Iswara Pranidhana

Iswara Pranidhana refers to the offering to the lord of one’s action, thoughts, and speeches. Iswara Pranidhana means to surrender to God. It means dedicating one’s thoughts and actions to God. It does not mean sitting idle, thinking that God will take care of everything. In the Bhagvat Gita’s chapter on Karma Yoga, it is said that one has to perform actions according to one’s dharma. Before performing the act, one should dedicate the action to God. Also, after acting with discrimination and dedication, one should surrender the fruits of the action to God. Surrender comes only after you put in self-effort. When we are born, we are provided with certain physical and intellectual abilities. One has to use these abilities to act. But many things are beyond our skills. Also, the results of an action are not fully under own control. It is here that surrender is required. Surrenders start where self-effort ends. Only when one has gone through the ups and downs of life will one develop the maturity and humility to surrender to God’s will or a higher power. Humility is a great quality that invokes grace. Humility is not weakness. It is a quality of the mind dawning through experience and understanding.