SURRENDER - PART 2
The first presentation on “Saranagati” concluded with an understanding of the nature of surrender as being a concentrated and definitive movement of the mind and heart towards God. Sri Krishna extolled us to “Fly unto Him, and take refuge in Him alone”. Sri Ramana Maharshi’s guidance gave us the conviction to “abide by the will of God and not make a grievance of what may not please you, for distress often leads men to faith in God. Therefore you must only trust God.“SARANAGATI – SURRENDER”Part II
Without doubt, these words are full of Truth and inspiration. But, as is often said in the scriptures of both East and West: “Inspiration is one thing, the effect it has on our life and sadhana is quite another.” Soothing words do soften the sorrow of the human heart, but too often their effect fails to translate into lasting progressive movement towards God. Even if we are truly motivated to “Take wings and fly to the shelter of the bosom of our heavenly Father”, we remain human by inheritance, and thus a sybarite by nature. One may be really very zealous in his austerities and vows in the beginning, but if one is not on a very proper guard, slowly the vigor will be relaxed, comforts will creep in the mind and man will be caught very miserably. For this very reason, an understanding of the nature of “surrender” pales in significance when compared with an exact knowledge of “What practically is “saranagati”, and more importantly, how is it done?”
For clarification of this most essential question let us now rely further on Bhagavan and the Bhagavad Gita as our Guru, as our “Spirit of guidance.” Taking their hands of Guidance and Blessing, may we proceed onwards to the “further shore”.
“Blessings on your journey to the further shore beyond darkness!”
(Mundaka Upanishad 2.2.6)
A visitor once asked of Bhagavan: “What is self-surrender?”
Bhagavan replied: “It is the same as mind-control. The ego submits when it recognizes the higher authority of the Atman. This is the beginning of surrender… (1) “Complete surrender to God means giving up all thoughts and concentrating the mind on Him. If we can concentrate on Him, other thoughts disappear. If mano-vak-kaya karmas, i.e., the actions of the mind, speech and body, are merged with God, all the burdens of our life will be on Him.” Bhagavan continued with a quote from the Gita: “Lord Krishna told Arjuna in the Gita,
ananyas cintayanto mam
ye janah paryupasate
tesam nityabhiyutanam
yogaksemam vahamy aham
Those men who worship, directing their thoughts to Me,
Whose minds do not go elsewhere;
For them, who are constantly steadfast,
I secure what they lack and preserve what they already possess.
(Bhagavad Gita IX, verse 22)
Bhagavan continues and explains: “Arjuna had to do the fighting. So Sri Krishna said, ‘Place all the burden on Me, do your duty; you are merely an instrument. I will see to everything. Nothing will bother you.’ But then, before one surrenders to God, one should know who it is that surrenders. Unless all thoughts are given up there can’t be surrender. When there are no thoughts at all, what remains is only the Self. So surrender will only be to one’s Self. If surrender is in terms of bhakti, the burden should be thrown on God, and if it is in terms of karma, karma should be performed until one knows one’s own Self. The result is the same in either case. Surrender means to enquire and know about one’s own Self and then remain in the Self. What is there apart from the Self?” (2)
Here, very definitely, Bhagavan is guiding us towards a practice of what will culminate with effective Atma Vichara. Many of the most learned Sanskrit scholars define “vichara” as a process primarily of “reflection” and secondarily as “enquiry”. We can see the efficacy of this within the guiding words of Bhagavan above in relation to “surrender”.
In order to, “Place all the burden on God, and do our duty merely as an instrument, for God will see to everything”, we surely must ‘somehow’ invoke and perceive THAT VERY PRESENCE.
Otherwise, how in heaven or on earth are we to “throw our burden on God” if we do not know the place where to drop off the delivery!
