The Practice of Surrender

Ishvara pranidhana is not about what your yoga can do for you, but about approaching your practice in the spirit of offering.

By Shiva Rea

The Face of God
To practice Ishvara pranidhana, we must first start with our own intimate connection to the universe. In yoga, this is referred to as your Ishta-Devata. The yogic concept of Ishta-Devata recognizes that we each have our own, personal relationship with and taste of the Divine and that this serves as a powerful means of yoga (unification) for us. Traditionally, many sadhus (monks) in India have revered the god Shiva in his role as the archetypal yogi. Many other Indians revere Vishnu, especially in his incarnations as Rama or Krishna. Still others are drawn to female manifestations of divinity, like Lakshmi or Kali or Durga. But Sri T. Krishnamacharya, probably the most influential figure in the spread of yoga to the West, advocated that Western yoga practitioners use their own language, imagery, and names of the sacred to deepen their connection to Ishvara.

I have always been naturally drawn to Indian culture, but I'm sure I was also influenced by my Catholic grandmother's devotion to Mother Mary. When I was a child, I often found my grandma rapt in prayer, saying her rosary while lying on her bed under a picture of the blessed Mother. Your Ishta-Devata can also take a more abstract form; my father, an artist, describes light as his way of seeing the Divine in nature, in people's eyes, in art. In yoga, Ishvara is understood as being beyond one form yet expressed through all forms, and thus is often represented as the sacred syllable Om, as pure vibration. Your Ishta-Devata is the form that vibration takes within your own heart.

In the Yoga Sutra, Patanjali refers to this inner presence of Ishvara as our foremost teacher (I.26). Through intimate listening to this voice within us, we begin to have a relationship with inner guidance in all aspects of our life. When I think of my most important teachers, including my parents, I see that they were there not just for the big lessons but also in a thousand small ways, constantly showing me when I was on target or beginning to wander off the path, opening my being to new vistas and reminding me when I was closing myself to life. My experience of my inner teacher is similar: As my attunement to this inner sense of direction grows, it increasingly guides my thoughts, speech, and actions.

The Spirit of Offering
If Ishvara is the inner compass, pranidhana is remembering to stay connected to that essence not just occasionally but throughout the day. Ishvara pranidhana is also translated as "offering the fruits of one's actions to the Divine." As we consider how to make Ishvara pranidhana a living part of our yoga, it's useful to look to India, where the act of offering pervades the culture. I found living there, even with all its challenges, really helped me understand how Ishvara pranidhana can be integrated into daily life. Throughout India, images of the Divine are everywhere, and people of all ages are continuously making offerings of fruit, incense, and gestures, from Anjali Mudra (hands together at the heart) to full-body prostrations. At the local fruit stall, the merchant offers the money of his first sale at the altar on his cart; your rickshaw driver touches the feet of an image of Krishna before zooming off; a neighborhood mother places the first spoonful of the meal before her kitchen shrine. As Ashtanga Vinyasa master Sri K. Pattabhi Jois enters the yoga room, his forehead always shows the markings of his tilak, the sign that he has made his morning puja (offering). All these practices cultivate an underlying connection with the Source; "Me, me, me" starts to move into the background, and spiritual life moves more front and center.

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