Surrender
H: What does surrender to the Lord mean in such common things as shaving, going to the market, walking and so on?
Sai: Surrendering to the Lord is surrendering all thoughts and actions, not wishing for the fruits of the action, not doing action to gain its fruit but doing the action because it is one’s duty. The act is dedicated to the Lord and the results, therefore, are borne by the Lord. Actions done thus, fruits abandoned at the time of the action—such action is free of karma [action]. Since the ego, in this way, is not fed and cultivated, it disappears before long. For example, if one shaves, which is classed as an uninspired mundane task, the attitude is that one is preparing the body for the sake of the Lord in the heart, and one is making the best of his appearance to honor the Lord, and not for one’s personal vanity or reward.
Also, in walking, offer the action to the Lord to maintain a body fit for the Lord to live in; and that is the attitude for every single act of the day. Sweeping the house is dedicated to the Lord so that He may have a fit dwelling. And cooking also is dedicated to Him so that the body may be strong and vigorous for the benefit of the Lord. It is folly to seek the fruit of action. When one dies, the only items taken with one are one’s good and bad deeds. None of the power, the money, the position, the prestige, the vigorous beauty of the body, the culture of the personality—these things are all gone, and therefore what folly to work for them. Man is life with desire; life without desire is God. Mind is desire; when mind disappears, desire disappears.
H: What is meant when Swami says to a departing devotee that, ‘Swami will be with you wherever you are; Swami is in your heart’?
Sai: The situation can be compared to a man and a stick floating in the ocean. Both have the same motion, up and down with the waves; but the stick does not know what is happening, whereas man is conscious of the movement. The movement of the stick could be compared to a person in America in whose heart God resides but who has never been here to visit Swami. The conscious movement of a man swimming in the ocean could be compared to an American who has visited here and then returned home. Now there would be conscious spiritual experience and that would be the case whether we consciously invited that experience or not.
There are three stages to knowing God. One is intellect, which is just imagination; one is drawing near; and third is union with God. Another example: The river merges with the ocean, but if one takes sweet water from the river and places it in a sealed plastic bag and places that sealed bag in the ocean, there is no mixing of that water with the ocean. Such a condition could be compared to one’s state before coming here, but after coming here it is as though the sweet water were not held separate from the ocean but were merged and mixed with the ocean. This is the mixing stage, here. Swami is the servant of all, which He enjoys much more than being a master.
H: What is the meaning of the word ‘dharma’?
Sai: The word ‘dharma’ does not mean duty. In duty there is no freedom; in reason there is freedom; and in religious obligation there is the union between duty and reason. ‘Dharma,’ then, refers to religious obligation and in that word are the concepts of both duty and reason.
Source: Conversations with Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba
