Saranagati the 6 limbs of surrender in Gaudiya Vaishnavism

 Saranagati (total surrender or taking refuge in the Supreme Lord) in the Vaishnava tradition consists of six limbs, known as shadaanga-saranagati. These essential pillars guide a devotee in dedicating their life and actions to Krishna

ānukūlyasya saṅkalpaḥ

prātikūlyasya varjanam

rakṣiṣyatīti viśvāso

goptṛtve varaṇaṁ tathā

ātma-nikṣepa-kārpaṇye 

ṣaḍ-vidhā śaraṇāgatiḥ

(Vaiṣṇava Tantra; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 11.676; Bhakti Sandarbha: 173, 236; Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.22.100

The six limbs are:

1. Anukulyasya Sankalpa: Accepting or engaging only in activities that are favorable to spiritual devotion.
2. Pratikulyasya Varjanam: Rejecting or avoiding anything that is unfavorable or a hindrance to devotion.
3. Rakshishyati Iti Vishvaso: Maintaining absolute faith that the Lord will certainly protect you.
4. Goptritve Varanam: Accepting the Lord as your sole maintainer, protector, and guardian.
5. Atma-Nivedana (or Atma-Nikshepa): Completely surrendering your very self and offering everything you have to the Lord. Kainkarya
6. Karpanya (or Dainya): Feeling genuine humility and realizing your own helplessness without the Lord's grace.

Code Word  FURSAH

Favorable, Unfavorable, Raksha, Shelter, Atma Nivedana(offering everything, Humility

Reflection questions

1. What do you feel when you read these

2. Which stage do you think you maybe closest too

3. If you are attracted to this what barriers are there in taking the next step

Do I have the same intensity as Devahuti?

SB 3.25.7 — Devahūti said: I am very sick of the disturbance caused by my material senses, for because of this sense disturbance, my Lord, I have fallen into the abyss of ignorance.

• Am I sick of the disturbance caused by my attachment to righteousness and fairness, attachment for material prosperity and emotional security?
• Do I realize that more mind gets engrossed and disturbed by events connected to my attachments, harder it becomes for me to take shelter of Srimad Bhagavatam, The Deities, and devotees?
• The anger, dissatisfaction, and frustration that develops in the heart makes it harder to take shelter of shravanam- nothing penetrates inside
• So are these attachments really worth it when compared to the larger goal?
• There is no profit in holding on to these things

SB 3.25.8 — Your Lordship is my only means of getting out of this darkest region of ignorance because You are my transcendental eye, which, by Your mercy only, I have attained after many, many births.

• How long am I going to depend on my strength and intelligence to figure my life out and navigate through challenges?
• My intelligence is material and imperfect, it can only see things materially. I need to surrender and depend upon Krishna , He is my Well wisher and He is my eye too- no my intelligence 

SB 3.25.9 — You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the origin and Supreme Lord of all living entities. You have arisen to disseminate the rays of the sun in order to dissipate the darkness of the ignorance of the universe.

SB 3.25.10 — Now be pleased, my Lord, to dispel my great delusion. Due to my feeling of false ego, I have been engaged by Your māyā and have identified myself with the body and consequent bodily relations.

• Be pleased with me also My Lord, I do not have any determination, any attraction, I am disturbed by what is happening around me, I do not wish to be disturbed anymore, do not wish to be distracted anymore, please guide me so I can serve you sincerely and give up the material conception and come closer to the spiritual conception.

To Cross Over: Become detached from wealth and family

SB 3.25.39-40 — Thus the devotee who worships Me, the all-pervading Lord of the universe, in unflinching devotional service, gives up all aspirations to be promoted to heavenly planets or to become happy in this world with wealth, children, cattle, home or anything in relationship with the body. I take him to the other side of birth and death.

• unflinching devotional service
• engaging oneself in full devotional service
• accepting the Supreme Lord as all in all
• if one thus serves with unflinching faith, then one has achieved all other opulences and performed all other duties!
• (Above points from Srila Prabhupada's purport to this verse)
• gives up aspirations to be promoted to heavenly planets
• can I give up my aspiration to become a popular person, a well-known person, a person with a following, living in opulence, flying around being known as a jet-setter
• All these desires are blocking me from crossing over to Krishna's side
• Serving Krishna and His devotees with unflinching faith is the greatest opulence, none of these are worth comparing to the Greatest Jewel of service to Krishna and His devotees
• or become happy in this world with wealth, children, cattle, home or anything in relationship with the body
I did not learn my lessons, tried very hard to be happy with family life but the happiness was never there. Because I did not learn then Krishna has now taken away that chance from me. Am I still going to hanker for that or am I going to move forward in developing love and service towards Krishna and His devotees?



