5. Surrender with trust🔗

Immense trust leads to surrender. Surrender is simplicity of the heart. It is the knowing that you do not have to decide about the Truth, that you just have to go by it. When you awaken to the powerful presence of the Truth, surrender happens.

If you observe your pet dog, you will find that even if you cheat him once in a while, he will come back to you with utmost trust. His trust is absolute and innocent. The trust comes with no reason. He has no questions, so no answers need to be given. He sees no utility in anything. He just exists like an open book, that’s all.

Two gold fish were in a water tank. One asked the other, ‘Do you trust in god?’ The other replied, ‘But of course. Who do you think changes our water everyday?’

It is only innocence that is capable of taking the leap into trust and surrender.

Knowledge somehow sees utility in everything. It looks for reason in everything. Surrender and reason are mutually exclusive. Surrender is to do with trust. Surrender is possible only out of innocence, because out of innocence arises trust.

With trust arises acceptance as well. Acceptance does not mean compromising to life, situations and persons. No. It means welcoming life and all its forms as a wonderful gift from Existence. Each person or situation is a fresh happening. Accepting it at a deep level is surrender. People and situations have to be handled with the required tact. But the spontaneous and deep acceptance of the moment is surrender.

Acceptance is the deep humility towards the profound Existence that takes care of everything including you. It is again saying ‘yes’ to Existence. When you say yes, you are acknowledging the presence of the all pervading life force that is conducting this universe. That is surrender.

Out of surrender arises deep relaxation. Out of surrender arises a fresh intelligence that knows on a different plane. On this plane, there is no worry of result, there is only action driven by pure energy. And energy is intelligence. Trust does not mean inaction. It means continuing to be in action with intelligence instead of intellect. It is having trust in thought, and intelligence in action.

A disciple came riding on his camel to the tent of a Sufi master. He dismounted from the camel, walked into the master’s tent, bowed down low and said, ‘Master, so great is my trust in god that I have left my camel outside untied, convinced that god protects the interests of those who love him.’ The master shouted, ‘Go tie your camel you fool! God cannot be bothered doing for you what you are perfectly capable of doing yourself!’ Trust is an attitude. It is not a substitute for appropriate action. The spirit of trust is the essence of the very life. It leads to innocence, surrender, relaxation and bliss.

If it is followed out of complete understanding, there is nothing to lose in its path. Until then, you are still on the path to trust. All great enlightened beings are eternally blissful because they have surrendered their very body to Existence with trust. Existence flows through them like air flowing through hollow bamboo creating music. That is why they are so beautiful.

When Existence flows through, the expression is divine. Enlightened master’s grace is the grace of the whole of Existence. They are the only utterly innocent beings on planet earth. Enlightened masters are established in the knowing that nothing is impossible in the space of Existence. They are living embodiments of trust. Their bliss is an expression of this. They have access to all the knowledge of the world but are yet utterly innocent. They know that theirs knowledge is the knowledge of Existence. Their knowledge is not knowledge but a flowing experience of the truth of the moment.

We too have knowledge. But the problem is that we think our knowledge is the only right knowledge and all other knowledge is wrong. Understand, the ultimate knowledge is the same for everyone.

Anything in between is just a bunch of borrowed ideas. If this is known clearly, surrender will happen and we will drop the burden of knowledge and become innocent. How to start knowing that we don’t know? Mere clarity that we don’t know is enough. Just meditate on Existence, the source of all knowledge. Be in a prayerful and surrendering mood to it all the time. Be firm in surrendering to the knowledge of Existence. You will see that miracles start happening around you.

There is a story about Hanuman¹⁴, the monkey god in Hindu mythology who was a devout disciple of lord Rama¹⁵. Hanuman was once asked what day of the lunar month it was. He replied, ‘I don’t know anything about the day of the month or the positions of the stars. I think of Rama alone.’

