Baba
Misconception of surrender
Namaskar,
Surrender does not occur in the physical realm; surrender is completely a psycho-spiritual phenomenon. For instance, if you are raising both of your arms while exercising, or while painting the ceiling, or during any other action, it does not mean you are surrendering to Parama Purusa. Surrender in the spiritual realm only occurs when the mind is involved. It is an internal endeavour. But the superficial understanding of Draopadii's story gives a different message. Some wrongfully conclude that because Draopadii is raising both her arms then she is in a state of surrender. But raising the arms is not the operative factor.
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Utilize own energy & rely on Him
When a sadhaka does whatever he can to resolve a situation, and if 100% of his heart-feeling is, "What I am doing is not going to bear fruit without His approval, without His grace nothing can happen", that is one hundred percent surrender. So, if your house is burning and you have access to water, then you should try to extinguish the fire. But you should not have ego and think that you alone will be enough to extinguish the flames. Rather, one should think, "I will use whatever God-given strength I have, but ultimately He is the solution. I surrender at His altar."
In the case of Draopadii, the operative factor was her degree of internal surrender, not whether she raised one or both hands. While holding her cloth with one hand, her petty ego was still thinking, "I can save myself." So the problem here is purely mental. Her own ego was causing the problem. Whereas, later on, she realized that she could not do it on her own, and she mentally begged Parama Purusa to save her. At that point, she surrendered 100% to Parama Purusa. That is true surrender. Although she did have both hands raised at that point, the raising of both arms was not the key factor. If while holding her cloth with one hand she simultaneously thought, "Only Parama Purusa can save me!", that 100% feeling of surrender would have yielded the same result as raising both hands and surrendering to Parama Purusa.
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Ideal surrender
True Ananda Margiis will take their sick baby to the hospital. According to their God-given capacity and strength, they will provide all kinds of nursing, medicine, medical care, and whatever is needed. And side by side, they will go on thinking: "O' Lord, with the strength given by You, I am trying, but without Your grace nothing will happen. You are the real Doer. I am fully surrendering unto Your sweet will. Let Your desire be fulfilled."
Bhaktas think one should use all their inherent abilities to solve any crisis and cultivate the idea that, “It is His strength and that He is supplying the energy - and without His energy, I cannot do anything. If He wishes then only will I be rescued - it is fully depending on Him.” Whatever strength God has given must be utilised remembering that He is the final doer. This is the ideal way of surrender.
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Conclusion
The conclusion is, “Don't think that by various avenues I will be able to solve the problem on my own." Rather, one should think that, "Whatever strength Parama Purus'a has given me I will use to the fullest, but ultimately without His grace nothing is going to happen.” That is true surrender. So it is purely an internal approach. It has nothing to do with raising one arm or both arms etc.
In Him,
Siddheshvara
~ In-depth study ~
Often when talking about surrender people refer to the example of Draopadii, the wife of the Pandavas. When she was being humiliated in the Kaorava court, with one hand she was holding her sari (cloth), while her other hand was raised in the air as she was crying out to the Lord. But the Lord did not come. It was only when she raised both of her hands and started crying that the Lord immediately saved her. This is described and recounted in numerous Ananda Marga discourses etc.
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Two interpretations of surrender
- Idea A: By the above story, some come to the conclusion that surrender means not doing anything at all. So if your house is on fire, then don’t do anything. Just raise both arms into the air, and cry out in surrender. This is what some people take away from Draopadii’s above example.
- Idea B: Yet we all know in various discourses, Baba also guides us that surrender means first fully using whatever energy Parama Purusa has bestowed upon you. And once that energy is cent-per-cent utilised, then if more energy is needed, certainly He will provide you with more energy. That is the spirit of surrender in Ananda Marga, i.e. using all one’s inherent capacity, and at the same time offering oneself unto Him and leaving all the results in His hand.
Ananda Marga ideology guides us, “Every person has certain mental limitations. He or she can only proceed to a certain extent and then cannot do anything further. Further progress requires special power and special grace. And this power and grace of God are always available for everyone. But people must use their existing strength in order to utilize that grace.” (1)
So the fatalistic approach of not doing anything in your hour of need and just calling out for God to save you is 100% defective. First Baba wants us to fully utilize our energy and abilities. And then if we call Him in a manner ensconced in bhakti, surely He will be gracious and solve the problem. In other words, surrender theory in Ananda Marga does not mean remaining idle and doing nothing - just so-called depending on God.
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The feeling of sharanagati
Here is an English summary of Baba’s Hindi teaching from धर्म और प्रगति, Dharma aor Pragati, NP, DMC 1 January 1963 Patna:
When human beings feel that, ‘Parama Purusa is my everything’, then that is called as sharan (shelter). No entity can come under the sharan (shelter) of two different things. Then what is the meaning of sharanagati (surrender)? When living beings give up their ‘I-feeling’ by withdrawing the mind from any other object and feel that Parama Purusa alone is my everything. Up to the time when living beings are thinking that they are working with their own strength, then you should understand that the feeling of sharanagati has not yet come in them. And when human beings think that, ‘I am doing the work only with His strength’, it means the feeling of sharanagati has come in their mind. So when living beings start thinking that, ‘Whatever work I am doing, I am doing with His strength’, then they have the feeling of sharanagati.
References
1. Ananda Marga Ideology and Way of Life - 11, Mantra Caetanya
== Section 2: Prabhat Samgiita ==
Blissfully, heavenly flow
Note: Only those who sincerely practice the higher lessons of sahaja yoga meditation can understand this song in the depths of their heart.
"Tomáy ámi ceyechi, shata rúpe, mane mane, práńer devatá keno náhi ele..." (Prabhat Samgiita #3000)
Purport:
O’ my Parama Purusa, I want You in hundreds of ways, in a multitude of forms, in my mind. My most adorable One, why did You not come and instead remain afar? Is it because I did something wrong which has hurt Your feelings. Please come now, I want You so much in my mental abode, in my sadhana, dhyana, kiirtana etc.
O’ Supreme Being, keeping Yourself invisible, You are singing with delight, making the river of melody flow to satiate my being. The strings of Your viina, with its charming resonance, floats and takes me to the distant sky. My nearest One, I desire Your closeness.
O’ Parama Purusa Baba, Your spiritual attraction is impossible to avoid and has affected my whole existence. The entire sweetness and love of my mind and heart races and runs unto You. What a blissfully, heavenly flow You have released which has inundated the universe in bhakti. It is Your grace.
O’ my Parama Purusa, You have filled my entire being with the aroma of that sweet nectar. With its pollen of tune and love affection, it draws me irresistibly close.
Baba, I want You in hundreds of ways, in hundreds of forms, in my mind…
Note: Only those who sincerely practice the higher lessons of sahaja yoga meditation can understand this song in the depths of their heart.
"Tomáy ámi ceyechi, shata rúpe, mane mane, práńer devatá keno náhi ele..." (Prabhat Samgiita #3000)
Purport:
O’ my Parama Purusa, I want You in hundreds of ways, in a multitude of forms, in my mind. My most adorable One, why did You not come and instead remain afar? Is it because I did something wrong which has hurt Your feelings. Please come now, I want You so much in my mental abode, in my sadhana, dhyana, kiirtana etc.
O’ Supreme Being, keeping Yourself invisible, You are singing with delight, making the river of melody flow to satiate my being. The strings of Your viina, with its charming resonance, floats and takes me to the distant sky. My nearest One, I desire Your closeness.
O’ Parama Purusa Baba, Your spiritual attraction is impossible to avoid and has affected my whole existence. The entire sweetness and love of my mind and heart races and runs unto You. What a blissfully, heavenly flow You have released which has inundated the universe in bhakti. It is Your grace.
