In the Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna is confused completely about what is the path he should follow. The ultimate teaching imparted by Krishna to Arjuna in the last chapter is the best technique to realize the Ultimate. After giving various techniques like meditation, devotion and knowledge, finally Krishna reveals the straight, sure and ultimate technique, which is that of surrender.

Be very clear, when you surrender to an enlightened master, you are actually surrendering to one who has no ego, no identity and hence no vested interest of his own. He is one with and overflowing with Existence. By holding his hand, you ask him to take you also to the ocean of bliss he is in.

Worry and tension come when you think you are the doer. Then you get tired soon. But if you shift the sense of ownership to a higher energy and continue to do your work blissfully, you will feel tremendously relaxed! What was the difference in him? He was doing the same job, but why was there no more fear and tension? Because the responsibility had been shifted to a higher authority, that’s all. He continued to do what he was doing.

When you surrender to the higher energy, you can never feel drained and exhausted because you are directly connected to the one who is an embodiment of the infinite energy. This is the gift of surrender. If you allow the calf to be with the cow for only ten minutes, the calf will drink only the milk and come back. But the fly that sits on the cow twenty four hours will suck only the blood. You can be with the master all the time and still not feel the connection or the seeking. Also, you can be away from the master and yet feel the connection all the time. It is not about being near his physical presence. That does not play a major role in the seeking. It is the depth of the seeking that plays the major role.

Ramakrishna very beautifully says, ‘Surrender to anything. Surrender is important, not what or who you surrender to. If you surrender to a stone, even that can become god and guide you. When the intense seeking is not there, even if god comes to you, you will ask him for an identity card. When the seeking becomes strong, even a small stone can teach you.

The same life force inside me is present outside also. It can enter you also and teach you. Because I have become empty, the life force entering me is coming out as music. So if the same depth of seeking starts happening inside you, the air that enters your nose can become a strong inspiration or teaching inside your heart. Without that intensity in you, even if I tell you something now you will not even remember what I told, after two days.

A subtle point you need to check in yourself is this. Observe whether you listen to the master when your mind disagrees with him. If yes, you have surrendered. Else you are following the master only when he tells you something agreeable to your mind! It is just a coincidence that he is telling you sometimes what your mind agrees with, nothing more than that.

There is no need to be interested or have a positive attitude when it comes to the work of the master. Only the surrender, the acceptance to do what the master says, is necessary because it is from the deeper level of being and not the superficial level of the mind.

The master is actually just a means, an excuse to surrender because you are not able to relate with the whole of Existence directly. You are afraid to look at the vast expanse of the sky. So you want to look at the sky through a window. The master is like your window to the sky of Existence.

I will now explain to you the three categories of surrender: surrender of the intellect, surrender of emotions and surrender of your very senses.

The first is surrender of intellect means trusting the master’s intellect more than your own intellect. This is just intellectual surrender. At this stage, you follow the lifestyle that the master shows you.

The second is trusting the master’s emotions much more than your own emotions. This means trusting that the relationship with the master is the ultimate relationship, more than any other relationship. If god appears before you and asks you to choose one person on planet earth as the only other person who can be alive except you, who will you choose? If you choose the master, then emotional surrender has happened to you. Of course, the master can never be destroyed, but that is different! Never think that just because you choose him he is alive! He will be alive whether you choose him or not. If you feel that your emotion towards the master is stronger than any other emotion, then emotional surrender has happened in you.

Be very clear, 99% of the people remain in the first level. Only 20% to 40% of these people move deeper to the second level. The rest remain standing where they are.

There is the third kind of surrender, surrender of the senses.

In Krishna’s life there is a beautiful incident.

After the Mahabharata war, when Krishna and Arjuna are relaxing, Krishna says, ‘Hey! Arjuna, look there, there is a green crow!’

Arjuna says, ‘Beautiful! A green crow!’ Krishna says, ‘Fool! It is black, not green.’ Arjuna says, ‘Yes Krishna! It is black, not green.’

Krishna asks, ‘What has happened to you? When I say green, you say green. When I say black, you say black. What is going on with you?’

Arjuna says, ‘Krishna, let me be honest. I don’t know what color that crow is. But when you said green I saw it as green. When you said black I saw it as black. I know nothing else!’

Arjuna’s very senses trusted Krishna. He trusted the master’s senses much more than his own!

source: Living Enlightenment