What does it means to Surrender to God as per Bhagavad Gita?

Krishna explains to Arjuna:

Always think of Me, become My devotee, worship Me and offer your homage unto Me. Thus you will come to Me without fail. I promise you this because you are My very dear friend.
Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear. Bg 18.65-66.

There it is. The final instructions that Krishna gave to Arjuna. After discussing different types of yoga and different processes of liberation, these are the final words of the Lord. Krishna has demonstrated that He is God in chapter 11 by exhibiting His universal form, so the issue of Who is God? or Which God? has been dealt with. Krishna is God.

Now He tells Arjuna to be His devotee, think of Him all the time, worship and offer homage to Him, not worrying about all the different religious duties that tend to occupy people’s lives.

That’s what it means. Now how to do that takes a little help. It’s possible for us to try to wing it and do what we think it means to be a devotee of Krishna and to worship Him how we think it should be done, and maybe we will get it right, but it’s probably better to get help from those who have been successful in their surrender.

How to tell who has been successful?

That’s not hard, they love Krishna. When surrender is successful then the reciprocation from Krishna is very strong. The love between Krishna and His pure devotee flows unchecked. It drives out all material desires as the sun drives away the morning fog. Krishna comes to dominate the person’s life. Worshiping Krishna is their pleasure, offering their homage to Him is their natural inclination, thinking of Him is second nature, and of course, they will be devoted to Him.

As Krishna puts it:

The thoughts of My pure devotees dwell in Me, their lives are fully devoted to My service, and they derive great satisfaction and bliss from always enlightening one another and conversing about Me. Bg 10.9

That is the result of surrendering to Krishna. This is what it means to surrender. It means fall in love with Krishna and let Him love you in return.

This was demonstrated by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu at the very deepest level. Other great devotees have also demonstrated this surrender and love. In other religions, there have also been great saintly people who have achieved love for God by surrender to Him. It is not a narrow restricted field just because it is mentioned first in Bhagavad Gita. Simply we have to do it, and if we are having trouble doing it, then it’s intelligent to take help from those who at least are having more success than us.

I was very impressed by Srila Prabhupada’s example, and I met many disciples of his who clearly demonstrated they were more successful than I was at surrendering. In my youthful arrogance, I tried to compete with some of them, and they encouraged me in my efforts, but I fell short and now I gratefully accept their kind suggestions and the solutions they offer to help me reach their level.

In my experience, there is no substitute for the association of senior devotees in the matter of learning how to surrender to Krishna.

'sadhu-sanga', ‘sadhu-sanga' -- sarva-sastre kaya
lava-matra sadhu-sange sarva-siddhi haya

"The verdict of all revealed scriptures is that by even a moment's association with a pure devotee, one can attain all success. Madhya 22.54






Related post:


What is Meaning of Life according to Bhagwad Gita?


The Significance of Chapter 1 in the Bhagwad Gita


What does Lord Krishna says about death in Bhagwad Gita?


Karma, Vikarma, Karma Yoga, Akarma in the Bhagavad Gita


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