tam eva śaraṇaḿ gaccha
sarva-bhāvena bhārata
tat-prasādāt parāḿ śāntiḿ
sthānaḿ prāpsyasi śāśvatam
Translation of Bhagavad Gita 18.62
O scion of Bharata, surrender unto Him utterly. By His grace you will attain transcendental peace and the supreme and eternal abode.
Commentary by Sri A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada of Gaudiya Sampradaya:
A living entity should therefore surrender unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is situated in everyone’s heart, and that will relieve him from all kinds of miseries of this material existence. By such surrender, not only will one be released from all miseries in this life, but at the end he will reach the Supreme God. The transcendental world is described in the Vedic literature (Rig Veda 1.22.20) as tad visnoh paramam padam. Since all of creation is the kingdom of God, everything material is actually spiritual, but paramam padam specifically refers to the eternal abode, which is called the spiritual sky or Vaikuntha.
In the Fifteenth Chapter of Bhagavad-gita it is stated, sarvasya caham hridi sannivistah: the Lord is seated in everyone’s heart. So this recommendation that one should surrender unto the Supersoul sitting within means that one should surrender unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna. Krishna has already been accepted by Arjuna as the Supreme. He was accepted in the Tenth Chapter as param brahma param dhama. Arjuna has accepted Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the supreme abode of all living entities, not only because of his personal experience but also because of the evidence of great authorities like Narada, Asita, Devala and Vyasa.
Commentary by Sri Vishvanatha Chakravarthi Thakur of Gaudiya Sampradaya:
This verse explains the purpose of the knowledge just revealed: take shelter of that Lord. You will attain the cessation of vidya and avidya (param santim) and then you will attain my eternal place Vaikuntha (sasvatam sthanam). This surrender to the antryami is for worshippers of the antaryami (paramatma) whereas the worshippers of bhagavan surrender to bhagavan, which will be explained later. This is the opinion of some concerning this verse.
“My Lord Sri Krishna, is my guru, and give me instructions which are beneficial for my bhakti. I surrender unto him.” In this way, a person will think. Uddhava says:
naivopayanty apacitim kavayas tavesa brahmayusapi krtam rddha-mudah smarantah yo’ntar-bahis tanu-bhrtam asubham vidhunvan acarya-caittya-vapusa sva-gatim vyanakti
O my Lord! Transcendental poets and experts in spiritual science could not fully express their indebtedness to You, even if they were endowed with the prolonged lifetime of Brahma, for You appear in two features – externally as the acarya and internally as the Supersoul – to deliver the embodied living being by directing him how to come to You. SB 11.29.6
Commentary by Sri Ramanuja of Sri Sampradaya:
18.62 Such being the case, take refuge with all your heart (Sarvabhavena), by every disposition of your body, senses and mind (Sarvatmana) in Him — Him, the ruler of all, who has become your charioteer out of compassion for dependents, and who orders you, ‘Act thus’ and so on. Even if you do not do so now, fighting in battle etc., is inevitable for you who are ignorant and actuated by His Maya, but then you will get ruined. Therefore, fight etc., in the manner which has been explained by Him. Such is the meaning. Acting in this way, you will attain supreme peace, release from all bondage, and the eternal abode. Hundreds of Srutis declare it: ‘That supreme place of Visnu which the sages see’ (Rg. S., 1.2.6.5); ‘They become meritorious and reach this heaven where Devas and Sadhyas dwell’ (Tai. A., 3.12); ‘Where dwell the ancient sages, the first-born’ (Tai.Sam., 4.7.13.1); ‘The supreme place above the paradise in the heart of the Supreme Heaven’ (Ma. Na., 8.14); ‘He who is in the Supreme Heaven and presides over this’ (Rg. S., 8.7.17.7); ‘Now that light which shines above this Supreme Heaven’ (Cha. U., 3.13.7); and ‘He reaches the end of the journey, the Highest abode of Visnu’ (Ka. U., 3.9).
Commentary by Sri Sridhara Swami of Rudra Sampradaya:
Taking full shelter of the Supreme Lord Krishna in every way is what is being emphasised here. Since every jiva or embodied being in all of creation is anyway totally dependent upon the Supreme Lord for their very existence whether they know it or not. It is not at all unreasonable, acknowledging this, for the spiritually intelligent to surrender completely in total unconditional refuge in Him with all their mind, with all their heart and with all their soul. Then only by His Grace they shall attain the supreme, everlasting, eternal abode in the spiritual worlds and eternal communion with Him.
