Let go of it all🔗

The only thing holding you back from the Ultimate, is your ego. Simply surrender yourself. That's all! By surrender I don't mean imitate me or try to be like me. I mean simply surrender all your ideologies and all your conditionings to me. Then, your individuality will be revealed to you.

A visitor asks, 'I have heard You speak a lot about surrender. Could You please tell me exactly what You mean by surrender?'

Being a disciple is surrender, nothing more. It means that you no longer resist; you simply let go. Unnecessary time is wasted when you resist. It is as if you have gone into a hospital and you yourself are resisting the doctor. And he is the one who is treating you! He is the one who will give you relief!

This is a surgery. You must have full trust in the Master. Only then can anything be done. But he will never start the operation unless you are ready. When he sees that you are ready with trust, he starts. And it is a beautiful surgery. There may be pain, because your ego is leaving you. And your ego is what you have known yourself to be. But if you remain trusting the Master, the ego will simply leave you. All the energy which you have wasted all this time in your head will now move towards its source, back to the center.

But I still don't think I understand what surrender means. How do I know if I have surrendered or not?

You must simply experience it. Only then you will know; only then you will understand.

It is like this: you have never tasted sugar before. And you come to me and ask what sugar tastes like. All I can tell you is that it is sweet. But will you understand what sweet is if you haven't tasted sugar yourself? No! You must taste and experience it for yourself.

If you are receptive with deep trust, it is more than enough. The surrender will happen on its own. This is because surrender is nothing but trust and deep love.

Actually, the Master is just a channel. Your being yearns to surrender itself to its source that is the cosmos. But it is difficult because the cosmos is abstract and the mind comes in the way. The Master is nothing but a manifestation of the cosmos. The Master is a small window through which you can see the vast sky. He is the path to the cosmos. If you first surrender to a form which you can see, over time, it will be easy to surrender to the formless.

So, to be a disciple means, to surrender. In the beginning you surrender to the Master and then to the Cosmos or Existence. It is like this: the river must flow towards the ocean. For this, it has to flow with the current; it cannot flow against it. And only when it reaches the ocean, has it merged with its source, has it really found its reality. So understand: only when you have lost yourself to the source, you have found yourself. And the Master is the current that pulls you to your own source.

You see: as of now, you believe in your ego. This is only because you have been living so much with it that you have started believing you are the ego. It is only in surrender that you come to know who you really are. Surrender means surrendering the ego; all of your falsity. Your ego is the base for all the falsity in you. When I say falsity, I mean all the thoughts in you that delude you into thinking that you are separate from this cosmos. So once the ego is surrendered, your reality starts rising. Understand, it is your ego that is the core for all falsity. It exists in your head. But your reality, your being exists within every cell of your body because your head is societal, while your body is natural.

And this is the reason why the Master-disciple relationship is the deepest. It is a being level relationship. Even lovers are not so close; and they cannot be. Lovers are attracted by each other's egos. And the very nature of the ego is domination. If they operate from their egos, what will happen? There will naturally be conflict. Actually, if you see, the relationship between the Master and disciple is the only one where there is no domination; where there is a voluntary surrender. It is the only relationship where one surrenders everything that he has ever known - all forms of ego. The disciple's core becomes trust; every pore vibrates with love. This is the beauty of it. By love, I do not mean the love which we have all experienced in regular relationships. It is the kind of love where nothing is felt; neither hate nor love; neither greed nor jealousy; just a surrender. Only when you don't feel anything at all can you really love. Real love happens only after surrender.

So, as I said before, it will be difficult for you to surrender to Existence, because it has no form. If I tell you to surrender to the sky, you may find it difficult. But when you surrender to my form, it is easier. I am a device for you to surrender. And I am a pure device because the Master is nothing but a pure channel through which Existential energy flows all the time.

