Śaraṇāgati
Śaraṇāgati · śaraṇa-āgati, “coming for refuge”
Grammar: feminine noun; a compound of śaraṇa (refuge, shelter) and āgati (coming, approach): “coming for refuge”. Also Īśvara-śaraṇāgati, taking refuge in Īśvara.
Meaning: taking full refuge in Śrī Hari: giving up the sense of separateness and self-reliance and resting wholly in him.
In the scriptures:
- A niyama. Bhagavān Kapila teaches Devahūti that the bhakta must keep the niyamas: śauca, purity inside and outside; santushṭi, contentment; tapas; svādhyāya, study; and Īśvara-śaraṇāgati, taking refuge in Īśvara (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 3, Chapter 29). Śuka gives the same five niyamas to Parīkshit, with the five yamas, among the means by which pāpa is destroyed; and some, for whom Vāsudeva alone is the highest refuge, destroy pāpa completely by bhakti alone, as the sun dispels mist (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 6, Chapter 1).
- Itself moksha. Prahlāda tells the daitya boys: “Leave far behind the friendship of those attached to sense-enjoyments. Take refuge in Nārāyaṇa, the cause of the world, whose nature is light. Such surrender is itself the moksha that mahātmās free of attachment long for. Śrī Hari is within all beings as their ātmā, so there is no great labour in pleasing him.” Nārada Maharshi tells this to Yudhishṭhira (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 7, Chapter 6).
- Free of every debt. The yogīndra Karabhājana tells King Nimi: a gṛhastha is usually indebted to the devatās, the ṛshis, the pitṛs, the beings, the guests and his family; but whoever gives up the sense of difference and ahaṅkāra and takes refuge in every way in Śrī Hari, who is worthy of refuge, is freed from all these debts. Even if by chance a forbidden act befalls such a bhakta, Śrī Hari, who stays close within his heart, destroys it (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 11, Chapter 5).
- Free of every fear. Śrī Kṛshṇa tells Uddhava: “Take refuge in every way in me alone, the Ātmā in all beings. Know that all is the Ātmā. For, taking refuge in me, you will be freed from every fear” (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 11, Chapter 12).
- Beyond the guṇas. Teaching the three guṇas in all things, Śrī Kṛshṇa says: the happiness of experiencing one’s own true nature is sāttvika, the happiness of sense objects rājasa, the happiness of intoxicants and of attachment to sons and others tāmasa; but śaraṇāgati to Śrī Kṛshṇa is ānanda beyond the guṇas (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 11, Chapter 25).
Related terms: Bhakti · Prapatti · Niyama · Ātma-nivedana · Moksha
Sources
- Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 3, Chapter 29; Skandha 6, Chapter 1; Skandha 7, Chapter 6; Skandha 11, Chapters 5, 12, 25