Īśvara-praṇidhāna
Īśvara-praṇidhāna · īśvara-praṇidhāna, “placing oneself in Īśvara”
Grammar: neuter noun; a compound of Īśvara (the one who rules all) and praṇidhāna (placing, laying down, from pra-ni-dhā, to set down before): “the placing of oneself in Īśvara”.
Meaning: surrender to Īśvara, śaraṇāgati, taking refuge in him; the fifth of the five niyamas, the observances of the sādhaka.
In the scriptures: Sanatkumāra, teaching Pṛthu Mahārāja, names the five yamas, ahiṃsā, satya, asteya, brahmacarya and aparigraha, and the five niyamas: śauca (purity, outward and of the antaḥkaraṇa), santosha (contentment), tapas, svādhyāya (study of the moksha-śāstra) and Īśvara-praṇidhāna, which the text glosses as śaraṇāgati, surrender. The sādhaka who practises them without desire for fruit, bearing the pairs of opposites with an even mind, gains ātma-sākshātkāra and becomes a jīvanmukta (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 4, Chapter 22).
Nārada tells Prācīnabarhisha that Malayadhvaja, king of the Pāṇḍya country, kept the yamas and the niyamas, among them īśvarapraṇidhāna, surrender to Īśvara. By them he rooted out the vāsanās, then practised prāṇāyāma, pratyāhāra, dhāraṇā and dhyāna and dissolved his mind in Parabrahman (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 4, Chapter 28).
Śrī Kṛshṇa tells Uddhava that the sādhaka whose supreme goal is himself should practise the yamas with reverence, and the niyamas, śauca, santosha, tapas, svādhyāya and Īśvara-praṇidhāna, only now and then, so far as they do not obstruct ātma-jñāna (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 11, Chapter 10).
Related terms: Īśvara · Śaraṇāgati · Niyama · Yama · Tapas · Svādhyāya
Sources
- Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 4, Chapters 22, 28; Skandha 11, Chapter 10