Ishvara Pranidhana (also known as nyasa or prapatti) or surrendering oneself to (the ultimate, one) God ("Ishvara") is the only way of obtaining the highest happiness of moksa or marriage to God. Marriage in fact does not take place to God but to the personal aspect of God, OM (pronounced AUM). Moksha is the fourth and final aim of human existence.

By the act of surrendering to God is meant a final irrevocable decision to faithfully obey all His/Her instructions to you and to abandon all other considerations. Every fibre of your body and every aspect of your mind needs to be involved. The servant of the Lord acknowledges that it is entirely for God's benefit and pleasure that he/she exists.

Following Ishvarapranidhana, one may live, for example, in a state of kaivalya prior to one's death (liberation but not actual marriage), and attain to moksa on death. The timing of moksha depends on your preferences and those of your beloved.

The text 'Nyasa Dasakam' ('Song of Surrender') by the medieval Hindu religious mystic and renowned philosopher Vedanta Desika sets out the steps and the commitments to be made: 1 Nyasa itself or the act of surrender; 2 Aanukoolya sankalpa or the determination to attune oneself always to the will of God; 3 Praatikoolya varjana or the determination to give up all acts or omissions opposed to God's will. The remaining steps are not needed.

By Ishvara Pranidhana is also meant the path towards surrender to God, where one wishes above all else to surrender to Him/Her but because of the five afflictions and nine obstacles set out in the yoga sutra (chapter II.3 and chapter I.30) one is not yet prepared for the final act. The yoga sutra sets out a step by step approach, in Chapter II, to removal of these five afflictions (lack of spiritual knowledge, sense of 'I' ness, desire and attachment, dislike, and attachment to life and fear of death). It also sets out practices that someone wishing to surrender to God may find useful in overcoming the nine obstacles that hinder one's progress towards devotion to OM (disease, sluggishness, doubt, carelessness, idleness, sense gratification, losing sight of reality, lack of perseverance, and inability to maintain the achieved progress), sutras I.32 to I.39.

The yoga sutra of Lord Patanjali states that someone who surrenders to God will achieve the objective of yoga, union with God and liberation. Ishvara Pranidhana is referred to in I.23 (as an act leading to Samadhi), in II.1 (as one of the three practices of a yoga practitioner and as a path that every yoga practitioner needs to follow in every act that he/she does), II.32 (as one of the religious observances) and in II.45 (again as a practice leading to Samadhi). The yoga sutras were written in a condensed form and it is therefore noteworthy that Lord Patanjali refers to the attainment of Samadhi by this means on two separate occassions, and to Ishvara Pranidhana four times. The nature of God is set out in I.24 to I.26, and His/Her designation OM is stated in I.27. A description of the practices to aid contemplation of God whilst chanting the mantra OM is set out in I.28 and I.32 to I.39. Sutra I.29 notes that repetition of the symbol OM with reflection on God leads to knowledge of oneself and to an absence of all obstacles to spiritual/religious progress. Sutras I.40 to I.51 set out the states of Samadhi that the yogi who has his/her mind firmly set on surrender will experience whilst Chapter III sets out the various boons that God gives to the yoga practitioner. The state of liberation (post surrender to God, pre marriage) is discussed in Chapter IV.

As distinct from more traditional yoga practices, surrender to God is relatively easy to do. For this practice one needs to be qualified, specifically by purifying oneself through the disciplines of religious austerities and scriptural study.

For many of us the difficulty with surrender is that it means subjugating our own will and desires to those of someone else (that is, God). Also the question of fear arises: what will He want us to do? This may be a particularly difficult thing for a Christian, who will be aware that God asked Jesus to go onto the cross, and of the tradition for priests to take a vow of poverty. One approach to helping with these two issues is to initially restrict one's commitment to obey to things that you do not mind the outcome of. Thus one will ask God for answers on uncontentious topics (shall I go to church today or have this bar of chocolate,..). Gradually, as you rely more on Him you will come to accept that He loves you and you will be encouraged to put more faith in Him.

The next question to address is how does one know what God wants us to do? This is easier than it seems. The reason for this is that all real objects including thoughts are given to us by God. Sometimes in one's life one has questions. You will ask yourself, for example, 'should I eat now?' Is this you asking? No, all thoughts are put into your conscious brain by God and this is no exception. It is your duty to listen to this thought, analyse it, understand it and act on it. In this case the analysis is simple, God will logically not put to you this question unless you are hungry and need to eat. There would be no logic in asking you this question at a time when you were occupied with other matters and were not hungry. To this question you will likely have several answers. The first answer that God will put in your mind will be 'Yes'. Other answers will reflect your wants and desires since God answers all our prayers and hears all our innermost desires even before we are aware of them ourselves. So, the second thought that enters your mind may be 'no, because I want to slim'. You need to ignore the second thought and focus on the primary response which reflects God's wishes for you rather than your own. This does not mean that you should not slim. God has heard your wish and will help you at a time of His/Her choosing. In practice, one has many thoughts. It is impossible to keep up with the guidance that God gives one. God is talking to all of us all of the time. Stilling the mind through yoga practice reduces the number of thoughts and one learns to act on important matters rather than get distracted with numerous desires and wishes.

A yogi can listen to his thoughts, as this helps to still them and leads to the discipline of vairagya or non-attachment to results. For others this involves effort that may be better spent in achieving one's life's purpose. The advantage, in the beginning, of using a tool is that the outcome is not influenced by your personal wishes as it might be if you just listen to your thoughts.

The path of surrender to God is not a linear straight line. There may be all sorts of detours on the way. Further, at every point your devotion is likely to be tested. Further still, your 'progress' may at any time be halted, in order that you may accomplish some mission as a service to God and to humanity.