In the second book of the Yoga Sutras, sutra no. 45 it says:
“By total surrender to God, Samadhi is attained”
Isvarapranidhana is a lifelong dedication to sacrificing everything to God, or humanity. God does not sit in a place waiting for our sacrifices and gifts, but by dedicating our lives to human benefit, we dedicate our lives to God. Whatever we do can easily be transformed into worship of our attitude. By always having an intention that what we do is the best for everyone and the whole. If we present a chair to someone, we can do it in a way where the chair is dragged across the floor and ‘screams’. We can also lift it carefully and put it in place. Everything that is treated roughly experiences pain. It should therefore be a gentle, ‘yogic’ touch to everything we do. With this presence and intention, our smallest actions will become a way to dedicate ourselves to God. In this way, everything we do can become a form of practicing Isvarapranidhana. We can see here that spirituality is not so much about what we do, but how and why we do it.
Can you give up everything you own? Give everything to God? This does not necessarily mean that you get rid of it, but that you no longer hold on to them and have a kind of mental connection to them. We let go of all our connections and leave them to God. This does not mean that we should not have wishes, desires or attachments, but they should not be linked to us as individuals, but to life as a whole. Many people say that inner peace comes only when you get rid of ‘all desires’. That is, to get rid of all desires, but this can easily be misunderstood. The only way to get rid of all desires is to die. Wishes are a natural part of life, and all life desires. What is meant by getting rid of all desires is to get rid of selfish desires, desires with the intention of satisfying the individual. The shift here is largely about making the desires conscious and not letting them be compulsive desires, as a product of the mind and karma we carry.
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