So my form is available for those who feel the need to sit at the Master's feet and leave their egos. Let you be clear: you may see my feet, but there is nothing inside. You may see my form, but there is nothing inside it. My form is just a hollow channel for Existence to flow. Whether you surrender to my form or to the sky, makes no real difference.

As of now, you are doing the opposite. Instead of surrendering the ego to me, you have surrendered to the ego itself! When you come to me, all sorts of things will be clouding your mind. Your ego will tell you that you are losing your freedom and this type of thing is not for you. Just show the red card to it. It is your ego that has stripped you of your freedom and which is coming and telling you that you have no freedom! It is only because you continue to be in the mind's boundary, within the ego's game, that you are stuck.

I am an excuse for you to drop the ego. It is not that you are going to surrender to me, to this 6-foot form. And what will I sit and do with so many egos? I am simply the object to which you surrender, that's all. The point is your act of surrender, not me.

Only when you drop the ego will you realize that you have not dropped anything. It is only your ego which has dropped you. Then all the conditioning which you have accumulated disappears. You come to know yourself.

The problem is that the ego, the mind, thinks that it is very intelligent. It will go on telling you some nonsense, and because you have surrendered to it, you trust its so-called guidance. The Master will quickly help you overcome this binding to your mind.

There were two guys digging a ditch on a very hot day. The first guy said to the second, 'Why are we down in this hole digging a ditch when our boss is standing up there under the shade of a tree?' 'I don't know,' responded the other, 'I'll go and ask him.' He climbed out of the hole and went to his boss. 'Why are we digging in this hot sun and you are simply standing in the shade?' He asked. 'Intelligence,' the boss said. 'What do you mean intelligence?' The boss said, 'Well, I'll show you. I'll put my hand on this tree and I want you to hit it with your fist as hard as you can'. The ditch digger took a mighty swing and tried to hit his hand. The boss removed his hand and the ditch digger hit the tree. The boss said, 'That's intelligence!' The ditch digger went back to his hole. His friend asked, 'So, what did he say?' 'He said that we are down here because of intelligence.' 'What's intelligence?' asked the friend. The ditch digger put his hand on his face and said, 'Take your shovel and hit my hand.'

This is exactly the way in which you are living! You catch the words and miss the truth! You always understand the truth as something else. When you mis-understand, you miss the whole thing. The Master's job is to keep on trying to make you understand the exact meaning of the truth.

You see, I am preparing the people who are living around me for many things. The experience will come, it has to come, but it will be too much for them to handle it when it comes, unless they start surrendering now to me. Their bodies will not be able to handle whatever is to come unless the surrendering starts now. And I am not saying that the experience will only come to those who are around me. No! I am only saying that when you are around a Master, the experiencing starts happening and you need to get prepared for it. And that is the only reason why I talk so much on surrender.

If a person can surrender, then whatsoever happens, he will be able to handle. Even if the whole world falls apart, he will remain centered in himself because he has surrendered everything. There is nothing, no investment in the inner world or outer world to lose. When I say outer world, I mean the attachment to the outer world things. You always fear losing outer world things only because of your attachment to them. When you don't have the attachment, you are not disturbed when you lose anything in the outer world.

A brahmacharini confesses to Swamiji 'I feel like I am doing the complete opposite of what You tell me to do,' she says, 'and then I feel uneasy.'

You see, it sometimes happens like this. If you feel happy doing the opposite, simply do the opposite; what else can be done? I give you some instruction for you to find bliss. The whole focus is on finding your inner bliss. If you are feeling blissful by doing the opposite of what I say, then continue!

The problem starts when you begin to feel some tension. Tension is followed by anxiety. Tension is the trigger; anxiety is the state that follows. Tension serves as an indicator for anxiety to come. So if you are feeling some tension, then be clear that you are moving in the wrong direction. As long as you are happy, you continue to do the opposite. Once tension starts, know for yourself that you are moving in the wrong direction.

