Surrender v/s Hypocrisy - A Talk by Meherwan Jessawala.

Meherwan had been asked to speak on the topic of surrender versus hypocrisy.  He started out with what Baba Himself has said about these two attributes:

"Let those sitting here with Me today, and those away from Me at this moment, beware and be ready. The time is close at hand – the moment has almost arrived when your sincerity and your utter surrender to your Master will be put to the extreme test. It is not I, personally, but circumstances that will test the extent of your self-dedication to Me, your Master. Baba further explained to the group that those who had adhered to Him, and those who were at present with Him, must be fully prepared for the necessary forthcoming humiliation, apparent utter defeat, and bodily violence, even at the cost of their lives.

On the other hand, humiliation, defeat and physical violence will not necessarily be encountered by all who are connected with Me. Those fortunate ones who will face these onslaughts unhesitatingly and bravely and withstand their tests unflinchingly will ultimately be co-sharers and inheritors of the divine glory. And those who will flee from these apparent but imperative calamities will testify by their own actions whether their surrender was sincere and wholehearted, or whether it was heavily encumbered by selfish motives.

People generally have a very superficial understanding of what is actually meant by complete surrender of one's all – namely, one's possessions, body and mind – to a Perfect Master. The complacent belief of a disciple that he has completely surrendered to a Master is due to ignorance and hypocrisy. Because, if the significance of the words were weighed literally and pondered over deeply, it would be seen that if one's possessions, body and mind – the very core of one's existence – were entirely submitted to the Master, there could then be no room given for even a single thought of one's own.

The mind now belonging to the Master, it would be hypocritical even to move. Even to breathe would be hypocritical, because the body has been surrendered. But this literal and impossible surrender is not required by the Master from His disciples. What is demanded of a disciple is his complete and absolute surrender to the will of the Master, however contrary it may be to the dictates of the disciple's temperament, however opposing to his natural inclinations or beliefs, however difficult to admit within the restricted precincts of his mind.      
           

Supposing I were to elevate you into an emperor tomorrow, and the very next day bring you down to the level of a sweeper; you should accept the extremes with unswerving faith in My judgment. You must always try with undisturbed equanimity to fit into any given role, at any given time, concerned only with the carrying out of your Master's wishes." 

Turning to the others, Baba continued:    

"For a disciple it suffices to obey. Your duty as a disciple is to obey as if you were not your own self, which is indeed literally true when you have completely dedicated your self to the Master. Never try to match your limited intellect or your reasoning against your Master's will. Spontaneous acceptance by you of anything the Master says or does, and your unquestioning obedience to Him, will safely steer you through any so-called crises that you may have to face. Be brave, therefore, and be honest to yourselves. Obey the Master, giving willingly whatever He demands of you. Play your parts well, as I too shall play Mine, fulfilling all that is ordained for Me by God."

MEANING OF SURRENDER

Meanwhile, during this period, Baba had called Pankhraj to Dehra Dun from Nagpur. He arrived on March 25th and Baba asked him, "What do you want?"  "I want to stay with you always," he said sincerely.  “It is extremely hard to stay with Me. It means total self-surrender. Are you prepared for that?"  “I have come only for that reason," Pankhraj said.  Baba then explained the meaning of sacrifice, counseling him, "Think it over and give Me your answer tomorrow."  After deep thought, the next day Pankhraj assured Baba, "I am prepared to surrender myself to You. You are my Master and the only Beloved of my heart."  "I am very pleased," replied Baba. "You have made the right decision. Now go back to Nagpur and find employment. Even if you find a job paying only ten rupees a month, accept it."

Pankhraj stared at Baba, finding it difficult to believe his ears. Baba explained, "Since you have surrendered to Me, there is no room left for any wish of your own. Now I have full rights on you and you must do as I say. If you obey Me, it will be like staying with Me. This is the meaning of surrender."  Pankhraj obeyed Baba and went back home. Soon after, he got a very good job in Nagpur.

COMPLETE SURRENDER TO GOD           

Baba has said:

"I have emphasized in the past, I tell you now, and I shall age after age forevermore repeat that you shed your cloak of Life and realize Existence which is eternally yours.

To realize this Truth of Unchangeable, Indivisible, All-pervading Existence, the simplest way is to surrender to Me completely, so completely that you are not even conscious of your surrender, but conscious only to obey Me and to act as and when I order you.

If you seek to live perpetually, then crave for the death of your "deceptive self" at the hands of complete surrender" to Me. This yoga is the Essence of all yogas in one."

GIFT OF HIS GLIMPSE        

"There is one thing greater than love, and that is obedience. But greater than love and obedience is surrender, completely surrendering everything – body, mind, soul – at the feet of the Master. There are volumes written on this subject, but no one has surrendered to Me as I want. You surrender everything, but you have no control over your mind, which you cannot surrender. No sooner do you surrender it than this whole play vanishes!

The difference between love, obedience and surrender is that love seeks the will of the Beloved, obedience performs the will of the Beloved, and surrender resigns to the will of the Beloved. Love is a gift of God to man, obedience is the gift of the Perfect Master to man and surrender is the gift of man to the Perfect Master."

THE INTENSITY OF LONGING:   

"Realization is not child's play. For this, one has to surrender all – body, mind and heart – to the Perfect Master."

THE MESSAGE:

"My message today to those who love me and believe in my Life is that, in order to escape this cosmic illusion, and to realize and attain the Supreme Reality, we must abide by the following: First and foremost, our complete surrender to the God-Man, in whom God reveals Himself in his full glory, His Infinite Power, His Unfathomable Knowledge, His Inexpressible Bliss and His Eternal Existence. Should this complete surrender not be possible, then one or some of the following, if faithfully carried out, can win the grace of God:

(1)  Wholehearted love for God. Thirst for seeing Him, longing for knowing Him and a burning desire for union with Him constitutes this all-consuming love, for which the lover forsakes everything, including himself.