When you are established in the wonder of the Truth, you become so innocent, that your very life becomes meditative and miraculous. It was Hanuman who crossed the ocean from India to Sri Lanka with just one leap by chanting the name of Rama. Rama himself had to build a bridge to cross over with his army! Such is the power of innocent surrender to Existence and all its forms.

When one is established in surrender to the Divine, miracles happen every moment. People are always in search of miracles. The biggest miracles happen with surrender. There is a wonderful story from the life of Shirdi Sai Baba, a great enlightened master from India.

In the mosque, Shirdi Baba¹⁶ used to light the lamps everyday. He used to light them ymbolically for the destruction of the darkness of ignorance in humanity. But people would think that he loved lighting the lamps. Baba used to get the oil from the oil merchants. After some time, the oil merchants decided that they would not part with the oil free of cost. They all got together and decided not to give Baba oil any more.

Baba though aware of this decision, pretended not to know about it and went the following day to get the oil. The merchants refused to give him oil. Baba returned to the mosque smiling. The villagers and the oil merchants however got curious as to how he would light the lamps. They gathered around him.

Baba filled the lamps with water and lit the wicks. They burnt with more brightness than usual emitting radiance of a different plane! The oil merchants were amazed and shocked. They begged for forgiveness, and of course Baba forgave them.

Surrender is allowing Existence to happen through you. Enlightened beings enjoy the play of Existence through them. They enjoy it with the utter innocence and awe of a child. That is why they are so delightful to watch.

One more thing: when you are trusting and surrendering, it becomes difficult to cheat you. Innocent trust always protects from deceit. It radiates that kind of energy. In our ashram, people from all walks of life come together to live. Once they enter the ashram they develop a sense of deep trust.

The very decision to take the jump from the material world to the spiritual world as an ashramite¹⁷ comes from trust. Further, when they enter the ashram and start living, sharing their things with other seekers, there is such trust that no one cares to keep anything under lock and key! The room may be filled with strangers but still there is no thought to keep one’s possessions locked. Nothing gets lost. Even if something cannot be found, the very attitude is such that it doesn’t matter to them! That is the beauty of it.

There was a great Sufi Saint by name Habib Ajami. He went to bathe in the river one day leaving his coat on the bank of the river unattended. One man passed by at that time and saw the coat. Thinking someone had left it there carelessly and it had to be protected, he decided to stand guard over it till the owner came by.

Habib came back looking for his coat. The man asked him, ‘In whose care did you leave the coat when you went to bathe?’ It might as well been stolen!’ Habib replied, ‘I left it in the care of Him who gave you the task of guarding over it!’

When trust happens with the utmost understanding, nothing can be lost. In the quality of trust is its true essence. I always tell my disciples about the monks I have seen in the Himalayas during my spiritual wandering days. The monks come to the Himalayas to meditate leaving everything behind. But there they fight for their small water pots! Just the object of possessiveness changes, that’s all! When you trust, all material possessions will seem like they belong to Existence. The very attitude of possessing then drops. That relaxes the mind. That is the space for relaxing.

In the year 2004, we went as a small group to the Himalayas. In a lifetime at least once you should visit the Himalayas. We went to Gomukh¹⁸, which is the source of the sacred river Ganga. The trek is on mule back taking almost five hours up and five hours down. The path is just four feet wide.

If you miss your footing you will go into the gushing Ganga river beneath! Once we reached Gomukh we spent some time there, and the group returned while I stayed back with a few disciples. The group that returned started at dusk. I told them not to worry and that Existence will take care.

Through pitch darkness, not knowing if the mule was taking the bend of the mountain or going straight ahead into the darkness, the entire group made its way back. The next day, I asked them how the experience was. One of them said, ‘Swamiji, we experienced what blind trust means!’ If those trusting moments could be extended, they can be the very essence of your life. Then, you can simply do, leaving the result to Existence. Just seeing the Himalayan Mountains can help trust and surrender take root in you. The mountains straightway tell you that Existence is mightier than the intellect!

