Sambandha-jïäna alone enables the jéva to accept shelter at the lotus feet of Bhagavän. The six limbs of surrender (çaraëägati) are evidently manifest in yukta-vairägya only. Çaraëäpatti is an expression of sambandha-jïäna, knowledge of one’s specific relationship with Kåñëa. Sambandha-jïäna alone enables the jéva to accept shelter at the lotus feet of Bhagavän. The six limbs of surrender (çaraëägati) are evidently manifest in yukta-vairägya only. änukülyasya saìkalpaù prätikülyasya varjanam rakñiñyatéti viçväso goptåtve varaëaà tathä ätma-nikñepa-kärpaëye ñaò-vidhä çaraëägatiù The six divisions of surrender are the acceptance of that which is favourable to devotional service; the rejection of that which is unfavourable; the conviction that Kåñëa will give protection; the acceptance of the Lord as one’s guardian or master; full self-surrender; and humility. (Hari-bhakti-viläsa 11.676)
In his explanation of this verse, Çréla Bhaktivinoda Öhäkura has written: dainya, ätma-nivedana, goptåtve varaëa ‘avaçya rakñibe kåñëa’ viçväsa-pälana bhakti-anuküla-mätra käryera svékära bhakti-pratiküla bhäva-varjanäìgékara ñaò-aìga çaraëägati hoibe jähära tähära prärthanä çune çré nanda-kumära Humility, self-dedication, accepting Kåñëa as one’s only maintainer and guardian, having complete conviction that He will surely protect us, accepting things favourable for devotional service, and rejecting the unfavourable – one who submits unconditionally to this six fold process of surrender has his prayers heard by the divine son of Nanda (Nanda-kumära). (‘Ñaòaëga Çaraëägati’)
A surrendered bhakta who is endowed with yuktavairägya achieves perfection in the attainment of his ultimate goal, prema. Of this there is no doubt. It is not possible for a person to enter the path of sädhana if he is not surrendered. An absence of surrender is due to an indifference to sambandha-jïäna. Moreover, it is impossible for a person devoid of sambandha-jïäna to adopt yukta-vairägya. Only one who has knowledge of the five types of relationship – that is, between Bhagavän and the jéva, Bhagavän
30 • RAYS OF THE HARMONIST
and jaòa (matter), jéva and jéva, jéva and jaòa, and jaòa and jaòa – can perform hari-bhajana without disturbance. One with sambandha-jïäna accepts Bhagavän as the unrestrained enjoyer. In the light of his sambandha-jïäna, a yukta-vairägé (proper renunciant) can maintain appropriate dealings with everything because he knows the mutual relationships of the different entities. Dealings that are devoid of sambandha-jïäna are illicit. In yuktavairägya, self-enjoyment (bhoga) and false renunciation (tyäga) are not at all acceptable. The cent-percent consideration is to act solely for the pleasure of the worshipful object (sevya-vastu). “The enjoyer is one without a second and the enjoyed is many.” This statement itself gives the instruction on yukta-vairägya: ahaà hi sarva-yajïänäà bhoktä ca prabhur eva ca na tu mäm abhijänanti tattvenätaç cyavanti te I am the only master and enjoyer of all yajïas, but those who do not recognize My svarüpa repeatedly wander in the cycle of birth and death. (Bhagavad-gétä 9.24)
Bhagavän says, “I alone am the enjoyer and master of all sacrifices. One who is ignorant of My nature as the enjoyer falls from his approach to philosophical reality and thus takes repeated births.” A vairägé (renunciant) who is not yukta (properly connected) because sambandhajïäna is absent, cannot give up his enjoying ego. Thus cast in the cycle of birth and death, he only undergoes the suffering of coming and going in this material world. A jéva cannot become free from the attraction and repulsion of mäyä merely by bhoga (enjoyment) and tyäga (renunciation). Here, the path to be adopted by a person desirous of his spiritual welfare is to accept, among all types of sense objects, only those that are his dire necessity. He considers what to accept on the basis of what is favourable for hari-bhajana, and what to reject on the basis of what is unfavourable. This indeed is yukta-vairägya. In other words, on the positive side, there is attachment to Kåñëa (anuräga) and in negation, there is detachment from all objects other than Kåñëa. A person has to simultaneously cultivate both types of vairägya in which personal enjoyment and the renunciation of sense objects are not considered. Rather, when a