Verses 12.6–12.7

Love Is Your Very Life

12.6

ये तु सर्वाणि कर्माणि मयि संन्न्यस्य मत्पर: | अनन्येनैव योगेन मां ध्यायन्त उपासते

ye tu sarvāṇi karmāṇi mayi sannyasya matparāḥ / ananyenaiva yogena māṁ dhyāyanta upāsate / / 12.6

But those who worship me with single minded devo- tion, renouncing all activities unto Me, regarding Me as their supreme goal, whose minds are set in Me, I shall deliver them soon from their ocean of the birth and death cycle.

ye — who

tu — but

sarvāṇi — all

karmāṇi — actions

mayi — in me

sannyasya — renounc- ing

matparāḥ — regarding me as the supreme goal

ananyena — focussed

eva — even

yogena — with yoga

māṁ — me

dhyāyantaḥ — meditating

upāsate — worship

12.7

तेषामहं समुद्धर्ता मृत्युसंसारसागरात् | भवामि नचिरात्पार्थ मय्यावेशितचेतसाम्

teṣām ahaṁ samuddhartā mṛtyu-saṁsāra-sāgarāt / bhavāmi na cirātpārtha mayy āveśita cetasām / / 12.7

teṣām — for them

ahaṁ — I

samuddhartā — the savior

mṛtyu saṁsāra sāgarāt — from the ocean of life and death cycle

bhavāmi — become

na cirāt — before long

pārtha — Arjuna

mayi — in me

āveśita cetasām — of those whose minds are set

Kṛṣṇa makes a promise here. Kṛṣṇa says unequivocally, ‘I shall deliver them from their material existence, the ocean of saṁsāra, the cycle of life and death, mṛtyu-saṁsāra-sāgarāt. All that the Lord asks is that the devotee be devoted to Him. ye tu sarvāṇi karmāṇi mayi sannyasya mat-parāḥ I ananyenaiva yogena māṁ dhyāyanta upāsate II 12.6 Kṛṣṇa says, ‘If you surrender to Me, surrender all your actions and the fruits of those actions to Me, do my service, meditate upon Me, remain single-minded upon My consciousness, I shall then liberate you. I shall make sure you never need to be born again.’ It is the roar of a lion. It is the roar of the King of this Universe.

‘Surrender to Me and I shall liberate you. Serve Me and I shall liberate you.’ To most of us, God is only a concept and we worship that concept. Most of the time, we beg of that concept. We pray, ‘Give me this O Lord, give me that O Lord.’ When we have one prayer answered, we begin the next. As long as God answers our prayers, as long as the Master provides us with what we ask for, our faith in Him lasts. The moment the prayer goes unanswered, our faith dissolves. We move on to another God or Master. We do not realize that often God does not answer our prayers out of Bhakti Yogaḥ Love Is Your Very Life 879 sheer compassion, out of sheer love for us.

From time to time, God in His infinite wisdom turns down our requests such as wanting to become rich, wanting to be well, wanting to have children, and so on. We then move away from Him. Listen. Surrendering to the Divine is not conditional. It must be total. There can be no ‘ifs’, ‘ands’, or ‘buts’. It cannot be, ‘If you grant my prayers, I shall be devoted to you.’ That is business. Most of our relationship with God is business. There are three kinds of surrender. First, there is surrender of one’s intellect. For many, this is possible. Once we understand that there is a Universal energy far greater than us, most of us can accept and surrender intellectually to that supreme power.

At least we can say, ‘I surrender.’ That’s how many of us prostrate in a temple or before a master. The entire body touches the ground signifying our surrender. For that moment, our ego takes a vacation. Surrender at the next level is emotional. One can melt at the thought of God or master. There is love, there is gratitude pouring out of our hearts and we feel tears streaming down. We become bhaktas, devotees. Rāmakṛṣṇa said, ‘If you have tears in your eyes when you think of God or your Master, be very clear, this is your last birth! You are ready for liberation.’ We are ready but not liberated until we reach the last and third step.

This step of surrender is the surrender of one’s senses. Our surrender is total at this stage: complete, spontaneous, instant and natural. Kṛṣṇa says, ‘When you surrender to Me, I shall liberate you.’ To reach Him, we must surrender totally without deviation. Our senses must be surrendered to Him. Our entire consciousness, our complete awareness must only be of Him and nothing else. Nothing else needs to be done. The technique is so simple. ‘Surrender and I shall save you,’ says the Master. ‘I shall save you without delay, immediately—bhavāmi na cirāt pārtha mayy āveśita cetasām (12.7).’ The Lord has made it so simple. Yet, we find it so difficult to believe Him. Live In Me Always