(2)  Keeping constant company of saints and lovers of God, and rendering them wholehearted service.

(3)  Guarding of the mind against temptations of lust, greed, anger, hatred, power, fame and fault-finding.

(4)  Absolute and complete external renunciation, whereby one leaves everyone and everything, and, in solitude, devotes oneself to prayer, fasting and meditation.

(5)  Living in the world and yet practicing complete internal renunciation. This means attending to all worldly duties without attachment, knowing all to be an illusion and only God to be real, carrying out one's worldly affairs with a pure heart and clean mind, and living the life of a recluse in the midst of intense activity.

(6)  Selfless Service: One who practices this thinks not of himself but of the happiness of others, serves others with no thought of gain or reward, never allows the mind to be upset or disappointed, and, facing all odds and difficulties cheerfully, sacrifices his welfare for the good of others. This is the life of the selfless worker."

PERSONAL SURRENDER:

Meherwan further continued, sharing a story from his own life. Meanwhile, I had proven to be a burden to the relatives at Akbar Press where Baba had placed me before leaving on the tour. Mumma's sister Shirin's husband, Jehangir Damania, would continuously write to her to take me back, as I was too much of a nuisance to look after. Mumma was very worried but didn't want to bother Baba with her problems. However, she looked anxious so one day Baba asked her the reason. Explaining the situation to Baba she said, "For us You are put to so much trouble. Now there is Meherwan to worry about. We have come to You with only problems." Baba asked, "Do you love Meherwan or Me?"  Mumma replied, "To dedicate my one Meherwan at Your feet is not enough; even were I to surrender a thousand sons, it would be nothing."  Her reply made Baba very happy and He consoled her, "As you have come to Me leaving everything behind, what trouble would it be to Me?" Then in a cryptic tone He spelled out, "You are not worthy of being Eruch's mother, but you are worthy of being My mother!"

 Meherwan further added these thoughts about surrender: 

Surrender is not about us but about Baba.  It is not a show of how “dedicated” we are but how wonderful and satisfying Baba is.  When we are called to leave all and surrender to Him, there is often nothing “nice” or pleasant about what He asks of us.  A good example is of Abraham, whom God called upon to offer his son Issac as a sacrifice to Him.  There was nothing pleasant about the demand or the obedience that was required to follow God’s command, but the purpose was not to see how dedicated Abraham or Issac were but to show that God was worthy of such sacrifice.  Abraham and Issac saw this. They saw a God Who is greater than life itself.  Abraham believed God, and was prepared to kill Issac on His command.

Surrender is not sought but embraced.  You cannot create the context for surrender to happen. Baba creates the context and you embrace the events as coming from Him. For example, when Baba asked Eruch if it was possible to leave everything and come to Him, Eruch said, “By Your Grace, everything is possible.” Eruch had only two choices, either to believe Baba was God and embrace His Wish or to stand in rebellion against Him.  Had he chosen to say “No” then his life would never have been the example of a fortunate and perfect slave.  In a sense Eruch chose Life (with a capital L) against the death of his progress on the spiritual path.  He embraced Baba’s wish, and so surrendered.

Surrenderance happens in the context of desperation.  The kind of desperation that brings us to the end of ourselves, i.e. our false self.  The circumstances that bring about the desperation show us for what we are, nothing.  They bring forth weakness so that we can see Baba’s strength, show us our need so we might see His resources.  Surrenderance is when we come face to face with our own limitations and Baba’s complete sufficiency, and we choose Him!  When the Lord asks us “Am I not enough?” and we say with total conviction, “Yes, You are.” that is when we truly surrender.  God always wins, but when we choose Him our enjoyment in the moment becomes magnified.

Surrenderance is a dynamic condition. It’s not as if you embrace surrenderance once and that’s it. Each time you are pushed to the brink of despair, you get another chance to say, “I can’t but Baba can.” Each event brings you closer to Baba and to the complete surrenderance He asks of us. Each moment of our lives exists to show us that our need of Him is absolute, and that holding fast to His damaan is the only way out for us. Paul the Apostle said, so we are told, “I die daily.” He was talking about the death of the false self and the resurrection each new day of it. Only when the false self became the true, God-realized Self would he stop dying daily and live truly. 

Surrender is only possible when we fully, with all our heart, mind and soul, accept the sovereignty of Baba over everything.  Not a leaf moves without His Will, and once we immerse ourselves in this conviction, surrender is embraced and embraces us in return.  

Continuing on the subject of what Baba had to say about surrender to His Wish and Will, Meherwan continued to quote from Baba's words.

Baba remarked, "The Sadguru has not to know, He knows. He knows that there is nothing to know." He also stated at length:  

Believe me, I am the Ancient One. There is no doubt about it. I am not this body that you see. It is only a cloak. I am Infinite Consciousness. I sit with you, play with you and laugh with you; but remember, I am simultaneously working on all the planes of consciousness. I have before Me walis and pirs, yogis and saints, who are Me in different forms, for I am the core  [center] rooted in everyone and in everything. An infinite number of branches spread out from Me. It is I who work through you all and suffer for you all.

Understanding has no meaning. Love has meaning. Obedience has more meaning. Holding of my daaman has most meaning.

I know three things: I am the Avatar in every sense of the word. Whatever I do is the expression of my unbounded love. I suffer infinite agony eternally through your ignorance. What sustains Me in My universal suffering is bliss, plus my infinite sense of humor. The amusing incidents that arise at the expense of none, lighten My burden. Therefore, always think of Me; remain cheerful in all situations, and I am there to help you.