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Source: The Hindu (http://www.the-hindu.com)

 

Surrender, simplest path to reach God

 

CHENNAI, JUNE 27. Besides leaving several guidelines for a human

being's welfare during his journey in life, the Lord has also

made a categorical declaration which emboldens him to approach

Him, secure His grace and reach His permanent abode. ``Take

shelter in Me alone as the highest Divinity. I shall deliver you

from all your sins, arising from the non-performance of duties

enjoined by the scriptures.'' That pure devotion based on

absolute surrender to the Supreme Lord is the only function of

the individual soul, is the keynote of the whole teaching of the

Bhagavad Gita.

 

In His Divine Song, the Gita, the Lord has spelt out the main

paths by which man can reach his realm. But the path of surrender

or ``Saranagathi'' is simpler and can be adopted by any

distressed soul. There is no difference of opinion about its

efficacy as Manavala Maamunigal, Vedanta Desika and all other

religious luminaries have hailed it as the easiest among the

exercises. The path of Duty, prescribed on the basis of the

revelations in the Vedas, teachings of the Upanishads, and the

messages of the Puranas and epics, asks man to perform certain

rites and actions, in accordance with the rules thereunder and

regularly. They are like injunctions and like do's and don'ts.

Sages have tried this route but only one, the royal saint,

Janaka, father of Sita, can be reckoned as the unrivalled (in

this process). The second path is that of acquiring spiritual

knowledge which will result in the removal of impurities from the

mind by hard study of holy texts. The path of devotion is in the

form of a continuous stream of knowledge which is in the nature

of uninterrupted memory like oil streaming down continuously.

 

The Jeeyar Swami of the Vanamamalai Math, in a discourse,

explaining the features of these three routes, pointed out how

the scheme of ``surrender'' or Saranagathi, the fourth is by far

easy compared to the former, and it will yield fruits by the

grace of the Lord to those who do not possess the qualifications

required for the other three. The Lord's firm commitment to

devotee who comes to Him with his supplication, through an

Acharya (in the form of Mantras) denotes that He alone is the

saviour. Interpreted, the covenant advises him not to run about

here and there but firmly hold on to Him, with deep faith in His

supreme powers. While seeking this simple path, two essential

conditions should be openly expressed by the devotee viz., his

total helplessness and the absence for him to choose any other

method and that there is no other option. The other is the

aversion to interests other than Moksha and turning away from all

other refuge than ``Bhagavan''.

 

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