What is शरणागतिः śaraṇāgatiḥ
There is a common message in most of the world’s religions. It is a powerful and popular message. And the message is that ‘God will save you, if you surrender to him’.
And therefore you choose God as your saviour; you treat God as your refuge; you take God as your shelter.
If you surrender to him or her using the Lord as the refuge, shelter and saviour you will be free from all the problems of life. This is the universal message given by most of the religions of the world and this message is given in Hindu religion also. This surrender to the Lord taking him as a refuge is called – śaraṇāgatiḥ in Hinduism.
While this śaraṇāgati message is very popular and everyone is talking about it all the time, there is a lot of vagueness regarding what exactly is śaraṇāgati. There is a lot of confusion and ultimately the popular śaraṇāgati that is being talked about now, is so different from the traditional śaraṇāgati that is given in our scriptures.
And therefore we have to clearly differentitate what is the popular wide spread śaraṇāgati and what is the traditional śaraṇāgati. Swamiji is going to talk about the important features of the popular śaraṇāgati and how the traditional śaraṇāgati is different from this popular group’s position.
1. Free Will - Retain or Surrender to the Lord
The first and the foremost feature which is given by the popular group is that you have to surrender your will to the Lord. Or surrender your will to God’s will. Of course there are many people who do not accept a will at all; there is a fatalistic group who claim that there is no free will at all, but this popular group accepts that there is a will. But what they say is we do have a free will, but in śaraṇāgati, the free will has to be surrendered to the Lord or God’s will.
The traditional group says that the free will is the most unique feature which the human beings are blessed with. Human beings are human beings because of this gift called free will only. If free will is removed, human beings will all be equal only to animals and the only differntiating feature between human beings and the animals is our free will.
And it is because of this free will we are able to choose our goals called purushartha. The very purusharthas are possible because of the free will alone, the very possiblity of moksa is because of the free will. After gaining punyam in several janmas, we have somehow gathered the free will and therefore we have to very very carefully protect and retain the free will. How can you talk about surrendering the free will?
Therefore the tradition says that you have to retain the free will. Popular śaraṇāgati is surrender the will. Never surrender the will, retain your will is traditional śaraṇāgati. Because of your retention of the free will alone, you will be able to choose the right goal and the right path.
श्रेयश्च प्रेयश्च मनुष्यमेतः
तौ सम्परीत्य विविनक्ति धीरः।
śreyaśca preyaśca manuṣyametaḥ
tau samparītya vivinakti dhīraḥ |
(Kathopanisad 1:2:2)
A human being has to retain his will, has to retain his power of choice, he has to exercise his will power and choice and choose the right goal and the right path.
Traditional śaraṇāgati | Hold and retain your will power |
Popular śaraṇāgati | Surrender and drop your will |
2. Responsibilties – Own up or Transfer
The popular group says that, you should transfer all your responsibilities to God. This is a very popularly spread message. பகவான் பேர்லே எல்லா பாரத்தையும் போட்டுடு. And once you transfer the bharam – load to the Lord, thereafter Bhagavan will decide what you have to get in future. Whatever you need, Bhagavan will know and Bhagavan will decide and Bhagavan will fulfill. நீ கையை வாஷ் பண்ணி அவரோடு தலையிலே போட்டுடு. This is the popular śaraṇāgati.
The second feature of the popular śaraṇāgati is – transfer the responsibilty from you to the Lord. The traditional group says that you are a human being; and you have been given a will, you have been given a choice and therefore you have to accept your responsibilty. Transferring responsibilty கதையெல்லாம் வேண்டாம் – better own up responsibilty for your future. As a human being you are a karta and you are going to become a future bhokta. Karta alone has to decide the future. Therefore take charge of your life.
6-5 | |
उद्धरेदात्मनात्मानं नात्मानमवसादयेत्। आत्मैव ह्यात्मनो बन्धुरात्मैव रिपुरात्मनः॥ | |
uddharedātmanātmānaṁ nātmānamavasādayet | ātmaiva hyātmano bandhurātmaiva ripurātmanaḥ || | |
atmana - by oneself; atmanam - oneself; uddharet - may one lift; atmanam - oneself; na avasadayet - may one not destroy; hi - for; atma eva - oneself alone; atmanah bandhuh - is one’s benefactor; atma eva - oneself alone; atmanah ripuh - is one’s enemy | |
May one lift oneself by oneself, may one not destroy oneself. For, the self alone is one’s benefactor (and) the self alone is one’s enemy. | |
You have to uplift yourself. What you have to do, Bhagavan can never do; Bhagavan will never do. At the maximum, Bhagavan will be a cheering person – like the cheering parents when the children are in the running race ; running has to be done only by the child. Bhagavan can encourage you, support you, but what you have to do, you alone have to do. Therefore use your will, use your buddhi, take responsibilty and lead your life properly.
