Saranagathi

Saranagathi or surrender has (almost) nothing to do with rituals and prayers. Instead it implies a sincere commitment of refusing to take the side of ones ego at every point in ones life. Beyond the ego, lies the door to the divine. By, refusing to mollycoddle ones ego, we directly arrive at the door of the divine. This is a deceptively simple route. The ways of the ego or the sense of the limited self are extremely subtle. This can only be overcome with sincerity! Refusing to take the side of the ego does not imply destroying oneself, it simply means adhering to what is right at every point in ones life - in every argument we have, in every decision we make, in our life styles, in our choice of work / principle activity of our lives, in our choice of places where we put our money, in our vision for the society, in our response to varying forms of violence all around us etc. This will naturally lead to an extremely purposeful life filled with love and compassion! When one is able to effortlessly adhere to what is right instead of the preference of the ego, one can effortlessly see the truth that acaryas such as Ramanuja have been trying to elucidate for many millennia!