5. Technology to surrender🔗

18.13,14 Learn from Me Arjuna, there are five causes that bring about the accomplishment of all action, as described in Sāṅkhya philosophy.

These are: physical body that is the seat of action, the attributes of nature or guṇa that are the Doer, the eleven organs of perceptions and action by the life forces and finally the Divine.

18.15 These five factors are responsible for whatever right or wrong actions a man performs by deed, word and thought.

18.16 Those who think they, their body and spirit, are the doers, are ignorant and do not see things as they are.

In these verses, Krishna gives the exact technology of surrender.

These two verses can be called techniques. Krishna lists five factors from Sāṅkhya philosophy responsible for our activities. These are the body-mind system, the operator of the body-mind system (that is the individual), the senses, different efforts causing the activities and finally the ultimate power of God. All activities, right or wrong, good or bad, are caused by these five factors. If however, the individual considers himself to be the doer, his body and mind, he is not aware.

Krishna uses the word ātman while saying that one who perceives one's spirit or Self as the agent, the doer, or the performer, does not see and is not aware. Krishna draws a distinction between the individual Self and the cosmic energy. He differentiates between ātman and Brahman, mānava and Deva, nara and Narayana, self and Parāśakti.

Krishna concludes that while philosophical discussion mentions five players in all activities, the ultimate controller is the Divine. We are immersed in our body-mind spirit system and caught in our sensory perceptions and believe that we are the power behind all that we do. So long as we have this deluded belief, we are rooted in ignorance.

Whatever you may understand as yourself, your body-mind-spirit system is the totality of many things. And individually each is responsible for something. In spite of this, you think that 'you' are responsible for the whole thing. That is where the trouble starts. Krishna gives the technology for the deeper levels of surrender.

As we saw earlier, there are three levels of surrender. The first is intellectual surrender. This means you accept that the master's intellect is sharper than your intellect; His intellect is of a higher order than yours. This is intellectual surrender.

Next is emotional surrender. This is trusting that the master's guidance on the emotional plane is more intelligent than your emotions. The third is surrendering the senses, your cognition or the root of cognition itself.

Surrendering the intellect is easy because it continuously tortures you. You have suffered with the intellect for many years. You want to get rid of it. So you surrender it. Surrendering the intellect is easy. When you see somebody more intelligent and with clearer thinking, you just surrender.

For example, when you hire a consultant, you surrender to his ideas. When you take on a lawyer, you surrender to his ideas because you know his intellect is sharper than yours in that field. The same happens when you go to an accountant.

In the spiritual field also, when you see a person who knows more, you surrender your intellect to that person. That is not a big thing. Surrendering intellectually happens easily. Most of the time you want to get rid of your intellect. Finding somebody to dump your intellect on allows you to relax from it.

Next comes emotional surrender. This happens when you feel deeply connected to the master after experiencing some meditation or understanding. You respect His emotions more than your own. The master's emotions mean the things He guides you in, the way He wants you to live.

You give more importance to these things than what you think of as life. Slowly He becomes the center of your life. You respect Him more than other emotional attachments. Priorities shift. The master becomes the number one priority at the emotional level. Emotional surrender is when you feel totally connected at the emotional level.

Next is a deeper level of surrender. After listening to these seventeen days of discourses, you can understand this deeper level of surrender. This is the level of the senses. The surrender of the senses means that your senses listen to what He says. Normally, when you listen to me, a filter in your mind discounts what you do not agree with. You hear what you want to hear. However, when intellectual and emotional surrender happen, you are ready to surrender this disbelief and unblock your senses.

Once a disciple asked his master, 'Why should I surrender?' The master asked, 'How do you know whatever you think you know about yourself?' The disciple replied, 'I know myself through my senses.'

The master asked, 'Who do you think you are according to your senses?' The disciple said, 'As far as I know, I am the body and mind.' His master responded, 'You are God, not just body and mind.'

The master said, 'Only when you surrender your senses, will you realize the truth of what I am saying. The moment you trust me more than your senses, you experience that you are God. You then understand the meaning of tatvamasi (literally 'You Are That', meaning 'you are divine').' The master again and again tries to show that you are God. I keep saying, 'I am not here to prove that I am God. I am here to prove that you are God.'

