Ishvara-Pranidhana : Surrender to God/Light/Energy of the Universe

Practice:  A willful and active surrender to God – the reality of your life exactly as it IS.

Ishvara-Pranidhana, the fifth and final Niyama, relates to our relationship to the divine energy of the universe, God. This relationship is one of active presence and total surrender.  These seemingly opposing forces work in unity to create an equilibrium that brings peace and balance to our lives.

One way to practice Isvara Pranidhana is to willingly and joyfully offer the fruit of self, work, and devotion to the Divinity at the core of all existence. Keep self-actualization as your goal in your life, adjusting all thoughts, intentions, speech and actions to serve as a movement of the higher aspirations of the soul, while surrendering to life situations with an open heart. In other words, the practice of  Isvara Pranidhana is a complete surrender to the reality of your life exactly as it “IS” with an active presence.  Leave no small detail out.  Embrace the entirety of your life with gratefulness as you surrender willingly to every movement of life that brought you to this moment.

Fall in love with your life.

 Just as the benevolent Sun finds its way to the darkest corners of the Earth without hesitation or judgment, embrace the light and the dark of self and others. Notice the shifting shapes and shadows on the wall of your existence, without judgment or categorization as good or bad. Instead, with an open heart of genuine goodness and acceptance, embrace all that “IS” with kindness, compassion and the unwavering strength of unconditional love.

 As we ponder what it means to surrender to God, one way to think of it is to surrender to truth.  Spirituality manifests in many ways and in many things. Your individual expression of spirituality may be to read poetry, listen to music, paint, dance, meditate, pray, do yoga, walk your dog or simply sit at the edge of the ocean and contemplate the meaning of existence. What is important is the continual, purposeful dedication to the practice of that spiritual expression.  Find your authentic spiritual expression and surrender to the Spirit and celebration of the devotional energy.

This 5th Niyama (observance) Isvara Pranidhana can be taken as the simple advice to simply let go and to stop clinging to the ego (source of frustration, dissatisfaction, and tension) and to trust in the Self that is at the centre of the wholeness of all beingness.

Isvara Pranidhana (Surrender to God)Patanjali defines “Isvara” as “Lord,” and the word “Pranidhana” conveys the sense of “throwing down” or “giving up.” Thus, Isvara Pranidhana can be literally translated as “giving up or surrendering the fruits of all our actions to God.”

In the practice of Isvara Pranidhana all actions are surrendered.

The essence of Isvara Pranidhana is acting with as much kindness, compassion and love, and then relinquishing and surrendering all attachment to the outcome of our actions.  Trusting that the highest good will always manifest, regardless of our ability to comprehend appearances.  Only by releasing our fears and our hopes for the future can we really be in union with the present moment.

Paradoxically, the surrender pointed to by Isvara Pranidhana requires tremendous strength.

To surrender the fruits of our actions to God requires that we give up our illusion that we know best, and instead accept and trust that the way life unfolds may be part of a pattern too complex and beautiful to understand. Isvara Pranidhana requires a conscious choice of love regardless of the gravity or ease of apparent circumstances.

This surrender, however, is anything but a passive inactivity. Isvara Pranidhana requires that we completely and whole heartedly surrender to what “IS” while simultaneously acting with the power and abundance of goodness and love. 

The practice of Isvara Pranidhana is simple. Let all movements of body, mind and spirited be powerfully rooted in the unconditional love of an open heart full of kindness and compassion and actively surrender to reality of life, God, Existence.  As we surrender to what “IS”, while earnestly moving towards the highest expression of our spiritual self in each moment with no attachment to any attainment, a great freedom and peace arises within and is a healing light to all.

Isvara Pranidhana inherently requires a profound trust in the goodness of the universe and of all existence within and beyond our finite understanding and existence.

“Whatever the question, Love is the answer…” ~ Chrystal Rae