Sharanagathi

As we are entering into the last day of Margazhi, we are reminded of 29th Pasuram of Thiruppaavai wherein she totally surrenders ( Sharanagathi) and prays to Krishna to remove the obstacles standing in her way of Sharanagathi( matrai Nam kaamangal Maatru--please divert our mind from other attractions).

It appears to me that the real meaning of the word Sharanagathi or surrender has not been properly understood. Our elders, by the study of many scriptures and texts, have conveyed to us the meaning. Despite this, we get the impression that the word surrender means putting at the disposal of God our body, our mind, all our powers and all that we have. We take it that 'placing these before God' is the true meaning of the word surrender.

Neither the body is under our control nor the mind.We foolishly go after mind's wanderings.when the body and mind are not under our control, it is not understandable how we can say that we will able to surrender what is not under our control.

So, when you say that you are surrendering to God your thought, your word, your deed, it is simply a kind of trivial satisfaction to yourself. This cannot represent the truth and the meaning of the word 'surrender.' Saranagathi really relates to another aspect and it should be interpreted in the background and context of higher thinking and conceptions. It is only when you accept and when you believe that the divine is present in every human being and in every living thing, that divinity is omnipresent, then only can you understand the meaning of
true Sharanagathi. As soon as you are able to recognize the aspects of the omnipresence of God in every creation,'EGO' disappears and sharanagathi is automatic without the knowledge and voluntary effort of the person who surrenders.It is a gradual transformation process from within.

There is one other thing which we have to recognize and take note of. We know that Krishna and Arjuna were living together for well over eighty years, were meeting each other very often and talking to each other like friends. But at no point of time in those eighty odd years did Lord Krishna ever try to teach anything of the Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna. It was only after eighty years and that too in the battlefield, and that again under some special circumstances--That was when Krishna found Arjuna worthy of being entrusted with the contents of Gita.
Even to do Shranagathi ,it needs credit worthiness-a fit enough paathram, that is the eligibility criteria.

Every person wants and desires that he should get Moksha or liberation. We may say that liberation is synonymous with freedom. When we desire freedom, it implies that at the moment we are in some kind of bondage. What is that bondage? The bondage is in our own family, in our own home, in our environment to which we are tied up and entangled. That is the chain which has bound you. This is what you may call affection with some kind of an attachment. When you are tied up with the chain, the chain of affection and attachment to the family, there are only two ways by which you can free yourself from this chain.
One way is to get the strength by which to break the chain. There is a second way and that is to make yourself tiny, smaller and smaller so that you can just slip and get out of the chain which is binding you.
These two are the Gnana and Bhakthi margas.
Bhakthi or devotion means you recognise that there is a master, that you have to put yourself in a humble position and be subservient to the master. You also recognise that your conduct should be such that you can get His grace. This is the procedure for Bhakthi This is referred to as an attitude of 'Daasoham' or behaviour which by implication proclaims 'I am your servant'. When you are bound by a chain, within that chain if you can tell yourself 'Daasoham, Daasoham', that means you are humble, you are developing humility, your ego is becoming less and less. It shrinks you so much that you can slip and get out of the chain.

The other path, which is the path of Gnana, is the way or getting out of the chain by telling yourself 'Shivoham, Shivoham'; I am Siva - that means that by knowledge you are expanding, becoming bigger, finally you become so big that you can break the chain and get out.

Sometimes we don't develop either Bhakthi or Gnana.
Vaishnava Gurus explain these two phenomena of Bhakta and Prapanna calling it Marjala Nyayam and Markata Nyayam(Style of monkey and Cat).

If you are a Bhakta it means that you believe in GOD but you want to take of things on your own and God exhibits "Prapanna" characteristic by leaving things to you since you want to be in charge. That is we want to use the'free Will' given by God.Example:- Monkey and her kids. Look at any mother monkey with her kids jumping from one branch to another. The monkey happily jumps from one tree to another. It is up to the kid to tightly clasp her/his mother around her stomach. The little monkey holding her mother is the Bhakta here and mother monkey does not take the responsibility just like man is allowed to use his free Will and God is just a witness.