I don't mean that you will only feel tension when you do not follow me. See, when I give you some instruction, I sense your energy and based on that, I give you the instruction. I see what will move you from where you are stuck and give an instruction for that. That is why for the same situation, for the same question, for the same problem, I give different instructions to different people; because the instruction is for the individual to move from where he is stuck and different people are stuck in different places. So when I give you an instruction, it is the best for you. You don't wish to follow it because your ego tells you something different. Then, a time comes when you start feeling uneasy. Then you start thinking that maybe you should have followed what I said! So it is alright; just take your time.

So, be clear, I am not here to force any ideology on you. I am here to take all the ideology you know away from you! And when you have given up everything, you will find yourself. Understand one thing: the very nature of the mind is to put you in confusion. Its very nature is dilemma. So if you simply run behind whatever it says, you will now understand what will happen!

Listen with your being. Do not bring in the mind at all. The mind is not in any way connected to the heart. The mind revolves around logic. But the heart is completely different. It revolves around love. It has nothing to do with logic, only emotion. That is why when I say listen to the heart, do only that; do not bring in your mind at all.

To tell you honestly, listening to your heart is the greatest obedience. Whenever your mind tells you to do something, simply look within yourself and see if your heart is open to the idea. When you are doing something, listen to your heart; do not bring in the mind at all. When you need to use the mind, use it only then. When you need to plan something, see if you have to use your logic, and only then listen to the mind. Use it like a tool.

And one more thing, you should learn the art of listening. Now you will be thinking, 'Then what am I doing here now? I am sitting and listening to you for such a long time!' No! You are simply hearing my words. Hearing is different from listening. They may have the same meaning in the dictionaries, but in actuality, they are complete opposites. Hearing is of the mind. It is totally intellectual. You will hear my words; you will follow them. But there is no juice in it; you miss the whole thing. There is no deep feeling involved here. But listening is different. If you are listening to me, you are not merely listening to the words which are uttered. You are allowing the sounds to penetrate your being. My words penetrate you like energy. When this happens, the words do not simply enter the head and stay there. They reach your very being. They reach your inner space. And I talk to your being, not to your head. So, you simply cannot listen with your head. When a Master talks, listen with your very being. His words are sheer energy that can penetrate you at the being level and transform you in ways you cannot even imagine!

Another thing: as I told you earlier, I will tell people different things at different times. What I say to you and what I say to someone else may be completely different from one another. But what do you fellows do? You sit and discuss what I have said to each of you and confuse yourselves! I will tell you to go left and the other guy to go right, and somehow the work will get done. But what happens when you discuss it? Only confusion! So understand, it is better you don't analyze or discuss the instructions given to you.

Vivekananda was sitting on the banks of the holy river Ganga with his disciple who was pressing his feet.

A so-called Vedantist, a scholar, came and started to flaunt his knowledge to Vivekananda. He talked all sorts of philosophies and bragged to Vivekananda that he bathed in the Ganga everyday and therefore he was very spiritual and what not.

Vivekananda replied, 'There are many fish in the Ganga river that swim everyday as well. Does it mean that they are big scholars? Does it mean that they are very holy? Simply go into the world and live your life. Learn something there. Don't be stuck in these stupid philosophies'.

The Vedantist was simply shocked when he heard this. He turned and quietly went away.

After some time, a young college student passed by and was very excited to see Vivekananda. He approached him and said, 'I have heard that you are a very modern Guru. You don't believe in all of these useless rituals like taking bath in Ganga every day and reading all the ancient scriptures. I completely agree with your ideology. I am living happily in society without all these spiritual practices.'

Vivekananda looked at him and said, 'What are you talking about? It is only because of this Vedantic spiritual backbone which we have, that you are able to live peacefully in society. Go back and learn more on spirituality and Vedanta. Bathe in the Ganga everyday and cleanse yourself.' The young guy was shaken and he simply went away.

Both the Vendantist and the college guy got the lessons they needed. But the guy who was sitting and pressing Vivekananda's feet was very confused! He asked him why he was making such contradictory statements - saying one thing to one guy and the complete opposite to the other.

