“Self surrender.”

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" Self surrender. "

`Surrender to Him and abide by His will whether he appears or

vanishes; await His pleasure. If you ask Him to do as you please,it

is not surrender but command to Him.

You cannot have Him obey you and yet think that you have

surrendered. He knows what is best and when and how to do it. Leave

everything to Him; His is the burden, you no longer have any cares.

All your cares are His. Such is surrender.This is bhakti " .

(Talks, p. 425).

" If you have surrendered, you must be able to abide by the will of

God

and not make a grievance out of what may not please you. "

(Talks p.115)

Under Ramana's strict interpretation of absolute surrender, the only

appeals which might qualify

for approval are those where the devotee approaches the God or Guru

with the attitude " This is

your problem and not mine; please attend to it in any way you see

fit. "

This attitude bears the marks of partial surrender, for it fulfills

the bare minimum requirements of

Ramana's definition of true surrender. On this level of surrender,

there is no longer any expectation of a particular solution, there

is simply a willingness to accept whatever happens.

" It is enough that one surrenders oneself. Surrender is to give

oneself up to the original

cause of one's being… One's source is within oneself. Give yourself

up to it. That means that

you should seek the source and merge in it. " (Talks p.175).

If we examine this statement closely it is possible to extract three

important conclusions regarding

Ramana's attitude and approach to surrender. Firstly, there is no

external deity or manifestation

to whom one must surrender; secondly, the source of one's being is

within us; and thirdly, and most importantly, true surrender is to

go back to the original cause of one's being and remain

firmly and continually rooted there.

Om Sri Ramanarpanamastu