00:00Swami, a lot has been said about surrender. Surrender to the inner Guru. Surrender to the outer Guru.
00:16I want to know what actually is surrender and surrender to whom?
00:21You see, there is a lot that we have that is not needed.
00:35The basic principle is our troubles arise not from our deficiencies, but from our excesses.
00:54Our problem in the inner sense, in the mental sense, is not that we lack in anything.
01:02Our problem is that we have accumulated much that is useless, needless, and just a burden.
01:15This is the point that we start from.
01:18So if we start from this point, obviously, the process of spiritual activity is unburdening.
01:28The process involves letting go, dropping.
01:34In the way of knowledge or realization, this unburdening happens because you see that the
01:51stuff that you have is unnecessary and toxic.
02:00You come to look at your mind, you see that this that I am having within thoughts, emotions,
02:07fantasies, ideologies, whatsoever, knowledge, self-concept.
02:17This is what is keeping me heavy.
02:20This is what is keeping me dull and lifeless.
02:24So you just drop it.
02:26Then it is just called renunciation.
02:30Then it is just renunciation.
02:32But fundamentally what is renunciation?
02:35Getting rid of something.
02:39This process of getting rid is given the name renunciation if you apply the negative process
02:44of knowledge or realization.
02:47Negative in the sense it discounts.
02:51It looks at stuff and says no, not right, not good, drop it.
02:58In the path of devotion, it is not yourself you so much look at.
03:10It is a faint memory of the beloved that impels you.
03:19You are both the outer covering which is all the excess accumulation and the inner core
03:27of purity which is the true self.
03:30That's the beginning point.
03:33In the process of the path of devotion, you are not too much bothered about the external
03:40sheets, external layers.
03:43You are anyway fed up of them.
03:45You don't want to even inquire into them.
03:48You are attracted rather towards the innermost point.
03:55That innermost point in your humility, you do not call as your inner self.
04:01Why?
04:02You say I am so dirty within.
04:05How can the greatest purity then be my inner core?
04:12I looked at myself and all I found was dirt and dust, rubbish.
04:19Then how dare I say that the greatest lies within me?
04:23I cannot say that.
04:27So the devotee establishes his goal outside of himself.
04:34He says there he is.
04:37And outside he could be formed or formless, nirguna or saguna.
04:42Doesn't matter what he is.
04:44He is outside.
04:45He is outside and there is a distance and that distance implies vyog.
04:50So there is a separation.
04:51Here am I and what do I have?
04:56Nonsense within me.
04:57And there he is, outside of me.
04:59And he represents all that is sublime, pure, worth having.
05:06So now coming back to the principle, what I wanted was freedom from my nonsense.
05:14In the path of realization, I just dropped it.
05:17In the path of devotion, I take this nonsense and direct it towards my ultimate.
05:26I say I am so feeble, I cannot even drop it.
05:32And I had the power to unilaterally drop it.
05:35I would have done that long back.
05:37I cannot do that.
05:39I have to remain with it.
05:40So I will just direct it towards you.
05:44For example, I am full of attachment.
05:47That's my rubbish.
05:48What do I do then?
05:50I direct my attachment towards my Lord.
06:01I am obsessed with image making.
06:02What will I do then?
06:05I will stick to the one most beautiful image of my Lord and I will forget all other images.
06:14I am so talkative.
06:25I keep chattering entire day.
06:27Locatius is my name.
06:30So what do I do then?
06:33I will talk a lot but I will talk only of you, my Lord.
06:39So I am directing all that I have towards you, knowing fully well that I cannot just
06:44drop it.
06:45I am incapable of that.
06:46I don't have the power.
06:47I am feeble.
06:50Then this process of getting rid of your nonsense is called surrender.
06:59At its core, surrender is nothing but inner cleaning.
07:02If you can just clean your stuff, clean up the within, great, do it.
07:13If you cannot go for that inner cleanup, then direct your tendencies towards the highest
07:24goal possible.
07:26That's the path of devotion.
07:29In that you call this thing as surrender.
07:34It's hard for me to understand the path to devotion or what does that actually mean,
07:40the path to truth.
07:41It is for very practical people.
07:45People who have had no honest experience with themselves will first of all try the path
07:54of knowledge.
07:55The path of knowledge says I am good enough to bring about my liberation.
08:06In the path of liberation, the ego itself is the actor.
08:11In the path of liberation, in the path of knowledge, the ego is the sword that is used
08:16to cut down the ego.
08:21I am looking at myself and I am saying, oh, I could see there is a problem.
08:25I am my own doctor.
08:26That's the path of knowledge.
08:29After all, in the path of knowledge, the object of knowledge is not the world.
08:34What is it that you look at?
08:37You look at yourself, right?
08:40Now therein lies a basic contradiction inherent in the path of knowledge.
08:47I require a path because I am not all right, correct?
08:53I require a path because I am not all right.
08:56Had I been all right, why would I have required any path?
09:02So I am not all right, but I carry the conviction that I am able to not merely choose my own
09:13path but also walk it right till freedom.
09:17Now that's a contradiction inherent in the path of knowledge.
09:27Who are you?
09:28Someone who is sick.
09:30If you are sick, how will you heal yourself on your own?
09:35But usually, especially in this age when man has become just too powerful, people will
09:42want to start with the path of knowledge because path of knowledge is a path that pleases
09:50the ego.
09:51Does it not?
09:53I'll do it on my own.
09:54I'll read some books.
09:56I'll do some self-observation.
09:59I'll critically analyze my life, my thoughts, my emotions, my livelihood, my stuff.
10:05I will do it, right?
10:10Even these are novices, you see.
10:12They are trying to do something that won't practically succeed.
10:17Therefore I said that the path of devotion is for very practical people.
10:21It is for those who have raised their hands and said, I know myself and I know how much
10:26I can do on my own.
10:29Therefore I am not going to trust myself with the most important mission of my life.
10:34What is the most important mission of my life?
10:37Please, I want some freedom.
10:40I want liberation.
10:41That's the most important mission of my life.
10:45Trust anybody but myself for that.
10:50So then you entrust somebody outside of you.
10:55But that, mind you, does not quite please the ego.
10:58Because the point of beginning itself requires humility here.
11:07It requires an admission of one's powerlessness.
11:11And the ego does not like to admit its powerlessness.
11:13We want to say, we are somebody, especially if you are well-read or academically qualified
11:21or professionally successful.
11:24You do not want to start off admitting that you are just an incapable idiot.
11:31You don't want to start off that way.
11:33And this is not an age in which the path of devotion seems practical or an automatic choice.
11:45Today, with science and technology and knowledge, man appears so powerful.
11:59Why will he readily admit how powerless he really is?
12:05He doesn't admit.
12:06First of all, he tries on his own.
12:09And then if he is lucky, then after multiple failures, he turns to devotion.
12:18Devotion is for the ripe seeker.
12:21Devotion is for the mature seeker.
12:25The beginner, the novice, the greenhorn, he will first of all try some individual personal
12:35adventures.
12:37May he succeed.
12:41And if he has to fail, may he fail quickly and may he fail repeatedly.
12:46So that his fallacy, the basic flaw in his assumptions is revealed to him.
13:00Once it is revealed, then it will be probably easier for him to confess that he can't make
13:06it on his own.
13:09And then you bow your head down and look upwards to some power mightier than the ego.
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