Ishvara-Pranidhana: Surrender to God/ Reality/Truth

Practice: move beyond ego with a willingness to surrender to God, the reality of your life exactly as it IS as a movement of presence (Love). 

Pantanjali’s 5th Niyama directs us to offer the fruit of self, work, and devotion to God, the reality of your life exactly as it IS.  In the strength of this surrender one must trust in a divinity greater than self with the knowing that everything IS exactly as it should be and ALL is well.   

In the yogic tradition self-actualization is the goal of life and all actions serve this goal. Spirituality embraces the light and dark, just as the sun shines on all without discrimination or judgment, illuminating even the darkest corners of the Earth. Ishvara pranidhana is surrendering everything without judgment or condemnation, allowing for the shadows and the light with more and more presence – Love.  In other words, the practice ishvara pranidhana does not judge any element of spirit, but instead embraces “All that Is” and moves with presence (love).   

The observance of Ishvara Pranidhana can be taken as advice to let go, to stop clinging to the ego (source of frustration, dissatisfaction, and tension) and to trust in the Self that is at the center of wholeness of being.  The ego thinks it is in charge and has an inflated concept of its own importance.  Ishvara pranidhana, embraces the embraces and moves beyond.

Modern psychology has revealed that great regions of the psyche are below the surface of consciousness.  C.G. Jung used the term Self over and above the ego as the organizer and integrator of the total psyche, of which the conscious part in which the ego operates is but small part.

On the path of the surrender to truth (God), the ego identification is the greatest barrier. In yogic tradition there are many schools of thoughts, all of which are paths that lead to the same end, total union with the divine.  Bhakti Yoga, the yoga of devotion is one such path, melting the ego away through the fire of devotion. In Jnana Yoga the ego is whittled away by the well-honed intellect.  Raja Yoga dissolves the ego by stilling the mind’s agitation and modifications. In Christian language, Isvara Pranidhana is ‘Not my will but Thy Will be done’ and losing your soul to find it.  In Taoist language it is floating with the flow of life and Nature, the Tao.  The path is not as important as the ability to surrender and the movement of love in place of fear. 

Ishvara Pranidhana (Surrender to God)

Patanjali defines “ishvara” as “Lord,” and the word “pranidhana” conveys the sense of “throwing down” or “giving up.” Thus, ishvara pranidhana can be translated as “giving up or surrendering the fruits of all our actions to God.”

The essence of Ishvara Pranidhana is acting as best we can, and then relinquishing and surrendering all attachment to the outcome of our actions. Only by releasing our fears and hopes for the future can we really be in union with the present moment.

To surrender the fruits of our actions to God requires that we give up our egotistical illusion that we know best, and instead accept that the way life unfolds may be part of a pattern too complex to understand.  It is a trust and movement of love (presence) with every breath.

This surrender, however, is anything but passive inactivity. Isvara pranidhana requires not just that we surrender, but also that we act from love (presence). It requires great strength and intent to move beyond the boundaries of self imposed limitations of mind and ego.