The master stands for the idea that you are the infinite. He shows you various dimensions of your inner self that you have not explored or experienced. He shows you so many dimensions of your being. The master stands for your multidimensional being. He tries to show you that it is possible. He shows that if it is possible for him, it is possible for you also. But as long as you believe your senses, you think that you are the body and mind.

When you trust the master more than your senses, you understand that the master's words are the truth and not your senses. Then you experience the truth of the master's words. When the master says you are God, you suddenly realize the truth for yourself. You understand that you are God. You realize that you are not the body or mind as your senses have led you to believe. When you believe the master's words more than your senses, you experience this truth.

Two voices are speaking from two different levels. On the one hand, your senses tell you that you are the body and mind. On the other hand, the master tells you that you are God; you are divine and have many dimensions to your being. He tells you to enjoy and experience everything. As long as you listen to your senses, you will not even hear what the master says.

When you move away from your senses and come to the master, you hear Him and experience the truth that you are divine.

In the inner world, the first and last tool you need is complete surrender. Only then can you wake up to the truth. If Arjuna had trusted only his senses, he would have been at best a good warrior and king. Instead he trusted Krishna more than his senses and became enlightened. He experienced the truth of Krishna. When Krishna said that the crow was green, he saw a green crow. Such was his faith.

You can experience Krishna consciousness not just by surrendering the intellect and emotions but also by surrendering the root of the intellect and emotions, that is the senses. The senses supply the data. When you surrender them, the source of the data is surrendered.

You receive all information about yourself through the senses. Please understand that you do not know anything about yourself. You respect yourself because of data you collect about yourself through the senses of others. If somebody says, 'You are beautiful,' you make an entry in a notebook that you are beautiful according to so and so. Again, when somebody says that you are intelligent, you make an entry that you are intelligent, as told by so and so. If somebody says that you are tall, dark and handsome, that entry is made and the name mentioned. When you are told that you are dumb, another entry is made! At the end of the day, you make a survey and assess what everybody said. You see that seventy-two percent of the people say that you are intelligent; twenty percent say that you are dumb and the rest do not know. Based on these statistics you decide about yourself. You decide that if seventy-two percent of the people say that you are intelligent, all of them cannot be fools. What they say must be right. Therefore, you must be intelligent! Thus your conclusion about yourself is based on what others say about you.

The whole day you conduct a signature campaign. You continuously go around asking people to tell you something about yourself. As a result, the senses give you an idea of what you are. Krishna asks Arjuna to surrender these senses.

When you surrender your senses, the root of your idea of yourself, you lose your identification with the body and mind. As long as you believe your senses, you think that you are the body and mind. Only when you believe the master's words more than your senses, do you realize the truth that you are divine. On one hand, your senses say you are the body and mind. On the other hand, the master tells you that you are divine and in eternal bliss. He tells you that you are the consciousness beyond body and mind.

It is up to you to choose. If you believe the senses, you cannot believe the master. And if you believe the master, you cannot believe your senses. Your way of life decides whether you surrender to your senses or your master. It is for you to decide.

Krishna says that only when you surrender at all three levels do you have the ultimate experience. Let me tell you this, surrender itself is enlightenment. Please do not think enlightenment will be issued to you after surrendering. No! It is not a paycheck you receive by courier. Surrender itself is enlightenment. At that moment, you experience the Truth.

Usually we play with words. At least be aware of the moments when you play with words. People tell me that they have surrendered their life to Krishna, Venkateshwara or Shiva. Then they say that their only wish is to be happy. If they have truly surrendered, surrender is enough. They will not need to ask for anything else. Sometimes people ask if they need to meditate since they have surrendered to God. If they have surrendered, they will have no doubts, nor will they need meditation! If they have doubts, they need meditation. As long as doubts remain, surrender has not happened, because the moment you surrender, you disappear.

You gain by surrender

A beautiful verse in Tamil says, 'When you give your 'I' and 'mine' to Existence, Parāśakti or Existence gives Her 'I' and 'Mine' to you.' Both bank accounts merge and become one. It becomes a joint account! You have nothing to lose.

