In Praise of Saranagati | Saranagati

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SARANAGATI (SURRENDER) | Sri Laghu-chandrika-bhasya

In Praise of Saranagati

(Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj)
(Excerpted from Sermons of the Guardian of Devotion, Volume One)

When I entered Sri Gaudiya Math, I received Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur's small Bengali book Saranagati for the very first time. It was so sweet to me that I purchased several copies and distributed them amongst my friends. Its price was only four paise. It was so sweet, it touched my heart. I thought, "Here is Krishna—Krishna-katha (talks of Krishna) is Krishna Himself. Here is talk about Krishna, the adhoksaja, the transcendental." I later composed a short commentary when I was in Nanda Gram, and it is published along with Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur's commentary in Bengali.

I wrote an introductory poem to the commentary on Saranagati:

svairacharabdhi-sammagnan jivan gauranghri-pankaje
uddhrtya saranapatter mahatmyam samabodhayat

"All the conditioned souls are sammagnan—they are diving or struggling in the ocean of svairachara or pleasure-seeking—anyabhilas—immoral or whimsical activities. Gauranghri-pankaje uddhrtya: taking them out of that ocean, you put them in the lotus—you took them to the lotus feet of Gauranga. You collected them from the wide, troubled ocean, and gave them to the lotus feet of Gauranga. Uddhrtya saranapatter mahatmyam samabodhayat: and so, having placed them there, you began to instruct them about the great nobility and high value of saranagati, exclusive surrender. Samabodhayat: you tried to make them understand and realise the efficacy of saranagati proper. You, my Gurudev, Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur Prabhupad, did so, so I bow down unto you first.” Then I also wrote a verse offering obeisance unto the writer of Saranagati, Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur [See Sri Laghu-chandrika-bhasya, 1.8].