Ponderings on Isvara.

As children, we are totally dependant upon the people who are taking care of us.   We must intrinsically trust these people.    A newborn infant is incapable of anything and therefore must trust the adults surrounding him.   As we age, we find that our caregivers with whom we put all of our trust as infants are not at all infallable.   They are human beings with likely as many faults as virtues and so we begin to distrust what we once thought infallable.    Then many of us are introduced to a concept of God, which goes something like this:   Pray to God.  He will provide Everything.   So we pray and no, we don't get a Porsche for our sixteenth birthdays or some tragedy hits our lives and so many of us fall into a doubt of God.   Our ego, very often, becomes our God.  We learn to trust ourselves and little else. 

"Isvara Pranidhanani" is a niyama (established observance) in Patanjali's Yoga Sutras and is often translated as "surrender to God."    For me this was a difficult concept to comprehend, due to years of  religious belief abstinance.  However, if I change my defintion of "God" and take it not in the "old man in the sky with a long white beard who is clearly defunkt in his duty to provide good in the world"---well, that's a whole other story.   

Swami Dayananda translates "Isvara Pranidhanani" as "living a life in Awareness."   This to me is a palatable definition and a worthwhile cause.   In spite of all of my personal challenges,  I can clearly see that there is nothing else of any real significance beyond "Awareness."   This idea helps me to put to rest my restlessness and my insignificant desire for more of this or more of that.   This idea helps me to find calm and appreciation for my opportunity to serve my community and the world in whatever capacity I can.  And I can find trust that "Awareness" is always there....whether I chose to recognize it or not.