What Is Surrender?

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Uluberia, 12 January 2021, part 1
Translated from Bengali

শ্রীকৃষ্ণচৈতন্য প্রভু জীবে দয়া করি' ।
স্বপার্ষদ স্বীয় ধাম সহ অবতরি ॥

sri-krsna-chaitanya prabhu jive daya kari'
svaparsada sviya dhama saha avatari

"Being merciful to the souls, Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu descends with His associates and abode."

Lord Sri Krishna accepted the heart and halo of Srimati Radharani and came in this age of Kali together with all His associates who participated in His pastimes in Dvapar-yuga. In Dvapar-yuga, Krishna took up weapons and destroyed demons, etc., but in Kali-yuga, He takes the heart and halo of Srimati Radharani (garbs Himself in the madhura-rasa mood) and appears in this world manifesting His audarya-lila, pastimes of magnanimity.

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)

His associates are devotees, and His weapons are khol, karatal, and mridanga. Armed with these weapons, the Lord wandered in this world:

শ্রীকৃষ্ণচৈতন্য প্রভু জীবে দয়া করি' ।
স্বপার্ষদ স্বীয় ধাম সহ অবতরি ॥

sri-krsna-chaitanya prabhu jive daya kari'
svaparsada sviya dhama saha avatari

"Being merciful to the souls, Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu descends with His associates and abode."

He made His advent in this world together with all His associates from Dvapar-yuga, and, going house to house, He told everyone:

জীব জাগ, জীব জাগ, গোরাচাঁদ বলে ।
কত নিদ্রা যাও মায়া-পিশাচীর কোলে ॥

jiva jaga, jiva jaga, gorachanda bale
kata nidra yao maya-pisachira kole

Sri Gorachand says, "O souls, awake! O souls, awake! How much longer will you sleep in the lap of the witch Maya?"

Out of compassionate kindness to all jiva souls, He went house to house, urging everyone, "Wake up! Stop sleeping! How much longer will you sleep in the lap of the witch Maya?" Moreover, the Lord comes here bringing His own abode: Sri Nabadwip Dham, which is non-different from Sri Vrindavan Dham (Goloka Vrindavan). What does He give when He comes? He distributes to everyone, door to door, the rarest form of transcendental love for Lord Krishna (Krishna-prema) that even Lord Brahma and Lord Siva have not been able to get.

Despite this magnanimity, not everybody was able to get this transcendental love—those who have the capacity to grasp it could get it. It is not possible to keep water in any glass: if some glass has a hole in it or is full of other things, then no matter how much water you pour, it will not stay inside (all water will spill out). So, those who are proud, thinking, "I know everything, I have understood everything," are not able to accept transcendental knowledge. If you have ego ("I understand it better than others!") and you do not have humility, you will not be able to understand these things. Srila Guru Maharaj sometimes told a story about a sadhu stayed on his own in a small cottage—he would cook something, offer bhog, and take prasadam. One day, some boy became curious to know what kind of knowledge that sadhu had. When you come to a sadhu, what should be your mood?

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)

It is necessary to have surrender. There are six kinds of surrender (saranagati):

দৈন্য, আত্মনিবেদন, গোপ্তৃত্বে বরণ ॥
'অবশ্য রক্ষিবে কৃষ্ণ'—বিশ্বাস পালন ॥
ভক্তি-অনুকূল মাত্র কার্য্যের স্বীকার ।
ভক্তি-প্রতিকূল ভাব—বর্জ্জনাঙ্গীকার ॥

dainya, atma-nivedana, goptrtve varana
'avasya raksibe krsna'—visvasa palana
bhakti-anukula matra karyera svikara
bhakti-pratikula bhava—varjanangikara

"(1) Humility, (2) self-submission, (3) embracing the Lord's guardianship, (4) maintaining the faith that 'Krishna will certainly protect me', (5) engaging only in activities that are favourable to devotion, (6) rejecting everything unfavourable to devotion.

(Saranagati, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

'Dainya' means being humble, considering yourself lowly and bereft, poor. 'Atma-nivedan' means surrendering yourself, submitting yourself. 'Goptritve-varan' means to accept the Lord as your maintainer, your guardian. 'Avasya-raksibe Krsna' means to accept that Krishna is the protector. 'Bhakti-anukula karyera svikara' means to do what is favourable to devotion, and 'bhakti-pratikula bhava—varjanangikara' means to reject what is not favourable to devotion.

You must accept what is favourable and at the same time reject what is not favourable. When you drink milk, you get vitamins, but if you at the same time smoke tobacco or cigarettes, all the vitamins will be destroyed. Suppose you are doing a fire sacrifice—if you put one spoon ghee and one spoon water into the fire, you cannot make a fire sacrifice like this. When you do a fire sacrifice, you must put only ghee into the fire. If you do something that is good for your health and at the same time do something that is harmful for your health, you will not get any result. Many people say, "I chant the Holy Name, so all difficulties and results of my actions are dissipated." This is sinning on the strength of the Holy Name (Nama bole papachar): it is one of the offences to the Holy Name. If you chant the Holy Name thinking that you can sin and when you chant the Holy Name, all sins will be removed, then it is an offence against the Holy Name. It can never be the Holy Name. For example, shopkeepers at the market have to lie the whole day—they sell ghee mixed with dalda or mustard oil mixed with rice oil. You know, there is oil that costs 62 rupees a litre, and there is oil that costs 128 rupees a litre. I asked once at the market why there is a difference of 66 rupees, and I was told that half of the cheaper oil is rice oil (rice bran oil, তুষের তেল). There are such mix-ups in this world; not everything is of the same purity. Actually, it is rare to find unalloyed things.

শুদ্ধ ভকত-চরণ-রেণু
ভজন-অনুকূল ।
ভকত-সেবা পরম-সিদ্ধি
প্রেমলতিকার মূল ॥

suddha-bhakata-charana-renu
bhajana-anukula
bhakata-seva parama-siddhi
prema-latikara mula

"The dust of pure devotees' feet is favourable to devotion. Serving the devotees is the supreme fulfilment and the root of the creeper of divine love."

It is necessary to accept that which is favourable and reject that which is unfavourable. You cannot do what is unfavourable because it will not give you any result. You think you can chant the Holy Name and all sins will go away, but if you chant with this sort of idea, this is Nama bole parachar (sinning on the strength of the Holy Name). This is what surrender (saranagati) is.

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