Integral Yoga Its Nature and Significance

Author(s): G N Joshi
Publisher: Z_Pushkarmuni_Abhinandan_Granth_012012.pdf

Page 10

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श्री पुष्करमुनि अभिनन्दन ग्रन्थ : नवम खण्ड
one's surrender to the Divine is complete, unreserved and without any expectation one can attain the Grace of the Divine more easily. By surrender Sri Aurobindo means giving oneself to the Divine, to give everything one is or has to the Divine, and regard nothing as one's own, to obey only the Divine will and no other, to live for the Divine and not for the ego. One's spiritual transformation becomes impossible without one's unreserved surrender to the Divine. Surrender can be outer as well as inner. The inner surrender is of the mind, heart and the vital. The core of inner surrender is trust and confidence in the Divine. The attitude should be to want the Divine and nothing else. The process of surrender itself is a Tapasyä. Sri Aurobindo says that surrender is giving oneself to the Divine, to give everything one is or has to the Divine and regard nothing as one's own, to obey only the Divine will and no other, to live for the Divine and not for the ego; and reciprocally it happens that the Divine also gives itself to those who give themselves totally and without reserve to the Divine.
Surrender is not easy to practise. It is an attitude to life and the world, and it gets gradually consolidated and set in one's habits. Usually there is a resistence to the surrender form the vital and mind of man, but inspite of the passive reluctance of man's vital and mental nature, and also frequently stern opposition by them to offer surrender to the Divine man has to determine firmly and tell oneself, "I want the Divine and nothing else. I want to give myself entirely to him and since my soul wants that, it cannot be but that I shall meet and realise him. I ask nothing but that and his action in me to bring me to him, his action secret or open, veiled or manifest. I do not insist on my own time and way ; let him do all in his own time and way: I shall believe in him, accept his will, aspire steadily for his light and presence and joy, go through all the difficulties and delays, relying on him and never giving up. Let my mind be quiet and trust him and let him open it to his light, let my vital be quiet and turn to him alone, and let him open it to his calm and joy. All for him and myself for him. Whatever happens I will keep to this aspiration and self-giving, and go on in perfect reliance that it will be done." According to Sri Aurobindo, surrender is an attitude which must always remain growing. Surrender is not a thing that is done in a day. The mind clings to its ideas and the body also is a slave to its habits. It is only the psychic that knows how to surrender. Sadhana
For making the surrender, a determined and ceaseless efforts is indispensable. Such an active willed and voluntary effort and practice is the 'Sadhana. Making the idea further clear he says that active surrender consists in associating one's will with the Divine will and rejecting what is not Divine. The surrender is a continuous process, the Sadhaka has to be very much vigilant against falling directly or indirectly into the trap of his individual self or ego. Those who surrender completely and unreservedly to the Divine, the Divine takes their care and then his position become like that of a Baby-cat which is entirely at the mercy of the Mother-cat. The Mother-cat carries the Baby-cat from place to place by holding it in mouth. The Baby-cat has to do no effort whatsoever. Empty Vessel
If the devotee surrenders to the Divine so completely and says to him 'I am in your hands do whatever you like, with me'. It becomes a Yoga of a very high level. Then the Divine decides and does every thing for the devotee (Sadhaka) who has no separate desire of his own. He almost empties himself and negates his separate individual being and plays into hands of the Divine like a doll or a passive instrument. Sri Aurobindo says that the Sadhaka then becomes a vessel or medium for the expression of the Divine light and consciousness. The Sadhaka then retains to no consciousness of himself as a separate being, and in him is left no craving no choice no preference. He says to the Divine “Thy will be done, I have nothing different of my own and nothing to ask for; I am totally yours and your decision and action will be final, and it will be for my good, it will be a saving grace to me."