Samarpana

Samarpana

समर्पण, samarpaṇa
"giving", "donation", "endowment"

Samarpana is the oblation of fruits of one's activity to the Supreme, the giving of one's attachments and identifications. In fact, samarpana is puja, the ritual of offering sacrifice. Upacharas, offerings in puja, are often accompanied by the word "samarpayami" (I offer).

In yoga, a synonym for samarpana is tyaga. Samarpana and tyaga lead sadhaka to the emptiness of the mind, purify prana, and free from attachments and false identities.

Atma-samarpana — self-giving, self-sacrifice, is the highest step in Bhakti-yoga.

"Yogi Vilakshan Avadhut" says:

"Bhakti means fully dedicating oneself to veneration and service of the Omnipotent, Guru, or other deities, not sparing one iota of one's abilities and energy for any cause. A person must first become a devotee before trying to become a yogi or a jnani.

Bhakti consists of nine stages. Each subsequent one is higher and nobler than the previous one and one merges with the other sequentially. They are as follows: 1) shravana (listening), 2) kirtana (recitation or chanting of a name or quality), 3) smarana (remembrance), 4) pada-sevana (service to the feet), 5) arpana (trust in the Lord), 6) vandana (reciting prayers and praises), 7) dasya (serving as a servant), 8) sakha-bhava (loving the Lord as a friend), 9) Atma-samarpana (total and complete self-surrender to God).

Surrendering oneself to God:

caraṇan maiṃ jo rahe rām ke arpan kartā।
sukh dukh kā kuc dhyān nahiṃ citta meiṃ vah dhartā॥
samtā usmeṃ rahe deh kī mamtā nahiṃ।
rām bharose hoya, yahī dṛdhatā man nāhiṃ॥
maiṃ hūñ aisā bhāv jab, rahtā hai man meṃ nahiṃ।
amrit nāth bakhānte, ātmasamarpana hai yahi॥

The venerable sage Shri Nathaji describes in this verse the qualities and states of a devotee who dedicates himself to Atman, Rama. He says that a devotee sacrifices his body, mind and soul to Rama’s feet, does not worry about the comfort or discomfort of his body, he does not care about the conditions, he lives with equanimity and behaves as if he did not possess a body, he leads an independent existence, relying on Rama’s mercy only, he never deviates from the belief that Rama will support him in any conditions. He gains faith that Rama is doing all this, not him. So he is realized in the natural process of spiritual evolution. He doesn't take this idea from somewhere outside. This wise and amazing method is known as Atma Samarpana."

Self-sacrifice is the path to spiritual and material success. In the context of yoga, self-sacrifice is the improvement of perception. All yoga methods involve stopping and falling silent. In an asana it is a movement towards stability, in pranayama it is a calming of prana, etc. The human ego is always active, it is a consequence of ignorance and the reason for earning a hard fate. To get away from involvement in the mind-narrowing whirlpools of the phenomenal world, instead of activity, one must come to a subtly receptive passivity, which is like a vacuum. When a sadhaka is nobody and with nothing, then he has access to everything, and for this self-sacrifice is necessary.

Regarding atma-samarpana in the Guru-disciple relationship, Guruji Matsyendranath wrote:

"Guru's self-sacrifice to a disciple is manifested on an invisible, spiritual level, and a disciple's sacrifice is manifested in physical dimension, although this is conditional, of course. Sincerity on the part of a disciple is extremely important: if there is no hypocrisy in the relationship, which is already self-sacrifice, then Shaktipat automatically descends from Guru. Some people ask: "Will the Guru reject me as a disciple?". It does not happen that honest people are rejected, also those who have real self-sacrifice, because it would be an unnatural phenomenon. I would generally say sincerity is equal to spiritual practice. Self-sacrifice is the abandonment of all that is superfluous (which is false) and dedication of oneself to the essence."