“The moment of surrender is not when life is over, it’s when it begins.”
– Marianne Williamson
Imagine a man riding a chariot where the five horses drag the
miserable passenger in all directions, even against his will. That’s a
soul who is trapped in this world of enjoyment and suffering, riding
the chariot of his life, dragged by his mind and senses.
That’s the first stage.
Then in the second stage, he decides to hold the reins of the horses
and manoeuvre the chariot as he wills. After some time he realizes the
horses are wild and his attempts to control the chariot is feeble.
He then choses the third phase of spiritual life where he allows God
or a divine power to take charge of his chariot. He lets go the reins.
The difference between the first and third phase is: earlier when he
let go, it was his mind that dragged the chariot of his life, and now
when he releases control, it’s God who’s taken charge of his life. The
difference in these two approaches is the inner aspiration: his desire
has changed from wanting to be an enjoyer in this world, to be a
servant of God and His devotees. Until the soul makes this conscious
choice of being a servant, he is relentlessly pummelled by the
indefatigable material energy.
We all surrender- either to the mind or to God. In between we show our
sincerity by struggling to control the mind. As we realize the
formidable challenge ahead of us, we humbly call out to God, in deep
realization of our puny existence and His magnificent omnipotence. It
is this realization that made Gajendra a hero in the pages of Srimad
Bhagavatam.
The main lesson from the pastime of Gajendra and crocodile is we have
to move from sense gratification to struggle to finally surrender to
God.
One may wonder if surrender is the final objective, why not practise
surrender now. And what stops us from calling out to God like Gajendra
did?
Why we can’t surrender now?
We lack the ability to call out to Krishna helplessly like Gajendra
because of following three reasons.
To be continued…
