Learning to Surrender

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh
4 January 2019, part 3

তদ্­বিদ্ধি প্রণিপাতেন পরিপ্রশ্নেন সেবয়া ।
উপদেক্ষ্যন্তি তে জ্ঞানং জ্ঞানিনস্তত্ত্বদর্শিনঃ ॥

tad viddhi pranipatena, pariprasnena sevaya
upadeksyanti te jnanam, jnaninas tattva-darsinah

You will be able to attain knowledge by satisfying the divine master with submission, relevant inquiry, and sincere service. The enlightened souls who are learned in scriptural knowledge and endowed with direct realisation of the Supreme Absolute Truth will impart divine knowledge to you.

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 4.34)

Tad viddhi pranipat means full surrender, saranagati, and surrender means:

দৈন্য, আত্মনিবেদন, গোপ্তৃত্বে বরণ ॥
'অবশ্য রক্ষিবে কৃষ্ণ'—বিশ্বাস পালন ॥

dainya, atma-nivedana, goptrtve varana
'avasya raksibe krsna'—visvasa palana

Humility, self-submission, embracing the Lord’s guidance, maintaining the faith that 'Krishna will certainly protect me'.

ভক্তি-অনুকূল মাত্র কার্য্যের স্বীকার ।
ভক্তি-প্রতিকূল ভাব—বর্জ্জনাঙ্গীকার ॥

bhakti-anukula matra karyera svikara
bhakti-pratikula bhava—varjanangikara

Engaging only in activities that are favourable to devotion, rejecting everything unfavourable to devotion.

Dainya, we must be humble. Atma-nivedana, we must surrender ourselves. Gurudev always gave this example. Suppose you go to bathe in a pond, or the Ganges, when it is very cold. You are thinking, "Oh, it is very cold. Shall I bathe or not? Shall I bathe or not? It is very cold..." but if you throw your gumcha, then you will jump into the Ganges to get your gumcha. In the same way, your mind always thinks, "Shall I jump or not? Shall I jump or not?" but you must throw your mind into Krishna consciousness life, then you can understand everything. Mind is always naughty, but you have intelligence, sumedha.

কৃষ্ণবর্ণং ত্বিষাঽকৃষ্ণং সাঙ্গোপাঙ্গাস্ত্রপার্ষদম্ ।
যজ্ঞৈঃ সঙ্কীর্ত্তনপ্রায়ৈর্যজন্তি হি সুমেধসঃ ॥

krsna-varnam tvisakrsnam
sangopangastra-parsadam
yajnaih sankirtana-prayair
yajanti hi su-medhasah

"Those of sharp intellect will worship Krishna who appears with a non-black bodily hue, who is armed and surrounded by His associates and servants, and who always chants the Holy Names."

(Srimad Bhagavatam, 11.5.32)

Krishna appeared in this world in the form of His Name and as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, desiring to taste and enjoy the devotion of Srimati Radharani...

So, tad viddhi pranipat is full surrender. Dainya is humility. Atma-nivedana is self-surrender. Then, goptrtve varan—Krishna is our protecter. Krishna takes care of us, but we forget that. We think, "My parents take care of me," "My husband does this," "My wife does that," "My child does this," "My son does that," but this is material ego. You must understand that you are not doing anything, that they are not doing anything—there is some power controlling you, and this power is Lord Krishna. Lord Krishna controls you.

Then, another two of the six types of saranagati is 'bhakti-anukula matra karyera svikara' and 'bhakti-pratikula bhava varjanangikara': you must understand what is favourable to devotion and is unfavourable to devotion, and you must accept what is favourable. At the same time, it is not correct if you accept what is favourable and continue doing what is unfavourable to devotion. You must accept what is favourable to devotion and you must reject what is unfavourable to devotion. Suppose you drink milk every day—milk gives vitamins, it improves you health (everyone knows that milk is very powerful), but in the meantime if you take some alcohol also, then that alcohol will diminish the power of milk. Therefore, you must understand devotional life, you must understand what is necessary for devotion or devotional activities and accept that, and you must always avoid what is not necessary for devotion.

Mahaprabhu told Srila Raghunath Das Goswami, for our benefit:

গ্রাম্যকথা না শুনিবে, গ্রাম্যবার্ত্তা না কহিবে ।
ভাল না খাইবে আর ভাল না পরিবে ॥
অমানী মানদ হঞা কৃষ্ণনাম সদা ল'বে ।
ব্রজে রাধাকৃষ্ণ সেবা মানসে করিবে ॥

gramya-katha na sunibe, gramya-varta na kahibe
bhala na khaibe ara bhala na paribe
amani manada hana krsna-nama sada la'be
vraje radha-krsna seva manase karibe

"Do not listen to the mundane talks, do not listen to the mundane news. Do not eat fancy food, do not wear fancy clothes. Do not expect honour to yourself, but offer all respect to others. Always chant the Holy Name of Krsna, and in your mind serve Radha-Krsna."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 6.236-237)

Always avoid talking nonsense and always avoid listening to nonsense talks. You have got eyes to see the Deities of Radha-Krishna, Mahaprabhu, then you should see the Deities' form with your eyes—do not see bad things with your eyes. You have got ears, but you should not listen to bad things, always listen to Hari-katha, Gurudev's katha—listen to that. You have got a mouth, and you must chant the Name of Krishna with it—do not use your mouth only for eating and talking nonsense.

You must understand that our practice is yukta-vairagya (proper renunciation), not phalgu-vairagya (false renunciation). False renunciation is not our practising life. We are not enjoyers, neither are we renunciates. We are only servitors—that is our identity.

We are not enjoyers means you have some things, you earn some money, you cook something or do something, and you must understand that it is not meant for you—you must offer everything to the Lord because everything is His property otherwise you will be stealing His things, you will be eating all the sinful things.

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