I tried to hold on to happiness in family life but it was constantly slipping away from my hands

• My attachment to money: Learned a wonderful thing from a gentleman in a Gita class I was teaching on Thursday, Feb 8th, - he told me when we know we are not the Proprietors of our wealth, but Krishna is then we become peaceful and we learn to let go. Krishna is the Proprietor of all my wealth and whatever anyone owes me as well then we become extremely peaceful. Krishna is also the Supreme Controller ( mayadhyaksena prakriti, sarva loka maheshwaram) and the Supreme Well wisher of all living entities. While I do the needful in wealth management, I need to rest in great peace with the fact that Krishna is going to take care of me and in the past, he has taken care of me and is taking care of me in very tangible and intangible ways.

SB 3.25.41 — The terrible fear of birth and death can never be forsaken by anyone who resorts to any shelter other than Myself, for I am the almighty Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the original source of all creation, and also the Supreme Soul of all souls.

Why are my name, fame, prestige, wealth, popularity, righteousness more important to me than the shelter of the Lord? These things are not going to let me reach the Lotus Feet of the Supreme Lord, in fact, these will pull me away from the Lord.

I sincerely pray at the Lotus Feet of the Vaishnavas that I am able to overcome my intense attachment to these things and serve the Lord sincerely with a sincere pure heart of spreading knowledge about Him and knowledge given by Him to everyone on whatever platform I go to

Prescribed Duties a Vehicle for Mind Control

With mental health poised to become a disease of epidemic proportions, especially when the President of India Shri Ramnath Kovind makes a statement that the population of Indians affected by mental health diseases is greater than the population of Japan it would be nice to see what some scriptures and acharyas have to say about dealing with the mind.

Of course, some mental health issues need medication counseling etc but a lot of them can be nipped in the bud if one just follows their prescribed duties. If everyone follows their prescribed duties properly the society and social interactions are such that it creates a further favorable situation for everyone else to follow their prescribed duties.

Some important points from Srila Prabhupada's purports to the verses posted below. Srila Prabhupada explains how doing our varnashrama duties is important, varnasharama duties are given in the Vedas and if we follow we are on the safe platform else we can have a tremendous mental confusion:

• The varṇāśrama system is scientific. Therefore if we accept the divisions of varṇa and āśrama according to the Vedic instructions, our lives will be successful.(5.14)
• It is best, therefore, to accept the injunctions of the Vedas, which are mentioned in this verse as yad-vāci. In accordance with those injunctions, everyone should find out whether he is a brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya or śūdra and should thus be educated accordingly. Then his life will be successful. Otherwise, all of human society will be confused. If human society is divided scientifically according to varṇa and āśrama, and if the Vedic directions are followed, one’s life, regardless of his position, will be successful.(5.14)

In this verse, Prabhupada explains the connection between Varnashrama Duties and the pleasure of the Lord.

• A brāhmaṇa can surrender, and so can a kṣatriya, vaiśya or śūdra. Everyone can adopt this process. As stated in this verse, cakṣuṣmatāndhā iva nīyamānāḥ: one should follow the Lord the way a blind man follows a person who has eyes. If we follow the Supreme Personality of Godhead by following the directions He gives in the Vedas and Bhagavad-gītā, our lives will be successful.
• The example cited in this verse is that bulls tied by ropes in their nostrils move according to the direction of the driver. Similarly, if we move according to the instructions of the Vedas, the perfect paths for our lives will be set. Otherwise, if we do not move in that way but act according to our whimsical ideas, our lives will be spoiled by confusion and will end in despair.(5.15)

Connection between Varnashrama Duties, The Lord's pleasure, Sense control and Mind Control

The sense organs are certainly our greatest enemies, and they are therefore compared to venomous serpents. However, if a venomous serpent is bereft of its poison fangs, it is no longer fearful.Similarly, if the senses are engaged in the service of the Lord, there is no need to fear their activities.The devotees in the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement move within this material world, but because their senses are fully engaged in the service of the Lord, they are always aloof from the material world. They are always living in a transcendental position.