They tell you that intellect cannot fathom their majesty. When this truth happens, the struggle ceases. The mind stops. If you wander in the Himalayas for some time you can experience that bliss is not a goal at all but the path itself. You realize that bliss is in the moment and not in any goal. When you come to the present moment you are open and innocent because there is no mind in the present. For the mind to exist there has to be movement towards the past or the future. In the present moment, there is no past or future. It is just there, that’s all.

To be trusting and surrendering is like losing the ‘I’ and the ‘mine’. Ego starts with ‘mine’ and then moves to ‘I’. Even before the identity of ‘I’ sets in, the ‘mine’ comes into play. If you notice a small child, even before the ‘I’ takes root in him, he will fight for ‘mine’. Just try pulling a toy from his hand. He will resist! It is his, you cannot take it away. Even before he talks ‘I’, he will talk ‘ m i n e ’. Surrender is nothing but merging with E x i s t e n c e , with no identity of ‘I’ or ‘mine’. Surrender is death of the mind, death of ego. Ego is nothing but feeling yourself to be a separate entity from Existence. This feeling happens as a result of a strong ‘I’ and ‘mine’.

The mind is a direct conflict to the being. The being always concurs with Existence. The mind invariably comes in the way. The being knows. The mind doubts. The being always says yes. The mind mostly says no.

The being is innocent but the mind is cunning. Saying yes is like death for the mind. So it continues to say no. With persuasion it says yes. If left to itself, it says no. Now you will ask, ‘How to silence the mind?’ You cannot silence the mind through the mind. It is like expecting the suspect to surrender! It will never happen. You just need to understand that the mind is not a reality. It is a just a myth. You are holding on to something

unreal and trying to silence it. If you bring awareness to this process that is going on within you, you will be able to see where the mind is saying no. Then you will be able to put it to rest so that the yes of the being is heard. Awareness is the key to anything. Just bring in awareness. The resistance of the mind will then drop. You will then relax into the being. Innocence starts expressing from there.

Unless innocence happens intimacy cannot happen. Intimacy is the language of Existence. The mind doesn't know intimacy. Only the being knows it. With intimacy there is openness and you can say and do everything that you feel genuinely and earnestly about. There will be authenticity in your words and actions. You will radiate energy that spurs the others around you to be innocent and open. Then the real beauty of Existence can be experienced.

There is a famous saying, ‘If you worry, then you didn’t pray. If you prayed, then don’t worry.’ Spirituality is a straight path to surrender worry and be free. It is a tremendous relief for the modern day man. It is a proven science. In today’s world of science and knowledge, the call of the being needs to be addressed compassionately and immediately. Spirituality is the way.

Spirituality restores the cosmos with its sanctity and mysticism. It reminds man that he is not the greatest creature on the planet. It reminds him of the powerful Existential energy that pervades the universe. It creates not-knowing and innocent surrender in the mind.

Spirituality is not a ritual. It is the science of merging with Existence. From time immemorial, the first thing that all world religions did was to create a space for the Divine to become a part of life. A temple is a space to reconnect with the cosmic energy and be restful in it. That is the core purpose of all world religions. When the connection deepens, it becomes a blissful space within oneself. Religion is a clear stepping stone to spirituality.

From time immemorial, from the time humans lived together in tribes or groups, they have allotted different areas in their living place for different purposes. Almost in all cultures these groups created special places that they used only for worship.

Researchers have discovered that even animals do the same thing. They keep aside a space where they do nothing but rest. They do not use this space for any other activity. Of course, they don’t know anything called worship or prayer. That is the reason they use it only for rest. If they knew they would have used it for worship.

That space was to reconnect and relax in the lap of Existence. What man might miss because of the pace of his life, animals do naturally and meticulously! If you look into the eyes of animals, you can see deep innocence because they live in deep surrender to Existence.

