Antardarshana

Ishvara-pranidhaanat-vaa

“I” is the personal centre. Always we say “I am doing this”,  “Because of me things are moving”, “I am working”, “I am looking after the family”.... Always I. Everything is self-centred. If there is failure, then one says, “I failed miserably”....  I am associating myself with ‘I’, even the effects I am associating with ‘I’. “I did this.” “I succeeded”. But if you understand life with all awareness, then you will realise that this is creating tremendous tension in your inner being.

Even with meticulous planning, accidents take place. Who is accountable for this? Though we have taken all precautions, in spite of that, many unpleasant, undesirable things happen. After getting married, I planned pretty well to have a bright child. I went to the doctor. I took all precautions. Whatever the doctor suggested, I followed strictly. I didn’t see a single horror show on TV. I was so pious. I used to chant mantras. With that preparation, with that meticulous planning, I delivered a child who is mentally retarded, a spastic child! Ask this question: In spite of my effort, in spite of my meticulous planning, why did I get this spastic child?

Sometimes, with a lot of planning, effort, we try to create a very positive environment at home. But somehow, somewhere it misfires. . Have you not experienced all these things? What I expect is not happening. Life is a mystery. So, in this mysterious phenomenon, I have to recognise that there is something beyond me. Something beyond me is operating. There is something unseen that is working with me. So, it is not only me who is designing, there are many unseen factors which are designing my life. So, I am not a completely independent entity. There is something which I have to understand and recognize that is beyond what I know presently as ‘myself’. .

Here, Patanjali introduces that element. Look, there is something beyond you. That beyond is Ishvara. Ishvara Pranidhaanaadva. Bring that Ishvara element. Ishvara is the Lord of Life. Ishvara is the energy which is all-pervading. Ishvara is the energy which is designing. Ishvara is the energy which is behind all activities. Please watch this. Who is making prana enter inside the body? Who is there to digest the food I take? Who is there to make my hands move? Even when I am unconscious, who is there in me, who gives me the prana, maintaining every cell inside my body? During my sleep, who is working inside and setting everything right in me? Please understand this. Who is guiding? Find out. After an action, before an action, during the action, you find out, which is that preraka shakti? Who is inspiring me to do like the way I do? One has to acknowledge that there is something which is beyond my comprehension that is working. When I start understanding I can comprehend that. But at the present, let us say that there is something beyond my logical comprehension. Logic is for the external world. Whatever logical things I am trying to introduce, they belong to the external world. But where is the logic when you start looking at deeper aspects of life?

Take an accident. In the accident, a strong man, who is supposed to survive, dies. A tender child, supposed to die, survives. Who is dictating all these? Ask this question.

So Patanjali says, pranidhana. Now you have taken a stand that ‘I’ is doing everything. Pranidhana is slowing down the speed of I, and recognise that there is something else that is working. That is called Pranidhana. Surrender. samarpana. It is not becoming slavish. That is not samarpana. You are becoming aware. That is samarpana. You are recognising that there is something else which is also working with you.

In the family situation, the partners don’t recognise each other. That is why there are problems. There is no pranidhana. Husband has to have pranidhana with wife. Wife has to have pranidhana with husband. Husband has to completely surrender to wife; wife to husband. That is called pranidhana. Then harmony comes, then duality will not be there. I-you is not there. Dvaita bhava is not there. ‘I did it’ is not there, ‘we did it’ is there. You see, the concept of ‘we’ emerges. Why there is lots of problem at home? Because of the predominant ‘I’ feeling. Everybody wants to maintain his individuality. I have to maintain my individuality, there also she has to maintain her individuality. Two individualities are fighting with each other. Why are they fighting? Because there is no pranidhana, samarpana. There is no recognition.

Yes, I am earning a lot of money. I am supplying money to maintain family. That doesn’t mean my wife must become a slave to me. No. Wife also is having an equal responsibility. If she doesn’t prepare food, I can’t work. So, every aspect of life is very important. If one says, “ Even if I don’t work, nothing will happen”, the entire holistic system collapses. 

The “I” has to lose its rigidity. That is pranidhana. If the ‘I’ doesn’t lose its rigidity on its own, the divine force, the cosmic force, will shatter this ‘I’ again and again. This is what we are seeing. We are getting hurt, we are getting frustrated, we are getting dejected, we become helpless. My hands are tied. I can’t do anything. We are going through such situations in life. Somebody else has done a mistake, the blame is on me. I have to go through this blame. Where is law in the life? To understand this law, we have to recognise that there is something higher. There is something bigger, wider, that is operating. In that bigger, higher, wider dimension, this “I” is working.

What is pranidhana? Prakarshana, means with all intensity, with all feeling. Nidhaana means putting myself in it. This is called Pranidhaana. So Ishvara Pranidhaana, one has to realise that there is something beyond the purview of ‘I’ consciousness, and that is also operating. This is where the individual self starts recognising the universal self. There is something called universal self. That universal self is Ishvara.  Ishvara Pranidhaanadva…