Dear Sri Anand,
In many ways,surrender is Trust-trust in the words of the Guru,in God,in the teachings,and basically,the trust in life itself.
We simply trust and have faith that life will unfold in a way it should,in way it is supposed to unfold. The past is dropped,since it is 'past'-it is actually dead,and we do not plan,we do not think and worry about future. There is no tension,there is no anxiety,with it,no fear. It is letting go. But this letting go does not mean letting go of life or responsibilities,braking relations or similar. It is not running away,it is just shift of attention from nonessential to what is essential. For what will we let go actually? This personality,to say,has its destiny to fulfil,and has its journey,its play,which is actually the God's play only. So why interfere,and why worry about it?
Practically,how i see it,it is hard not to be carried away with all the doership,and it is impossible at once. You are into something or you are not in at all. For me it is better to be into something with all your heart,to give all of our self,and not to do anything mechanically,or partially,half hearted so to say. By any cost. Essentially,it is courage to live with integrity and sincerity. For,it is God who is inside of these acts,it is God who is behind every face.
What is needed,is only to be aware,but not carried away. I am not sure how to put it differently,or how to explain it. I hope You understand what i mean.
To do everything in the best possible way we can,with all the passion,with all strength,and in the same time to think about our Guru,to think about God,to devotee all possible time to meditation and practice,and not to worry or anticipate anything.
Sri Arjuna was asked to fight in that very surrender,so it is not escape. What ever is asked from us we do,what ever is shown to us,in some open or mysterious way. For,it is also deep listening.
After all,we must live everything we learned so far.
If desires are there,let them be. After all,they do not belong to You. The non essential will never be real.
In the same time,here comes discrimination,which is actually thinking about the Teachings. You see desire is here,you see it brings fear and anxiety with it,you simply recognize it,and in this very moment,that same desire cannot hold you anymore. It is there,it cannot go at once,it does not need to be suppressed or fulfilled either,you let it happen as He wishes. But we need to be honest with ourselves,with God. Whatever is there,we should let it come out,and never hide it,or change it into holiness. Making it into holiness wont do. Pride must be abandoned also.
Making peace with this,we wont have so strong impulse to follow it,desire or fear,same.
Surrender means giving our whole being and attention to God,our Guru and to the Truth. Most important,it is giving up the thought about anything else than Him.
It means trusting that all,bad or good,are here for our growth,for the best cause. And He knows best.
This is how i see surrender so far.
In the end,like Rumi said,it is surrendering the will. It is the giving up of the ego.
With love,
