Beloved Master, Could You please speak about the phenomenon of surrender between the Master and disciple?🔗

First thing: surrender is a total thing. You cannot say that you have half surrendered. It is like a circle. You cannot draw half a circle and say that you have drawn a circle. A circle must be complete. If it is half, then it is not a circle at all; it is something else. So in the same way, surrender must be total. Surrender is also like a circle; it is a spiritual circle. You must surrender from end to end.

This is why I say that if you surrender, I will take care of the rest. I only say that I will take care so that you will surrender completely. But once you have surrendered, there is no need for anything to be done; there is no need for me to do anything. Surrender itself is enough. Everything will be done by surrender itself.

By surrender, it means that you are no more; it means that the ego has dropped. By surrendering, you have dropped your walls; you have dropped your defenses. You become an open space. And once you have become open, the divine is free to pass through you.

The divine is forever present. It is an eternal breeze that continuously blows. It is your walls which block this breeze from entering.

I tell you that I will take care only so you can surrender. If I were to tell you that I will not do anything, surrender will be impossible. So it is easier to surrender to a person in front of you rather than to the whole. If I tell you to surrender to the whole, will you be able to do? No! This is because we exist with our walls and boundaries. We are part of the whole, but fail to recognize this. So surrendering to a person or thing will be much easier.

The relationship between the Master and disciple is one of the most complex yet the most simple of things. It is simply because the relationship exists only on the part of the disciple. On the part of the Master, there is no relationship because the Master does not exist. As of now, it appears that the Master is there. And until you have surrendered, you will continue to feel that the Master is there. After surrender has happened, and you are no more, suddenly you will see the Master has never been there.

The Master is an absence. This absence can be seen only after you yourself have become an absence. As long as you are present, you go on projecting this presence onto the Master. It is your projection. It is not what is there. This is because your ego can only see ego; ego can never recognize a non- ego.

Wherever you look, as long as the ego is there, you immediately project ego. And because of this, even the Master will look like someone; he will appear to be one more ego. Once you have surrendered, the Master will no longer be there. You will suddenly see that this chair will become empty. There will no longer be anyone sitting here and talking to you. But only an absence can recognize an absence.

So the relationship cannot exist on the part of the Master. If the relationship exists, then it means that the Master exists. As long as a person exists, the ego is there. And if the Master has an ego, understand that he is not a Master. If the relationship exists on the part of the Master, he cannot be considered a Master at all.

A Master, if with an ego cannot exist without followers. Followers will be needed to feed the ego. The more the crowd, the better he will feel. If everyone were to suddenly leave him, he would be hurt; rather, the ego would be hurt. If this happens, the whole thing becomes just like a business.

However, a Master who has lost the ego will simply draw crowds to him. There is no effort needed at all. The crowds will simply come, the centers and Ashrams will simply happen! There is no effort involved, you see!

So with a true Master, the relationship exists only on the part of the disciple. You may love him; you may obey him, but be clear that he is not concerned about your love and obedience at all. There is no one to be related. His care is natural; it is infinite; it is unconditional. It is not that anyone has to be there in order for his compassion to flow. It simply flows for no reason. It is a continuous flow.

If compassion only flows when someone is present, understand that this compassion is pseudo. If compassion simply flows with no direction it can be called as compassion. See, compassion is a feeling, a flow; it is an experience which happens within a person when the ego is no more. And this flow happens continuously for the whole of Existence.

The Master is empty, he is a nobody. Once, when I was giving a discourse in a college, during the question and answer session, a girl stood up with a question. She asked me, 'Why is it that we must sit down here and you on that simhasana- thrown?' I simply smiled and told her, 'It is because you are somebody and I am nobody.'

So understand: the Master's presence is emptiness. This emptiness is continuous. Love, compassion goes on flowing to no one or no thing. He cannot choose to love or not to love. He cannot choose to be compassionate or not to be compassionate. It simply flows, that's all! If he can choose, then the I is there, the ego is there. But the Master is not, the disciple is. Until the disciple disappears, the relationship will continue. When the disciple surrenders, he disappears. And when he disappears, he suddenly realizes that the Master has never been with him because the Master never was.

I can say that surrender is the deepest and the greatest relationship possible on the planet Earth. When you surrender, you come to the deepest relationship possible. When you have disappeared, both you and the Master disappear. Understand this one thing: You both will become empty. Two empty spaces cannot be considered as two. You cannot create a boundary between two empty spaces. A boundary cannot be created around emptiness. Two emptinesses become one. Now the relationship also cannot exist, because a relationship can only exist between two people.

Once you have surrendered, everything disappears. The Master and the disciple, both are no more. And once you have surrendered, you will not be able to understand why you were simply moving here and there trying to move out of the ego. You will laugh at the game which the ego has played.

As I have said before, this relationship is very complex because only one exists. The other is not. So really, all of the games which you are feeling with the Master are your games. You have created these games and are projecting it onto the Master.

I am reminded of a story:

Ramakrishna speaks about these great swans; Paramahamsas. These great swans are like enlightened Masters who take a bird body just to go around and see their territory. They are supposed to be a metaphysical bird seen only through enlightened eyes, or the people who are living in the higher consciousness. Of course only if you are enlightened, you will be able to stay in the higher consciousness; that is different!

This bird will lay an egg. In forty percent distance from touching the ground, it will hatch. In sixty percent distance, it will grow wings. Before touching the ground, in ninety percent distance, it will just take off and fly. It will never touch the ground. It will never touch the planet Earth.

