That's quite, uh, quite a typical, uh, beginning of surrender. The surrender, but the surrender only up to this extent. I will do this and I will do this, but this I will never do. Please don't ask me for this.

36:27I'm not surrendered to that extent. So, in one sense, it's very encouraging news for us.

36:37Because we have to start somewhere, and even if we start in this kind of, you know, artificial or not artificial, but, uh, even if they start with just say that I surrender, it's something.

36:56The Lord takes it seriously and He starts working on us. That's a good beginning.

37:04If you tell the Lord that you are surrendered, even though He knows perfectly well that the reality of your heart is different, that you're not completely surrendered, He still takes it seriously and He starts his, you know, He takes you through to make sure that the process of surrender is complete and He will take care of this surrendering process, and because He basically is caring about you.

37:40So this is the beginning of Bhagavad-gītā and we know that the very end of Bhagavad-gītā Krishna repeats basically the same message; He says, "Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja."

Surrender as foundation of unmotivated devotion

37:52And, uh, this is what He wants to say because, because there is no question of bhakti without surrender. Srila Jiva Goswami starts explaining śaraṇāgati, what śaraṇāgati means.

38:20He starts, uh, uh, He actually says that this, the surrender, is the foundation. That the bhakti starts from surrender and if you're not surrendered, even to a certain extent, there's no question of bhakti.

38:46Because bhakti implies service. The very word bhakti comes from the verbal root bhaj which means the active service.

38:59And Srila Jiva Goswami, when he explains, you know, when he starts explaining the different sadhanas which one should do in bhakti, he first explains that bhakti, in reality, bhakti makes one a good bhakta.

39:18First, we have to understand why surrender is the foundation. Why we cannot do anything in bhakti unless there is at least a certain extent of surrender.

39:32And Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī explains in the previous sections of Bhakti-sandarbha that bhakti only becomes bhakti when it's not motivated. When it's nirguṇa.

39:54The saguṇa-bhakti, or bhakti in the mode of tamas, in the mode of rajas, or in the mode of sattva, is not truly bhakti. You know, there is no service there because you want something.

40:14And if you perform so-called devotional service and it's connected with the motivations belonging or pertaining to different modes of material nature — tamo-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, or sattva-guṇa — and this is explained by Lord Kapila in the third canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, then basically you're not serving.

40:39It's not a service. It has nothing to do with the service. You may call it a service.

40:45But it's really not a service, and Prahlāda Mahārāja is very apt in saying that, you know, if you want to give me some reward for my service, you basically don't consider me as a servant.

41:00Because the very notion, the very concept of reward means that this is not the service. I'm doing it and this is the payment. It's the salary.

41:12It's not the service. Service means, service means, doing it without any expectation.

41:19And Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī explains this before explaining śaraṇāgati, and this is a very important thing to understand: why bhakti can only start with śaraṇāgati, because without śaraṇāgati there cannot be any service without any expectation of reward.

41:41You know, we can serve — there is quote-unquote "serve" here — expecting some reward, but this is not service; it's just, no, I'm just more or less selling myself here.

41:59I can serve you if you want, if you need my service, here it is, but I need this and this and this from you. So this is a business deal. And the business deal is a separate kind of, you know, transaction.

42:20If you want to enter into this transaction with the Lord, that's fine. But please don't call it bhakti.

42:28Bhakti only starts when you come to the Lord and you more or less come to the Lord with this understanding that I'm your servant by definition, by nature. The service to you is something which I cannot avoid doing.

42:59This is my nature, and from this point, basically, the real bhakti starts.

43:09So Krishna gives so much stress to surrender and the whole Bhagavad-gītā is this because ultimately he wants to give us the essential message of all the scriptures.

43:21Prabhupāda explains here that, uh, ultimately, uh, all the scriptures, all the letters, the so different things, they culminate in this understanding that I am the servant of God.

43:36If there is no culmination, if this culmination by any chance is not there, this is a kind of waste, waste of time.

43:45So, and therefore we have to really clearly understand that this surrender is the message of Bhagavad-gītā from beginning to end.

