Prabhupada: Surrender is willing. If you don’t like to surrender who can make you obliged to surrender? Surrender is voluntary. “Yes, I surrender.” Determination, “Yes I surrender.” Who can make you obliged to surrender? Nobody can make. Even Krsna can not work. This is a false pretense, “Please be merciful upon me so that I may surrender.” But if you do not surrender, what my mercy do?
Do you know that incident? A man has fallen in the well, he is crying, “Please get me up, get me up.” Another man drops a rope, “Please catch it.” I’ll take it. Oh. Then if he says, “Be merciful so that I can catch.” “When you’ll be merciful I’ll be able to catch.” Is that argument? You catch. Then he’ll help you to get it out. And if you don’t catch, how he will help you? What is the use of speaking, “Be merciful, be merciful”? He is already merciful, giving you the rope. Why don’t you take it?
So these are all false pleadings. If you want to surrender you can surrender yourself. If you don’t want to surrender then there will, so many. “Please, Sir be merciful so that I can surrender unto you.” Surrender is in your hands. If you like you can. If you don’t like it, don’t surrender. There is no question of being merciful. Mercy is already there. Krpa, the mercy is already there. Krsna is coming, Krsna is sending His representative. Krsna is giving you advice in the Bhagavad-gita. If you don’t take advantage of it then who, who can deliver you? Krsna is personally coming. Krsna is sending you His representative, Krsna has left Bhagavad-gita, then what else you want? But if you are determined not to surrender how Krsna and sastra and guru can help you? Nobody can help you. Then you are hopeless. That is up to you, to surrender or not to surrender. And because they do not surrender they are suffering. Willful negligence. If you become willful neglect, full, negligent then who can help you? Nobody can help you. Nobody can help you. Neither Krsna nor sastra nor guru.
Instead of willful negligence, there must be willful cooperation, then it will be successful. These are all plea’s, so that will not do.
(Reference: Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.7.25–29 – March 20, 1971, Bombay)