To conclude this segment on “surrender”, and to continue onwards within future segments, various methods of how to “invoke and perceive” the object of our reflection and enquiry for which we attempt to achieve true “saranagati” will be presented by the most renown and authoritative Jagat Gurus (world teachers). Though various methods of sadhana will be presented, they all will lead, if correctly practiced with patient endurance, to the same goal. As Swami Vivekananda exclaimed to his Master, Sri Ramakrishna (who was delighted at the hearing): “God is infinite, and infinite are the ways to find Him!” All great Gurus and Masters universally agree that to control the mind and reflect upon its true Nature, a quietening of thoughts is an essential prerequisite. Only the rare few that are firmly constituted in the Self (usually from performing this aspect of sadhana in past lives) dare to skip this stage of spiritual effort. Never-the-less, even those rare few are seen to undergo this quietening of the mind, mainly through the supplanting of the diffusive thought processes with the single thought (aksara) of God’s Name. This fact is evidently brought forth in the diary of Sri Muruganar, who is revered and known to be one of Sri Ramana’s closest and most advanced disciples.
“Though Bhagavan rarely gave out mantras, when he did, he generally recommended “Siva, Siva’. Muruganar himself was given this mantra by Bhagavan, as were several other devotees including Annamalai Swami, the brother of Rangan (who was one of Bhagavan’s childhood friends), and an unknown harijan.” (3)
Perhaps Bhagavan himself declared the reason for this by saying:
“Japa reaching to the source of sound is the best course for those who are not firm in consciousness which is the source of the ‘I’.” (4)
Perhaps we can take the liberty to conjecture that if one can say Bhagavan had ‘motives’, a profound one would be to guide his disciples through stages of the bliss of the self, which would act as catalysts to strive for the final achievement of their true home in the Self, God – the further shore.
“The purport of prescribing meditation on the Pranava is this. The Pranava is Omkara…the advaita-mantra which is the essence of all mantras…. In order to get at this true significance, one should meditate on the Pranava. …The fruition of this process is samadhi which yields release [moksha], which is the state of unsurpassable bliss.” (5)
It has been said by both the direct disciples of Sri Ramana Maharshi and the devout that later followed: “If there is a “twin Spirit” of Bhagavan, an exact embodiment shrouded within a ‘different’ physical form; that is seen in Sri Anandamayi Ma.”
If Bhagavan defines “self-surrender” to be the same as “mind-control” in a practice that reveals the knowledge of the Self, surely Mother Anandamayi guided Her devotees with a means to achieve the same glorious end.
Bhagavan declared to us: “When there are no thoughts at all, what remains is only the Self. So surrender will only be to one’s Self.” Sri Anandamayi Ma spoke directly about the means to annihilate the thoughts of the mind, which results in the direct knowledge of “Who we are” and from “Whence we came”:
“In order to annihilate what is undesirable and harmful (anishta), the mind has to be steeped in the adoration of the Beloved (Ishta). The notion that He is far away must be altogether given up. Thou art within and without, in every vein and artery, in every leaf and blade of grass, in the world and beyond it. The awakening of the sense of want is to be welcomed; it opens the way. He is there at every step to make the unfit expert. ‘As the sense of want and emptiness appearest Thou and no other—Thou art close by; Lord, I take refuge (saranagati) in Thee, I take refuge in Thee!’
“The Name and the Named are identical; for He Himself appears as the Name. The letter (Akshara, the pranava Om) is indeed God’s own guise. When the Name one repeats becomes alive, it is as when a seed is sown the tree grows out of it. If the Name that appeals most to any particular person is constantly repeated, one arrives at the realization that all names are His names, all forms His forms. Furthermore, that He is without name and form will also by and by come to light.
“Karma accumulated for ages and ages, sins and desires are wiped out by God’s sacred Name. Just as lighting a lamp illumines a cave that has been in darkness for centuries, even so the obscurity of numberless births is annihilated by the power of a divine Name.
“The moment that has passed does not return. Time must be used well. Only when spent in the effort to know ‘Who am I?’ has it been used well.” (6)
Sri Ramana, as did Sri Anandamayi Ma, recommended study of the Ribhu Gita, a traditional text of Advaita. It simply says:
“The syllable ‘Om’ is the Self.” (Ribhu Gita 10:22)
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(1) Guru Ramana, S.S. Cohen, Sri Ramanashramam 2006, p. 56.
(2) Letters from Sri Ramanashramam, Suri Nagamma, p. 225-227.
(3) Padamalai, Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi Recorded by Muruganar, Avadhuta Foundation 2004, p. 224 - 225
(4) Collected Works of Ramana Maharshi, sixth edition, p. 145
(5) Ibid, sixth edition, p. 25,26
(6) Excerpts from Sri Anandamayi Ma, Ananda Varta publications.
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