Question: Am I correct in assuming that Surrender necessarily precedes Realisation, or may it occur at the time of the first realisation experience or later?

Sri Chinmoy: You are correct in assuming that surrender precedes realisation. It is inevitable. Realisation and experience are two totally different things. Realisation is oneness with Oneself Itself. Experience is, at the most, an insignificant feeling of oneness with the highest Truth. So you cannot say “the experience of Realisation”. It is not an experience; it is Reality itself. You can correctly say “the oneness of Realisation in the realisation-consciousness.”

From:Sri Chinmoy,AUM — Vol. 5, No. 2,3, Sep. — 27 Oct. 1969, AUM Centre Press, 1969
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/aum_39