Part 2 CONTRIBUTION FROM SRI.T.K JAYARAMAN IRS (rtd)

1

A LAZY MAN’S SURRENDER

Ramana Maharsi advocates two paths for liberation. The first one is called Self- Inquiry , a way of probing deeper to get at the source of all thoughts, which means finding out to whom the thoughts occur and when you answer that it is to me/I these thoughts occur , to find out the source of "I " thought.

The second method is complete surrender to God.

Often one toys with the idea of surrendering oneself completely to God. It is not that easy. We are all thinking animals. Some thought or other is always in our mind. There is no point in deriding thought. In our normal daily life, thought plays an important role. Before taking a decision, one weighs the pros and cons. I am sure spiritual gurus do not disapprove of them. But then we are also assailed by unwanted / inconvenient thoughts synonymous with fear, worry, anxiety, depression, thinking of revenge, harm, greed, desire for power etc.etc. Such thoughts are our tormentors beyond all doubt. At this point of time, spiritual advice surely helps us. In desperation, we say," You are my only Refuge, save me; it is all in Your Hands." This is common to most of the spiritual traditions of the world. It is as though you are carrying a very heavy burden, and you decide to transfer that burden to a kind Soul who is out there for you. There are two assumptions. The first one is the existence of One who is ready to take your burden. The second is that He is prepared to help you. No human being is capable of taking upon himself other's burden unconditionally. Such a being can only be the compassionate God. In our culture, we do not deny the existence of such a being. We all have abundant faith in Him. And also on His compassionate nature. If only you can surrender to such a Being, you are no longer carrying your burden. You feel very light ,psychologically because of your tremendous faith which can move mountains.Unfortunately,not many of us are endowed with such unshakeable faith and we do suffer.

When you are in a train, you can keep the luggage on the train instead of carrying it. Please don't take this analogy to the extreme.

 

There are people who question the concept of surrender. It is said that a weak person finds it easy to transfer the responsibility to others by surrender and does not face the challenges of life. Such attitude is to be deprecated. Can a person abandon all his responsibility saying that he has surrendered to God? Can he sit quiet saying that God will do everything for him because of his surrender to Him? Is it right for him to expect miracles to happen?

I thought about it for some time. I am of the view that a lazy man's surrender is no surrender.
A man cannot abdicate his role in society. A man with family has responsibilities to discharge. He cannot sit quiet banking on the mercy of Almighty. Similarly a woman or any other person. God is not going to take charge of all such roles. The real Surrender is only the surrender of the fruits of one's actions. We have to act. But it is good to act well,not unduly concerned with the results, and surrender all the fruits of one's actions to God. It is possible for any believer to have such an attitude and function in society. In my view, that is the meaning of Surrender . In other words, a man who surrenders to God is not a lazy man .but he plays his role in society and surrenders only the fruits of his actions. He does not want to be spoon fed by God.

This is my understanding of the concept of Surrender .THY WILL BE DONE.

God helps those who help themselves !

T.K JAYARAMAN 24/01/2015

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HOW TO MANAGE YOUR THOUGHTS

 

Source: Sanskrit transliteration from The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (By Sri Swami Satchidananda)

MAITRI KARUNA MUDITOPEKSANAM SUKHA DUHKHA PUNYAPUNYA VISAYANAM BHAVANATAS CITTA PRASADANAM.

The above verse is from Patanjali's Yoga Sutra . You find it in the first chapter verse no 33.

Be that as it may, why I do I quote it now?

During my college days , I read the yoga sutra and the commentaries on it by Swami Vivekananda. I liked the exposition very much. The above mentioned verse is my favorite one. Let me tell you the reason and share what I learnt.

We are not always masters of our thoughts. Thoughts just occur in our minds. Mind is restless. Our mind is rightly compared to a monkey which is drunk and bitten by a scorpion.
All sorts of thoughts invade our mind every second. What is the best attitude towards our thoughts which are not in our control?

This particular verse gives us the right advice. What does it say? There are HAPPY thoughts. Welcome such happy thoughts. Sometimes we are invaded by gloomy, sad and unhappy thoughts. In that case, we should maintain an attitude of compassion. Similar to the compassion shown to unhappy people.

There are GOOD thoughts. We should have an attitude of gladness. When good people are with you, you are very glad about it.
EVIL thoughts? This category covers a wide variety of negative thoughts which hinder our spiritual growth. What to do with them? Be INDIFFERENT to them.

In my view, these four attitudes really help as in managing our thoughts. Now I give the English translation of this verse.

Friendship,mercy,gladness,and indifference ,being thought of in regard to subjects, happy,unhappy,good,and evil respectively ,pacify the Mind.

T.K.JAYARAMAN

24/01/2015