Lord Brahma's Instructions to Maharaj Priyavrata:
SB 5.1.14 — My dear boy, all of us are bound by the Vedic injunctions to the divisions of varṇāśrama according to our qualities and work. These divisions are difficult to avoid because they are scientifically arranged. We must therefore carry out our duties of varṇāśrama-dharma, like bulls obliged to move according to the direction of a driver pulling on ropes knotted to their noses.
SB 5.1.15 — My dear Priyavrata, according to our association with different modes of material nature, the Supreme Personality of Godhead gives us our specific bodies and the happiness and distress we achieve. One must therefore remain situated as he is and be conducted by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, exactly as a blind man is led by a person who has eyes with which to see.
SB 5.1.16 — Even if one is liberated, he nevertheless accepts the body he has received according to his past karma. Without misconceptions, however, he regards his enjoyment and suffering due to that karma the way an awakened person regards a dream he had while sleeping. He thus remains steadfast and never works to achieve another material body under the influence of the three modes of material nature.
SB 5.1.17 — Even if he goes from forest to forest, one who is not self-controlled must always fear material bondage because he is living with six co-wives — the mind and knowledge-acquiring senses. Even householder life, however, cannot harm a self-satisfied, learned man who has conquered his senses.
SB 5.1.18 — One who is situated in household life and who systematically conquers his mind and five sense organs is like a king in his fortress who conquers his powerful enemies. After one has been trained in household life and his lusty desires have decreased, he can move anywhere without danger.
SB 5.1.19 — Lord Brahmā continued: My dear Priyavrata, seek shelter inside the opening in the lotus of the feet of the Lord, whose navel is also like a lotus. Thus conquer the six sense organs [the mind and knowledge-acquiring senses]. Accept material enjoyment because the Lord, extraordinarily, has ordered you to do this. You will thus always be liberated from material association and be able to carry out the Lord’s orders in your constitutional position.
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Bhakti dissolves the subtle body of the living entity - aham tvam sarva papebhyo

SB 3.25.33

jarayaty āśu yā kośaṁ
nigīrṇam analo yathā

Word for word: 

jarayati — dissolves; āśu — quickly; yā — which; kośam — the subtle body; nigīrṇam — things eaten; analaḥ — fire; yathā — as.

Translation: 

Bhakti, devotional service, dissolves the subtle body of the living entity without separate effort, just as fire in the stomach digests all that we eat.

Purport: 

Bhakti is in a far higher position than mukti because a person’s endeavor to get liberation from the material encagement is automatically served in devotional service. The example is given here that the fire in the stomach can digest whatever we eat. If the digestive power is sufficient, then whatever we can eat will be digested by the fire in the stomach. Similarly, a devotee does not have to try separately to attain liberation. That very service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the process of his liberation because to engage oneself in the service of the Lord is to liberate oneself from material entanglement. Śrī Bilvamaṅgala Ṭhākura explained this position very nicely. He said, “If I have unflinching devotion unto the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord, then mukti, or liberation, serves me as my maidservant. Mukti, the maidservant, is always ready to do whatever I ask.”

Other Similar Purports:

From SB 4.29.70

No living entity is free from the cycle of birth and death unless he takes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness; therefore, in this verse, it is clearly stated (sattvaika-niṣṭhe) that when one is fully absorbed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, in one stroke he is freed of past and future mental desires. Then, by the grace of the Supreme Lord, everything becomes simultaneously manifest within the mind. In this regard, Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura cites the example of mother Yaśodā’s seeing the whole cosmic manifestation within the mouth of Lord Kṛṣṇa. By the grace of Lord Kṛṣṇa, mother Yaśodā saw all the universes and planets within the mouth of Kṛṣṇa. Similarly, by the grace of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, a Kṛṣṇa conscious person can see all his dormant desires at one time and finish all his future transmigrations. This facility is especially given to the devotee to make his path clear for returning home, back to Godhead.

Why we see things not experienced in this life is explained herein. That which we see is the future expression of a gross body or is already stocked in our mental stockpile. Because a Kṛṣṇa conscious person does not have to accept a future gross body, his recorded desires are fulfilled in a dream. We therefore sometimes find things in a dream never experienced in our present life.

SB 4.29.71 Purport
Because of our ignorance of the spiritual body, of which we have no experience, we do not know of the activities of the spiritual body, and in ignorance we jump from one false platform to another. We act sometimes in relation to the gross body and sometimes in relation to the subtle body. If, by Kṛṣṇa’s grace, we act in our spiritual body, we can transcend both the gross and subtle bodies. In other words, we can gradually train ourselves to act in terms of the spiritual body. As stated in the Nārada-pañcarātra, hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate: devotional service means engaging the spiritual body and spiritual senses in the service of the Lord. When we are engaged in such activities, the actions and reactions of the gross and subtle bodies cease.

