Bhagavatam-daily 258 – 11.12.15 – Surrender is the path to fearlessness

Bhagavatam chapter 12 text 15 bhagavatam chapter 12 krishna is instructing uddhava and after explaining how in this world there is so much complexity in terms of there being so many different paths but none of them are as potent as the process of devotion krishna has explained this to analysis and explained this to examples and now he is concluding his analysis by stating that unambiguously just practice bhakti these two verses are similar to bhagavad-gita’s conclusion charam shloka 18.66 sarva dharman parityajya mam ekam sharanam rajam just surrender to me alone here also it is the same word sharanam ekam just surrender to me now akuto bhaya one can by surrendering to krishna attain a state of ultimate fearlessness how does that happen? that happens by the process of purification often it is our attachments to things of this world that causes fear when we understand that the connection with krishna can provide us the greatest security and the connection with krishna can offer us lasting happiness the connection with krishna will provide us something which even the best connections in this world cannot provide us then we can steadily move onwards in practicing bhakti wholeheartedly here krishna is stating that just surrender to him alone people all talk about how success depends on connections networking is a big part of social success success in society so if you know the right people then you will get invited to the right parties if you have the right contacts they will give the right records and then you will get the right promotions, right perks and you will grow in your life if you are in trouble if you have a contact with some influential person, some politician or some other person who has a substantial amount of influence then that will enable you to deal with a situation that you are facing more maturely, more purposefully and more effectively maturely not in the sense that you yourself become mature by having that contact but by that connection you may not have to become so worked up because you feel that person can deal with the problem I just have to contact that person but in the long run none of the connections in this world are going to help us in the case of old age, disease and death the only connection that will be of redeeming value is our connection with Krishna and the process of bhakti yoga recognises the importance of the right connections but it also urges us to rethink what the right connections are certainly we need connections in this world and we certainly should not be impolite, rude, brash we need to be well behaved, cultured polite and that way we can attract others we can develop relationships with others nicely but the point is these are all horizontal connections and they can offer a limited amount of security we need a vertical connection with Krishna which alone can offer us security of a far different nature of a far greater magnitude so the process of bhakti is also a process of developing connections of developing a connection with Krishna through the systematic and diligent practice of bhakti now Krishna is telling over here that mam ekam that just me alone or just surrender unto me in the previous verses he has described about how those who practice bhakti yoga have attained perfection and he has also depicted how those who attained the topmost perfection in that perfection those who became the topmost devotees, the gopis they also did not do anything much more than they did not do anything apart from practicing bhakti so bhakti has the full potential to take us to the zenith of human achievement and therefore when that sublime supreme process is accessible to us we don’t need anything else for moving onwards in our life all we just need is Krishna and our connection with Krishna so here Krishna is telling about that therefore just surrender to me don’t worry about anything else just practice bhakti mam ekam eva sharanam atmanam sarvadehinam mam ekam sharanam as Krishna says in 18.66b that is almost similar here almost the same mam ekam eva sharanam and then further atmanam sarvadehinam we can develop connections with people who are staying in our city in our neighborhood or even in our country or in some other country nowadays in the digital age it is possible to become connected the connection with Krishna is so wonderful that he is far far away in the spiritual world and yet he is closer than the closest so atmanam sarvadehinam he is present in the hearts of all living beings as a super soul and he is there for us to give us an opportunity to turn towards him to listen to wisdom to listen to the voice of conscience to the speech of the intelligence which manifests his wisdom and thus choose our best interests he is sarvaatma bhave with all the emotion of our heart if we turn towards him surrender to him then in his remembrance in his service we can akuto we can get freedom from all misery thank you