आत्मानं रथितं विद्धि शरीरं रथमेव तु।
बुद्धिं तु सारथिं विद्धि मनः प्रग्रहमेव च॥
ātmānaṁ rathitaṁ viddhi śarīraṁ rathameva tu |
buddhiṁ tu sārathiṁ viddhi manaḥ pragrahameva ca ||
(Katha Upanisad 1:3:3)
Your intellect is your driver; the driver has to choose the goal and the route. Bhagavan will not choose that for you.
विज्ञानसारथिर्यस्तु मनः प्रग्रहवान्नरः।
सोऽध्वनः पारमाप्नोति तद्विष्णोः परमं पदम्॥ ९॥
vijñānasārathiryastu manaḥ pragrahavānnaraḥ |
so'dhvanaḥ pāramāpnoti tadviṣṇoḥ paramaṁ padam || (Katha Upanisad 1:3:9)
That intelligent human being who takes charge of his life and with the support of the Lord who leads a life chosen by himself, he will reach the destination that he wants to.
Traditional śaraṇāgati | Accept the responsilities, be accountable. |
Popular śaraṇāgati | Transfer the responsibility to God |
3. Faith in Teaching or Miracles
Popular group says that if you surrender your will and transfer the responsibilty to God, you can have faith in God and his capacity to solve all your problems. Transfer your responsibilities to God and have absolute faith in God and God’s capacity to solve all your problems of your life.
God is omniscient and omnipotent, so He will solve your problems for you.
And naturally the listener will be curious to know if God is going to solve all my problems, how will He do that?
The popular group replies by giving innumerable stories of the devotees. When I ask “How will God solve my problems?”, popular group replies by giving innumerable stories of the devotees, how the devotees have been helped by, rescued by, saved by God during their crisis. And when I read all the stories of the devotees, I find one common feature. All the stories are stories of a miracle. All the devotees have been rescued from their problems through different types of miracles.
The message conveyed from this that in your life also, you can expect miracles to happen whenever you have got a crisis. Therefore I am forced and pursuaded indirectly to look for miracles, because I have surrendered the will and the responsibilities. கையை கழுவியாச்சு – I have washed my hands of the responsibilites and my willingness to solve my problems. So for every problem I expect some miracle to happen and I should be saved by that.
For the popular group, faith in God is equal to the faith in God’s miracles. Popular śaraṇāgati is faith in God, and for them faith in God means faith in God’s miracles. The traditional group says that God rescues the devotees through his teaching. And God has provided means and solutions for our problems already and the solutions are available in the teachings which are in the form of the scriptures.
For the traditional group, faith in God is faith in God’s teachings. The teachings are called the śāstraṁ. The very word śāstraṁ means that which protects the people. In fact, the word śaranaṁ which occurs in the word śaraṇāgati, has the same meaning as shastram. śaranaṁ and śāstraṁ both mean protector. śaranaṁ is derived from the root shru, śṛnati to destroy the problem. śaranaṁ means remover of the problem, the protector. śāstraṁ also means the protector - शासनात् त्रायते इति शास्त्रं śāsanāt trāyate iti śāstraṁ. According to traditional group śaraṇāgati means śāstragatiḥ.
Have faith in God means have faith in the teachings of the God.
And when we say the teachings of the Lord, it is not the stories of miracles.
Miracle stories of the devotees are not the real part of the scriptures. They are only the frills and the peripherals of the scriptures. They are like apetizers and the real part of the scriptures is the teaching regarding how to solve human problems.
What are the human problems? What is this world? How does this world create problems?
This teaching of human beings, the world, the problems and the solutions is the central śāstraṁ. Surrender to śāstraṁ and receive the teaching and find solution for your own problems, because Bhagavan has provided solutions to all the problems.
Popular group says to have faith in God, which means to have faith in God’s miracles. Traditional group says to have faith in God, which means to have faith in God’s teachings.
