Surrender and Divine grace ( Sri Aurubindo )

[Guest guest]

Sub : Surrender through Sadhana And Divine Grace ( By Sri Aurobindo )

 

 

 

Sri Aurobindo’s writing on this topic is not only enlightening but also thought

provoking and would be useful for a sadhak to compare his spiritual progress

against these Truths.

 

 

 

What is a Total True Surrender ?

 

 

 

Surrender of oneself and all one is and has and every plane of the

consciousness, every movement to the divine and supreme shakthi. If part of the

being surrenders, but another part reserves itself, follows its own way or makes

its own conditions , then such time that happens we are pushing the divine grace

away from us. A tamasic surrender refusing to fulfill the conditions and

calling on God to do everything and save one all the trouble and struggle is a

deception and does not lead to freedom.

 

 

 

Imperfections of our Surrender:

 

 

 

The sadhak should Reject the false notion that the divine power will do and is

bound to do everything for him at his demand and even though he does not satisfy

the conditions laid down by the divine. He should not have conditions based on

falsehood and ignorance. If behind one’s devotion and surrender he makes a cover

for his desires, egoistic demands and vital insistences or mixes these with his

true aspiration the grace will not act as it is not in the conditions of light

and truth.

 

 

 

Awareness of Falseness or obscurity and rejecting it persistently:

 

 

 

While in the perseverance of truth there would be constant obstacles such as

mind’s ideas, opinions, preference, habits, and constructions -- leading to

desires, demands, cravings, sensations, passions, selfishness, pride, arrogance,

lust, greed, jealously, envy, hostility and such lower nature must be REJECTED

and in such conditions the true knowledge may not find a room as it is not a

“Silent Mind”. It is also important to REJECT the physical nature’s stupidity

such as doubt, disbelief, obscurity obstinacy, pettiness, laziness,

unwillingness to change, Tamas etc.

 

 

 

Constant labor of aspiration and Surrender:

 

 

 

An aspiration should be vigilant, constant, unceasing- the mind’s will, the

heart seeking, the assent of the vital being, the will to open and make plastic

the physical consciousness and nature.

 

 

 

The surrender and sincerity should be genuine and entire. When we give our self

completely without demand , without condition and any reservation nothing left

to ego – then that all in you belongs to the Divine Mother.

 

 

 

In proportion as the surrender, the sadhak becomes conscious of the divine

shakthi , doing the sadhana, pouring into him more and more of Herself, finding

in him the freedom and perfection of the divine nature.. the more this conscious

process replaces his own effort, the more rapid and true becomes his progress.

 

 

 

The more complete one’s faith , sincerity, surrender, the more will grace be

with us and when the grace and protection of the Divine mother are with us what

is there to fear when we encounter difficulties, obstacles and dangers as these

would turn into opportunities, success and strength as it has the sanction of

Divine Mother’s grace..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ganapathy --- Vijaya

 

" Jai Bhavani " - - - - " Jai Sri Lalitha Maha Maha Tripura Sundari "

 

" Sarvam Shakti Mayam Jagath "

 

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

, "M. S. Ravisankar" <ravi@a...> wrote:

> sharaNagati is often expressed in with five or six limbs

(depending on how

> you look at it) and even there are variation in the order they are

> presented. I am going to use a simpler approach to state (whatever

little)

> what I understand.

>

> 1. Dependency/Weakness - kArpaNyam

> 2. Knowing the Saviour - goptRitva varaNam

> This for instance, vibhishana shows by his life. .

>

> 3. Unshakeable Faith - mahaa vishvaasam

>

> This is the most important aspect of all. >

> 4. Resolving to do what is ordained - anukUlasya sankalpam

>

> >

> 5. Resolving to abhor prohibited acts - prAtikUlyasya varjanam

>

>>

> As mentioned in #1, items #4 and #5 are not easy. Our inability to

do this,

> increases #1 and makes our understaning of the dependence on God

even

> deeper.

>

> 6. Casting away the burden -- bhArasamarpaNam

>

> Giving up all our bhAra to God. We surrender completely and not

worry

> anymore. > Surrender or sharaNagati is amply present in the

framework of

> advaita-vedAnta also. Here is manifested as faith in one's guru.

After all,

> God is behind one's guru. One way to cultivate sharaNagati is

following the

> words of one's guru and observing the above steps.

>

> --------

Namaste. Ravishankar, PraNAms to you for an excellent exposition of

SharaNAgati. I would just like to make a few supplementary remarks,

more to add an emphasis to your exposition than to say anything new.

 

About #1, KArpaNyam - feeling of total triviality and nothingness

vis-a-vis the Lord.

It is on this point two classical surrenders in the Valmiki Ramayana

fail to become an ideal surrender.

One was Sita's. While she was a captive in Lanka she repeatedly

surrendered mentally to Rama. But Hers did not satisfy this norm of

incapability on the part of one who surrenders. For, if She had

chosen to, she could have consumed Ravana himself in the flames of

Her absolute chastity, though she did not choose to do it for other

reasons.

In the same way there is another episode of surrender in the

Ramayana, that of Rama Himself to the God of the Seas. Again Rama's

surrender did not come up to the six norms because his was not

because of inability to achieve what he wanted to achieve. If He had

chosen to, He could have dried up the ocean and have his armies

cross it.

 

About #3 (Unshakable faith) above.

This is the abandonment of all dependence on anything other than the

Lord. This is the 'sarva-dharmAn parityajya' of Gita 18-66. We all

certainly do it when we are in total distress and when we have no

hope of any earthly help. When we have tried every other means, when

we are totally helpless, certainly we take refuge in the Lord, at

least orally, tholugh it is a moot question whether it comes from

the heart. When the doctor finally says 'I have done my best, the

patient now is now in God's hands' -- at that time no doubt we pray

to God and say to Him 'O God, you are my only refuge'. Actually we

should have more truly said to Him: 'NOW you are my only refuge'!

The question is: Can we have that attitude even when there is a so-

called worldly help or alternative apparently available? That would

be the true practice of 'rakshishhyati-iti vishvaasaH'.

 

Again, going back to Vibhishana, when he abandoned Ravana to go and

seek refuge in Sri Rama, note that he had no prior agreement with or

assurance from Rama that the latter will accept him and protect him.

Even then he had perfect trust in the goodness of the Lord and was

confident that he will be taken in. And the Lord did not belie his

trust!

 

Again on the same topic, the supreme example, in all of mythology,

of this total trust in God is the situation where the entire

population of Gokulam went under the Govardhana Giri held aloft with

two fingers of the boy Krishna, to protect themselves and their

cattle from the fury of Indra's stormy downpour of lashing lightning

thunder and rain.

 

PraNAms to all devotees of Mother Goddess

profvk