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Solace in surrender

CHENNAI: The supreme goal of life being God realisation, a spiritual seeker finds great solace in placing faith in God. The interesting truth about this goal is that God is the end to be attained and also the means to it. Since realised souls have known and experienced God, it is possible for those who really strive to attain it.

The ultimate word of the Bhagavad Gita is self-surrender at God's feet. Though it sounds simple, in reality it is not so as self-surrender is knowingly to live, move and have our being in God. It is a yoga to be practised in great sincerity and in Sri Ramakrishna's view, one needs to surrender the ego principle to the will of the Lord, said Swami Vimurthananda in a lecture. The difficulty is the barrier of ego that has to be removed. The culmination of Bhakti Yoga is the complete unconditional surrender of the self to God.

The commonly used analogies of the kitten and the baby monkey to illustrate the spirit of Saranagati, besides highlighting the subtle shades of difference in the attitude of the devotee who surrenders, also clarify that divine grace and self effort combine to bring about the surrender. Absolute and unflinching faith with no effort is typified in the kitten that is protected by the mother cat. The devotee allows the Lord to do what He wants with his life. But the little one of the monkey clinging to the mother for protection is an example of the devotee who takes effort to seek God.

It is also true that one has to seek God within one's soul, though there are so many religions and so many paths to God realisation. A true devotee should understand what is beneficial for him and for others as well. This can happen only when one looks inwards and understands the nature of one's soul that is distinct from the body. The need to get away from the entanglement of worldly objects is to be understood. The senses that serve to establish contact with the objective reality have to be utilised selectively if one has to establish contact with God.

A spiritual aspirant should cultivate discrimination, devotion, concentration and meditation.

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