When you think of yourself as body and mind, you have śarīram rogamayam and manam śohamayam. Śarīram rogamayam means that the body is filled with diseases. Manam śohamayam means that the mind is filled with sorrows or depression. Since that is the case, what can we surrender? Absolutely nothing, except a body full of diseases and a mind full of sorrows. When you drop these two at the feet of the Divine, He gives you His body and mind! And it becomes, śarīram devamayam, manam sukhamayam, ātmā ānandamayām, meaning, you get in exchange a divine body, a mind in happiness as well as a third thing: a soul in bliss! A 'give one, get three free' offer!

Manickavasagar, the great enlightened master, sings a beautiful Tamil song to Shankara (Lord Shiva):

tańdaḍu eńtańai, końdaḍu uńtańai, śańkara yārkolo śaturar?

He says, 'I gave myself to You and received You in return. Who benefited most from this bargain? Who is more intelligent, O Shankara?'

In surrender, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Surrendering does not mean giving up everything. It does not mean giving up your property.

Keep everything; however, take care that you do not internalize them. Do not judge yourself based on your properties. You are far greater than you think. Do not judge yourself based on your bank balance. Do not judge yourself based on your relationships. Do not judge yourself based on name and fame. Do not judge yourself based on your friends. You are greater than all these things put together.

As long as you judge yourself based on these things, you internalize these into your being. These become the central points in your life. They push and pull you in all directions. You will not have yourself for your being. As long as these are the major factors in your life, these things will rule you. Even so, you are greater than all these things put together.

Understand that you are something beyond these things. The moment you wake up to this truth, you will not allow yourself to be put into any frame based upon bank balance, relationships, attitudes or name and fame. These things cannot be used to judge you. The moment you wake up to this truth, you have surrendered.

I simply ask you to surrender these small ideas you have about yourself. On the surface of the vast ocean, small bubbles are formed. One bubble starts thinking that it is an individual long lasting entity. It thinks that it must become strong. It lasts only for a few moments. Yet within those few moments, it collects other bubbles around it. One bubble is its wife, another bubble is its son and so on.

Some are called parents or relatives, still others are friends, and so on. It collects bubbles on all sides to protect itself. It collects a few grains of sand from the beach and thinks it is its property. It thinks one grain of sand is its bank balance, another is its jewelry and treasures and so on. Then it builds a fence to protect its property. How long can the bubble play this game? Only for a few seconds! Before it can complete its game, it disappears back into the ocean.

The bubble was part of the ocean in all three instances: when it was created, when it existed and when it disappeared. Even though it claimed to be different from the ocean, even though it thought it was an individual, and even though it thought many people and things belonged to it, it was always part of the ocean and very soon disappeared into it also! In the same way, for a few moments you think you exist as an individual being in this universal consciousness. Within those few moments you catch hold of a few people as your relatives and friends. This makes you feel safe. You collect a few things as possessions. You feel secure with these things around you. With these things you form an opinion about yourself. You play the same game as the bubble.

Suddenly the whole thing disappears. Before the game started, while the game is going on and when the game ends, whether you understand it or not, realize it or not, experience it or not, you belong to the ocean. You are God. You are one with Existence.

You are playing a game. You register your marriage to another bubble. You register some grains of sand as your property. The registrar is another bubble! A larger bubble is the ruler of the land or that bit of the ocean! And there is an understanding among the bubbles, 'You will not hit me and I will not hit you! You will not take my bubble and I will not take yours!' The whole game goes on in this way. Suddenly within one moment the whole thing is part of the ocean again.

When I say surrender, I mean wake up to the truth that you are in the ocean. When you are born, when you think you are an individual or when you become enlightened, you are always in the ocean. Just wake up! Waking up to this ultimate Truth is surrender. Surrender these small ideas about yourself and wake up to reality. As a result, surrender automatically happens in your inner space, your inner consciousness. Otherwise you just play with the word surrender.

We use inflated words when we define ourselves. We do not realize that we are beyond these descriptions. One day a follower used exaggerated words about himself in front of me. After he left I told my disciple that he seemed to be suffering from an inferiority complex. My disciple was perplexed. He asked how it could be called an inferiority complex when he boasted so much. I told him, 'Understand, each of us is God. Hence anything we say about ourselves that is lesser than that, is an inferiority complex!' Any estimation you have of yourself except that you are God is an underestimation! You suffer from an inferiority complex if you think of yourself as anything other than God. Drop your ideas about yourself. Wake up to the truth that you are the ocean.

