Surrender to God is considered to be the greatest requirement of every religion. The word ‘surrender’ is defined as: to yield, give up or over, submit, abandon, relinquish, cede, waive, or capitulate. In spirituality and religion, ‘surrendering’ means that a believer completely gives up his own will and subjects his thoughts, ideas and deeds to the will and teachings of a higher power.
There is no religion which does not emphasize the need of surrender to God as the first and the foremost requirement. Surrender is considered to be the simplest path to salvation in Hinduism. In Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna clearly says, ‘Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear. It is enough that one surrenders oneself. Surrender is giving oneself up to the original cause of one’s being. Do not delude yourself by imaging this source to be some God outside you.
Hinduism lays greatest emphasis to surrender to Guru. The Guru means God in human form. He/she is not like any ordinary learned person but he/she is God in a human body. Many times some Gurus speak very less but that does not mean that they know lesser than those who speak volumes. Rather a Guru will bring changes in your mind, heart and body that are revolutionary.
You can feel the changes that are permanent and can be difficult to describe. A single word spoken by a Guru can change your life forever. A simple touch can change your life forever and sometimes Guru brings about changes in you without showing any outward sign. Surrender to Guru is most important. It means having no desire left of one’s own; have no ego of one’s own; have no belief that one is knowledgeable or logical.
One should leave everything to Guru. Let him/her decide what is best and do what he/she orders. This is possible by Guru himself/herself. Guru slowly removes all that not needed in us and fills us with total obedience. We reach a state where we only serve God and at that time Guru gives us all that is best for us without any effort from our side. Guru bestows the greatest gifts without us asking or making any effort.
First pray to God that brings you in contact with His form as Guru and then begin the journey towards surrendering yourself. If one surrenders completely, there will be one left to ask questions or to be considered. Either the thoughts are eliminated by holding on to the root thought, ‘I’, or one surrenders unconditionally to the higher power. These are the only ways to realization.
Yet surrender is the most difficult act for most people as surrender is not a matter of choice but arises only from deep conviction. Man is the only specie in this world who works according to his free will while other species follows their nature and tendencies. We are all trained to use our mind and intellect to know the truth and take decision in our life and it is extremely difficult to discard the reason and logic from our mind even if we wish to.
Gautama Buddha always warned the man against blind faith as he said, “Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own commonsense”. Yet, even in Buddhism, the path of surrender gradually became the way of life. If one surrenders, one may lose his identity and become a slave to the higher power or the master. Yet, if surrender is the very basis of religion and spirituality, there must be some good reason for it.
Surrender to God is like giving your remote control to God. When we see the world using our own free will, we see the world as we are and not what it is. It is because, as soon as we see a world which does not fit into our liking, we immediacy change the change and see only what we wish to see. The result is that most of the world remained unseen to us throughout our life as we keep on coming back to the same channel over and over again.
It is not easy to surrender. Surrender comes only from faith and it takes years to build faith. Yet one has to start from somewhere. Jesus Christ said, “If you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’, and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you”. Thus even the smallest seed of faith results to the tree carrying tons of fruits of love and trust. Faith and surrender are interrelated as both grow together. Thus, complete surrender is impossible in the beginning but partial surrender is possible for all.
These articlesare the 'Ashirvachanas' given by His Holiness Sri Balagangadaranatha Mahaswamji, 71st Pontiff of Sri Adichunchanagiri Mahastana Math during different occasions.