Vivekananda told him, 'What had to be told to each of them, I have taken care of. For you, don't bother, simply press the feet!'

To surrender is to become blind with love. You will not know in which direction the Master is taking you, yet you will trust that he will lead you down the path. This is because the Master is the path for you, nothing more. You don't have agenda for yourself. The Master becomes your agenda. When this happens, he will ensure that you do not move off the path and stray.

With me, I never make rules. I give only guidelines. I can tell you that something would be good for you so that you can explode in 360 degrees. The decision is yours. In the end only you must decide.

Surrendering is your choice. I am not going to sit here and force you to surrender. But I can say that something will be good for you. I can say that you will experience a tremendous freedom when you let go the weight of your mind's emotions. But in the end, it is your own choice. You can help yourself grow, or you can simply listen to your inner chatter and go back to the same life that you were living. It is you who has come to me, and it is your own decision that makes you stay here.

A real disciple chooses to follow the Master's words because he loves to do it! Because he doesn't know any other way! He doesn't care to know if there is any other way! He loves the idea of following the Master blindly, with no idea of what might happen to him. This is the way in which you guys are living around me now. You keep yourself going only because of your devotion and trust that you are with the Master.

You have been obeying your parents, your friends, your relatives and your teachers, all your life. Your parents would say something and you would obey. Your teachers would say something and you would follow them. But here, I am not saying something for you to obey. I am saying it to make you understand, and with this understanding you simply find that you are transformed!

So, it is only because of your surrender, that you are with me. It is only because of your love, that you enjoy the transformation. When a person surrenders, he does not do the work simply as work. He does it because he feels the Master's transforming fingers in the work. He enjoys the Master through the work. This work is valuable only because of the love that is put into it.

And not everyone gets an opportunity to do my work. Those who have surrendered and simply do without any reason are the chosen ones who will carry my mission.

People sometimes approach me and say they think they have surrendered but that they are not sure. Surrender is the ultimate certainty. It is the clearest clarity. You have really surrendered when you don't even have the idea of surrender left in you because if you have surrendered everything, then even this very idea has left you. So only when you feel nothing but love and openness while sitting in front of the Master, have you surrendered. And be clear: if the thought comes, 'I feel a lot of love towards the Master right now; I think I have surrendered,' be sure that you have not surrendered at all! If this is the case, then it is only your mind that is playing with you. Your mind is just telling itself that it has surrendered! But surrender happens only when the mind itself is surrendered!

Your surrender must be total. You cannot simply think you have surrendered. If there is a doubt, you have still not surrendered. It is yet to come. But if you have a deep seeking inside, it will happen.

Also, with a Master, things happen quite in contrast to what you might expect. Just see how things happen in the ashram! You may be doing something thinking that I will not enter that place for the next few hours. But what happens? Suddenly I will enter and you will get the shock of your life!

So with the Master, expect only what can never be expected! This is the ultimate lifestyle, the most spontaneous way to live. This is what living in divinity is all about.

And there is no technique which you can practice to simply make surrender happen. It will happen when the time is right. You cannot create it. You can only stop the stopping that is preventing it from happening.

To tell you honestly, man has more capacity to destroy than to create. This is because in man, the ego is most prominent. But if you just look at small children, this will not be the case. Ego has not fully penetrated small children. Just observe their play. Look at a two year old. She will not destroy at all. She will go on creating something. Of course, children also throw things in a fit. But their inherent nature will be to build, to create, to make new things. This is why children are so interested in building blocks. They get a chance to create. They get a chance to express themselves.

But there are a few things which however much you try, you simply cannot create. For example, you cannot create love. It happens when it has to happen.

You have come to me after such a long time. You have seen the world and understood society. After all that, you have come to me. Now simply allow what has to happen to happen! Why are you in such a hurry? There is no need to think of the passing time and all such things because you are with me now and nothing matters any more. The day that you are completely unaware of what might come, but at the same time in a state of full awareness, it will come!

