Surrender and Acceptance

I thank Swami for giving me the opportunity to share one of the most important lessons He taught me when we were on an assignment in South Korea between the years of 1992 and 1997. Whatever is reproduced below is what we experienced from Him by His divine grace.

We had been participating in Sai activities since the mid-seventies and were regular participants in the Sai activities of seva [service], Bal Vikas [Sai spiritual education], and bhajans [spiritual singing].

All of us, at some stage in our lives, go through some problems or confusions and we went through our share of these during this period. It was at this time that Swami made us understand the meaning of the words, “surrender and accept” by His constant guidance and presence.

We made a number of trips to Prasanthi Nilayam during the above time and He was kind enough to talk to us on a number of occasions.

On one such occasion He said, “All of you come to me as lumps of gold. As a solid lump gold does not have any value. The goldsmith has to work on the lump. I am your goldsmith. First I have to put the gold in the hot fire until it becomes soft. And then I start working on the soft gold and make it into jewels. When I complete the jewel, I start to polish it. When it shines, I wear that jewel on Me. Like the gold, each one of you has to go through the difficulties to be able to reach the Lord. Difficulties are like passing clouds.”

At that time I asked Him, “Swami, when the goldsmith is working on the gold will he concentrate fully on the gold?” Swami replied, “Yes.” Then I said, “Swami, give us difficulties so that we can have your concentration on us all the time.” Swami laughed and patted us and said, “When you are going through suffering, I also go through it with you; you are not alone.”

On yet another occasion, Swami elaborated to us, “You all come to me like wet towels soaked in certain qualities that hinder your spiritual progress. I have to squeeze out the water completely and then dry them because when the water is taken out completely, the towel dries fast. Then only can I use the towel. Always welcome difficulties and never question God. Instead, thank God for giving you hard times. Surrender and accept the Divine will,” He concluded.

Perhaps the most memorable part of my visit to Prasanthi Nilayam was when the meaning of “surrender and accept” was made complete. This was when my husband was having a trying time at his work and was under constant tension. The situation was so frightening that he stopped communicating and was keeping things to himself. I had no idea in which way I could help him and the only recourse was to turn to Swami.

One of those days I was so helpless that I could not control my tears in front of Swami’s picture in our puja [prayer] room. Within moments I received a telephone call from my relative in Puttaparthi staying that Swami was enquiring about me and wanted me to come to Puttaparthi immediately. Within a couple of days I landed in Parthi and was fortunate enough to be granted an interview by Bhagavan. He said, “I could not stand you crying in your puja room and that is why I wanted you to come to Parthi. These are difficulties created by the Divine and if you ‘surrender and accept’ to His will, everything will be all right. Call your husband immediately and tell him that Swami will take care of his problem.” Things improved very much for my husband and he finished his overseas assignment successfully and returned to Canada. From that moment onward our outlook was completely changed.

From 1997 we have been visiting Prasanthi Nilayam very regularly and each time the opportunity to have a private audience with Him has gradually diminished. For those of us that were pampered, in a way, by Swami with His constant guidance and concern this was something that we found difficult to accept initially. However His presence is always felt whenever we are in difficulties and need His guiding hand. This is perhaps the final lesson in “surrender and accept” as He weans us away from His physical form to enable us to progress further spiritually.

Jai Sairam

~Lalitha Varanasi
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada