Submit to Me – The Source of All Existence
by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda
Śrī Kṛṣṇa has already uttered another verse to assure us:
ye ’py anya-devatā-bhaktā
yajante śraddhayānvitāḥ
te ’pi mām eva kaunteya
yajanty avidhi-pūrvakam
Bhagavad-gītā (9.23)
O son of Kuntī, those who worship other gods with faith verily worship only Me, but their worship is flawed.
The Lord says, “If you take the initiative to concoct your own path, then you are liable to receive instructions from sources that will prove to be ineffective in the long run, for I am immanent in the universe and there is no possibility of avoiding Me. I am the source of all existence, I am full of knowledge, and I am endowed with the infinity of bliss.”
We cannot receive better instruction capable of giving a more dependable or complete idea of the real goal, from anywhere else. The whole thing, the exact entity, could not be realized if we took a course different from what Śrī Kṛṣṇa has dictated. Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the fountainhead of all energies; all varieties of energy – even opposite and conflicting energies – are stored in Him. He is akhila-rasāmṛta-mūrti (the personification of the totality of nectarean, transcendent humours). We have heard His poetic verse,
ye yathā māṁ prapadyante
tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham
mama vartmānuvartante
manuṣyāḥ pārtha sarvaśaḥ
Bhagavad-gītā (4.11)
O son of Pṛthā, as each surrenders to My will, I certainly reciprocate with him. In fact, all men completely follow the path I have set.
We are actuated by the influence of rasa. We require pleasant sensation. But we should see that our particular disposition is directed to a definite purpose. Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the emporium of everything. In the Gītā we are given a clearly marked and exact situation of the human soul and its relation to the phenomenal existence of the Lord’s prakṛti (nature). We have seen that there are two kinds of prakṛti – parā (superior) and aparā (inferior). The living beings are known as para-prakṛti but because they are infinitesimally small, they become subjugated by aparā-prakṛti. In other words, they can be overpowered by the deluding potency. The living beings can also dissociate themselves from this undesirable situation. How? We have the solution, the method for ridding ourselves of this shackle, in the following verse:
daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī
mama māyā duratyayā
mām eva ye prapadyante
māyām etāṁ taranti te
Bhagavad-gītā (7.14)
The modes of nature are certainly part of My own divine energy (māyā), which is very difficult to cross. Hence, those who surrender to Me alone overcome māyā.
Through the use of the word mām (Me) we see that the object is singular, and that singular personality is the same throughout. The Lord sings, “I can set you free from the clutches of your present addiction to measuring things through your senses.* I can show Myself fully to you when there is no longer any need for you to exercise your material senses. I have set this engine of the three modes of nature into motion for the purpose of entrapping less intelligent people. But when they heed My dictation, they will discover that they can easily rid themselves of this troublesome entrapment by submitting to Me, and Me alone.”
_____________________
* C.f. “mīyate anayā iti māyā – māyā is that by which things can be measured.”
There is no other way to become free from our predisposition to measure everything. We are now equipped with senses that are incapable of leading us to Truth. We are liable to be deluded by the influence of māyā, and māyā is but a trap. If we want to avoid that trap, we must submit to Kṛṣṇa unconditionally. So prapatti, full submission, is the essential thing. We can exercise our senses but such exploits will not do any good to us in the long run unless we submit to Him, leaving aside whatever mundanity we have acquired up to this time. We must simply surrender to Him. When we simply depend on Him, He will arrange everything we need to make quick progress.
We are assured that we need not follow the empirical route of depending on sense perception. Although we are inclined to try to acquire knowledge through our senses, our attempts are often frustrated. Our empirical activities often fail to make much progress, for we see that whatever we have acquired by our empiricism calls for more and more additions or subtractions as we pass along the rolling tide of time. We think we have acquired a good deal of knowledge in our thirtieth year, but soon after, by the time we reach our fortieth year, we deem that knowledge inadequate. And again, if we live for ten years more, we will have to further revise our knowledge. In this way, living for any number of years will not serve our purpose; it will not make us wise. We must come to the inevitable conclusion that all sorts of empirical knowledge are quite useless for the purpose of gaining the whole truth. We should, therefore, be prapanna. That is, we should simply submit to Kṛṣṇa, and our submission should be substantiated by everything we have acquired. Whatever we have acquired must be given up with the conviction that we will be helped by Him. But if we have no such confidence in Him, we will be unable to part with our acquired things.