The very idea of surrender has been misunderstood. We are taught that surrender is 'giving in' through an inevitable fight; we have to fight with ourselves and someday change. We are taught that we have to change our natural way of being. But if you see in reality, it is totally the opposite! Surrender itself means to be totally natural. You give up all the nonsense which you have acquired through time. You simply throw all your falsity in the dustbin; that is surrender!

Surrendering to the Master means being fully relaxed in your being. Whatever I tell you to do, even if it is the most illogical thing, you will simply do in a relaxed way. Even if I tell you to walk on fire, you will simply do it with a smile on your face. And this has really happened. Just ask our ashram brahmacharis. For their dheeksha - initiation, they are made to walk on red hot coal as a meditation. And you will be shocked: every single one will enter and come out laughing. Can you even imagine walking on red hot coal in society? Instead of getting bliss, you will only get nice blisters! So understand: it is surrender that gives you the power to do things which you never imagined.

Actually, when you resist me, you are creating a split within yourself. One side that is your heart, will want to be with me, and the other side that is your mind, will simply tell you to drop everything and run! Fighting creates duality within yourself. By fighting, you are going against everything that I am teaching you. If you want to live with this fight, with this duality, then simply live with it! What else can be done? You must learn to look beyond these divisions that have been created by you. Only then will you find unity. And this unity will not be forced at all. It will simply rise. It is like an orchestra. Many different instruments will be playing, with so many different sounds. But somehow in the noise, there will be a central chord, a rhythm!

In the same way, if you are aware of these divisions, unity will begin to happen. When unity is found in duality, it will be at a much deeper level. And it cannot come by any effort. It only happens through deep relaxation within your self.

In the beginning, the so-called surrender that you feel is actually only a honeymoon! It is not surrender at all. There is excitement of the unknown, that's all. But you will soon settle down and then the real work will start. The operation will start!

This has to happen to everyone. It is a kind of falling in love with the Master. But you mistake this feeling of excitement as surrender. It is only when this 'honeymoon' period ends that you begin to rise in love with the Master. It is only when you begin to rise in love with the Master that you really start growing.

And when you are in this initial phase, your trust will not be total. You will go on doubting your own surrender, your own trust. Learn to just be, to just feel receptive; then, things will simply happen. If you are patient, if you simply wait with all openness, this doubting attitude will disappear. If you are in a hurry, be clear, you have already missed.

Once you trust, once you surrender everything to the Master, then even he disappears. As I said before, I am just an excuse for you to surrender. The Master is nothing but the form to which you surrender. So once you have surrendered, the Master's form is no more of significance to you. Then there is only the emptiness. When this happens, you and I will be part of the bigger Whole. It becomes a deep understanding.

It is possible to surrender to the cosmos, but you will create many problems in the process. Surrender is like a waterfall. It needs space. But you will give only a small and narrow entrance. This narrow opening and this waterfall will continuously be fighting with each other. Then it is this narrow opening that will come to me and say, 'I am not getting any experiences.' What am I to do? The waterfall wants to come in. It is trying to push its way through; you are not giving enough space. That is where the Master comes in. He is used as a representation of the cosmos. It is easier to surrender to something which you can relate to. It is easier to fall in tune with something which you can admire. You can relate with the Cosmic Whole. You can admire the Cosmic Whole, but it will take time.

The Divine is continuously guiding us. But we never listen; this is the main problem. And this voice is small, very discreet. The quieter the mind gets, the louder the voice within becomes. It is continuously guiding you, telling you the way, but you do not listen. The noise in your mind is so much that you can't hear the whispers of the Divine.

