Question: What do you mean when you speak of unconditional surrender to God's Will, and how can we develop this quality?

Sri Chinmoy: When we do something unconditionally, we do something really great, and for that we need much preparation. Ordinarily we do everything conditionally. We go to a shop and give the shopkeeper money and the shopkeeper gives us what we need. In this world it is always give and take. We are exchanging things of equal value. But God has everything in infinite measure. If we do something for God, then what we will get from Him will be far beyond our expectation. We will get much more than we give. If we give God an iota of prayer, one minute of prayer, the things that God will give us will be most fulfilling. But there comes a time when we pray to God with the feeling that this is what He wishes us to do. At that time we become the chosen instruments of God and the representatives of God on earth, and then we feel that we are really fulfilling God in His own Way.

As long as we are on earth we are fulfilling God according to our own limited, very limited capacity. Everybody is fulfilling God in this way. But when we do something with the conscious feeling that what we do is being done by God in us and through us, then even if we just give a smile, in that smile there is infinite potentiality, infinite capacity.

There comes a time in our life of aspiration when, if somebody says “God” we will feel that he is referring to us, and not to somebody else. Now God is a third person. I am somebody. You are somebody. And God is a third person. We are completely separate, each with a personality of his own. But a day will come when we make unconditional surrender to God’s Will. At that time, when somebody speaks to us, we will feel that God is speaking to God. But it is all done gradually. It takes a few months of constant exercise to develop very powerful muscles. Unconditional surrender is much more difficult to develop. It takes continual daily exercise, and that exercise is our prayer, our meditation.

From:Sri Chinmoy,Flame-Waves, part 1, Agni Press, 1975
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