There is an incident from the Bhagavad Gita - a beautiful incident:
Krishna was with a few devotees when he looked at the sky and said, 'See that white crow!' Everyone said they could only see a black crow, everyone except Arjuna. Arjuna said he could see the white crow. And then Krishna said, 'Fool! There is only a black crow. What are you talking about?'
Arjuna replied, 'Krishna, when you said it was a white crow, I saw it as a white crow!"
When Krishna said there was a white crow, Arjuna simply saw it as a white crow. Even if it was completely illogical, the disciple trusted the Master's words. This is because Arjuna did not surrender only his intellect; he had surrendered his senses as well. He had the clear understanding that whatever Krishna said was the truth. And it is not that he had become dumb. No! His sense of surrender to Krishna was so deep that his intelligence was simply in tune with the Master and his words. There was no scope for the mind to step in at all. His very senses had surrendered.
See, the Master can give you the assurance that enlightenment will happen. And you can feel that it has happened in him. You can smell that there is something different about him; he is not like any other ordinary person! This understanding itself will keep the flame alive within you. The moment you have stepped on this path, there will be many ups and downs. The journey is not always smooth; there will be stones and pebbles and ditches! There will be many times you will feel as if you are just aiming for something that is a mere illusion. You will feel you are only wasting your time and would have done better in society. It is only by looking at the Master, watching his magical body language, listening to his words, absorbing the silence that he radiates while he is talking, that the certainty of the whole thing will keep flowing in you.
Right when you are completely hopeless and feel that the whole thing is just a waste, the Master will give you the confidence once again! From nowhere, you will get a surge of inspiration about the whole thing!
You see, the old personality which you have acquired is very strong. This is because you have been associating yourself with it for so long. So now you must consciously watch yourself. You must consciously make an effort not to encourage your old personality. When you can do this, your real individuality will be uncovered. You must try to operate only from your individuality. This can only happen if you are fully aware about yourself. Actually, the best way to start associating yourself with your individuality is to forget
- Let go of it All -
that you have an identity and flow with whatever the Master tells you to do. Just disappear into your work and allow the Master to work on you. It will happen. Allowing the Master to work through you is a blessing that does not happen to everyone.
When you flow with things allowing the Master to work on you, you will see that every new moment takes care of itself. You don't need to do anything.
There are two ways a person can live his life. One way is to live moment to moment and the other is to live by connecting the past, present and future and taking decisions based on that. The moment you have understood surrender, everything drops from you. Then there is no past and there is no future. There is only the moment.
One of the biggest problems is we go on living in the past. In fact, the past is so alive that the present is forgotten! Through your review of the past and planning and so-called organization, you miss the cream that is the present. If you can live in the now, you will no longer decide anything. Your attitude of surrender to the moment will cause decisions to happen spontaneously.
When you have understood the power of being in the now, you will become independent and intelligent automatically. You will not depend on me. The Master is there only to give you guidance, not support. From him, you uncover your own individuality.
One more thing: the Master is here to give you understanding. But such an understanding will take root in you only when deep confusion also happens. When the confusion becomes so deep that you feel you can't do anything more, the understanding starts happening!
Sometimes a person thinks he has surrendered and that there is no more steps to take towards the Master. He will feel that he has gone as deep as he can possibly go. Understand, this is pure delusion. The moment you have REALLY surrendered, you are enlightened! Until then, it is only creating the space for it to happen.
- Let go of it All -
A devotee tells swamiji that when she meets him, she does not understand why she has to explain everything to him. If You already know everything, why do You need me totell You about my problems?
See, I understand your problem; that is different. But you must first understand your problems! I make you explain to me only because I want you to understand. I can see where the problem lies and tell you, but there is no point in it at all. If I tell you, the experience of understanding will not happen in you. Again, you will follow because I am telling you. Most of the time, you suffer because you do not know exactly what your suffering is. Not only that, when I ask you to verbalize your problems, you may be cunningly hiding the real suffering and verbalize it differently outside. You will not even be ready to face your problem courageously.
When I forcibly make you verbalize it, when I start cross questioning you and tiring you, I make the real reasons for suffering come out of you. Many times you will see that if you are open to me when you talk to me about your suffering, you will get clarity at a level you cannot even imagine. You might have come to me with some reason, but as you open up to me, you will see that the reasons are entirely different, that you are hiding under a complete hypocritical layer.
The moment you say I know everything, although you may sound like having a surrendering attitude, be clear, you are actually escaping from the truth yourself.
You need courage to open up in front of me. If you are really interested in getting out of your problems, you will be like an open book in front of me. I will then have no difficulty in evaporating your problems. But if you hold back, then it becomes difficult for me. So it all depends on you.