If we discount (for a few moments) the saboteur matrix—that humans have an archetype characteristic of engaging in selfsabotage at times, we might realize that at our core, we don’t wish to exert pain upon ourselves or others. We really do seek comfort, balance, perspective, peace & serenity.
How all of this exists in consonance with SURRENDER TO DIVINE WILL as in NOT MY WILL BUT THY WILL BE DONE, may take a bit of study.
No one truly or naturally wishes to surrender. Is it not the loser who surrenders to the winner, the victim to the perpetrator, the weakest to the strongest? Well, this is a different kind of surrender; it’s not “stop resisting to an enemy or opponent and submit to their authority.” It’s not any of the following synonyms to surrender:
-capitulate -give in -give (oneself) up
-yield -concede -submit -climb down
-capitulate -give in -give (oneself) up
-yield -concede -submit -climb down
-give way -defer -acquiesce -back down
-cave in -relent -succumb -quit
-crumble -be beaten -be overcome
be overwhelmed -fall victim
-lay down one’s arms
-raise/show the white flag
-throw in the towel/sponge
-accept defeat -concede defeat
So putting additional challenges on our ability to be happy, healthy and holy is silly at best, and stupid at worst—not to mention those more vulnerable than we whom we might help and who hardly need more challenges.
I had a strong aversion to wearing hats—and long pants—and having moved to Arctic Poland rather quickly cured me of these tendencies. Not very many souls climb Mount Everest without hats or long pants.
Ones who might try this, normally don’t live long enough to tell their tales.
The point is extraordinary times and situations demand extraordinary efforts as well as an openness to living out of the box. Failure to thinking, feeling and intending out of the box might very well results in your box resembling a jail cell. Lest we become enslaved to our stubborness, obsessions…..surrendering to Divine Will may be the only way out of the miasma and the maya. “…you must learn to merge your will into His will. This is surrender, total surrender,
the culmination of all spiritual discipline.” “Various events unfold in time. Have faith that it is His will. If the events bring about
grief, it is the result of accumulated Karma out of which our present life is just a speck.” “For Self realization, surrender is the way.
All progress and joy can come only through IDAM NA MAMA- not my will but Thy will be done. And “Thy” is not our enemy. “Higher Power,” as something like the Divine is referred to in Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12-Step programs, is not an adversary.
It may feel at times as if we are at war with our tendencies—but not with God– to act in ways contrary to Divine standards, but, in truth, it is less a war and more of an evolving into the higher beings we are destined to become. On the spiritual path, surrender is the result of realizing Step 3 and turning over the wheel to a power greater than ourselves.
Step 3 of AA: “Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him”.
Not only is this not APITULATION. To the contrary, it is a decision borne of faith, devotion, experience and to some extent, hope. Just as persons unable to find a cure for a physical problem with allopathic or mainstream medicine often turn to nontraditional, herbal and other naturopathic substances and methods, so surrender—and
performance of Agnihotra—is often sought when all else has been tried and found to be lacking. If you have a modicum of I.T. skills, fine, have a go with them. Should they result in less-than-optimal results, why not turn over the matter to one much more able to fend the
way through the maze? Indeed, why not? Some may ‘want to do it themselves,’ some may cherish the challenge of trying—and failing. Some may lack the self-love—or be overcome by forms of selfloathing—and, thus, not choose to surrender even though all evidence points toward the wisdom of doing just that.
As we wrote last month, the condition of our planet and of us, its inhabitants, is pretty much approaching a danger zone or tipping point. 2surrender.”
“Unless we truly surrender to God’s will, no progress on the spiritual path is truly made.
This is the basic requirement. Agnihotra puts us in a mood of surrender to the Supreme and hence Agnihotra is a great
material aid on the Divine Path.”.
From Ten Commandments of Parama Sadguru—commentary by Vasant V. Paranjpe. “To love another person is to see the face of God” (Victor Hugo). Putting another’s needs before our own may be considered a surrender to a Higher Power. Certainly, such altruism paves the way to an enlightenment of sorts. Do it enough and this enlightenment can become Enlightenment. Should the idea of behaving as an instrument of the Divine be a craving of yours, your work here may be approaching its end. For no other more noble endeavor exists. When you can honestly answer, “What others?” when faced with opportunities to serve, as your self-interest merges with others’—and others’ with yours– you may or may not enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but at the very least, you are at Heaven’s doorstep— knock, knock, knockin’ on Heaven’s door.
“Praise to all, oh travelers of Kingdom of Heaven.
Light of the World has escended on earth. Divine Light is spreading throughout the whole planet. Kingdom of Heaven is near at hand. Blessed are who saw the light. Fortunate are who walked in light, for they will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Om.” Words pronounced by Parama Sadguru Shree Gajanan Maharaj from Akkalkot, India.