43:57And the surrender is the preliminary condition for us to be using devotional service without any expectations. And ultimately, the natural conclusion of surrender is that, okay, I surrender.

Meaning of voluntary spiritual servitude

44:12Ultimately, you know, when we translate dāsa as a servant, it's not a very accurate translation. Because in reality, dāsa means slave. So when we get, you know, initiations and take a very honorable title, now I'm a slave.

44:47In the Western kind of, uh, culture, phew, it's the most horrible thing which may happen to you. You become a slave. But that's exactly what surrender means. I relinquish my independence, my independent ego.

45:11I don't belong to myself, and basically, devotional service is a slavery, it's not the service, it's not the service in the modern understanding of this world. Because who is a slave?

45:26A slave is somebody who doesn't expect any particular reward. Right? You know, the master can give him something, he may not give anything to him. He may give him some clothes, he may not give any clothes.

45:43You know, he's a slave, he doesn't have any independence. So the slaves, they work not because they get something, they work because this is their relationship, because this is their position.

45:59The difference between material slavery and spiritual slavery is that spiritual slavery or emotional service is completely voluntary. It's my conscious act of surrendering my independence. But the nature is the same.

46:24Basically, nature is dead. I am not independent anymore; then it means that there is no reward. I am not expecting any reward.

46:34And this, the most degraded situation which is there in the material world—of a slave, to be the slave in the material world is the most despicable condition of life—becomes the most glorious position in the spiritual world.

46:58According to the law of reflection. You know, and if something is reflected, then you know the highest point in the object becomes the lowest point in the reflection.

47:19So according to the law of reflection, something which is the highest position in the spiritual world—complete, total surrender. And this total surrender is basically manifested by the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana.

47:35Their degree of surrender is unbelievable, but we will come to it. In the material world, it becomes the lowest point. The point of complete, total, I don't know, degradation of humanity.

47:55But we have to understand that ultimately that's what it is.

Primary motivations for seeking divine shelter

47:59We are voluntarily relinquishing our free will and surrendering to the Lord, understanding that this is what we are supposed to do, that this is nature, this is our nature.

48:17And therefore, Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī explains—he starts explaining this process of śaraṇāgati by saying that there can be two causes of surrender.

48:31Basically, there could be theoretically two motivations or two causes of surrender. One is fear, one is this understanding that I am totally, completely lost in this world.

48:51I am perplexed, like Arjuna says: «kārpaṇya-doṣopahata-svabhāvaḥ pṛcchāmi tvāṁ dharma-sammūḍha-cetāḥ». «Sammūḍha-cetāḥ». You know, I don't know what to do. The difficulties of life are too much for me.

49:12And this first motivation is that I'm fed up, I'm sick and tired, I'm completely, totally... enough is enough for me. You know, this karma is too much, and krodha is too much, you know, all these things.

49:37You know, I'm trying to do something in this material world, but I cannot do anything because uh I'm always uh uh I'm always uh uh how do you say this? Solution I'm always overwhelmed by all these problems.

50:00This prayer of surrender which shows this is impetus to surrender is there in Chaitanya-caritamrta also, it's from the Padyāvalī from Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī: kāmādīnāṁ kati na katidhā pālitā durnideśās. So

50:30so this is the illustration which shows this verse shows this impetus to surrender. And devotee says in this pitiable, then this gross with Him.

50:43You know, he explains his pitiable condition. kāmādīnāṁ kati na katidhā pālitā durnideśās teṣāṁ jātā mayi na karuṇā na trapā nopaśāntiḥ. And I have been a slave of my lust.

51:01And not only lust, of my anger, of my greed, of my illusion, of my pride, of my envy. I have been enslaved by these tendencies. And I've been trying to satisfy my masters. We have all these masters, you know.

51:23Kāma is our master and we are his obedient servant. That's all I'm just served. And uh anger and the greed and all these things, you know, we are trying, we are trying,

51:39and he says that uh despite of all my attempts to serve these masters, then they are neither satisfied nor become little more moderate in their demands. No, Prabhupāda. They are shameless masters. I surrender to them.