This divine guide does not lie outside you, it lies within. Only a person who goes deep within uncovers the divine guide. As of now, it is covered by too much of your mind. Once you have uncovered this guide, everything that you do will be blissful. And this has nothing to do with any increased morality. No! Your being is by itself pure; just that purity will come through and whatever you do will simply be blissful. You are not going to try to create an emotion. The emotion will happen on its own.

Once you have dropped the mind, your walk itself becomes lighter. This is because a big load has been taken off you. Your mind is the biggest load. Once it is dropped, just imagine how much lighter you will look and feel!

I tell you, walking lightly without the mind is the greatest gift which you can give to Existence. Just think: the Earth is carrying so much weight - the weight of all the minds and all the people! That is why Mother Earth is considered to be most patient. She carries our weight day and night. So the minute you walk without your identity, you have made yourself so light and therefore you become the greatest gift to Her.

Until we have found the inner guide, the Master is needed. He is the guide who appears to be outside but in reality is inside. He goes on pulling us within ourselves to become aware of just one glimpse of the Divine, the inner guide. And having this one glimpse is enough. It will throw you back into yourself.

The Master is here to tell you what you are not listening to. Only because you are not listening within, it must be told from the outside. It is always easier to listen to the outside than it is to listen to the inside. This is because your mind can relate to the outside. Your mind knows only that. So until the time comes when you are fully pushed within yourself, the Master will only appear to you as a form from the outside, from the external. When you surrender to the Master, you are doing nothing more than surrendering to the guide within. The Master is only a mirror of yourself; he reflects you.

Surrender needs your strength. And it is not the strength which you think you know. It needs the strength of the soul. It needs complete certainty. The Master gives you this strength.

When you decide strongly to be around me, along with strength, you get the stamina, not of the body, but of your will! If this is not there, you can simply run around me, but you will not be able to be around me. To be around me, you need intense maturity. But to run around me, just an instruction is enough and you will run around like a horse! But I don't need you all to run around; horses are more than enough for that! I want all of you to develop this intensity and stamina. And the moment I have said this, the very next moment is simply enough for you to catch the flame. Actually, the very next moment is too much! This moment is enough! Simply catch hold of it; nothing more is needed.

Let you understand: by surrender, I do not mean for you to only surrender to me. Surrender means to let go of everything and place it before Existence. You only use the Master as a tool. So if you have really surrendered to the Master, then you have surrendered to Existence. And when you have surrendered in the truest sense, you are enlightened! After all, Masters are the ones who have surrendered to Existence so completely that their very body is an expression of Existence.

A disciple tells swamiji that he feels he has not surrendered even though he has been with the Master for so long. Because of this, he feels that it is time for him to leave.

Actually, because you are feeling this way, the possibility to surrender is even greater! You see, you have just given up. But there is still one thing that is stopping you. You are still fighting. You have still not fully given up. The fact that you want to leave means two things: that you are letting go, but at the same time you are fighting.

The only reason you are waging this battle within yourself is because deep within you, the desire to surrender is there. But you are so frustrated that you simply don't feel the need to wait anymore. This is the reason why your surrender is not total; it is clouded by all sorts of confusion and impatience.

There is no need for you to leave. By leaving, you will simply miss. To be with the Master is the greatest blessing. Just understand this deeply because over and above this, I cannot force you to be with me. Ultimately, it is your own decision.

People always think that living with the Master is only waking up in the morning, doing meditation and yoga etc. Understand, being with the Master means to go through all your ego hurdles. The Master will go on churning you through different ways until you are finally churned down to nothing; meaning, there will be no separate identity of yourself, just a merger with the Divine.

There are a few guys who feel happy only in disagreement with me! And it is okay to say 'no' to me once in a while. It gives some juice to the whole fruit! Actually, if you continuously say 'no', a 'yes' will soon come. From that deep disagreement, an agreement will come. This happens with everything. If you are strongly for something, the complete opposite is bound to come up at some point in time.

So don't be bothered about your disagreement; it is alright. Even if just a small corner agrees with me, that is enough. I will move deeper and penetrate you further.

