Question: What is the meaning of conscious surrender?

Sri Chinmoy: The meaning of conscious surrender is to surrender our ignorance to our light, our imperfect nature to our perfect nature, our undivine consciousness to our divine consciousness. We have to know that although the feet and the head are in the same body, there comes a time when we see or feel that the feet are in deep ignorance, whereas the head is in light and delight. If the feet want to enjoy the light and delight that the head is enjoying, then they have to surrender their existence to the head. But before surrendering, the feet have to feel that they are part and parcel of the head. Similarly, when our lower consciousness is aware of the fact that it is part of the higher consciousness, the higher existence, then we can try to transform our lower nature into our higher nature.

It is like climbing up a tree: we have to climb up from the root at the bottom of the tree. When we reach the topmost bough, there we get the most delicious fruits. But if we don't start at the root, if we don't climb up right from the ground, then how are we going to get the fruits? While we are on the ground we have to know that there is fruit at the top.

Conscious surrender means awareness, awareness of our highest existence or our most aspiring part and awareness of our lowest existence, our least aspiring part. The moment our lowest existence surrenders itself to our highest existence, the lowest becomes completely one with the highest.

When earth surrenders, the unaspiring qualities in us surrender. To whom do they surrender? To Heaven. What is Heaven? Heaven is our aspiring part, our illumining part.