Full Surrender
149
overcome all difficulties of material existence.
After the Battle of Kurukşetra ended and the Pāṇḍavas were established in their kingdom, Kṛṣṇa, before going back home to Dvārakā, was taking leave of His aunt and bidding her farewell. It was at that time that Kuntī offered this prayer. Now she directly asks, “Is it a fact that after finishing Your duty You are going away and leaving us alone?” This is the devotee’s position. Kuntīdevī says,  yeṣām na cānyad bhavataḥ padām-bujāt : “We have no means of protection other than Your lotus feet.” This is full surrender.
In the process of surrender ( śaraṇāgati ) there are six items. The first is that one should completely depend on Kṛṣṇa, and the next is that one should accept everything favorable for Kṛṣṇa’s service ( ānukūlyasya sankalpaḥ ).  Ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānuśīlanam bhaktir uttamā : a symptom of first-class  bhakti , devotional service, is that one accepts everything favorable for that service. Another item of surrender is  prātikūlya-vivarjanam , rejecting everything unfavorable to the procedures of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Sometimes the spiritual master says, “Don’t do this,” forbidding something unfavorable, and he also recommends that which is favorable: “Do this. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.” Full surrender, therefore, entails giving up unfavorable things and accepting that which is favorable ( ānukūlyasya sankalpaḥ prātikūlya-vivarjanam ). Furthermore, one should believe with full faith, “Kṛṣṇa will give me protection,” and one should count oneself as one of the servants of Kṛṣṇa. These are some of the items of  śaraṇāgati , full surrender.
Now Kuntīdevī says, “My dear Kṛṣṇa, if You think that we are well established now that we have our kingdom back, and if You therefore want to leave us, that is not a very good proposal. We are not free yet. Because we have killed so many kings, all their friends and relatives are planning to come fight with us again. So don’t think that we are free from all dangers. We are not. And we have no protection other than Your lotus feet. That is our position.” Thus she indirectly says to Kṛṣṇa, “Do not leave us. Don’t think that we are now safe. Without Your protection, we are always unsafe.”
This should be the position of a devotee. We should know that we are actually in danger in this material world.  Māyā , illusion, may catch us at any time, as soon as we are a little inattentive, thinking, “Now I have done my duty. Let me take a little rest.” No, there is no rest. We must be always alert.
There is a verse in which Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī says,  avyartha-kālatvam : a devotee should be very much careful to see whether his