51:57I am doing something for them. I am trying to fulfill the desires of these cruel masters which are there in this material world, you know, pushing me around. But they become more and more shameless.

52:11And they're pushing me to do more and more abominable things in this world. This is the condition which ultimately brings us on to this to this to this uh level to this uh extent of surrender.

52:50But now, aha, when I caught little sense, when I get little buddhi, little intelligence, when the intelligence somehow or that dawned on me, came to me after so long.

53:08I understand that I have to give it up and take somebody else as my master. Not these forces which are pushing me around and having no mercy on me. I have to take Yadupati, Yadupati, the Lord of the Yadus, as my master.

53:28And sakṛd eva prapannāya tasmā abhayaṁ, mām iha syād ātmanas, oh my Lord, give me the shelter which will make me completely fearless.

53:45I'm your servant now, I'm your conscious servant, and please give me your shelter which will bring about fearlessness in my life. And this is according to Sanātana Gosvāmī, first and the most common reason.

54:09And once through the experience of the miseries of life, which are connected with our independent will and independent desire or desire to realize our independence in this world, bring countless problems about us, countless perplexities, and you know, think about the complete mess in our life.

54:35So one can surrender because of this, getting some intelligence through the school of hard knocks.

54:46And so Jīva Gosvāmī says that there is another way of surrendering oneself to the Lord when one is intelligent enough from the very beginning. And it's a rare case, how do you know this?

55:04But he says theoretically it's possible that a person without going through this painful and very miserable experience in life surrenders unto the Lord because the first, you know, when there are some problems and there are little problems and there are, or even no problems at all,

55:27but he understands that I still have a problem. And my problem is aversion to the Lord. Because I turned away myself from the Lord, because I am not with the Lord in heart. I am not unified with Him in my will.

55:47My will is independent and I'm maintaining my independence.

55:53By this intelligent understanding that this is what I should do, one can surrender to the Lord without going through this painful and miserable experience of fear and all the problems in mind.

56:10So this is the first explanation this Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī gives. And then he explains, as usually, that again there are two, by taking from

Overcoming fear of death through Krishna

56:32here he explains, and that again there could be two ways of surrender. This realization that we have to come to the Lord for shelter Anukūlyasya saṅkalpaḥ. that He is the only one who can solve all my problems.

57:05He is the only one by whom I can get the complete relief from all the problems of life, again can come in two different ways.

57:22He says the first way, the first way of getting this understanding that it's only the Lord is when you are chased or overwhelmed by the fear of material existence, and this fear is your impetus to surrender to the Lord.

57:55It's a very important point for us to understand that in this world everyone is completely overwhelmed by the fear of death.

58:15Patañjali Muni in his Yoga-sūtra says that the fear of death, it's interesting, he explains the five kleshas, or five causes of suffering in this world.

58:31And he gives the definition of which klesha starting with ignorance, avidyā. The first klesha is avidyā, and then the second klesha is asmitā or this identification with the body, false ego, and then rāga and dveṣa.

58:45And he gives the definition. When it comes to the fifth klesha, which is abhiniveśa, abhiniveśa basically means the fear of death. He doesn't give any definitions because there's nothing to define.

59:00He says, instead of giving the definition of this mental or emotional state which is the background of our existence, instead of defining it, he just says that everyone is a prey of this, everyone is a victim of this.

59:25Including the most wise people, even the Buddhists are afraid of death.

59:33So therefore Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī says that the first you know, the first understanding or first way of surrender is that you're overwhelmed with this fear and you're not afraid of admitting that you are fearful.

59:55Usually people, they don't understand how deep this fear of material existence is within our heart.

1:00:03Sometimes even people say, "Oh, I'm not afraid of this. I'm afraid of snakes, I'm afraid of spiders, I'm afraid of my wife, but I'm not afraid of this."

1:00:15But this statement is only the manifestation of their fear to see how fearful they are. They're too much afraid to admit to themselves how afraid they are.

1:00:36Because this fear of death is overwhelming, and that's why Patañjali Muni says that this fear of death is the first way to understand that there's somebody who can save me from this fear of death, and that's God.

