How to Achieve Surrender
The Gita does not intend that you should pluck a leaf or flower or a fruit from some plant or tree and place it before God. Nor does it ask you to bring water from a well or river or the road-side tap. The leaf is your own body, which like the leaf, sprouts green, fades and finally falls off from the branch. The flower is the heart freed from the insect pests of lust, anger, greed, attachment, pride, and hate. The fruit is the mind, the consequence of its yearning, which has to be dedicated to God, the water is the stream of tears that flow from the eyes when one is in ecstatic bliss at the contemplation of God’s glory. Giving these four is the real act of surrender, sharanagati.
Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. VIII, p. 157
Sharanagati [surrender]—leaving everything to His ‘will’ is the highest form of bhakti [devotion], the easiest path to self-realization is the surrender of ego.
When you accept and when you believe that the divine is present in every human being and in every living thing, that Divinity is omnipresent then only can you understand the meaning of saying surrendering in thought, word, and you will also become one with God.
There is some justification in your talking of surrender, when you are fully in control of your mind, fully in control of your word, and fully in control of your body. As soon as you are able to recognize the aspect of omnipresence of God and the aspect of omnipotence of God, then the feeling of ego, the feeling that there is an “I” which is distinct will disappear.
Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol.4, p. 120
It is the mind that builds up the body, strong and shiny, or wastes it to skin and bone. For manushya [man] to be strong, the manas [mind] has to be strong. Live always as the servant of the Lord within you, then you will not be tempted into sin or fall into evil. Get into the habit of living in the light of God. It is the habit that rehabilitates the fallen. Have the attitude of sharanagati, or else your destiny will be sara-gati.
Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol.2, p. 77
The greatest obstacle on the path of surrender is egoism. It is something that has been inhering to your personality since ages, sending its tentacles deeper and deeper, with the experience of every succeeding life. It can be removed by the twin detergents of discrimination and renunciation. Bhakti (devotion) is the water to wash away the dirt of ages. And the soap of japa (chanting the Lord’s name), dhyana (meditation) will help to remove it quicker and more effectively.
Thought for the day, Prasanthi Nilayam, 09-20-07
