Surrender Itself – In Gita Verse 7.21 I am in everyone’s heart as the Supersoul. As soon as one desires to worship some demigod, I make his faith steady so that he can devote himself to that particular deity.
Krishna is so compassionate with everyone. He says that even for the desire you go to any deity he will help us to surrender to that deity. It is not the question of to whom you surrender, it’s the question of whether you surrender or not? Even if you surrender to any false Guru, Deity doesn’t matter. It’s a question of your surrendering.
WHATSOEVER YOU HAVE DONE TO YOUR LIFE, BE AWARE OF IT. That very awareness will help you one day to throw it all, and to surrender. And remember that you will be transformed not by surrender to a particular Master, but by surrender itself.
So the Master is irrelevant, he is not the point. People go on coming to master and they say, “I want to surrender, but to whom?” That is not the point, you are missing the point; it is not a question of to whom. SURRENDERING HELPS, NOT THE PERSON YOU HAVE SURRENDERED TO. He may not be there, or he may not be authentic; he may not be an enlightened one, or he may just be a rogue; that is not the point, that is irrelevant! YOU HAVE SURRENDERED – THAT HELPS BECAUSE NOW YOU ARE VULNERABLE, OPEN. You have become feminine. The male ego is lost, and you have become a feminine womb.
THE PERSON YOU HAVE SURRENDERED TO MAY BE BOGUS, OR HE MAY NOT BE. That is not the point! You have surrendered, now something can happen to you. And many times it has happened that EVEN WITH A FALSE MASTER, DISCIPLES HAVE BECOME ENLIGHTENED. You may be surprised: even with a false master, disciples have become enlightened!
IT IS REPORTED OF MILAREPA that he went to a teacher, he surrendered. Milarepa was a very faithful man, very trusting. So when the teacher said, “You will have to surrender to me, only then I can help,” he said, “Okay, I surrender.”
BUT MANY PERSONS WERE JEALOUS. The old followers of that Master were jealous of Milarepa, because Milarepa was a different type of man, a very magnetic force. THEY BECAME AFRAID that if this man remains here, that he will become the chief disciple, he will become the next guru. So they said to their teacher that, “This man seems to be false, so first check whether his surrender is real.”
The Master said, “How should we examine him?” They said, “TELL HIM TO JUMP FROM THIS HILL” – they were sitting on a hill.
So the Master said, “Milarepa, if you have really surrendered, jump from the hill.” So he did not wait even to say yes – HE JUMPED!
The disciples thought he would be dead. Then they went down, it took hours for them to go to the valley. AND HE WAS JUST SITTING UNDER A TREE MEDITATING, and he was happy – as happy as he had never been.
So they gathered, and the disciples thought it must be a coincidence. THE MASTER WAS ALSO SURPRISED. How could this happen? So he asked Milarepa privately, “What did you do? How could it happen?”
Milarepa said, “When I surrendered, there was no question of MY doing, YOU have done something.”
THE MASTER KNEW WELL THAT HE HAS NOT DONE ANYTHING, so he tried again… ONE HOUSE WAS ON FIRE, so he told Milarepa to go in and sit there, and when the whole house has become ashes, then only come out. Milarepa went in, he stayed there for hours. Then the house was just ashes.
WHEN THEY REACHED THERE, HE WAS JUST BURIED IN THE ASHES – but as alive and as blissful as ever. And Milarepa touched his Master’s feet and said, “You are doing miracles!”
So the Master said, “But it is difficult to think that it is again a coincidence.” But the followers said, “This is nothing but a coincidence. Try again, at least three trials are needed.”
So they were passing through a village. The Master said, “Milarepa, the boat has not come yet, and the ferryman has not kept the promise, so you go – WALK ON THE WATERS, GO TO THE OTHER BANK AND TELL THE FERRYMAN TO COME.” So Milarepa walked. Then the Master really thought it was a miracle – he walked and went to the other bank, and then brought the ferry.
The Master said, “Milarepa, how are you doing it?”
He said, “I just take your name and go on. It is your name, Master, that helps me.” So the Master thought, “If my name helps so much…” He tried to walk on the water also, and drowned! And no one has ever heard again about him.
How did it happen? SURRENDER IS THE THING – NOT THE MASTER, not the thing to which you surrender. The statue, the temple, the tree, the stone – anything will do. IF YOU SURRENDER, you become vulnerable to existence. And then the whole existence takes you into its arms.
So this story may be just a parable, but the meaning is that WHEN YOU SURRENDER, THE WHOLE EXISTENCE IS FOR YOU. The fire, the hill, the river, the valley – nothing is against you – because you are not against anything, the enmity is lost.
If you fall from a hill and your bones are broken, IT IS THE BONES OF YOUR EGO. You were resisting; you didn’t allow the valley to help you, you were helping yourself. You were thinking yourself more wise than the existence. Surrender means you come to realize that whatsoever you do will be stupid, foolish. And you have done for many lives, many stupid things.
YOU LEAVE IT TO THE EXISTENCE ITSELF. YOU cannot do anything!
Krishna says that when the person devotes himself to that particular deity, he realizes that he is helpless. This realization that “I am helpless” helps the surrender to happen.
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