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Chapter 3
Therefore, the Lord exhorts a striver to surrender these to Him, with a discriminative insight. Thus, when a striver surrenders these to God, he comes to know the truth, that in fact these are the Lord's, not his.
The fact of surrender to God, is so unique, that even if we surrender out of feeling of surfeit, it brings us immense benefit. In fact, actions, objects, the body and the self, are not ones' own. Actions can be surrendered even after their accomplishment.But real surrender is achieved only when we renounce our affinity with objects and actions. This abandonment is possihle, when we discern that instruments (body etc.) objects, actions and the embodied self, are only God's. A striver commits an error, that he tries to surrender actions and objects to God, but he does not surrender his body etc., and the self to Him. Thus his surrender, remains incomplete. Therefore, a striver should think, that all the objects including his body, senses, mind, intellect and the Self, belong to God, which are really His.
A mere outward renunciation of actions and objects, is not real surrender. Real surrender, consists in regarding the objects and possessions as His. If a striver surrenders these to God by regarding these as his own, the Lord reciprocates by returning these manifold, in the same way, as seeds sown, turn into a rich harvest. But, still it is in a limited amount. However, when he surrenders these to Him regarding them as His, He offers Himself to him, and also feels indebted to him.
The Lord is very much pleased with such a surrender. Even when it does not help the Lord, in anyway. But its doing so striver is released from the bondage of actions. When a child hands over the key lying in a courtyard, to the father, the latter is very much pleased with the baby and wishes it a long life. Why? The reason is, that the child has good feelings, when it offers the key to the father ever though it belongs to him. Similarly, God is pleased with the striver, who offers all objects, the body and the self to Him, and is indebted to him.
An Important Fact Pertaining to Desire
The Lord has created the human body in a most unusual way, and the Lord by His grace has abundantly bestowed upon a human being, the materials for his existence and spiritual practice including discrimination. When man, disregarding his discrimination, uses the things for his selfish motive, and has a desire to acquire more things, he is enslaved and he has to follow the cycle of birth and death. Every man knows the reality, that family, circumstances, ability, power, body, senses, mind and intellect etc., have been acquired. These were neither his in the past, nor would remain his, in the future, because they never remain the same, and are ever-changing. If, having realized this fact, man ceases to depend on these, without attaching importance to them, he can attain salvation, without any doubt. Attachment to these, is the root cause of bondage. His attachment to these gives birth to several other desires, which lead him to sin, pain, sorrow and hell etc. All these things, are perishable while the self is imperishable. So he should perform his duty by renouncing desires.
Here, a doubt may arise, how would he be inclined to act, without desire. The clarification is, that a man is inclined to act for the satisfaction of desires, as well as, to get rid of these. Common men perform actions, in order to satisfy their desires, while strivers act for the purification of their souls, in order to get rid of desires (Gita 5/11). In fact, actions are performed, in order to get rid of desires rather than to satisfy them.
The aim of human life is to attain God. When this aim is achieved, nothing more remains to be acquired. Only those people, who have forgotten the real aim of human life i.e., God-realization, remain inclined to act, in order to satisfy their desires. The Lord has called such people wretched or pitiful, as they seek the fruits (of their actions) (Gltd 2/49). On the other hand, those strivers, who perform actions by renouncing their fruits, in order to be free from desires, have been called wise (Gita 2/51).
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