Daily Devotion - Jan 22, 2026 (English)- Sharaṇāgati - Surrender to God
Bhaktiḥ pareśānubhavo viraktir anyatra caiṣa trika ekakālaḥ
Prapadyamānasya yathāśnataḥ syus tuṣṭiḥ puṣṭiḥ kṣud-apāyo’nughāsam
Ity acyutāṅghri-bhajato’nuvṛttyā bhaktir viraktir bhagavat-prabodhaḥ
Bhavanti vai bhāgavatasya rājaṁs tataḥ parāṁ śāntim upaiti sākṣāt (Bhāgavatam 11-2-42, 43)
Shri Maharaj Ji has explained these two verses in simple words through a single doha -
Hari śaraṇāgati Govinda Rādhe
Bhakti jñān vairāgya paidā karā de
You need three things:
- Knowledge of God
- Devotion to God, and
- Detachment from the world
In philosophical texts, you will find three perspectives:
i) Some say that freedom from suffering alone is the goal. This view is found most commonly and represents the goal of the gyānīs.
ii) Some say that attaining bliss alone is the goal.
iii) Some say that both freedom from suffering and the attainment of bliss are the goals.
There are three types of suffering: ādhyātmik, ādhidaivik, and ādhibhautik.
Among these, ādhyātmik suffering is the most prominent. This is also of two kinds:
i) Physical - diseases related to the body, such as fever, diarrhea, and so on.
ii) Mental - suffering related to the mind, such as lust, anger, greed, attachment, pride, and envy. We are afflicted by countless mental ailments, even if someone becomes a billionaire. As long as māyā remains, all of these will remain. Māyā is the power of God - "daiví hyeṣā guṇamayī mama māyā." No one can conquer it. Except for God and those who have attained God, māyā makes everyone dance to its tunes. Those who have attained God remain under His grace, so māyā cannot reach them. Māyā is so powerful that you cannot remove it by your own effort.
A person may become greatly angered over a trivial matter, to the extent that one may even murder one's own parents, what to speak of others.
You wish that suffering would go away forever. Sometimes suffering does cease, but only in deep sleep, when you do not even dream. The moment your eyes open, that entire world of suffering returns to your mind.
The cessation of suffering is called liberation (moksh). However, upon attaining moksh, one experiences nirvikalpa samādhi, meaning a bliss that resembles a void, like the state experienced in deep sleep. In that condition, one does not attain the bliss of God - neither His pastimes nor the various flavours of His divine bliss. Therefore, the goal of the gyānīs, which is merely the cessation of suffering, is not entirely correct. The goal of devotees is the attainment of bliss - this is the supreme goal. When this is attained, suffering goes away automatically.
Thus, this goal - whether described as freedom from suffering or the attainment of happiness - which you have been striving toward since eternity, can be attained by following what Vedavyāsa teaches:
Surrender your mind to God. Give yourself to God. That is, fill your mind with God, place Him there, and keep Him there. Do not separate from Him even for a moment.
So far, you have placed God in your mind for a while, and then you have also placed your mother, father, son, wife, husband, wealth, and sweets in that same mind. This should not be done. It is like dirty clothes: they become clean only when they are continuously washed with soap and clean water. If you apply soap for a while, then put them back into dirt, then apply soap again, and keep repeating this process, they will never become clean.
Therefore, God says in the Gita:
ananyachetāḥ satatam yo māṁ smarati nityaśaḥ
tasyāham sulabhaḥ pārtha nityayuktasya yoginaḥ
There are only two conditions:
i) Ananyachetāḥ - let your mind remain in Me alone; do not allow the world to enter it.
ii) Yo māṁ smarati nityaśaḥ - let your mind remain in Me continuously.
You have not fulfilled both of these conditions in infinite births. You do bring your mind to God, but only occasionally, not continuously. Therefore, the mind remaining continuously in God itself is surrender - sharaṇāgati. Just as when someone is called mātruvrat, pitṛvrat, or pativrat, it means that their mind constantly remains aligned with the object of their devotion.
God tells Arjuna that sharaṇāgati means being both exclusive and continuous. When such surrender occurs, the three things you desire - devotion, detachment, and knowledge of God - begin to arise automatically. If surrender is ten percent, then detachment, knowledge of God, and devotion will also be ten percent each. It is like when you eat food, three things happen:
- Tusthi - means satisfaction - you were hungry and distressed, you ate food and became satisfied.
- Pusti - means nourishment, you received strength; you had not eaten for two days and were feeling dizzy, now strength has returned. And
- Kshuddanivṛtti - means cessation of hunger; the restlessness of hunger that was in your mind is also gone.
In the same way, devotion, detachment, and knowledge all increase naturally according to the degree of one's surrender.
Your task is to surrender your mind to God - Shri Krishna, His name, form, qualities, pastimes, abode, and the saints, that is, the guru. If the mind remains only in these, it means the mind is in God alone. Let it not wander into the material realm outside of this, meaning that there should be no attachment. Seeing someone is not a sin, but seeing someone with love and attaching your mind to them is incorrect.
You will have to use the world. You will have to eat food. If you are given sweets, eat them, but consider them to be God's prasād. You have to fill your stomach and sustain your body. Eat for the sake of your devotional practice. The feeling should not be, "I am eating because I am experiencing great pleasure."
In this way, you can attain your goal through surrender.
Recommended books by Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj related to this topic:
