surrender or śaraṇāgati

[yajvan]

hariḥ om̐
~~~~~~

namaste and hello,

I was asked by a member to offer some insights to the term is śaraṇāgati. Let’s look at some of its meanings before ferreting out more knowledge on surrender and seeking protection.

The term śaraṇāgati is to seek protection; it is another way of also saying surrender. When taken apart there is much to learn:
śaraṇ+āgati or śara+ṇa+āgati.

Note too that this term is a compound¹ ( or samāsa). There are all different kinds of compounds, but from a macro point of view compounds fit into 4 general groups :
· dvandva - both members of the compound are principle
· avyaībhāva - the 1st member is principal
· tatpuruṣa - the 2nd member is the principal part of the compound
· bahuvrīhiḥ - neither member is principal
Since I am not offering ‘samāsa’ as the main topic of discussion, let’s just leave it as the terms here are compounds.

One way to look at this

• śaraṇ + āgati
  
  • note that 'n' becomes an 'ṇ' when it is preceded by an 'r'; this is a rule of grammar that is applied and used in the next bullet point.
  • we have śaraṇ which was śaran and is defined as śarad , meaning ‘time of ripening’.
  • agati = halting, and āgati = arriving.

When viewed in this manner śaraṇ + āgati is the arrival, or , arriving at the time of ripening.

Another view

• śara + ṇa + āgati
  
  • śara = to destroy; it also means an arrow ( or shaft) , used on occasion to mean ‘ to hit the mark’ as we do with an arrow.
  • ṇa = knowledge; it also means nirvṛti , or complete satisfaction or happiness , bliss , pleasure , delight. One other definition of ṇa= nirvṛti =
  • emancipation and extinction. ‘Extinction’ is that of ignorance. To the astute reader we find this ‘ṇa’ within kṛṣṇa for the exact same reasons just offered i.e. he that brings or is emancipation, of which is pleasure and delight, complete satisfaction.
  • āgati = arriving.

When viewed in this manner śara + ṇa + āgati is arriving, hitting the mark of ‘ṇa’ or emancipation; or arriving at ṇa (knowledge) the destruction (śara) or extinction (nirvṛti) of ignorance. We can see this is the final ‘ripening’.

This is a start... so with the next post we can consider the notion of surrender, & seeking protection.

इतिशिवं
iti śivaṁ


1. Samples of English compounds you may be familiar with:

noun + noun bedroom water tank motorcycle printer cartridge noun + verb rainfall haircut train-spotting noun + adverb hanger-on passer-by verb + noun washing machine driving licence swimming pool verb + adverb lookout take-off drawback adverb + noun onlooker bystander adjective + verb dry-cleaning public speaking adjective + noun greenhouse software redhead adverb + verb output overthrow upturn input

[yajvan]

hariḥ om̐
~~~~~~

namaste and hello

To surrender one must ask why surrender ?

• to whom?
• is it (surrendering) linked to bhakti ?
• what is being surrendered?
• is it partial or full ?
• what is the expectation ?

These are a few questions that could be on a person’s mind...

For many, it is done when one is at the end of their rope. This could be from sorrow, fear, angst, grief and the like. This is one end of the spectrum. Yet there is another end also. Let’s call out a few; keep in mind post 1 above for what part of śaraṇāgati is being pursued.

• Draupadī
  

draupadī ,( also known as kṛṣṇā draupadī ) is ordered to be dis-robed by the mandate of duryodhana putting her to great embarrassment. She asks for help from kṛṣṇa. This HDF post & the 15th post reviews the condition http://hindudharmaforums.com/showthr...260#post109260 . I then will not need to re-write the post here.
One could make the argument that draupadī’s śaraṇāgati is for śaraṇāgati overall (to seek protection) & for śaraṇāgati, the destruction of her grief and embarrassment.

• King janaka

If you recall a post on muni aṣṭāvakra-ji and his instruction king janaka :
http://hindudharmaforums.com/showthr...655#post128655
Here we have the example of surrender for śaraṇāgati (nirvṛti or emancipation)

• Arjuna's words (bhāgavad gītā 2.7):

kārpaṇyadoṣopahatasvabhāvaḥ
pṛcchāmi tvāṃ dharmasaṃmūḍhacetāḥ |
yac chreyaḥ syān niścitaṃ brūhi tan me
śiṣyastehaṃ śādhi māṃ tvāṃ prapannam || 2.7

... tell me O’Lord what is best (śreyas) for me

When arjuna’s intellect cannot see a way out, he surrenders, and asks, 'tell me what is best for me'. His surrender is śaraṇāgati – knowledge that leads to proper actions (dharma).

• Question to rāmaṇa mahaṛṣi
  Let’s look at another example. I ask the reader for their views on this matter and where or if śaraṇāgati has its engagement here:

Q: (As) men of the world we are, we have some kind of grief or another and do not get over it. We pray to God and still we are not satisfied. What can we do?
rāmaṇa mahaṛṣi: Trust in God.

Q: We surrender, but still there is no help.
rāmaṇa mahaṛṣi: if you have surrendered you must be able to abide by the will of God and not make an issue of what may or many not please you.

Q: But we are worldly. There is a wife, children, friends, relatives. We cannot ignore their existence and resign ourselves to Divine Will without retaining a little of the personality in us.
rāmaṇa mahaṛṣi: That means you have not surrendered as professed by you. You must trust only in God.

There are lessons learned in all the examples above... Let me ask the HDF reader for their views on this matter and we will continue the conversation.

