Freedom From Birth And Death

12.6,7 But those who worship me with single-minded devotion, renouncing all activities unto Me, regarding Me as their supreme goal,

whose minds are set in Me, I shall deliver them soon from their ocean of the birth and death cycle.

Bhagavan makes a promise here. Krishna says unequivocally, 'I shall deliver them from their material existence, the ocean of samsara, the cycle of life and death. All that the Lord asks is that the devotee be devoted to Him.

Krishna says, 'If you surrender to Me, surrender all your actions and the fruits of those actions to Me, do my service, meditate upon Me, remain single-minded upon My Consciousness, I shall then redeem you, provide you salvation and liberate you. I shall make sure you never need to be reborn again.' It is the roar of a lion. It is the roar of the King of this Universe. 'Surrender to Me and I shall redeem you. Serve Me and I shall liberate you.'

An atheist, a true nonbeliever, fell off a steep cliff and as he was falling he grabbed the branch of a small tree and was holding onto it desperately. He was past caring whether he should worry about God's existence or not. All he wanted was to live, to be saved. He shouted out, 'God, if it is true that You exist, please save me.'

In response a voice rang out, 'Yes, I do exist and I shall save you. Just let go of that branch. You will then be saved. I shall hold you.'

The atheist shouted out in desperation, 'Is there anyone else out there who can save me?'

All our belief in God is skin deep. First of all, to most of us, God is only a concept and we worship that concept. Most of the time, we beg of that concept. We pray, 'Give me this oh Lord, give me that oh Lord.' When we have one prayer answered, we begin the next. As long as God answers our prayers, as long as the Master provides us with what we ask for, our faith in Him lasts. The moment the prayer goes unanswered, our faith dissolves. We move on to another God or Master. We say, 'Is there anyone else out there who can give me the answer I want?'

We do not realize that often God does not answer our prayers out of sheer compassion, out of sheer love for us. In our ignorant state, we keep asking, we keep begging without a break. We do not fully understand the implications of what will happen if our prayers get answered, whether our situation would become better or worse. That is why they say, 'Be careful of what you ask for, you may get it!'

From time to time, God in His infinite wisdom turns down our requests such as wanting to become rich, wanting to be well, wanting to have children, and so on. We then move away from Him. Surrendering to the Divine is not conditional. It must be total. There can be no 'ifs', 'ands', or 'buts'. It cannot be, 'If you grant my prayers, I shall be devoted to you.' That is business. Most of our relationship with God is business.

There are three kinds of surrender. First, there is surrender of one's intellect. For many, this is possible. Once we understand that there is a universal energy far greater than us, most of us can accept and surrender intellectually to that Supreme Power. At least we can say, 'I surrender.' That's how many of us prostrate in a temple or before a Master. The entire body touches the ground signifying our surrender. For that moment, our ego takes a vacation.

Surrender at the next level is emotional. One can melt at the thought of God or Master. There is love, there is gratitude pouring out of our hearts and we feel tears streaming down. We become bhaktas, devotees. Ramakrishna said, 'If you have tears in your eyes when you think of God or your Master, be very clear, this is your last birth. You are ready for liberation.' We are ready, but not liberated until we reach the last and third step. This step of surrender is the surrender of one's senses. Our surrender is total at this stage - unconditional, spontaneous, instant and natural.

In the Mahabharata, Vyasa talks about an incident when Arjuna is walking with Krishna.

Krishna suddenly points to a crow sitting on the branch of a tree, and says, 'Arjuna, can you see that green crow?' 'Yes Krishna, I do see that green crow,' says Arjuna. They walk a little further. Krishna points to another crow on a different tree, 'Arjuna, look at that black crow.' Arjuna says, 'I see that black crow, Krishna.' Krishna turns to Arjuna and says, 'Arjuna, you are a fool! How can there be a green crow? Why did you say that the first crow was green, when that too was black? Were you trying to please Me?'

Arjuna said, 'My Lord, when You pointed at that first crow, and asked me to look at that green crow, I saw a green crow. Krishna, what can I do? I did not see a black crow. My senses deceived me.' Arjuna's senses did not deceive him. They had surrendered to the Master, to the Divine. Once that stage is reached, there is no coming back. It is a point of no return. It is total and absolute surrender.

Krishna says, 'When you surrender to Me, I shall liberate you.' To reach Him, we must surrender totally. Our senses must be surrendered to Him. Our entire consciousness, our complete awareness must only be of Him and nothing else. Nothing else needs to be done. The technique is so simple. 'Surrender and I shall save you,' says the Master. 'I shall save you without delay, immediately.' But we query, 'Is there someone else out there to help me?'

The Lord has made it so simple. Yet, we find it so difficult to believe Him.