Gita Series – 127: Bhagavad Gita Chapter XII. Verse 10 – 12

“Even if you are unskilled to practice this yoga, be absorbed to work for Me and this will perfect you. Even this is not possible, subdue your mind, take refuge in Me and surrender the fruits of all your actions to Me. Knowledge is superior to practice, meditation is better than knowledge, renunciation is superior to meditation, as peace follows renunciation immediately.”

Krishna spoke about connecting Self and self in the previous verses. The difference between Self and self has been beautifully explained by the living master Gabriel Pradīpaka “The Self, through His inconceivable Power becomes limited and contracted out of His Free Will. When He turns into atomic, from a spiritual viewpoint (not material), He is known as “soul”. He appears as innumerable limited individuals or “atomic selves” despite He is only One. The limited individuals are the souls, which are atomic in size. And when a soul is provided with a inner psychic organ (intellect, ego and mind), it is known as “a full-fledged soul”.”

The realisation of this Oneness is yoga and whenever Krishna refers to yoga, it means only this mental contemplation. If one is not able to connect Self and self, as a remedy Krishna suggests repeated practice to attain perfection in this yoga. Even this is not possible, a simple solution is offered by the Lord. Control the mind by subduing the senses and surrender the thought process to the Lord. Surrendering to the Lord is an important process that has been often not understood properly. Surrender means the destruction of one’s ego by surrendering the same to the Lord. Egotism is the cause for differentiating between the Self and self. For the spiritual aspirants, the ego works in a different way. In the beginning of his spiritual journey, the aspirant puts in his best efforts as a result of which he moves closer to the Lord, in stages. When someone is closer to the Lord, naturally, His qualities begin to dominate in him. This can be explained as the difference in temperature at the base of a mountain and its peak at a high altitude. When one approaches the peak, he begins to feel the biting cold that prevails at the peak. In the same way, one begins to feel the effulgence of the Lord, when he moves closer to Him. At this point, an unsteady aspirant becomes deluded by the subtle changes that takes place in him and fails to pursue the path to its logical conclusion. He pulls himself backwards, becomes more egocentric, misguides the society and ultimately ends up in catastrophe.

Surrender is not a ritual, but a contemplation that has to happen in a serene mind. Ritualistic surrender is only a formality and could possibly infuse the concept of surrender in one’s mind. It is also wrong to say that one should not continue with his routine life after surrendering to the Lord. After surrender, any action performed by the aspirant becomes the act of the Lord as a result of which he is not affected by karma. Probably, this saying of Krishna also conveys that karma is the criteria to decide on one’s liberation. The results of surrender is closeness to the Lord that ultimately leads to an understanding that the aspirant is nothing but a tool in the hands of the Lord. The purpose of surrender can be explained as a process to transcend the innate evolutionary limitations of ego. The end result of surrender may seem to be slow, but the endeavour of the thought process never becomes futile.

Surrender is a precondition to renunciation. In fact, renunciation begins when the concept of surrender is perfected. Most of the times, renunciation is an automatic evolution of surrender. Most of the aspirants are always under confusion whether to follow this process or that process. They switch from one spiritual preceptor to another. They tend to believe that whoever draws a better crowd is the best spiritual master. An unstable mind is an indication of lack of self-confidence and faith. Wandering mind can never pursue the right spiritual path. With an unstable mind, proper meditation cannot be pursued. Without a proper meditation, the concept of renunciation will not be complete as meditation leads to proper inner exploration. If everything is renounced, nothing is left for egotism. The proper way to liberation is knowledge, meditation and renunciation one after another. If the aim for liberation is true and conclusive, one has to be a patient and be a silent observer, as the eternal peace is the logical derivative of this process, which ultimately leads to bliss and the ultimate liberation.

Further Readings:

Bhagavad Gita Chapter XII. 6 - 9

Bhagavad Gita Chapter XII. 13 - 16

Bhagavad Gita Chapter XII. 17 - 20