So, there is a small story about these great Swans:

When the reflection of the swan falls on lakes, or the ocean, or a river- when the reflection falls on the water, all the fish in the lake start jumping, 'Oh, some new fish has come, some big fish has come.' They all start jumping on the reflection and play with it. Some fish will jump this way, some fish will jump that way.

Some fish will think, 'What a beautiful fish, what a wonderful fish', and they will be jumping this way and that. Some fish will start calling the other fish, 'Hey come quickly, come quick, come and see this beautiful fish, this pretty fish.'

Some fish will even put a fence around, 'Only we can go near this fish quickly.' Some fish who jump in such a way that they jump on the reflection will feel that the fish is hugging them. They will go and write reminiscences, 'Oh, this fish is so great, so loving, radiating compassion; amazing love and compassion.'

Some fish who will jump a little away from the reflection will feel as if the swan is kicking them out; as if the reflection is kicking them out. They will go out and say, 'No, no. This fish is arrogant. He is not as loving as these fellows have told me. In books I read that it was very loving and compassionate; I went there and the reflection was shouting! It is not as compassionate as these fellows say.' So some fish will write, 'No, no. It is very arrogant, condescending', and whatever they feel like.

There are some intelligent fish who will think, 'No! This does not seem to be a fish. It seems to be something else.' These fish are called devotees; very few intelligent fish. They will see, 'No, it is not even something else, it is just a reflection of something.' And they will look up and see the swan flying. These are disciples.

Understand? There are fish that will jump this way and will feel that the reflection is hugging them. They will feel that he is very loving, caring and compassionate. They will go out and write reminiscences. This is one level.

There are some fish that will jump that way and will say, 'No, no, that fish kicked me out. It is not loving or compassionate.' This is one batch.

Some rare, intelligent fish only will look. 'No, this is not even a fish like us. It is something else.'

You see, there is a beautiful sloka in the Gita: whoever thinks that the Guru is a better human being, has abused the divine presence.

The Guru is not a better human being; he is completely disconnected from this very idea of human beings.

So only few intelligent guys get an idea. 'No, he is not a better fish, or big fish, or anything. He is not even the same species which we think. The very quality, the very idea is totally different. Those people who feel this, who are fortunate enough to have that click; only they start becoming devotees. Only they start living around, or start practicing very sincerely whatever has been expressed.

See, the people who come and go, both fish; the fish that claim he is love and compassion and all these things, as well as the fish that jump out and say, 'No, not like that, everything is business.' Both fish are called consumers.

The fish who start looking, who start feeling, 'No, this is not just a fish, it is something else', you are ready to look up and see the source. When you look up and see the original fish, the original swan, you understand the truth. Suddenly you see, you were also never a fish, you were thinking that you were a fish. Suddenly you see, 'Arrey! I am a swan!'

You will fly and play with that swan!

Until you see the swan flying, you do not realize that you too are a swan. You are a swan who by some reason fell into the water and you forgot you can fly and you are just tumbling this way and that, struggling to survive, thinking that you are a fish. This is the truth.

Different types of fish come. There are some fish who are very busy- just jumping this way and that. And when these fish jump this way and that, the reflection starts moving just because of the ripples created by the fish. And these fish will think that the swan is moving.

Understand, one important thing: whether the fish are jumping and moving the reflection, or they are feeling that it is loving and compassionate and hugging them, or they are feeling that everything is business and hating, or if they look a little deep and find out the reality of the swan, you must understand- throughout all of these stages, the swan does not even bother. He is not even touched. He is neither touched nor bothered about all these four steps.

Intelligent are those who can look up and fly.

His reflection falls on the lake for only one purpose. He is just expecting, just seeing if maybe a few fish will look up; that's all! Maybe a few fish will look up.

Understand: the first level, when you jump and say that he is compassionate, you are a fish, and the reflection is also a fish. Or even if you jump out and say, 'No, no, it is not as we think; it is all just foolishness, marketing, again, you are a fish and he is also just one more fish.

The third level, when you look and see, 'No, no, this is not a fish. Then, you are not a fish, and he is also not a fish. He is a reflection, and you are also a reflection of the reflection. That is why you are able to feel that it is something else.

Then, the forth level, when you look up, he is a swan and you are also a swan.

Along with your transformation, you will see the higher experiences of him. And by seeing the higher experiences of him, your transformation will happen; both are internally connected.

When you see the divinity in an idol, it is the first level. When you see the divinity in a living human being, it is called Guru Bhakti. Guru Bhakti suddenly leads to Atma Bhakti. The Guru just turns that same devotion and says, 'What is inside this system is inside that system. Tat tvamasi

The reflection of the swan happens everywhere for the one reason that maybe a few fish will look up. And wherever the reflection falls, automatically, the Ashrams and communities and temples just stand up! You don't even have to do anything, they will just stand up!

If the reflection falls on Malaysia, all the Malaysian fish will gather and the temple will be built! If it falls on Los Angeles, all the Los Angeles fish will gather and the temple will be built! And if the reflection falls on Bangalore, all the Bangalore fish will gather and the temple will be built! If the reflection falls on some other country or city, all the fish will gather and naturally, the temple will be built!

Understand: I always tell people, especially the people who are our organizers, I always tell them, these rituals, rites, the temple, everything is for service, for the public. You fellows understand, do not forget to see the swan. Because some fish are so busy collecting pebbles to add to the height of the temple, they forget to look up and see the swan. Early morning, the swan is no longer there and only empty water will remain. They will be stuck with the memorial they built. The swan has disappeared.

Understand: before the swan disappears, do not forget to look up and see the swan. Sometimes, people just play around and miss. They forget to look up and see the swan, thinking that it is going to be there forever.

So, do not miss.

Thank you.

Part 2: The Mind Game