When you first come to me, your surrender cannot be total. It can't even be called surrender. But slowly, very slowly, it grows. You begin to surrender more and more everyday. The beauty of surrender is that you will never be aware of what is happening to you. It will simply happen without your knowledge and it will take its own course.

As you begin to understand me, it becomes even more possible. And the minute you begin to understand yourself, it has become possible.

As time goes by, you begin to understand that the object to which you are surrendering is nothing but yourself. You understand that by surrendering, you will not lose your individuality; you will gain it.

I am not telling you to drop your material things. The whole idea is that even if I tell you to drop all that you have ever known, you will not think twice; you will just do it. This is what surrender is all about. But in order to trust, the mind has to drop you! Because as long as the mind is there, it will keep filling your head with unnecessary thoughts. When it drops, what has to happen can happen.

There is a small Zen story:

One day, a famous professor approached the great Zen Master Nansen to seek some philosophical advice. The Master lived in a cottage in the forest and the professor had to walk a long way to meet him.

When he reached the cottage, the Master was boiling water to make tea.

The professor's head was full of questions for Nansen and he began asking them right away. 'Wait', said the Master, 'let us have tea first.'

But the professor was impatient. Not only did he want his questions answered, he also wanted to flaunt his knowledge to Nansen. While Nansen brewed the tea, the professor continued to talk about this theory and that philosophy, asking Nansen's opinion and giving his own.

Finally Nansen finished making the tea. He brought the teapot and two empty cups and set down one cup before the professor. 'When will you answer my questions, Master? There is so much I have to learn from you!' exclaimed the professor.

Nansen started silently pouring the tea into the professor's cup. He poured and poured until the cup was overflowing. Still he continued to pour.

Zen Masters are known to do some odd things, but this was just too much! The cup was simply overflowing!

'Master! What are you doing? Can't you see that this cup can't hold anymore tea? It is already full!' cried the professor.

Nansen smiled and replied, 'Is that so? So are you.'

Zen Masters usually speak in riddles, but the professor understood what the Master meant and from that day he became his disciple.

One more thing: never take the Master's words for granted. When he tells you to do something, simply drop everything and do it immediately. Only then, the transformation will happen. But if you take your time and do not act immediately, be sure that transformation will be delayed. You will simply miss the moment.

When he gives you some instruction, simply do it. You shouldn't wait a while and think about it. Simply do it right then. Otherwise you will miss.

Stop thinking! This thinking process is the culprit for delaying your very enlightenment, which is why I tell you to drop your mind! If you simply follow the instructions intensely, you will be pushed back into your being. You will be transformed.

In the Master-disciple relationship, the disciple will think that the Master is having all the fun and putting the disciples to work! But you don't know: he has to make you trust him and look at him as a guide and at the same time make you feel like you have your freedom. He has to pamper you and at the same time make you stand independently. The Master has to work in all possible ways. If you try to understand, you will simply become confused! Don't ever attempt that. It is not needed also.

Once you have understood what surrender is, the relationship itself will change. The Master will help you to be independent. Actually, once you have surrendered, anything that the Master says will simply feel possible. If he tells you to become independent, you won't even need to try; it will simply happen.

There is an incident from the Bhagavad Gita - a beautiful incident:

Krishna was with a few devotees when he looked at the sky and said, 'See that white crow!' Everyone said they could only see a black crow, everyone except Arjuna. Arjuna said he could see the white crow. And then Krishna said, 'Fool! There is only a black crow. What are you talking about?'

Arjuna replied, 'Krishna, when you said it was a white crow, I saw it as a white crow!'

When Krishna said there was a white crow, Arjuna simply saw it as a white crow. Even if it was completely illogical, the disciple trusted the Master's words. This is because Arjuna did not surrender only his intellect; he had surrendered his senses as well. He had the clear understanding that whatever Krishna said was the truth. And it is not that he had become dumb. No! His sense of surrender to Krishna was so deep that his intelligence was simply in tune with the Master and his words. There was no scope for the mind to step in at all. His very senses had surrendered.