Some fish swim along with the current. Others swim against the current. Whether they go with or against the current, all the fish are in the water. Whether you flow with Existence or fight it, you are one with it. Whether or not you have realized you are divine, you are divine. There is no choice in this. There is only one choice, realize and enjoy or continue to struggle and suffer; that's all! You may try to create stronger fences around yourself or collect more bubbles around you, but can you ask the wave not to come? Whatever you may do, the whole thing is only a drama of a few seconds.

The next problem is what to do if you cannot surrender.

Some people tell me, 'Swamiji, I am unable to surrender. What can I do?' Do not worry, because you have nothing to surrender. By understanding that you have nothing to surrender, you have already surrendered. Just relax. Whether you surrender or not, this is the truth. Whether you surrender or not, Existence takes care. Automatically life continues and you will relax. That relaxation itself is surrender.

Relax into the flow of life and wake up to the truth that you are something greater than your body and mind as suggested by your senses. You are led by society to think that you are something. Now wake up to the truth that you are greater than what you can imagine. You are beyond any imagination you can have of yourself. Surrendering will give you a new consciousness. You will not be the same person. One single moment of surrender will transform your whole life. You will be a new being.

Three levels of birth

There are three levels of birth, three types of garbha or wombs, according to the ancient scriptures. The first is the bhū garbha. This is the womb of a woman that gives birth to an infant. This is connected to the mūlādhāra chakra, the lowest of the seven chakras or energy centers in the human body.

Next is the hṛt garbha. This is the womb of the heart and is witnessed in the case of real artists. A singer for example, conceives the song or music in his heart and then delivers it. Likewise, an artist or sculptor conceives the concept in his heart first and then delivers it. That is the reason artists get such satisfaction from their work. Their life itself is so fulfilling because they give birth continuously.

A woman feels fulfillment when she gives birth to a child and becomes a mother. She overflows with satisfaction. In the same way, when an artist creates a painting, poem, sculpture or song, he feels an overwhelming satisfaction and fulfillment. For the poet, the womb is in his heart, the hṛt garbha.

The ultimate is the jñāna garbha, which happens in the highest energy center, the sahasrāra chakra on the top of the head. In the jñāna garbha, all the spiritual ideas are conceived in the head and worked on. Suddenly one moment you give birth to a new you, to an enlightened being.

So there are three levels of garbha. The bhū garbha is the first level, which we are familiar with. The next is the hṛt garbha, which a few artists reach. The ultimate is the jñāna garbha where you receive the teachings of the master and His presence into your sahasrāra chakra. You work with yourself and give birth to yourself as an enlightened being.

Receive this concept of surrender, this truth, and work on it. Suddenly you will wake up and give birth to yourself as an enlightened being. The moment you understand you belong to the ocean, that you are from it, that you are in it and that you will disappear into it, you will realize that you will never die, because you are the ocean.

As long as you identify with the bubble, you feel insecure. The instinct to survive and the instinct to possess torture you. The moment you realize that you are the ocean, the instinct to survive disappears because there is no death for you.

There is nothing to fear, nothing to feel insecure about. Death creates fear as long as you think you are the bubble. The moment you realize that you are the ocean, there is nothing to possess because everything belongs to you. There is nothing to lose and nothing to acquire. Hence, the instinct to possess disappears. I am not asking you to legally throw away your possessions. You do not need to throw away whatever you have done for your 'I' and 'mine'. You do not need to throw away whatever you have. Just do not internalize them. Within yourself be aware that you are something greater than anything you can possibly possess.

At the age of seven, your toys are important to you. Do they hold the same importance today? You have neither renounced them nor are you attached to them. They are just there. Do you feel that you must return home because the toys are there? No! Do you feel the toys make your life a torture and that you must renounce them? No! You feel neither attached nor detached. You have grown beyond them.

Rāga means attachment. Arāga means detachment. Virāga (or Vairāgya) means beyond attachment and detachment. As you grew up, vairāgya naturally happened towards your toys. So also, when you realize that you are the ocean, vairāgya will happen towards the few sand particles and bubbles that you have collected and gathered around yourself. You will have gone beyond these things.