If you surrender yourself completely to GOD,that is offering Sharanagathi, and it is up to Him to take care of you. God here has no choice but become your savior and look after you since he is in charge now. Example:- Cat and Kitten. Look at the kitten. They exhibit the characteristic of a 'Prapanna' where they leave everything to their mother. The cat takes the responsibility of the kitten and it moves those kitten by carefully grabbing them and holding with her teeth.

As we go through Thiruppaavai by Andal, sharangathi is not that easy as falling under the feet by Tamilnadu politicians.Vaishnavism puts forth six dos and don'ts to make ourselves qualified for Sharanagathi.One of which is very important,that is intense Faith, Maha Viswasam.Otherwise the entire exercise of 'Sharanagathi will be futile.

We are not able to learn the scriptures and attain Gnana,that is ruled out.
During Bhakthi we offer prayers and want to become servants to God.But our misfortunes and failures just shatter us apart.
Sharanagathi is preached by Vaishnava Gurus as the easiest.But we want to utilise the skills and Free will ,try to our best and only ultimately with hesitation we indulge in Sharanagathi half heartedly.
Karma yoga- doing all duties with love and commitment- without expecting any rewards -is the Gita marga.But then is it not human to expect rewards and good results? Does it not inculcate more and more enthusiasm? Does it not drive human beings to achieve greater things in all the fields for the welfare of humanity at large?

Do your best with good intention, determination ,commitment and love and leave the rest to God?
I am going to complete 75.Gone through so much of literature of Thiruppaavai, Thiruvempavai, teachings of Ramakrishna, Vivekananda ,Ramana ,Mahaswami's teachings.
Yet the picture is not very clear

Do your duty, and wait without anxiety?
Is this 'wait' for the appropriate results and much deserved 'Time' what every one means by bhakthi, karma or surrender?
It is said that the ultimate aim is to realise God and He is the way to attain Him also.
The path of journey and the place of destination are stated to be one and the same.
Then why do we bother?At any time the experience of journey is more important than reaching the place of destination.Let us travel, travel and travel and experience,experience and experience.
You name it karmayogam, or Bhakthi or Sharanagathi!
Jayasala 42

 

Dear Viswa,
Thank you for the wonderful narration about Sharanagathi.You have addaed much more value to what I have written.You have discussed the entire issue in'Advaitha angle.
But as per vishta advaitham promulgated by Shri Ramanuja ,the main ingredient of one of the six pre requisites of Sharangathi is Maha viswasam, without which total surrender is not acceptable.In many of the paasurams of Thiruppavai Andal advises against
the Advaitha philososphy of Sankara and they never agree that the knower,the known and the knowledge are one and the same.While Sankara, Ramana and Sathya Sai schools seem to preach on similar line, vaishnava cult seems to differ in many areas.If you happen to listen to lectures by Shri Velukkudi Krishnan both in English and Tamil,we know the intensity with which he puts forth his Vedantic concepts.In madars .Being born and brought up in Srirangam I havefrom my childhood listened to lectures both by vaishnavites and Saivite scholars.The Sharanagathi aspect is more insisted upon by Vaishnavites while the other gurus lay emphasis on 'self realisation.
Last year we attended about 10 lectures on Sharanagathi,vehemently supported by Naalayira Divya prabanndam and various Sanskrit works composed by Vedantha Desikan, a scholar of great eminence beyond compare.The lectures were very much enlightening and elaborate.Generally Vaishnava Gurus have their own way of convincing the audience.
This is the basis on which I framed my essay on 'Sharanagathi'.

The concept is very vast and is very much beyond the scope of clear cut definition.
Thank you very much for your wonderful feed back, which I cherish always.

Jayasala 42