Verse Text
49. atha ātma-nivedanaṁ, yathā ekādaśe—
martyo yadā tyakta-samasta-karmā
niveditātmā vicikīrṣito me |
tadāmṛtatvaṁ pratipadyamāno
mayātma-bhūyāya ca kalpate vai ||194||
Translation
Offering the self (verse 87), illustrated in the Eleventh Canto: A person who gives up all prescribed activities and offers himself entirely unto Me, becomes the object of My special desires. He achieves liberation from birth and death and is promoted to the status of sharing My own opulences. SB 11.29.34
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
Because he has offered his body to the Lord, he gives up all activities for pleasure in this life and the next, which nourish his body and things related to that body. The Lord then thinks “I desire to make him special. He then attains freedom from death (amṛtatvam) and attains similarity to Me (ātmabhūyāya).” This means that he attains liberation in the form of attaining his svarūpa and sārṣṭi (powers) like those of the Lord’s. [Note: This is not an exclusive statement indicating that all who practice ātma-nivedana achieve only sārṣṭi and sārūpya and not dāsya. A person who practices ātma-nivedana with pure bhakti will attain bhāva and prema with rasa.]
Purport (Nectar of Devotion)
Surrendering Everything to the Lord
Regarding complete self-surrender, there is a nice description in the Eleventh Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Twenty-ninth Chapter, verse 34, where the Lord says, “A person who has completely surrendered unto Me and has completely given up all other activities is protected by Me personally, both in this life and in the next. In other words, I wish to help him become more and more advanced in spiritual life. Such a person is to be understood as having already achieved sārṣṭi [having equal opulences with the Supreme].” It is also confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā that as soon as a person surrenders unto the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa takes charge of him and gives him a guarantee of protection from all sinful reactions. He also instructs from within, so that the devotee may very quickly make advancement toward spiritual perfection.
This self-surrender is called ātma-nivedana.