Surrender

Rishikesh, India,

4th March, 1999

Chapter 2 - The Path To The Goal That Is You

Day 75 - Surrender

In surrender the head bends and meets the heart. The head that does not bend has no value, and the head that is stiff will have to bend sooner or later, either in surrender or in shame. The head that bends in surrender will never have to bend in shame. 

Shame accompanies arrogance. Shyness accompanies love. See how children are endowed with shyness? It is natural to them. Shame is inflicted by society and is acquired. Shame brings guilt but shyness adds to your beauty. Retain your shyness and surrender your shame. Krishna first tells Arjuna, "You are very dear to me" and then he tells Arjuna that he must surrender. 

Surrender begins with an assumption. First you must assume that you are the most beloved of the Divine and then surrender happens. Surrender is not an action, it is an assumption. Non surrender is ignorance, an illusion. Surrender has to begin as an assumption, then it reveals itself as a reality and finaly, it reveals itself as an illusion because there is no two, no duality. No one has any independent existence. That is it.

Question - Do you have to go through surrender to realise surrender is an illusion?

Gurudev - Yes, absolutely. 

Question - Where is choice then? The choice is your destiny. Krishna does not tell Arjuna in the beginning that he must surrender. First he says, "You are so dear to me". Later he tells him, "There is no other choice for you, you must surrender . Either you do it now, or you do it later". This is the path. Most of us come into this world with the seed in us - "It's not okay". 

All our lives we try to correct events, people and situations but how much can you correct? It is like trying to rearrange the clouds in the sky. This seed does not allow you to be happy, to smile from your heart, to be loving and lovable. It is there all the time like a thorn - irritating. This seed - "It's not okay" - brings you back into this world again and again. So how do you burn this seed? 

First recognise that it is there. This can happen in deep introspection and meditation. Sometimes you also feel that your body, mind, intellect, memory and ego are not okay. You justify them or find fault with them, but these are also part of the world. Acknowledge what you see as an imperfection and offer it to the Divine. 

Have faith in the infinite organising power of the Supreme Intelligence and have the sincere feeling, "Let thy will be done". Then the seed - "It’s not okay" - gets burned. "Thy will be done” is a state of total contentment, a state of just love. We need not even make it a statement about the future - "Thy will alone is happening now".

Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji 

Celebrating Silence