1:00:55There's only one who can save me from this fear of death, that's God. Only He is there to give me this complete freedom of this fear, of this emotional instability which is there.

1:01:13And of course Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam explains that the cause of this fear is bhayaṁ dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syād īśād apetasya viparyayo 'smṛtiḥ, that this cause of fear is this avidyā when we become completely absorbed in this something secondary, the body.

1:01:34When our memory becomes distorted with viparyaya. When we lose the memory and our consciousness becomes distorted, when we turn away from the Lord.

1:01:46The moment we turn away from the Lord, the moment we forget about the Lord and start being concerned with the body, with our material existence, the fear comes.

1:02:01And therefore this fear is the way, uh it's there, uh ultimately the desire to get rid of this fear is the way to surrender to the Lord.

1:02:12And so when Jīva Gosvāmī uh he quotes the following verse from the 10th canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which explains this process of surrender.

1:02:25This is the verse which Devakī, this is the prayer of Devakī, Devakī-stuti, towards Kṛṣṇa, while in the prison of Kaṃsa. Again, perfect setting. You know, they are there in the prison.

1:02:43And uh completely anything can happen with us anytime. We're not in control.

1:02:52We try to find some other ways, but ultimately, if we are intelligent enough we get this understanding that the only one who can protect us from death is Kṛṣṇa.

1:03:07And uh Devakī-mātā she says martyaṃ mṛtyu-vyālabhītaṃ palāyanam. She says that uh the martya, martyāḥ, the living entities who are destined to die. You know the death rate in this world is 100%.

1:03:33It's not 80%, not 90%, it's 100% because we're all martya, we're all mortal.

1:03:44And she says that this martya, this these mortal living entities who are you know you can protect yourself from disease, you can try to protect yourself from old age, from the wrinkles, you know. You can try to find so many means to protect yourself from different things.

1:04:10But there's one thing, there is no protection, it's death. Death you know there is only one way to protect ourselves from death. And therefore she says, martyaṃ mṛtyu-vyālabhītaṃ, mṛtyu-vyāla.

1:04:25She says that this death is like a snake. Sometimes the time is compared with the snake, the snake of time.

1:04:37And she says that all these martya, the mortal people who are bhīta and afraid or fearful of this mṛtyu-vyāla, the palāyana, palāyana means they're running away.

1:04:52Everyone being, you know, being chased by this fear of death is running, trying to run from the snake. And the snake is running behind us. And guess what? Sooner or later it will catch us. No doubt about it.

1:05:12And she says, lokāntaram upāśritāḥ.

1:05:19She says that in different planets people do this, but ultimately in different planets, because they want this, this state of complete freedom of fear, they are trying to take shelter of your lotus feet. Yadṛcchayā.

1:05:44O Ādya, or you who are the original Lord, the beginning of everything. The source of everything, the cause of everything, the cause of all causes.

1:05:59You know, if the people take shelter of your lotus feet, uh somehow or other take shelter of your lotus feet, uh then they uh completely they become completely peaceful inside. So, śāstra says: "mṛtyu-rasmāt kapati".

1:06:18And the vṛtti flees away. The translation of this: no one in this material world has become free from the four principles of birth, death, old age, and disease, even by fleeing to various planets.

1:06:33But now that you have appeared, my Lord, death is fleeing in fear of you, and the living entities, having obtained shelter of your lotus feet by your mercy, are sleeping in full mental peace.

1:06:46Basically, Śrīla Jīva, that's one myth and that's the last myth which I will say.

1:06:50It says that the first, the first thing is that complete realization of that there's something wrong in our life by the very fact that we will have to die. There is no need for any other problems in life.

1:07:12We have enough problems of death. And that's if we realize this very deeply, that's enough for us to try to take shelter of the Lord because He is the only solution for this problem.

1:07:29For other problems of life, there may be some other solutions. But this problem has only one solution. That's to take, uh, unquestionably take shelter of the Lord. You know, I don't want to die.

1:07:47And I, and you know, I don't want, and that means that I have to take shelter of you and stop taking shelter of my body, of my intelligence, of my wealth, of my so many differences. Because this is all false.

