Bhagavad Gita 15.4

tataḥ padaṁ tat parimārgitavyaṁ

yasmin gatā na nivartanti bhūyaḥ

tam eva cādyaṁ puruṣaṁ prapadye

yataḥ pravṛttiḥ prasṛtā purāṇī

 

Then seek that state with steady flame,

From which none return who reach that plane;

To that Primal Person offer your surrender,

From whom this ancient world came asunder.

 

My dear Lord, with even basic introspection, I can understand that this world is a place where unhappiness is unavoidable, where limitations become causes of lamentation, and where mortality ultimately brings much misery.

O supreme illuminator, given this sobering reality, it is natural that I strive for freedom from this world. Yet let me not be like a prisoner so anxious to escape prison that he does not think about what to aspire for once he is free.

O merciful Lord, while one who seeks freedom from the world is wise, such a seeker still faces the laborious two-step task of first getting rid of all entanglements and then trying to discover whom or what to love and live for in a post-liberated existence. Instead of presenting spiritual growth as these two distinct steps, you recommend the integrated, single-step path, wherein I seek not so much to avoid the misery of this world, but to connect with you and your purpose of loving service. In doing so, I bring an enduring meaning into my life that empowers me through this world and beyond it, for all time to come.

O unfailing Lord, help me embrace the path of seeking the freedom for loving you, and let freedom from matter follow as a by-product.

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15.04 Thereafter, one must seek that place from which, having gone, one never returns, and there surrender to that Supreme Personality of Godhead from whom everything began and from whom everything has extended since time immemorial.