See, the Master can give you the assurance that enlightenment will happen. And you can feel that it has happened in him. You can smell that there is something different about him; he is not like any other ordinary person! This understanding itself will keep the flame alive within you. The moment you have stepped on this path, there will be many ups and downs. The journey is not always smooth; there will be stones and pebbles and ditches! There will be many times you will feel as if you are just aiming for something that is a mere illusion. You will feel you are only wasting your time and would have done better in society. It is only by looking at the Master, watching his magical body language, listening to his words, absorbing the silence that he radiates while he is talking, that the certainty of the whole thing will keep flowing in you.

Right when you are completely hopeless and feel that the whole thing is just a waste, the Master will give you the confidence once again! From nowhere, you will get a surge of inspiration about the whole thing!

You see, the old personality which you have acquired is very strong. This is because you have been associating yourself with it for so long. So now you must consciously watch yourself. You must consciously make an effort not to encourage your old personality. When you can do this, your real individuality will be uncovered. You must try to operate only from your individuality. This can only happen if you are fully aware about yourself. Actually, the best way to start associating yourself with your individuality is to forget that you have an identity and flow with whatever the Master tells you to do. Just disappear into your work and allow the Master to work on you. It will happen. Allowing the Master to work through you is a blessing that does not happen to everyone.

When you flow with things allowing the Master to work on you, you will see that every new moment takes care of itself. You don't need to do anything.

There are two ways a person can live his life. One way is to live moment to moment and the other is to live by connecting the past, present and future and taking decisions based on that. The moment you have understood surrender, everything drops from you. Then there is no past and there is no future. There is only the moment.

One of the biggest problems is we go on living in the past. In fact, the past is so alive that the present is forgotten! Through your review of the past and planning and so-called organization, you miss the cream that is the present. If you can live in the now, you will no longer decide anything. Your attitude of surrender to the moment will cause decisions to happen spontaneously.

When you have understood the power of being in the now, you will become independent and intelligent automatically. You will not depend on me. The Master is there only to give you guidance, not support. From him, you uncover your own individuality.

One more thing: the Master is here to give you understanding. But such an understanding will take root in you only when deep confusion also happens. When the confusion becomes so deep that you feel you can't do anything more, the understanding starts happening!

Sometimes a person thinks he has surrendered and that there is no more steps to take towards the Master. He will feel that he has gone as deep as he can possibly go. Understand, this is pure delusion. The moment you have REALLY surrendered, you are enlightened! Until then, it is only creating the space for it to happen.

A devotee tells swamiji that when she meets him, she does not understand why she has to explain everything to him. 'If You already know everything, why do You need me to tell You about my problems?'

See, I understand your problem; that is different. But you must first understand your problems! I make you explain to me only because I want you to understand. I can see where the problem lies and tell you, but there is no point in it at all. If I tell you, the experience of understanding will not happen in you. Again, you will follow because I am telling you. Most of the time, you suffer because you do not know exactly what your suffering is. Not only that, when I ask you to verbalize your problems, you may be cunningly hiding the real suffering and verbalize it differently outside. You will not even be ready to face your problem courageously.

When I forcibly make you verbalize it, when I start cross questioning you and tiring you, I make the real reasons for suffering come out of you. Many times you will see that if you are open to me when you talk to me about your suffering, you will get clarity at a level you cannot even imagine. You might have come to me with some reason, but as you open up to me, you will see that the reasons are entirely different, that you are hiding under a complete hypocritical layer.

The moment you say I know everything, although you may sound like having a surrendering attitude, be clear, you are actually escaping from the truth yourself.

You need courage to open up in front of me. If you are really interested in getting out of your problems, you will be like an open book in front of me. I will then have no difficulty in evaporating your problems. But if you hold back, then it becomes difficult for me. So it all depends on you.