What does surrender really mean?¹

Surrender means oneness, inseparable oneness with our infinite, eternal, immortal life. Without surrendering, we will not know that we are infinite, eternal and immortal. As soon as we enter into the sea, we experience the consciousness of the sea itself. We may swim in only one particular spot, but the consciousness of the vast sea becomes ours. Here the finite consciously enters into the Infinite. Surrender means conscious oneness of our real Self with the Infinite. When we surrender, we become one with the infinite Eternity, which is a seeker’s birthright. At this time we do not lose our own finite individuality; instead we now become the possessor of divine Infinity. The imperfect nature becomes totally one with the perfect nature. Our surrender has become our accomplishment, our fulfilment.

Let us not play with the word ‘surrender’. It is a most significant and soulful word in the aspirant’s life. An aspirant can use the word in and out of season, but when the actuality of surrendering his will to the divine Will confronts him, the aspirant will be ready for anything but surrender. Difficulty is one thing; impossibility is another. It is impossible for an aspirant to surrender unless he understands the meaning of surrender. He has to be careful not to desecrate the absolute purity of the word ‘surrender’.

In human surrender, the slave surrenders to the master. We dislike this kind of surrender because it is beneath our dignity. Here, the slave pleases the master out of fear, not out of love. In ordinary human surrender, we lose our personality and our individuality. When we say, “I surrender to you,” we fear that the one to whom we are surrendering will lord it over us. When he says, “Stand up,” we will have to stand up. If he says, “Sit down,” we will have to sit down. We are at the feet of that person in spite of our own will.

Spiritual surrender is not the surrender of a slave to a master. Spiritual surrender is our absolute oneness with our own highest part, with the Supreme. We do not feel that we are surrendering to somebody other than ourselves. When our Master stands in front of us and bows down, to whom is he bowing? He is bowing to the Supreme in us. And when we bow down with folded hands to the Master, we are bowing to the Supreme in him. His Highest and our Highest can never be two different things; they are the same.

To understand the truest meaning of surrender, we have to remember that it must be constant and unconditional. The moment we ask the Supreme the significance of His Will or the motive behind His action, there is no surrender. In true surrender we do not ask what or why. Surrender means to jump with absolute faith into the sea of the unknown. Today we find ourselves in the sea of the unknowable; tomorrow, in the sea of the unknown; the day after tomorrow, in the sea of the known. The following day we have become the unknowable, the unknown and the known.