TOTAL SURRENDER

TOTAL SURRENDER

Of the nine types of bhakthi or devotion the most important and the most difficult is total surrender or ‘saranagati’. -The! devotee totally resigns himself to the will of God! He throws all his responsibility on the Providence and involves himself in His meditation day in and day out. He has no other attachment to the material world. He puts himself into the protection of God and in turn God takes over the task of looking over the total welfare of the Bhaktha! The bhaktha is totally devoid of his ego which is the root cause of all entanglements in life. The story of Gajendra in the Bhagavata is a  classical example of how total surrender impels the Lord to run to the rescue of his bhaktha in dire distress! In the beautiful Trikuta range of mountains there was an orchard with a variety of fruits and a captivating lake with crystal clear water. Gajendra

came to the lake with his female elephants and began to play with them by splashing water on them and disturbing the stillness of the cool lake! Rudely shaken by the commotion created by Gajendra, the crocodile in the deep waters grew furious and caught one of the legs of  Gajendra!

Gajendra struggled to extricate itself from the firm clasp of the crocodile. But in vain.In it's arrogancce of power it tried it's best but the more it tried the stronger grew the hold of the crocodile since water was its natural habitat! The tug of war went on for many years and gradually Gajendra grew hopeless. He then thought of God and prayed to Him for succour! There was no other alternative but to pray for the grace of God! Now he resigned himself to the will of God and praised Him with great faith and devotion. He surrendered himself totally to the grace and will of the Almighty! “ You are the creator,protector, and destroyer of the universe. You are the sea of compassion! All creatures finally merge into you at length! The world is full of avidya! In ignorance I thought I could win with my strength and now realize the futility of my effort! I want to get rid of the cycle of birth and death! Save me from the jaws of this monstrous crocodile! I entirely depend on your Grace! O Lord! kindly come to my rescue!” said Gajendra in his pathetic plight.

Potana, the celebrated Telugu poet describes the reaction and response of Lord Vishnu to the sincere prayer of Gajendra very beautifully! He was reclining in Vakunta in the company of Lakshmi Devi when he heard the prayers of Gajendra. Suddenly He got up and started to run! He did not release himself from the apron of his spouse! He did not summon Garuda his mount! He did not care to take the famous conch and the Sudarsana Chakra? Lakshmi wondered at the haste with which her Lord ran! Soon she followed him and with her the conch, Chakra and other Devas amazed at the anxiety and speed of the Lord! Gajendra saw his saviour, Lord Vishnu and lifting his trunk presented Him a lotus as an offering! The Lord was pleased and with the Chakra he killed the ferocious alligator and released Gajendra from its deathly grasp! Lo! Behold! From the dead body for the crocodile emerged a form bright and radiant with heavenly glow!

The form that came out of the dead crocodile was that of Huhu, a Gandharva who was cursed by the sage Devala! He dragged the toe of the sage while he was performing penance standing in water! Huhu apologized for his mischief and requested the sage for relief from the curse.The sage said that when Lord Vishnu comes to save Gajendra, he would be free from the curse and regain his original form! Gajendra in his previous birth was the Pandya King Indradyumna. He was pious and a devotee of Lord Vishnu. He was in deep meditation when sage Agasthya came. The king, in his thoughts on God, did not notice the sage and receive him with due honor! The sage took this attitude as the quality of ‘thamasa’ and cursed him to be an elephant! With the benign touch of the Lord the elephant transformed into the King Indradyumna! Though he became an elephant he remembered his previous birth because of his devotion to the Lord! Thus Indradyumna attained mukti and Huhu regained his Gandharva form!

So long as man believes in his physical and mental strength and becomes proud and arrogant God does not help him. It is only when he throws up his hands in despair and hopelessness and prays sincerely for his Grace, does God respond! In the Kaurava court, while Draupadi was being disrobed Krishna did not come to her rescue immediately! When she gave up all her attempts to save her own chastity and called upon the Lord sincerely did Krishna grant her His Grace and a never ending series of saris to protect her! There are many instances of total surrender in the lives of our ancient saints like the Azwars and the Nayanmars who lived in God and never cared for themselves. It was God himself who cared for them and demonstrated that he takes over all the responsibilities of his devotees if only they surrendered to Him in true faith and devotion!