When man pursues science alone, he becomes too knowing because his inventions and discoveries seem to be his own findings. Everything seems to fall under the purview of his intellect. Spirituality on the other hand keeps the mystery of the cosmos alive. It creates humble obeisance towards a life force that is mightier than the intellect. That is why spirituality can restore innocence. There is an immediate need to pay obeisance to the cosmic force and calm the intellect.

With obeisance comes fresh intelligence that sees the cosmic consciousness as the central core of activity. Then, man will no more be afraid of the unfathomable cosmos. He will simply fall in tune with it with deep devotion, love and in ecstasy. The greatest saints of India who had the power of willing the cosmos to lovingly respond achieved this power through spirituality.

There was a man by name Muruganar who was an ardent devotee of Shiva. Everyday before break of dawn he would bathe in the cool waters of the river, gather flowers from trees, fields, the river and creepers and make garlands for the Shiva deity in the temple.

He would walk to the temple every day taking care while walking not to disturb the flowers in their setting in the garland! After offering them to the deity he would chant sacred verses for long hours.

It is said that he attained enlightenment through just this innocent worship. Today he is worshipped as one of the 63 saints called Nayanmars¹⁹ who attained enlightenment through innocent devotion to god.

Those who shun spirituality are those who have not tasted its transforming sweetness.

They are the ones who think spirituality is seriousness. No! God is always an embodiment of bliss, then how can spirituality be seriousness? Man has made it serious by reducing it to mundane rituals.

Our masters have even specified the times in which to connect to the deeper realms of our being through prayer. They have said it is good to pray in the early morning. What is the reason for this? The intellect has rested well in the night and has not as yet started functioning in the morning. When spirituality is practiced at that time, the impact on the mind is greater. The impact is made while the mind is still fresh and innocent, while the mind has not yet started chewing on the intellect. Not for nothing have the great masters gifted spirituality to us. When the intent is understood, spirituality becomes a straight route to restoring innocence and trust.

A small story: One evening, a farmer on his way back from the market found himself without his prayer book. The wheel of his cart came off right in the middle of the woods and he felt sad that the day should pass without having said his prayers.

So he made up a prayer for god. He spoke aloud, ‘Oh god, I have done something very foolish. I have left behind my prayer books today. And my memory is so poor that I can’t recite a single prayer without the book. So this is what I am going to do. I will recite the letters of the alphabet five times very slowly and you, who knows all the prayers, please put the letters together to form the prayers I can’t remember.’ And god said to his angels that day, ‘Of all the prayers I have heard today, this one was undoubtedly the best because it came from a heart that was simple and sincere.’

Spirituality is an opening to express innocence in its purest form. Innocence itself is an offering to god. Innocence itself is the greatest prayer to god. Religion is by itself not any belief as it is made out to be. Every religion is the result of the deep spiritual experience of the great master who founded it. What they experienced, they gave as a religion to humanity, through which humanity can get the same experience. There was no other intent. If this is understood, any person can practice any religion. That is the beauty of all original religions.

The same is true when you are around a master. Be in a mood of innocent surrender. When you are innocent and prayerful, the master’s silence penetrates your being. The religion of silence is the greatest religion. It is the religion of the great masters and disciples. That is true spirituality also.

Spirituality when practiced out of innocence keeps you childlike. If you see the Tanjore²⁰ art paintings depicting themes from the Hindu epics, you will see that the faces of the men, women, sages and gods in the painting are always young and innocent. The reason is that true spirituality keeps the essence of life young because it deals with the ‘feeling’, not with the ‘knowing’. When you are with the head you age quickly. When you are with the heart you remain fresh and young all the time. With spirituality comes deep devotion to the Whole. It is devotion from the being.

Devotion is an outpouring that removes all your defenses and makes you vulnerable for Existence to enter you. There are enchanting stories of the great devotees of Hindu mythology who made miracles happen through sheer devotion.

Such is the depth of innocent worship. The innocent worshipper continues to be prayerful even after the worship is over. The prayer is an expression of the humble innocence and gratitude towards the Whole, so it knows no reason. It just continues.