Traditional śaraṇāgati | Faith in God is, faith in God’s teachings |
Popular śaraṇāgati | Faith in God is equal to faith in God’s miracles |
Sastrasya, guru vaksyasya satya buddya avadarana ka shradda. | |
Miracle oriented śaraṇāgati is the popular śaraṇāgati. Teaching oriented śaraṇāgati śaraṇāgati is traditional śaraṇāgati.
4. Intellect – Preserve or Suppress
This is the most important difference. The popular group suggests that you have surrendered to God and God will solve all your problems and the method presented is miracles. And this person expects miracles to happen in his life, whenever there is a crisis. But to his utter dismay he finds that miracles do not happen for all the people. Miracles might have happened to several devotees in the stories in the scriptures, but I do not find miracles happening to all the people. And even for the greatest devotee, miracles do not happen all the time. And therefore what happens? When I find that certain problems are not solved in my life, I keep on expecting miraculous solutions. I go on uttering the nama. काम कर्ते रहो। नाम जप्ते रहो। kām karte raho| nām japte raho| I keep on uttering the nāmā and I find that certain problems are not at all solved, miracles do not happen. And when miracles do not happen and I go through intense pain, I will begin to doubt the very fundamental principle of śaraṇāgati.
பகவான் இருக்கிறாரா?காவென்று கூவி நான் ஓலமிட்டேனே காதில் விழவில்லையா? விளையாட இது நேரமா?
When miracles do not happen, doubts begin to come. My faith in God is shaken. My faith in śaraṇāgati is shaken. My faith in miracles is shaken.
Swami’s know very well that faith of the devotees gets shaken when miracles do not happen. The devotees take Guru as the representative of God and since they cannot catch the God by the collar, they try to catch Swamiji’s collar. If possible, they may lodge a complaint in consumer protection council that Bhagavan is not giving good service. Service is deficient – எங்காத்து ப்ராப்ளம் போகலை. And I have surrendered to the Lord and my problem is not solved. And there is a crisis of faith in the miracle oriented śaraṇāgati. This crisis of faith is inevitable. All miracle oriented śaraṇāgati people will face the crisis of faith one time or the other.
Either a problem at a personal, family or national level continues. If there are no problems at all in these levels, atleast there is an India , Pakistan
And when I have this crisis of faith, the popular group says that you should never doubt God. The faith should be unflinching. It should be unquestionable. And they even frighten - பகவானை டவுட் பணினா மகா பாபம்.
One side, my intellect being what it is goes on questioning. The job of the intellect is thinking and doubting. On the other side, there is a warning that you should never doubt. So, I have to suppress my questioning intellect. |
The intellect will have to be set aside and suppressed. In popular śaraṇāgati, the fourth and the unfortunate feature is that you have to suppress your buddhi.
கேள்வி கேக்காதே. கேள்வி கேக்காதே. நம்பு. நம்பு.
He is benumbed.
Traditional group says that since you have to rescue yourself, through the teachings of the Lord, you have to learn the scriptures very carefully. Therefore by all means, you have to preserve your buddhi.அவா வந்து என்ன சொல்றா, Reject the buddhi. Tradition says –
बुद्धिं तु सारथिं विद्धि मनः प्रग्रहमेव च॥
एष सर्वेषु भूतेषु गूढोऽऽत्मा न प्रकाशते।
दृश्यते त्वग्र्यया बुद्ध्या सूक्श्मया सूक्श्मदर्शिभिः॥ १२॥
buddhiṁ tu sārathiṁ viddhi manaḥ pragrahameva ca ||
eṣa sarveṣu bhūteṣu gūḍho''tmā na prakāśate |
dṛśyate tvagryayā buddhyā sūkśmayā sūkśmadarśibhiḥ ||
(Kathopanisad 1:3:12)
Your śaraṇāgati is to the scriptures and you have to learn from the scriptures the methods of protecting yourself. Learning requires buddhi sakti. So preserve buddhi. Learn the scriptures and learn the methods of protecting yourself from all the problems.
The contribution of God is in this self protection, is his scriptures alone.
These are the four important differences between the popular śaraṇāgati and the traditional śaraṇāgati. You have to think over this very well.
Traditional śaraṇāgati | Hold and retain your will power |
Popular śaraṇāgati | Surrender and drop your will |
Traditional śaraṇāgati | Accept the responsilities, be accountable. |
Popular śaraṇāgati | Transfer the responsibility to God |
Traditional śaraṇāgati | Faith in God is, faith in God’s teachings. Sastrasya, guru vaksyasya satya buddya avadarana ka shradda. |
Popular śaraṇāgati | Faith in God is equal to faith in God’s miracles |
Traditional śaraṇāgati | By all means, preserve your buddhi. Learn the scriptures. |
Popular śaraṇāgati | Suppress the intellect |
How does the śāstraṁ protect me?