1:08:06You know, when we understand this, Śrīla Prabhupāda once gave a very amazing definition of humility. Harrivas Prabhu asked him, can you give the definition of humility? What is humility? What does humility mean?

1:08:21So basically, what does surrender mean? What does it mean? And Śrīla Prabhupāda says, humility means just one thing.

1:08:29You know, if you completely without any trace of doubt know that nothing in this world, including your money, your wife, your intelligence, your education, your gun, whatever. Your job saves you.

1:08:58If you understand that nothing in this world saves you, then basically it means that you surrender. You're humble.

Recognizing material limits and cultivating humility

1:09:07This understanding itself constitutes the surrender and humility.

1:09:12And therefore, Sanātana Gosvāmī says that the one way of surrendering is to understand that we already have the problem, and this main problem is the fear of death.

1:09:28And he says that there is a second way of surrendering, and this definition which Śrīla Prabhupāda gave in the Forest of Boulogne in France is more appropriate to the second way which Sanātana Gosvāmī calls surrender.

1:09:49The second way of surrender is that you try to depend on something else.

1:09:56And that's exactly what Krishna is saying here in this particular verse because in this world we are trying to take shelter of different things, of different processes of religion, of you know different medicines, of our own intelligence, of different things we are trying to take shelter.

1:10:16And you know, Sanātana Gosvāmī said that the second way of realizing that there is only one anartha-nivṛtti, that there is only one destination which we have to strive for and come to, is the Lord, is that we try different things and realize that different things ultimately don't work.

1:10:39And ultimately, you know, when we out of pride try to protect ourselves by different means. Basically, the second process is like this: you think that you know what is best for me.

1:11:02Please raise your hand, who thinks that he knows what is best for me. We all think like this. You know, I know better. Right?

1:11:17I know better what I'm supposed to do, I know better how to save myself, I know better, I I can figure it out. I have I was given my control. You know, and therefore, this understanding which, constitutes pride.

1:11:32The pride, this is the definition of pride. I know how to save myself. I know. I'm smart enough. Right? I have intelligence. I have good marks in my school days. So I can figure it out. I know what to do. I know better.

1:11:52This is and Sanātana Gosvāmī says that first one realizes the most important things that there is no solution for the fear of death.

1:12:03Second, one is trying to solve some other problems by what solve means without coming close to this powerful fear of death and therefore tries to take shelter in different other things and means and uh ways of living life.

1:12:25But ultimately he realizes no, there's no way I have to surrender to God. I'm not intelligent enough to live this life.

1:12:35I might be intelligent enough to fool others, but not intelligent enough to solve all the problems of my life.

1:12:44There has to be this sincere impetus uh of surrendering to the Supreme Lord and that's what how Sanātana Gosvāmī starts explaining this process of śaraṇāgati surrender.

Audience questions on community and science

1:12:58So I guess that's the end of doing this class. Um, I think we still have a couple of minutes or some thank you very much for your thoughts.

1:13:12Um I was just thinking how we can take that back because um you're saying that as individuals that we surrender our fear and concentration of material energy.

1:13:23So how would you instruct us as a community to become surrendered. As a community? But realize that all of us like in Moscow may have many problems. Government is after us and people are against them this and that.

1:13:59But I'm not thinking we realize that the solution for all our problems is one. There's not many different solutions. There's not many different shelters which you may take in this world.

1:14:17There's only one shelter which is happening.

1:14:20So it comes from the realization that you know there's the famous example of community realizing this fact was 5,000 years ago when Indra became angry at the community of devotees in Vraja.

1:14:40So at this very moment, they, you know, there's they realize there's no other shelter, we have to come to Krishna, you know, there's no other shelter from this, you know, this downpour and lightning and hail storm and rain.

1:15:02And we see, so they run to Krishna, so basically, and that's all it is, when nobody was trying in Vraja, nobody was trying to, you know, put some shelter from the wood or something like this.

1:15:20There's only one, somebody, one who can solve all these problems for us. So if we as a community of devotees understand that the solution for our problems, for all our problems, is one.

