iswara pranidhanam

iswara pranidhanam is
a. an alternative process of raja-yoga
b. an essential pre-requisite for the third limb of abhyasa
c. the "sufficient condition" to attain the final goal of raja yoga

Rishi Patanjali states: (yoga sutras)

Īśvara praṇidhānāt vā - 1.23

tapaḥ svādhyāya Īśvarapraṇidhānāni kriyāyogaḥ - 2.1
śauca saṅtoṣa tapaḥ svādhyāya īśvarapraṇidhānāni niyamāḥ - 2.32

samādhisiddhiḥ īśvarapraṇidhānāt - 2.45


An active complete surrender to the LORD is called iswara pranidhanam.

I. an alternative process:
Rishi Patanjali qualifies the abhyasa in three categories as soft, medium and rigorous. Depending on the "effort level" the "level of achievement" in the YOGA.

In Yoga Sutra 1.23 Rishi Patanjali is stating that the Samadhi comes also from surrender to Lord. So, this surrender is only possible for those who have "sattvik" predominance as the inherent nature.

So, iswara pranidhanam is an alternative process of Raja Yoga. This do not require a qualified external GURU; Iswara himself "from within the individual" guides on the right path for the faithful ones!

II. an essential pre-requisite
Yoga has eight limbs; yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara are the first five limbs that are done at the gross body/mind level.

The last three limbs are called dharana, dhyana and samadhi. Putting the three together is called "samyama" which need to be carriedout with subtle intellect layer.

for obvious reasons all these eight steps have to be sequentially mastered.
In the first group of 5 limbs, the first two are called "yama" and "niyama"
Yama means regulation. Control of body and mind at gross level.
niyama means observance - Control of subtle intellect.

There are five yamas and five niyamas and the last of the niyamas is the "iswara pranidhanam" (Yoga Sutras 2.32) It is also an essential component of Kriya Yoga (as per 2.1 - definition)

So, this "active surrender to the lord" is essential prerequisite for practicing the next limbs called "asana, pranayama etc.,"

III. The sufficient condition to attain samadhi.
Samadhi is primarily classified as two types.
a. Samadhi with a seed - or the samadhi which is seeded with effort and practice.
b. Samadhi without a seed - or the natural effortless samadhi.

The abhyasa and vairagya along with the practice of samyama (dharana, dhyana and samadhi) result in the seeded samadhi.

but

when the surrender becomes complete and throughly active, then the samadhi becomes established in the practitioner. This state is called "samadhi siddhi" which is attained by perfecting the "iswara pranidhanam" (Yoga Sutra 2.45)

Instruction 14:

As we have seen in "Karma Yoga" we started the Surrender process to the lord; We started with the fruits of action, slowly developed the surrender into the choice of action.

Now, during the Raja Yoga the skill is perfected to surrender the "free will" to the LORD at a gross mind level and subtle intellect level.

Such surrender gets completed when the YOGI establishes himself in perfect seedless Samadhi. This happens ONCE and ONLY ONCE. Once you are completely surrendered to the ULTIMATE POWER (iswara) that guides the whole universe, there is nothing to choose and the "free will" is completely useless!

All the effort of eight limbs of yoga is to achieve this alone. yama, niyama and samyama.

Lord Declares:

योगिनामपि सर्वेषां मद्गतेनान्तरात्मना।
श्रद्धावान्भजते यो मां स मे युक्ततमो मतः।।6.47।।

In Swami Sivananda's words:
Among all the Yogis he who, full of faith and with his inner self merged in Me, worships Me is deemed by Me to be the most devout.