Commentary by Sri Madhvacharya of Brahma Sampradaya:
This empirical statement tat prasadat means by His Grace. It should be understood that Lord Krishna is referring to His Grace as that of any of His avatars or incarnations and expansions as authorised in Vedic scriptures. They all as a part of Lord Krishna abide as paramatma the supreme soul within the heart of all jivas or embodied beings. Any part of the whole is imbued with the whole. So Lord Krishna’s three aspects of the brahman the spiritual substratum pervading all existence, paramatma and bhagavan which is His original eternal two armed spiritual form which includes all of His avatars in many different forms. So this verse should be understood empirically as well. Clarifying this point further an example is given from Mahabharata that states: Dronam prati Bhima vacanavat which means: Bhima said that Drona was a father to Him. Bhima’s actual father was King Pandu but he spoke empirically to illustrate that the affection he received from Drona was like from a father. This is the gist of it.
Commentary by Sri Keshava Kashmiri of Kumara Sampradaya:
Before Lord Krishna spoke of doership as dependent upon material nature and the three gunas or modes of material nature that one is endowed with. This was in line with the samkhya philosophy of analytical reasoning. Now He confirms that all jivas or embodied beings are under the total control of the Supreme Lord based upon the Vedic scriptures. The Taittiriya Upanisad III.IX.II beginning sa yascayam purushe states: The Supreme Lord residing on that plane ot transcendent eternity is the same Supreme Lord that resides within the core of the etheric heart of all jivas o embiodied beings. The Brihadaranyaka Upanisad III.VIII.IX beginning etasya va aksharasya states: Verily by the Supreme Lords command the sun and moon maintain their fixed positions, the heavens and Earth keep ther respective position, the seconds, minutes, hours, days, nights, weeks, months and years all maintain their relative posions. The Supreme Lord is the ultimate controller of everything animate and inanimate which are acting under His external energy prakriti the material substratum pervading physical existence from whence arise three gunas or modes of material nature which determines all actions based upon the karma or reactions to previous good and evil actions enacted in a physical body and five senses which is likened unto a machine. The purport is that just as a puppet master controls his puppets so does the Supreme Lord control the jivas.If it is practically impossible for one to achieve moksa or liberation from material existence and attain the eternal spiritual worlds of the Supreme Lord. How is it realistic to aspire for it? To answer this query Lord Krishna declares to exclusively seek refuge in the Supreme Lord alone and nothing else. The Supreme Lord is the creator, protector, maintainer and sustainer of all. He compassionately revealed Srimad Bhagavad-Gita for the benefit of all living entities. Lord Krishna is extremely affectionate to His devotees. Out of His great magnamity and affection He even accepted the position as chariot driver for His dear devotee. By adhering to His dictates as given in the Vedic scriptures and devotedly following His instructions one achieves assured success in life and attains unparalleled bliss in communion with Him in the eernal spiritual worlds which are beyond time, death and all material designations.
Commentary by Sri Adi Shankaracharya of Advaita Sampradaya:
18.62 Gaccha saranam, take refuge; tam eva, in Him, the Lord alone; sarva-bhavena, with your whole being, for getting rid of your mundane sufferings, O scion of the Bharata dynasty. Tat-prasadat, through His grace, through God’s grace; prapsyasi, you will attain; param, the supreme; santim, Peace, the highest Tranquillity; and the sasvatam, eternal; sthanam, Abode, the supreme State of Mine who am Visnu.
Commentary by Sri Abhinavagupta of Kaula Tantra Sampradaya:
18.61-62 Isvarah etc. Tam eva etc. This Lord, the Supreme Self, must be taken hold of as refuge. When that Supreme Ruler, the [real] Agent-of-all-actions, the [real] Knower, the very Self of your own, is reflected upon, there (in the heart) the [effects of] actions do not enjoy any locus standi. Indeed, the deer-calves which are of wavering mind [by nature] and are noted only for their power of running away to escape, do not take recourse to their skill in pursuing freely their [usual] activities while there dwells in the [nearby] cave a loin-calf, the glory of whose valour has been made evident by the accessories in the form of the heaps of pearls scattered from the elephants’ temples broken upon with the very sharp edges of his (lion-calf’s) excellent claws. By the cocluding statement that commences ‘To Him alone you must go for refuge’ and [runs] as ‘Through My Grace etc.’, the Bhagavat indicates the Lord Supreme Self, and Vasudeva krsna to be identical.
Sanskrit Shloka Without Transliteration Marks:
tam eva saranam gaccha
sarva-bhavena bharata
tat-prasadat param santim
sthanam prapsyasi sasvatam
Sanskrit to English Word for Word Meanings:
tam — unto Him; eva — certainly; śaraṇam gaccha — surrender; sarva-bhāvena — in all respects; bhārata — O son of Bharata; tat-prasādāt — by His grace; parām — transcendental; śāntim — peace; sthānam — the abode; prāpsyasi — you will get; śāśvatam — eternal.