1:15:34It's Krishna and complete surrender and faith in him. You do whatever you like with us. Surrendered souls. Take whatever you give us with this grateful heart.

1:15:55From the highest realms of science, one to demonstrate that we are already surrendered. We are already surrendered, but we still have an illusion that we are not surrendered.

1:16:10It's true that we are surrendered because we are totally, completely helpless. But inside us we have the pride.

1:16:23I will prove, I will show, I will figure it out, and the science is actually, you know, it may prove something about the world, but the very concept of science is that we don't think we'll figure it out ourselves.

1:16:42We will find the ways and we will find the solutions for our problems.

1:16:47So ultimately, yes, the real science, and that's what also Śrīla Prabhupāda says, that the real science culminates in the descriptions of the glory of the Lord.

1:16:57The real science is basically the attempt to understand the depth and the magnitude of the glory of God, how wonderful the Lord's looking to be creation.

1:17:11And if the real science comes to the real conclusion of the real science, of the true science, definitely there will be complete, full understanding that we have to surrender. There's no other way.

1:17:25But the science as such, as functioning in our society, is the attempt to prove that we don't need that. We don't do something on our own. No, I think that there is, it depends on how science is defined.

1:17:42I mean, if it is defined in the Russian sense, for example, Nauka, which is actually accepted by our whole society here, then things fall into place.

1:17:52There is actually, for example, you can take the total interchangeability between energy and matter.

1:18:02If you do that, then you find that actually there is no distinction, no substantial distinction between, and also with another, no, I understand, I understand, but at the same time we, what I am explaining is that in sociological terms I agree with you completely that if we are, and I said this that if we that's what Śrīla Prabhupāda also said that if we understand the real essence of science yes there is no there is no difference there is no contradiction

1:18:34but in reality, in the sociological reality of today's world and the society as such, the science is not functioning this way. The phenomenon of science is different. It's basically the people are trying to use science.

1:18:54It's useless ultimately but they still try to use the science as the means of you know of the ultimate protection. Even though everyone knows that this is a futile. That's what it is. But ultimately I agree with you.

1:19:11Ultimately if you go deeper in the science you will understand that there's you will understand a lot of things.

1:19:21It's not how to do it and then you and first and foremost you will understand that science is a futile i in regard to solving our immediate problems.

1:19:38Mars, thank you very much for a wonderful uh and this question about science brings me on to the question that I was trying to raise. Is faith um we're talking about faith and surrender, the interrelationship. Yes.

1:19:57And then this um knowledge about desire.

1:20:01I'm trying to find out the interrelationships between faith um answer in desire for knowledge and intelligence and you touch upon uh knowledge and intelligence as well but uh I'm just trying to get a better correlation between all of these as far as the faith and surrender, it's very simple.

1:20:21Bhakti says śraddhā śaraṇāpatti lakṣaṇam. He says śraddhā. Faith has the most important characteristic lakṣaṇa, the svarūpa-lakṣaṇa of faith is śaraṇāpatti.

1:20:40So that basically is synonymous because the you know the manifestation of faith is in this surrender. That's the symptom of faith. Symptom that you have faith is that you surrender.

1:20:56Surrender to God As far as the interrelationship between the desire, knowledge and what intelligence. Desire knowledge and intelligence.

1:21:06Uh basically and that's explained in Nyāya literature, it is explained that the desire is based upon knowledge. You cannot desire anything about which you don't know.

1:21:20So the first is knowledge, some knowledge of something comes to you. Then it creates the desire. And when the desire is there, the intelligence is being turned on and that explains to you how to achieve what you desire.

1:21:36So that's the relationship between these three things. Desire and faith?

1:21:46Well, you know, if you're intelligent enough to understand that there is God and if this knowledge brings about the desire in your heart to surrender to God or to come closer to God, and you know, it's a surrender case.

1:22:04Okay, I guess that's it. Tomorrow we can... Oh, take a moment, I'll do it. Sorry. That first we work in the other... Yes.

1:22:18Uh, the Rk-kālaya, that's the twenty-seventh verse of the third canto of the third chapter of the tenth canto. Thank you.