O’ my Parama Purusa, You have filled my entire being with the aroma of that sweet nectar. With its pollen of tune and love affection, it draws me irresistibly close.
Baba, I want You in hundreds of ways, in hundreds of forms, in my mind…
== Section: Important Teaching ==
Untethered cruelty
Ananda Marga philosophy states, "Senseless, sadistic killing is called pishunatá vrtti. If meat-eaters slaughter animals in the way that inflicts the least pain, that is not pishunatá; but if they kill them slowly and cruelly, first chopping off their legs, then their tails, then their heads, it is definitely pishunatá. These days in many civilized countries people are unable to give up meat-eating, but have at least devised modern methods to kill the animals less painfully. But remember, the killing of animals, no matter how it is done, is contrary to the spirit of Neohumanism."
"Once I saw a harrowing sight in a market place: part of a live tortoise had just been chopped off and sold, but the poor creature was not completely dead and was trying to crawl away, leaving a stream of blood. Such cruel things should be abolished altogether. The cruel slaughter of that innocent tortoise is certainly a case of pishunatá."
"To kill human beings is totally undesirable, but if people do want to eliminate their [a'tata'yii], they should do so with a minimum of torture. The kings of old used to kill criminals by impaling them on spikes; or by half-burying them in the ground, sprinkling salt over them, and letting the dogs eat them. Sometimes people were flayed alive. These actions certainly deserve universal condemnation." (1)
A'tata'yii: A person armed with weapons who comes to your home to kill you.
Note: In many parts of India, animal torture occurs in the wide open. If you walk around the main vegetable market then in one corner there are non-veg items. Live animals are tortured before your very eyes. It occurs along the roadside as well. One particular religion is most notorious in this regard. They always do this on the roadside. If customers want to purchase a live chicken then the merchant will snatch up a chicken, yank the wings off and throw it in the garbage, callously remove the feathers and snap the chicken’s neck right in front of you . And then they put it in the bag for the customer to take away. It all happens in the open. For meat-eaters this may be normal but for non meat-eaters it is repulsive how they are forced to bear witness to this. It is so disgraceful how people tolerate this in the name of religion.
Reference
1. Ananda Marga Philosophy in a Nutshell Part 8, The Acoustic Roots of the Indo-Aryan Alphabet
== Section : Important Teaching ==
Prout philosophy: “Question – Which is more psychological, capitalism or communism?”
“Answer – As compared to communism, capitalism is more psychological, although both are defective and cannot be supported. In communism there is hardly any scope for the free and unbarred expression of mind, and due to extreme regimentation the flow of the mind is checked by numerous social, economic and political constraints. In capitalism no such checks exist in theory, but in practice there are checks.”
“Question – What are the psychological defects of the commune system?”
“Answer – In the commune system, society is reduced to a production-distribution centre under a regimented system of control based upon production teams. Such a suffocative and mechanized living system fosters a materialistic outlook and produces atheistic leadership. The workers cannot feel oneness with the job, nor do they have the freedom to express their individual potentialities. If farmers feel they own the farm they will get a better outturn. If people are allowed unbarred psychic and spiritual freedom, human society will achieve greater psychic and spiritual progress.” (1)
Reference
1. Prout in a Nutshell- 12, Questions and Answers [on Society] – 2
== Section: Important Teaching ==
Key factor to end dowry
Prout philosophy guides us, “The dowry system is yet another glaring example of social injustice. In my book Human Society [Part 1], I have already mentioned that the dowry system has two major causes: the first is economic, and the second is the numerical disparity between women and men. With the decreasing economic dependence of women on men, the inequity of the dowry system will cease to exist. But to expedite this process, it is essential to propagate high ideals among young men and women. Our sons and daughters are not commodities like rice, pulse, salt, oil or cattle that they can be haggled over in the marketplace.” (1)
Reference
1. Problems of the Day, Point #14