The instincts to survive and possess would no longer be relevant to you. Your property does not suddenly disappear. They are there, but you live them and enjoy them more intensely. You do not take them for granted. You do not feel bored with them. You do not think: same house, same wife and same life! You take them for granted only when you think they are your properties.

When you realize that they may be taken from you at any moment, you do not take them for granted. When you realize that you are the ocean and that they are also of the same ocean, you value them more. When you realize this, you are transformed at the level of body, mind and consciousness. When consciousness is transformed, you give birth to a new you.

Krishna goes much deeper than these three levels of surrender: surrender of the intellect, surrender of the emotions and surrender of the senses. He gives Arjuna a glimpse of the greatest surrender. He gives Arjuna a glimpse of the ultimate experience itself. Krishna already gave Arjuna the experience during Viśvarūpa darśan, the vision of His cosmic form. Even so, Arjuna was unable to establish himself in that experience due to fear.

Always you miss the first experience because of fear. Now Arjuna is more mature and capable of being established in the experience. Krishna gives Arjuna the experience that will stay with him forever. In the next few verses Krishna puts Arjuna into the experience of enlightenment. He wakes him up to the ultimate Truth.

A small story:

A man asked a Zen master how to become Buddha. The master just slapped him! In that instant, the man became enlightened. He experienced Buddhahood in himself. The slap simply showed him that he was already That. He merely needed to wake up from sleep.

Krishna is waking Arjuna up from the long slumber called saṁsāra sāgara. This can also be called unconsciousness or tamas. Krishna gives him a good shake by giving him the ultimate experience and puts him in that state forever. I was telling you about the three levels of surrender. Krishna puts Arjuna into that final level or highest level of surrender.

Q: Surrender of ego is true renunciation. But to surrender you need ego, or something like the mind. Isn't this a conflict?

Yes, it is and no it isn't. There are always different ways of looking at something. Buddha was never dogmatic. He said that everything could be right or wrong, right and wrong. There can be right love and wrong love as well as right anger and wrong anger.

Prior to Buddha nobody thought that way. People considered love as always right and anger as always wrong. So it was about will or resolution. A man of will was always right. All cultures until then had praised willpower. On the other hand, Buddha was tremendously insightful and said that everything that can be right can also be wrong. Nothing can be absolutely right. Willpower is wrong if used by the ego. Then it enhances the ego. And that's what happens in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred.

Willpower can be right, but one must be alert and aware. Willpower can be right only if it is used for surrender. It is a paradoxical phenomenon. Ordinarily we think will and surrender are polar opposites. In spite of this, there is only one right use of will: to surrender to the Whole. Call it God, Nature, Tao or whatever you like. Willpower in the service of the person is dangerous because the idea of the person is false. Personality is illusory. We are not separate entities. The whole universe is one organic unity. We exist together. Even a small blade of grass is connected to the faraway star. Everything is interlinked and intertwined.

It is like a spider's web. If you touch one thread, the wave is felt throughout the pattern. Through a slight touch, the vibration is felt throughout the web. So it is in the case of the universe. We are not separate. We only appear separate. Hence, if will is used in the service of the person, it is a wrong kind of will. It leads to more and more misery, conflict and violence.

Right will means will used in the service of God and in renunciation. When that happens, you are no more. Right will means that the will gathers itself and commits suicide. But only a man of will is able to do that! People who don't have any will, who are always lukewarm, half-hearted and wavering, cannot surrender.

Surrender needs a certain kind of integrity and resolution. In fact it needs the greatest resolution possible. Unless you are totally in it, it will not happen. Even if you hold back a little bit, it is not surrender. Through that which you are holding back, everything will return again. You will be the same. Surrender must be irrevocable. One must commit oneself so totally that there is no going back, because the bridge will be burned and you will have thrown the ladder away.

Right will is capable of destroying itself. It is a strange phenomenon but that's how life is. It is paradoxical. First we must learn to create an ego, then the ego is made ripe and strong; next we must learn how to drop it. It would seem logical not to develop it at all. Also, the harder the wood, the brighter the fire when it is burnt! If there was never an ego, you would never know the joy and freedom of dropping it. A person who has never been imprisoned has no consciousness about freedom. Being in prison is a prerequisite to know the taste of freedom.

