“If you surrender to the wind, you can ride it” – Anonymous
After many lifetimes of sense gratification and struggle, finally a
battered and bruised living entity, albeit a fortunate one, surrenders
to God. This is the SURRENDER stage where in utter state of
helplessness, the soul finds shelter in God’s loving embrace.
A spiritual seeker can compare his or her life with Gajendra’s. We
lead a life centred on our own pleasures- sense gratification- where
our mind drags us in different directions. Gajendra lead a merry life
of enjoyment; we too are oblivious to the harsh realities of this
world. Somehow, a few of us come to a spiritual path and understand
the seriousness of strict practises. Yet, the mind –like the
crocodile- drags us down to the lake of material world. We want to get
out of this grind, still we are helpless. During this second stage-
struggle- we try to control our minds. Earlier the mind hauled us but
now we seek to master it. Just like Gajendra struggled for centuries,
we endeavour for decades to gain mastery over our minds. But the mind
is obstinate and we suffer perpetually. Until, of course we decide to
enter the third stage – surrender- where we allow God to control our
minds.
Stage- 1- sense gratification- mind controls us
Stage-2- struggle- we try to control the mind
Stage-3- surrender- God takes charge of our mind
When Gajendra realized he can’t really get out of suffering by his own
methods, he gave up the struggle. This is what Draupadi also did. When
she realized that cruel Dushasna, goaded by his treacherous brother
Duryodhana and their wily uncle Shakuni were determined to disrobe her
naked, and her own husbands were incapable of helping her, and even
she couldn’t do it on her own; she let go the struggle. She
surrendered completely to Krishna.
Every spiritual practitioner reaches a stage in his or her path where
the realization dawns that we can’t do it on our own. We need to
access God’s grace- a power beyond our own to go back to God’s
kingdom. The advanced spiritual positions are not achieved by our
endeavours; rather they are rewarded upon us. And to receive grace we
need to surrender.
To be continued…