Śrī Kṛṣṇa has already uttered another verse to assure us:
ye ’py anya-devatā-bhaktā
yajante śraddhayānvitāḥ
te ’pi mām eva kaunteya
yajanty avidhi-pūrvakam
Bhagavad-gītā (9.23)
O son of Kuntī, those who worship other gods with faith verily worship only Me, but their worship is flawed.
The Lord says, “If you take the initiative to concoct your own path, then you are liable to receive instructions from sources that will prove to be ineffective in the long run, for I am immanent in the universe and there is no possibility of avoiding Me. I am the source of all existence, I am full of knowledge, and I am endowed with the infinity of bliss.”
We cannot receive better instruction capable of giving a more dependable or complete idea of the real goal, from anywhere else. The whole thing, the exact entity, could not be realized if we took a course different from what Śrī Kṛṣṇa has dictated. Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the fountainhead of all energies; all varieties of energy – even opposite and conflicting energies – are stored in Him. He is akhila-rasāmṛta-mūrti (the personification of the totality of nectarean, transcendent humours). We have heard His poetic verse,
ye yathā māṁ prapadyante
tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham
mama vartmānuvartante
manuṣyāḥ pārtha sarvaśaḥ
Bhagavad-gītā (4.11)
O son of Pṛthā, as each surrenders to My will, I certainly reciprocate with him. In fact, all men completely follow the path I have set.
We are actuated by the influence of rasa. We require pleasant sensation. But we should see that our particular disposition is directed to a definite purpose. Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the emporium of everything. In the Gītā we are given a clearly marked and exact situation of the human soul and its relation to the phenomenal existence of the Lord’s prakṛti (nature). We have seen that there are two kinds of prakṛti – parā (superior) and aparā (inferior). The living beings are known as para-prakṛti but because they are infinitesimally small, they become subjugated by aparā-prakṛti. In other words, they can be overpowered by the deluding potency. The living beings can also dissociate themselves from this undesirable situation. How? We have the solution, the method for ridding ourselves of this shackle, in the following verse:
daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī
mama māyā duratyayā
mām eva ye prapadyante
māyām etāṁ taranti te
Bhagavad-gītā (7.14)
The modes of nature are certainly part of My own divine energy (māyā), which is very difficult to cross. Hence, those who surrender to Me alone overcome māyā.
Through the use of the word mām (Me) we see that the object is singular, and that singular personality is the same throughout. The Lord sings, “I can set you free from the clutches of your present addiction to measuring things through your senses.* I can show Myself fully to you when there is no longer any need for you to exercise your material senses. I have set this engine of the three modes of nature into motion for the purpose of entrapping less intelligent people. But when they heed My dictation, they will discover that they can easily rid themselves of this troublesome entrapment by submitting to Me, and Me alone.”
_____________________
* C.f. “mīyate anayā iti māyā – māyā is that by which things can be measured.”
There is no other way to become free from our predisposition to measure everything. We are now equipped with senses that are incapable of leading us to Truth. We are liable to be deluded by the influence of māyā, and māyā is but a trap. If we want to avoid that trap, we must submit to Kṛṣṇa unconditionally. So prapatti, full submission, is the essential thing. We can exercise our senses but such exploits will not do any good to us in the long run unless we submit to Him, leaving aside whatever mundanity we have acquired up to this time. We must simply surrender to Him. When we simply depend on Him, He will arrange everything we need to make quick progress.
We are assured that we need not follow the empirical route of depending on sense perception. Although we are inclined to try to acquire knowledge through our senses, our attempts are often frustrated. Our empirical activities often fail to make much progress, for we see that whatever we have acquired by our empiricism calls for more and more additions or subtractions as we pass along the rolling tide of time. We think we have acquired a good deal of knowledge in our thirtieth year, but soon after, by the time we reach our fortieth year, we deem that knowledge inadequate. And again, if we live for ten years more, we will have to further revise our knowledge. In this way, living for any number of years will not serve our purpose; it will not make us wise. We must come to the inevitable conclusion that all sorts of empirical knowledge are quite useless for the purpose of gaining the whole truth. We should, therefore, be prapanna. That is, we should simply submit to Kṛṣṇa, and our submission should be substantiated by everything we have acquired. Whatever we have acquired must be given up with the conviction that we will be helped by Him. But if we have no such confidence in Him, we will be unable to part with our acquired things.
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