How does the śāstraṁ, the scriptures, help me in protecting myself from the problems? Now I am no more miracle oriented. I am not expecting God to solve my problems through miracles. I want to learn the method of protecting myself. And śāstraṁ is going to teach me the method.
śāstraṁ gives four ‘do it yourself’ methods for saving myself. Four kavacams - shields are given to save me from the problems of life. Swamiji will briefly give a note on these four methods.
1. Dharma
Dharma is the first kavacam by which you have to protect yourself. Dharma is a healthy way of life in keeping with both the physical laws and the moral laws of the creation. My life has to be in harmony with the creation. Not only the physical laws of the creation, but there are moral laws, important values of life that I need to follow.
I cannot ignore Dharma and hope to enjoy a happy life. So if there are problems according to sastra, all the problems are caused by my own violation of Dharma. I am responsible for every minor suffering, right from the mosquito bite. Up to the tragedy that takes place around, you cannot blame anyone. My violation of dharma is the cause of my problems.
I might have violated in the immediate past or the remote past. I am accountable and I am responsible. If violation of Dharma is the cause of my problems, the solution to my problems is adherehance to, following of Dharma. This is the first shield – kavacam.
dharma eva hato hanti; dharmo rakshati rakshitah. Tasmad dharmo na havantavyah mano dharmo hato vati.
Dharma alone hurts you when you have violated it. Violated dharma hurts you. Followed dharma protects you. தர்மம் தலை காக்கும்.
The first shield - kavacam is a healthy and dharmic way of life, which will solve many problems. Krishna talks about this in Bhagavad Gita in several places. All these chapters are for reoriention of my life. I have to do it. Nobody else can help me out.
And by this mere dharma anushtana itself, many problems are solved. It is like following a healthy way of living, right food at the right time and right exercise. If you follow a healthy way of living many health problems will not occur. A healthy way of life itself will save you from many ailments. Similarly a dharmic way of life itself will solve many of the individual, family and national problems.
2. parihāraḥ – Remedial Measures
Sastra talks about the second shield, which are special remedies for those problems which are not solved by the first method. All problems are not solved just by dharmic way of life. There are other problems which require separate treatment. Some diseases can be cured by mere change of life style. In these cases, we have to take certain medicine.
Similarly sastra prescribes medicines for certain types of problems. These solutions are called pariharah or prāyaccittāni. What cannot be solved by dharmic way of life need to be addressed by parihāraḥ which are remedial measures. It can be worldly remedies like medicine or it can be ritualistic remedies. In fact, many of daily prayers are remedial measures.
In the sandya vandana mantra itself, we find such mantras –
yad ratriya papamakarsham manasa vaca …. ratri statavalampatu.
Our daily prayers and our many other daily activities prescribed by the sastra including rudrabhishekam contain such remedial measures. Rudram is considered to be a very very powerful prayaschitta mantra. For several problems and papams, Sri Rudram like prayers are the remedies.
The second protection is parihāraṁ.
3. Change your perspective
There are certain problems which will not go away, by either dharma or parihara. Even the most dharmic person, may be Dharmaputra himself, may be Nala and a person who does all the parihāraṁ, even those people may have to necessarily go through certain sufferings in life. பிராயச்சித்தம் கிடையாது. பண்ணினாலும் நடக்காது.
People come to Swamiji and expect miracles from him. Krishna calls them in the Gita as aparihārya arthā. How do you face certain problems that everybody has to go through?
Sastram tells that the only method is to develop a skill by which choiceless sufferings will be converted into learning experiences. This is the ‘only’ method. I have to develop the skill of converting choiceless sufferings to valuable learning lessons.
துன்பப்புடத்திலிட்டு தூயவனாக்கி வைத்தாய்.
Certain maturity, certain purifications, certain spiritual lessons like vairagyam etc will come only by certain types of experiences. It is exactly like extracting medicine out of poison, which is a human skill. Human skill has developed to such an extent that the poison which can kill can be converted into saving medicine.
If poison can be converted into medicine, sufferings can be converted into tapas. நாம்மளே தபஸ் பண்ண மாட்டோம். We will never do tapas by oursleves, so Bhagavan is giving us forced tapas from which we will never escape.
