Swami says, “Saranagati is total self-surrender wherein the devotee lays down his body, mind, heart and soul at the lotus feet of the Divine Master”. (Summer Showers 1979)

The Quiz that follows is based on this concept of Surrender as explained by Swami at various times.

Ready? Let’s start!

The Relationship Which Leads to Surrender

01. On one occasion, one of the boys who was pushing Swami’s chair a few years ago had an opportunity to ask Him a query. “Swami, amongst the various relationships that You talk about in Your discourses, which is the best relationship that we can have with You?”

What do you think Swami answered?

Friendship as a Prerequisite for Surrender

02. “What exactly is surrender? To give yourself entirely, unconditionally and absolutely to God is surrender. To attain that state, you should first develop friendship with God,” says Swami.

What is true friendship according to Swami?

Stories to Illustrate Surrender

03. Once a Brahmin was crossing a river bed near which some men were washing clothes. Finding a nice new silk shawl on his shoulder, they fell upon him in a group, shouting that it belonged to the Palace and had been given to them to be washed, but had been stolen and had not been traced. The poor Brahmin yelled 'Narayana, Narayana,' when the blows rained on him and so, Narayana rose from His Seat in Vaikuntha and proceeded forward; but in a moment, He walked back and resumed His seat much to the surprise of His consort who asked Him the reason for the strange behaviour.

What do you think the Lord replied?

04. On that particular day, Rama, the incarnation of God, acted as though He was very tired. He was removing the sweat from His brow and telling Lakshmana, "Lakshmana, I am so tired. I don't think I will be able to go any further. Please put up a hut somewhere nearby, so that we can take a little rest."

Lakshmana asked Rama, "Brother, where shall we have this cottage?" Rama said, "You can decide for yourself which place will be most appropriate, and then put it up." Lakshmana responded, "Rama! Rama! What have I done? What is my error? What sins have I committed to hear these words? Please let me know why You have spoken to me like this!"

Now, Rama knew the mind of Lakshmana and so He knew why Lakshmana was saying this, but in order to help Sita understand the level of Lakshmana's surrender, Rama said, "Lakshmana, please tell Me what is troubling you. What have I said that has made you feel so much pain?"

Why was Lakshmana grief stricken?

05. The following story is from the events in the battle between Rama and Ravana.

On the third day a formidable warrior stood before them. Vibheeshana told Rama: "If You conquer this warrior, the whole of Lanka will be Yours. He is a greater warrior than even Ravana." Rama fought with this mighty demon the whole day, but could not vanquish him. Rama was on the point of giving up the battle for the day. At this stage-, Vibheeshana, who was behind Rama, said: "This is not the time to give up the fight. You must rally all your strength and destroy the enemy. You should not miss this chance. I am telling this out of My love for You."

Egged on by Vibheeshana, Rama continued the fight and destroyed His opponent. The formidable warrior fell on the battlefield. The moment he learned that the warrior was dead, Vibheeshana also collapsed on the ground.

Recovering himself after chanting the name of Rama, Vibheeshana got up and confessed to Rama: "Swami! This is a mark of weakness on my part. I should not have succumbed to such weakness. Having filled myself with Your love, how could I succumb to such weakness?"

Rama observed: "That's alright. But why did you collapse so suddenly?" Vibheeshana replied: "Swami! This happened because of bodily attachment. It was due to parental affection. That mighty warrior was my son."

He was Vibheeshana's son! See what Vibheeshana did. To ensure the victory of the Lord, Vibheeshana did not hesitate to get even his son killed in battle.

Rama asked Vibheeshana: "Why did you do this? Is it not wrong on your part? Why did you not tell Me at the beginning itself that he was your son?"

What did Vibheeshana reply?

Three stages of surrender

06. In the Gita Vahini, Swami talks about three stages of self-surrender, each being a step in the rising series and the last is the highest step of all.

In the first stage (I am Thine), the Lord is fully free and the devotee is fully bound. It is like the cat and the kitten; the cat shifts the kitten about as it wills, and the kitten just mews and accepts whatever happens. This attitude is very gentle and is within easy reach of all.

In the second stage (Thou art mine), the devotee binds the Lord, who is to that extent “not free”! Surdas is a good example of this attitude.

“Krishna! You may escape from my hold, from the clasp of these arms; but You cannot escape from my heart, where I have bound You,” challenged Surdas. The Lord just smiled and assented; for, “I am bound by My devotees,” He asserts, without any loss of self-respect. The devotee can tie up the Lord with love, by devotion that overwhelms and overpowers egotism. When one is full of this type of devotion, the Lord Himself will bless one with everything one needs; His grace will fulfil all one’s wants. Remind yourself here of the promise made by the Lord in the Gita: “I carry the burden of his welfare (Yogakshemam vahaamyaham)”.

What do you think is the last stage?

Three Entities in Surrender

07. Surrender involves three entities: one is the person who surrenders, the other the one to whom he surrenders, and the third is the act of surrender. If we analyse carefully in the spiritual sense, you have a person, mirror, and reflection.

Swami says by removing one of these three, what remains is one – three minus one is one.

Which has to be removed?

Sign of a Surrendered Person

08. In conversation with His students, Swami explained about the benefits of surrender using the beautiful analogy of a car. He drew a parallel between the four gears in a car and for life as well. He said: “Do you know that life also has four gears?” He said, “The first gear is happiness, second gear is sorrow, third gear is happiness and fourth gear is sorrow”.

He said, “If you are in the neutral gear, the vehicle of life will go smoothly without much turbulence, but the problem comes when you are in any of the other gears - that is the gears of happiness or sorrow.”

In fact, He went on to explain further, “Even when you are in the first gear you are going at a constant speed, do you feel any turbulence?” We said, “No Swami.”

Then He asked us, “When does the problem arise?” We all said, “Swami, when we try to accelerate we have to move to the next gear.”

He said, “What will happen if you directly move to the next gear?”

We said, “Swami, the car will jerk and might even stop if we don’t engage the clutch.”

What is the clutch we should use for the car of life?

Symbol of Surrender

09. Swami says: Your mind is not under your own control, how then can you hold it and give it to the Lord? You have no control over your own body too. So to say that you have surrendered your mind and body to the Lord is untrue.

Swami has often referred to a particular musical instrument as a symbol for surrender.

Which instrument is it?

Surrender and Day to Day Living

10. Swami says: “This word 'surrender' conveys that there is someone who gives and someone who accepts and that you are surrendering to someone. There is a feeling of duality implied in this word surrender.”

He also says: “Your mind is not under your own control and under such circumstances, how can you hold it and give it to the Lord? You have no control over your own body. If you have a small cut, blood oozes from your body and you run to a doctor asking for a bandage. If this is your body and if you have complete control over it, why is it that you are not able to control the outflow of the blood? In this context to say that you have surrendered your mind and body to the Lord is a statement which is untrue.”

How then can one practice surrender in day-to-day life?