इष्वरप्रणिधानाद्वा means surrendering to a higher reality or surrendering to the divine. As humans, do we surrender or are we taught to surrender? We think surrender is a sign of weakness. We think that without us, things will not happen. We use authority to ensure that things happen. For many, work itself has become a stress. How do we reduce this stress? How do we learn to surrender?
Our ancient texts say that two things are necessary to walk through the ups and downs of life, with all its perils and disaster . One, our inner state of shraddha, sincerity and surrender and the other the grace of the divine or a higher reality.
In Patanjali Yoga Sutra, when Sage Patanjali says Iswara, he means a higher reality, a higher consciousness. Isvara, as per the sutras, is one who has no afflictions, is beyond the pair of opposites and is compassionate. Pranidhana is the श्रद्धा (shraddha) where one surrenders to a higher consciousness. The word Shraddha has no equivalent word in English. It is the feeling which comes from the depth of the heart or one's inner self. It is the passion one has and the full dedication one gives, to whatever one does. Ishwarapranidhana is one of the Niyamas, observances to be followed for personal growth.
Iswarapranidhana is also part of Kriya yoga along with तपस and स्वाध्याय. Kriya Yoga is recommended to remove the suffering from the mind which is full of modifications and fluctuations. Tapas and Iswarapranidhana
The path of “Tapas” is believed to be strenuous. Tapas means to put one’s effort or persevere in any task that one undertakes. One has to solely rely upon oneself, depending on his own strength and weakness and the progress depending on the effort , perseverance that one puts in. There is always the danger of falling down. Whereas, in “Ishwarapranidhana with shraddha”, one surrenders to the divine or higher reality and the grace is always there.
Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, gives the example of taking the path either of the baby monkey or the baby cat. The baby monkey holds on to its mother in order to be carried about and it must hold firm, otherwise if it loses the grip, the baby might fall. On the other hand, the baby cat does not hold on to its mother, but is held by the mouth of the mother and has no fear nor self responsibility. It has nothing to do but let's go and allows the mother to take care of it. So along with Tapas if there is Ishwarapranidana, the grace is always there.
I would like to quote the story of Poet and composer Purandaradasa. Before he became a musician he was a wealthy gold and diamond merchant. He put in lot of effort to become famous for his work. His wife was a pious lady, who carried on her work with dedication, at the same time had faith in the divine and surrendered herself to the divine. She was constantly thinking why her husband though he was hard working did not have the attitude of surrendering to the divine. It so happened that an old man came to her asking for some alms. At that time she did not have any money and gave her nose ring to him. The old man took the nose ring and went to her husband asking for money and said he would pawn his nose ring. When the merchant saw the nose ring, he recognised that it was his wife's nose ring. He told the old man to wait and went home to check with his wife. He saw that his wife did not have the nose ring. He asked her about it and she said that she had removed it while having a bath. He asked her to bring it and wear it in front of him. She went inside and bought the box. When she opened she was surprised to see the nose ring inside. The merchant was also surprised to see the ring in the box. Immediately he knew that it was the divine acting and immediately surrendered to the divine and from then on music flowed through him and he became the pitamah of carnatic music leaving behind his wealthy business.
If one takes the path of surrender fully and sincerely, there is less danger. The sincerity and surrender has to be entire and genuine. Our action, words, thoughts all have to be in it together for the grace to be there. Surrender also is giving up the limits of one's ego. To surrender to the divine, is to renounce one's narrow limits, the arrogance and the individuality.
With Ishvarapranidhana, the grace is always there. One does not feel the burden of things in hand.With Ishvarapranidhana ,a higher reality is looking upon us and guiding us and we carry on our work with full responsibility. We become free. With complete faith, sincerity and surrender, the grace and protection is also upon us.
B.Gita, Sri Krishna(chp12.12) says that “Knowledge is better than practice. Meditation on a higher reality is better than knowledge. Renunciation of the fruits of action is even superior to meditation. Lord Krishna says peace immediately follows renunciation”. Humans are always striving for peace, so why not surrender totally, so that one is peaceful. This is brought about in yet another shloka (B.G. 2.4) कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते माफलेषु कदाचन मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूमा तेसन्गस्त्व्कर्मणि Here, Sri Krishna says that we have responsibility only towards action but not to the fruits of action.Adhikara which is mentioned in the sloka is the responsibility one has towards action, whatever it may be. The action is done without feeling any anxiety or irritation. When we take responsibility for our actions, we plan, take necessary steps and work with joy and enthusiasm. When we perform actions with full responsibility, the results will always be there, immediately or later. Surrendering to a higher reality, causes less dukha in us even if results don't follow action. We are at peace having given our best to the work we are doing.
Due to the unexpected COVID -19 situation, stay at home, work from home, social distancing may have resulted in many month-end targets, year-end targets not being met. We may get upset about not meeting our target or that our bonus would be affected or that a planned vacation might not happen. Should we get upset and angry about this and spoil our mood and others’ mood or do we sit back and think in a relaxed manner about the current situation and steps to take care of our health and of those around us? It is rightly said, ‘ Prevention is better than cure’. Here, again it is the outside forces which are at play, over which we have no control. It is best that we accept the situation, do things with full responsibility and move on.
Few examples of इष्वरप्रणिधान from the puranas are given below: In Mahabharata, after losing in the game of dice, Draupadi is being disrobed. Her husbands are not able to rescue her and she remembers that only her KrIshna can save her.. She calls out, ‘‘हे कृष्णा’and she is saved from disgrace.
In Gajendra Moksham story , the crocodile does not let go of the foot of the mighty elephant Gajendra. Ganjendra knows his strength and is confident in the beginning that he can easily defeat the crocodile but the jaws of the crocodile was extraordinarily strong. Finally it dawned on Gajendra that his strength is not going to be fruitful here but the divine intervention is required.He surrenders completely to Lord Vishnu who then rescues him. This is a clear example to let us understand that the grace of the Divine is required for all our actions. The shloka below was chanted by Gajendra as a plea to rescue him. शुक्लांबरधरं विष्णुं शशि वर्णं चतुर्भुजं ।प्रसन्न वदनं ध्यायेत सर्व विघ्नोपशान्तये॥
It is interesting to know that when things go well in our life we think that it is because of MY efforts and when things do not go as expected we blame the circumstances or people. A person who remembers the grace of the Lord in all his actions and does the action with full sincerity and leaving the result to the Lord has much deeper harmony and peace in life.Gajendra was proud of his strength but the moment he surrendered , the Lord came. In difficult times the mind is full of doubts and modification, we may find peace when we do इष्वरप्रणिधान with श्रद्धा | To conclude, a few quotes from Mother (Sri Aurobindo Ashram)
Yoga means union with the divine, and the union is effected through offering - it is founded on the offering of yourself to the divine. One must feel at every step that we belong to the divine, in whatever you think, you do, it is always the divine consciousness that is acting through you.
To be free from all preferences and receive joyfully whatever comes from the Divine will is not possible at first for any human being. What one should have at first is the constant idea that what the Divine wills, is always the best for us. Even when the mind does not see how it is so, to accept with resignation what one cannot; yet accept with gladness and so to arrive at a calm equality.
With Faith in the Divine grace, all difficulties are solved.
At the end of the tunnel, there is light. Grace is there permanent and eternal.
Providence is not only that which saves one from the shipwreck in which everybody else is floundering, it is also that which, while all others are saved, snatches away my last plank of safety and drowns me in the ocean. The true path is surrender, complete, absolute, unconditioned surrender to the Divine. It is the proportion of our trust in the Divine that the Divine Grace can act for us and help. Vijaya HariharanFor Yoga Bharati