In Briharanyaka Upanisad, Vyahita Brahmanam says that when you get incurable diseases, learn to take it as a form of tapas. Karma Yoga develops this skill.
The third method is yogah kausalam, yogah samatvam. Converting suffering into learning. Change your perspective; change your attitude.
2-27 | |
जातस्य हि ध्रुवो मृत्युर्ध्रुवं जन्म मृतस्य च। तस्मादपरिहार्येऽर्थे न त्वं शोचितुमर्हसि॥ | |
jātasya hi dhruvo mṛtyurdhruvaṁ janma mṛtasya ca | tasmādaparihārye'rthe na tvaṁ śocitumarhasi || | |
jatasya - of that which is born; mrtyuh - death; dhruvah hi - is certain indeed; mrtasya ca - and of that which is dead; janma - birth; dhruvam - is certain; tasmat - therefore; apariharye arthe - with reference to an unalterable situation; tvam – you, socitum - to grieve; na arhasi - ought not | |
Because, for that which is born, death is certain and for that which is dead, birth is certain, therefore, you should not grieve over that which cannot be altered. | |
4. Atman Jnanam
The fourth shield is the most powerful kavacam of all. This is atma jnanam. Self knowledge is the final remedy. It is the final remedy, because once self knowldege solves the problem, thereafter the problems will not recur.
Lord Krisha says in Bhagavad Gita:
4-35 | |
यज्ज्ञात्वा न पुनर्मोहमेवं यास्यसि पाण्डव। येन भूतान्यशेषाणि द्रक्ष्यस्यात्मन्यथो मयि॥ | |
yajjñātvā na punarmohamevaṁ yāsyasi pāṇḍava | yena bhūtānyaśeṣāṇi drakṣyasyātmanyatho mayi || | |
pandava - O Pandava! (Arjuna); yat jnatva - knowing which; punah - again; evam - in this manner; moham - delusion; na yasyasi - you shall not get; yena - by which; asesena - all; bhutani - beings; atmani - in yourself; atho - and; mayi - in ; draksyasi - you shall see | |
Knowing this knowledge (which was taught by them. O Pandava, you shall not again be deluded in this manner (and) by this (knowledge) you shall see all beings in yourself and in Me. | |
Other methods will protect you. The first three shields are apekṣikaṁ – relative solutions. They will work well. Then we have to come to the ultimate shield, the jñānaṁ. The jñānaṁ is also given by śāstraṁ. śāstraṁ protects me, when I say that God protects me.
It is this śaraṇāgati, that is surrender to God and to his teachings and protecting myself is the śaraṇāgati prescribed in the tradition.
In Bhagavad Gita, the last important verse is Ch18: Verse 66. It is very famous as the śaraṇāgati mantrah.
18-66 | |
सर्वधर्मान्परित्यज्य मामेकं शरणं व्रज। अहं त्वां सर्वपापेभ्यो मोक्ष्ययिष्यामि मा शुचः॥ | |
sarvadharmānparityajya māmekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja | ahaṁ tvāṁ sarvapāpebhyo mokṣyayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ || | |
sarva-dharman — all karmas; parityajya — giving up; mam ekam — Me alone; saranam vraja — take refuge; sarva-papebhyah — from all karma; tva — you; aham moksayisyami — I will release; ma sucah — do not grieve | |
Giving up all karmas, take refuge in Me alone. I will release you from all karma; do not grieve. | |
Sankaracarya in his commentary does not ask you to drop your will; drop your responsibilty and wait for miracles to solve your problems. He comments upon this sloka by saying that you have to ‘learn’ and attain jnanam.
tad viddi pranipadena pari prasnena sevaya. Surrender to sastram; surrender to the Guru. Sastra agatih is śaraṇāgati.
So we look upon God primarily as the giver of the sastra. We do worship God in several ways, but this traditional person looks upon the God as the giver of the sastras. Because I do not see God directly talking to me. But God talks to me through the sastra. This sastra is available even now. Even now I can study and save myself.
During Sivaratri, we look upon Lord Siva as sākṣād dakṣiṇāmūrti.
During Sivaratri, we look upon Lord Siva as sākṣād dakṣiṇāmūrti.
sadāśiva samārambhāṁ śaṅkarācārya madhyamām |
asmadācārya paryantāṁ vande guruparamparāṁ ||
asmadācārya paryantāṁ vande guruparamparāṁ ||
Lord Siva as dakṣiṇāmūrti has provided the sastram for our protection. Let us all make use of those scriptures. That is called the real śaraṇāgati.