Life is full of contradictions. A poor man never knows he is poor. He looks poor to people who are not poor. He does not know that he is poor and has nothing to compare his poverty with. To be really poor, first you must be rich.

After that, you will know the pain and agony of poverty. To be a true beggar, first you must be an emperor. Otherwise you will not know what it is like to be a beggar. The ego must first be strengthened, only to be dropped later. The so-called strengthening of the ego is actually the process of gathering and focussing our scattered energies into a single ball, which actually enables us to drop it more easily and therefore aids in the process of total surrender. The will first must be sharpened, only to be surrendered later. Knowledge must first be gathered, only to be unlearned later.

On the day you unlearn whatever you have learned, you become a child again. You are then twice born. This is not like the first childhood in which you lacked awareness of being knowledgeable. You now know what it means to be knowledgeable. And in dropping it you feel a great freedom, great joy, such ecstasy, and yet you are not attaining anything.

You were the same in your first childhood, yet you were completely unaware of it. This whole process is needed to make you aware. Awareness comes through a dialectical process. So will is good and right, when you are capable of dropping it.

If you cannot drop it, if you cling to it, if it becomes your life-pattern, you miss the whole point. Then it creates misery and hell. Great willpower is needed to create hell or heaven. If you continue in it, it creates hell. If you jump out of it, it creates heaven!

The only evolution worth calling evolution is the evolution of bliss. If bliss does not grow, you do not evolve. If bliss does not grow, society does not evolve. What people generally understand as evolution and progress is sheer nonsense. A more complicated technology does not mean evolution. You may have more gadgets, bigger machines, better airplanes, better trains and better houses, but you are the same person. You can reach the moon or stars one day, but you will do only whatever you did on earth! If you smoke cigarettes here, you will smoke there also. If you play cards here, you will play cards there also. If you drink beer here, you will carry beer to the moon. What else will you do there?

If mankind remains the same, there is no evolution. We can only bring about a substitute evolution that gives the false appearance that we are evolving. For centuries, mankind has not evolved. Only a few individuals here and there have evolved. We can come across a handful of people such as a Buddha or a Jesus.

Those who have tasted the nectar of bliss are evolved human beings. A small number of people have experienced evolution. Getting down from the trees and walking on two legs instead of all fours does not make us an evolved animal. It merely makes us erect and vertical, that's all. Real evolution is judged by blissfulness. And blissfulness grows with consciousness. They grow together, simultaneously. They are two aspects of the same coin. You grow in consciousness and you become more blissful or you grow more blissful and become more conscious. Start from anywhere, either consciousness or bliss, and you will grow.

Unless one becomes a Buddha or a Christ, one misses the great opportunity of evolving. All other progress is false. Surrender is an effort in the right direction. It releases our potential, and mankind has infinite potential. Man can reach the ultimate peak of joy in surrender, not in acquisition.

Gaining knowledge is cheap and easy. One can sit in a library and collect knowledge. Our memory is so great that some claim a single man's memory system can contain all the libraries of the world. No computer has yet been invented which competes with man's memory system. It is almost unlimited and it can create such a great illusion of being wise.

Wisdom is a totally different phenomenon. It comes through love. It grows and flowers in the heart. The ways of the heart are unlike the ways of the head. Surrender is a search for wisdom. I am not interested in imparting knowledge here. I am not a teacher. A teacher imparts knowledge. A master imparts his being.

A master does not teach. On the contrary, he helps you unlearn. He helps you unburden. He helps you to come from the head to the heart. Once you are centered in the heart, your life pulsates with a new energy. That energy is love. It is not that you become more loving. You become love itself.

Surrender is the transformation of ego into love. It is the transformation of your love for yourself into love for all. Yes, you need the ego to start with. When the ego is dropped, surrender happens.

What if some never had an ego to start with? What about those whose identities had already merged with the collective identity? You may say that this cannot happen. You are wrong. It is rare, that is true; but it happens. Incarnations come to earth with full consciousness of their collective identity. They are already in tune with the universe. In the book titled Nithyananda Vol. 1, this issue is covered in greater detail.