इतिशिवं
iti śivaṁ

1. From 'Talks with rāmaṇa mahaṛṣi' - first addition from the year 2000; talks actually occurred in April 1935.

[yajvan]

hariḥ om̐
~~~~~~

namaste and hello

what is surrender? Rāmaṇa mahaṛṣi informs us that surrender is to give oneself up to the original cause of one’s being. One’s source is within one’s self. Seek the source and merge with it he says. In seeking the source he calls out 4 possible ways pending the aspirant’s temperament & focus:

• vicara marga
• bhakti
• pranayam
• karma marga

We will look at these 4 in an upcoming post.

Rāmaṇa mahaṛṣi too mentions that surrender is bhakti; then mentions a ‘man should surrender the personal selfishness which binds him to this world. Giving up the false self is the true renunciation.’ So we are getting closer to what one is giving up .

To gain a more robust insight I look to utpaladevācārya¹ and his work (or direct experience) called śivastortāvalī for support.
He calls out in the 7^th chapter (called viduravijaya nāmadheyaṁ saptamaṁ stortram)¹, 3 things:

• let the rope or chain (gala) of the darkness of differentiated perceptions be destroyed completely
• let unboundedness universal freedom rise in my heart ( heart or hṛdaye, is code for consciousness)
• let my individuality be soaked in the rasa of God Consciousness

So, there is this alignment of rāmaṇa mahaṛṣi & utpaladevācārya on this notion of the smallness of individuality, or selfishness.
Selfishness is another way of saying ‘me’ and ‘mine’ as one’s frame of reference for everything. That is, one's frame of reference for all things that occurs is always filtered though the notion of who one thinks they are ('me')/

One more luminary says it slightly differently but no doubt compliments the views just offered. Śrī nisargadatta maharāj said, to know the world you forget the SELF; to know the SELF you forget the world. Now the ‘code’ that the wise use for differentiated/fractured awareness is ‘world’. It is the home of diversity. When we view it in ignorance we only see an amalgamation of things. These things ( person, place, thing, actions, feelings) fall on our differentiated awareness and multiple thought-feeling-impressions occur again and again. So, what śrī nisargadatta maharāj is saying to know the SELF and ‘forget’ the world is to turn within and experience ( once again) one’s wholeness of awareness and this is named SELF.

Now there is much more we can say on this matter , but this is a foothold on the notion of surrender.

इतिशिवं
iti śivaṁ
Reference books

• 'Talks with rāmaṇa mahaṛṣi' - first addition - year 2000; talks occurring January 1936
• ‘A Search In Secret India’ - Paul Brunton, discussions with Rāmaṇa mahaṛṣi is chapter 9, ‘ The hill of the holy beacon’.
• utpaladevācārya – utpala+deva+ācārya utpala = blossoming, any flower + deva = divine, of highest excellence + ācārya is the master, knowing or teaching the ācāra or rules, the spiritual guide
  
  • utpaladevācārya was a luminary within kaśmir śaivism. This work I am quoting from is the śivastortāvalī is devotional to its core · it is said that utpaladevācārya use to be brought out on to Dal Lake by his sevaka’s ( disciples); there he would voice the hymns that came to him, the outpouring of a śiva-bhakta; this came to be the śivastortāvalī. The hymns where in no particular order . his śiṣya-s (students) wrote down the verses/hymns and re-arranged them accordingly into 20 chapters.
  
  
• vidhuravijaya nāmadheyaṁ saptamaṁ stortram = the title (nāmadheyaṁ) of 7^th praise or hymn (saptamaṁ stortram) to conquer (vijaya) helplessness (vidhura); vidhura is also = vyākulatā = agitation , bewilderment.
• Śrī nisargadatta’s book ‘ I Am That’.

[Anirudh]

Namaste

This is a very important or to say the core concept of Sri Vaishnavism.

[yajvan]

hariḥ om̐
~~~~~~

namaste and hello

Namaste This is a very important or to say the core concept of Sri Vaishnavism.

Let’s look to the words of the vaiṣṇava¹ luminary of Tamil Nadu that many are not familiar with , that of saint (sage) nammāḻvār-ji .
The term āḻvār ( some spell alwar) we are told are those that dive deeply into the ocean of countless qualities of the Supreme, and in this case of viṣṇuḥ.
He says the following:
I was in a maze, sticking to ‘I’ and ‘mine’; I wandered without knowing my SELF. On reailzing my SELF I understand that I myself am You and that ‘mine’ is only You.

इतिशिवं
iti śivaṁ
1. vaiṣṇava – followers of viṣṇuḥ

[Anirudh]

hariḥ om̐
~~~~~~

namaste and hello

Let’s look to the words of the vaiṣṇava¹ luminary of Tamil Nadu that many are not familiar with , that of saint (sage) nammāḻvār-ji .
The term āḻvār ( some spell alwar) we are told are those that dive deeply into the ocean of countless qualities of the Supreme, and in this case of viṣṇuḥ.
He says the following:
I was in a maze, sticking to ‘I’ and ‘mine’; I wandered without knowing my SELF. On reailzing my SELF I understand that I myself am You and that ‘mine’ is only You.

इतिशिवं
iti śivaṁ
1. vaiṣṇava – followers of viṣṇuḥ

Namaste Yajvan,

Thanks for adding that information.

Hopefully I am not derailing into a sectarian discussion. Here we have an excellent discourse by Sri U.Ve. Krishnan Swamigal on the subject being discussed in this thread. Although there are many discourses on this subject most of them are in regional Indian language. This is one hour video, but worth every second. Another video, probably for the beginners. Another two detailed videos. Please be patient, again I say, worth every second.

Those who can understand Tamil, please listen to this and this. If I find time, will try to locate English translations.