Absolute self-surrender. (Glossary for the Vahinis)

‘Saranagati,’ leaving everything to His Will is the highest form of Bhakti. The easiest path to self-realisation is the surrender of the ego - Saranagati. (SSS Vol.4, p. 120)

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 saying surrendering in thought, word and deed, and you will also become one with God. There is some justification in your talking of Saranagati, or surrender, when you are fully in control of your mind, fully in control of your word and fully in control of your body. As soon as you are able to recognise the aspect of omnipresence of God and the aspect of omnipotence of God, then the feeling of ego, the feeling that there is an’ ‘I’ which is a distinct thing, will disappear. (SSB 1972, pp. 102-103)

There are three types of Saranagati: Tamai vaham (I am Thine), Mamaiva-tattva (You are mine) and Tvame Vaaham (Thou art I). The first affirms, I am Yours; the second asserts, You are mine and the third declares, You and I are One, the Same. Each is just a step in the rising series and the last is the highest step of all. In the first stage, Tam-eva-Aham, the Lord is fully free and the Devotee is fully bound (it is like the cat and the kitten). The cat shifts the kitten about as it swills; the kitten just mews and accepts whatever happens. This attitude is very gentle and is within easy reach of all.

In the second, Mama-eva-tattva, the devotee binds the Lord, who is to that extent un-free! Surdas is a good example of this attitude. ‘Krishna! You may escape from my hold, from the clasp of these arms; but you cannot escape from my heart where I have bound You’, challenged Surdas. The Lord just smiled and assented; for ‘I am bound by My devotees’. The devotee can tie up the Lord with his Prema, by Bhakti that overwhelms and overpowers his egoism. When man is full of this type of Bhakti, the Lord will Himself bless him with everything he needs; His Grace will fulfil all his wants. Remember the promise the Lord made in the Gita ‘Yogakshemam Vahamyaham’, ‘I carry the burden of his welfare’.

Next about the third stage: ‘Tvameva aham iti tridha’; this is the Avibhakta - Bhakti, the inseparable devotion. The devotee offers all to the Lord, including himself, for he feels that he cannot withhold himself. That completes his surrender. The tva-me-vaham feeling is the Advaitic Saranagati, based on the realisation that all this (Idam is Vasudeva and nothing else, nothing else. So long as the consciousness of the Deha or body persists, the bhakta is the servant and the Lord is the Master. So long as the individual feels that he is separate from other individuals, the bhakta is a part and the Lord is the Whole. When he progresses to the State when he gets beyond the limits of the body as well as of ‘I’ and ‘Mine’, then there is no more distinction; Bhakta and Bhagavan are the same. In Ramayana, Hanuman, achieved this third stage through bhakti. (GV, pp.20-21)

The Gita does not intend that you should pluck a leaf or flower or a fruit from some plant or tree and place it before God. Nor does it ask you to bring water from a well or river or the road-side tap. The leaf is your own body, which like the leaf, sprouts green, fades and finally falls off from the branch. The flower is the Heart freed from the insect pests of Lust, Anger, Greed, Attachment, Pride, Hate, etc. The fruit is the mind, the consequence of its yearning, which has to be dedicated to God, the water is the stream of tears that flow from the eyes when one is in ecstatic Bliss at the contemplation of God’s Glory. Giving these four is the real act of surrender, Saranagati. The offering of leaves or flowers or fruits or river water is at best a way of helping the plant or tree or river to secure a little merit. (SSS Vol.8, p. 157)

It is the mind that builds up the body, strong and shiny, or wastes it to skin and bone. For Manushya to be strong, the manas has to be strong. Live always as the servant of the Lord within you, then you will not be tempted into sin or fall into evil. Get into the habit of living in the light of God. It is the habit that rehabilitates the fallen. Have the attitude of Saranagati, or else your destiny will be Sara-gati. (SSS VoI.2, p. 77)

Worship or Upasana or Bhakti marga is the name given to the path of Saranagat or surrender to the Lord’s Will, the merging of the individual Will in the Will of the Universal. Lakshmana is the classic example of this spirit of surrender that saves. Once during this exile in the forest, Rama asked Lakshmana to put up a leaf- hut on a site of his choice. Lakshmana was shocked; he was struck down with grief. He pleaded with Rama; ‘Why do you ask me to select the site? Have I any individuality left? Can I choose? Will I select? Don’t you know that I have no will of my own? You decide and I obey; you command, I carry out the order.’ That is real saranagati, real bhakti. This can be acquired by constant practice of detachment. (SSS Vol.6, p. 4)

Arjuna was sentenced to engage himself in warfare against his elders and kinsmen, by the Lord. His heroic lineage and Kshatriya blood urged him forward to fight; his fear of sin and retribution urged him to desist. "Am I to rule over the kingdom after winning it by destroying those who I revere and hold dear"? he asked himself. Then the Lord instructed him, right in the middle of the opposing armies. In the second chapter of the Geetha, He told him of Saranagati (the doctrine of surrender). Arjuna heard it and said, Lord I have no will of my own; I surrender to you." Thereafter, the battle was transmuted into a yajna where adharma was offered in the sacrificial fire.

When an act is done is spirit of surrender to the Lord, it becomes a yajna; when it is done in a spirit of egoism, it ends in a battle. Dhaksha, the Emperor, performed a yajna; but, in his pride, he neglected the Lord and His Shakti. So, the yajna was upset by a fight. When there was no egoism minting the battle, it became sublimated into a yajna. That is the alchemy which saranagati can accomplish. (SSS Vol.6)