SB 4.29.77 Purport
After the mind is completely absorbed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, one can enter the planet known as Goloka Vṛndāvana. To enter the association of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one has to understand Kṛṣṇa. The process of understanding Kṛṣṇa is devotional service. After understanding Kṛṣṇa as He is, one can become eligible to enter Kṛṣṇaloka and associate with Him. The mind is the cause of such an exalted position. The mind can also get one a body like those of dogs and hogs. To absorb the mind always in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is therefore the greatest perfection of human life.

I surrender unto You!

Deserted, abandoned, cast off

Caught unaware

Shocked, Lonely and Hurt

over and over again

Thousand years or millions of lifetimes

finding Gajendra within myself

How many experiences 

before I follow Gajendra

Futility of false shelters

belief in false promises

Why that pull towards falsity?

You are the Absolute Truth!

Your loving embrace

Your ocean of compassion

Your glance, Your love, Your patience

You are the controller

You are acyuta

You have kept Your promise at all times

You are bhakta vatsala

Hey Govinda!

I surrender unto You

I surrender unto You

I surrender unto You

Qualifications of a representative of Srila Vyasadeva 1.1.4- 1.1.8, 10.1.4

From verses and purport to 1.1.4 to 1.1.8




Character

1. A gosvāmī, or the bona fide representative of Śrī Vyāsadeva, must be free from all kinds of vices before he can dare sit on the vyāsāsana. The four major vices of Kali-yuga are (a) illicit connection with women, (b) animal slaughter, (c) intoxication, (d) speculative gambling of all sorts. 
2. He should be spotless in character.
3. He should be very much obedient and (snighdha)submissive to his bona fide spiritual master and always ready to satisfy his spiritual master. 
4. Saumya- pure and simple

Scriptural understanding

1. 

1. He should be able to hear and explain them, which is more important than just reading them.
2. Good hearing and chanting by which the real meaning of scripture awakens in the heart.
3. Follows sincerely, is convinced and can therefore explain sincerely 
4. He should be conversant in all systems of philosophy, namely Gautama, Kaṇāda, Kapila, Patañjali, Jaimini and Aṣṭāvakra so that he can present fully the theistic views of the Bhāgavatam in defiance of all other systems. 
5. They must be in the disciplic succession

How he receives the message?

1. Respect for the speaker 
2. Asks questions with the intention of applying - this means submission and respect for the teacher
3. Always in the mood of being a disciple- always trying to follow. A good leader is a good follower  

Some points from 10.1.4

Qualifications of speaker and receiver:

1. A devotee is one who has no other motive for reciting Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatamthan to serve the Lord.
2. Śukadeva Gosvāmī epitomizes the proper reciter for Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and Parīkṣit Mahārāja, who purposefully left his kingdom and family prior to meeting death, epitomizes the person fit to hear it. A qualified reciter of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam gives the right medicine (bhavauṣadhi) for the conditioned souls. 
3.  A Vaiṣṇava is nivṛtta-tṛṣṇa; that is, he has no material purpose, for his only purpose is to preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness
4. The word paśu-ghnāt is important in this connection. Paśu-ghna means “butcher.” Persons fond of performing ritualistic ceremonies for elevation to the higher planetary systems must offer sacrifices (yajñas) by killing animals. Butchers cannot be interested in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, for they are already materially allured. 
5. Anyone who is not Kṛṣṇa conscious and who therefore does not engage in the service of the Lord is also paśu-ghna, for he is willingly drinking poison.
6. For kṛṣṇa-kathā, topics about Kṛṣṇa consciousness, there must be a speaker and a hearer, both of whom can be interested in Kṛṣṇa consciousness if they are no longer interested in material topics.
7. For topics concerning Uttamaśloka, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the spiritual master speaks, and the disciple hears with attention. Unless both of them are free from material desires, they cannot be interested in topics of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
8. The spiritual master and disciple do not need to understand anything more than Kṛṣṇa because simply by understanding Kṛṣṇa and talking about Kṛṣṇa, one becomes a perfectly learned person (yasmin vijñāte sarvam evaṁ vijñātaṁ bhavati, Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 1.3).