Sharanagati
Surrender to God the Path through the Heart
By Baba Shuddhaanandaa Brahmachari
The Western mind is essentially a rational mind and many westerners are initially more comfortable finding their spiritual path through the head. Yet not much is achieved in the world of spirituality without the heart center opening up.
Sharanagati or surrender to God, is the path where the opening of the heart center occurs, allowing the universal light to illuminate the center of knowledge. When knowledge sublimates into intuitive wisdom, it is always soaked in the nectar of Divine love, which is the fragrance of sharanagati. Sharanagati, the essence of surrender, paves the way for wisdom to blossom in the heart of the surrendered soul.
The fruit of true sharanagati is complete surrender to the Sadguru or the True Guru. Let us not misconceive the word Guru, for the word in Sanskrit means the One who is dispeller of darkness. The One is not any human or a person. The person is only the conduit, the pure instrument of the Divine through which the One without the second manifests His eternal teachings, bringing understanding to the seeker in the path of light and love. Only God is the Guru, and humans can only be the Divine instruments of that Oneness.
Yet, in the Eastern tradition, Guru, in the human form, has always assumed a very important place for the enlightenment of those who cannot directly communicate with the Divine. It has always been considered much easier to work with someone who is already enlightened, who knows the path and can lead the others through his own living presence and experiential teachings.
Seekers and devotees, from time immemorial, have spent a major part of their seeking and searching looking for the embodiment of Truth and Love; the one to whom he or she could surrender, serve and be served with enlightened knowledge. The Guru always lived the truth, being the source of true inspiration and motivation to be steadfast in this most arduous path of enlightenment.
The true quest for truth thus always started with a search for the Teacher. When the Guru and the disciple accepted each other the journey started. Once the Teacher is identified the next stage for the disciple is to practice steadfast devotion, love and surrender, which are the essence of sharanagati toward the Master. When the disciple surrenders with unwavering faith in the Guru he or she is called a sharanagata. The meaning of the word sharanagata is to take shelter under the protective shield of the Divine, the Master or Guru.
