Recently, a reader has written to me: “I am confused reading your articles… You don’t provide clear idea about the belief in God. But you wrote about surrendering to divine. Without believing in God, how can you surrender?”
I replied him: “In our dharma, nobody teaches us to believe in god. The word ‘belief’ comes from a root lief — which means to wish or to desire. When you say, “I believe in god” it indicates a no-trust statement like “I wish I have wings to fly”…When you say “I believe God is omnipresent” you really mean to say, “I wish there was a god who is omnipresent”…”
“Everything about GOD is explained in the Holy books” he angrily replied.
“All Holy books provide you the concepts of the writers. Those are just beliefs…”
“You don’t believe in god?”He asked
“It is like asking, do you believe in mountains or do you believe in ocean…I know mountains are there and ocean is there. What a rubbish question is that? Why should there be a question like that?” (For starters: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152002448549027 )
“So you don’t believe in beliefs…”
“Belief=belief, not truth. Belief has nothing to do with truth…”
“So, what does ‘your dharma’ say about surrendering?” he asked with an intentional teasing quote…
“I am told to surrender to the cosmic divine power, and that power includes me. It is not separate from you, yet you see it as separate. It doesn’t exclude you, but you feel yourself excluded…”
“What kind of answer is that?”
“Belief is designed such a way that it becomes ego. Ego always wants to prove its point. People want their point of view to survive. They are happy when somebody approves their beliefs. They become unhappy when belief is questioned. That’s why you feel hurt, if somebody questions your belief. Belief doesn’t have inherent strength. Most of the beliefs are seeds of insecurity and fear. It reaps only violence…”
“That explain as to why in some religions, believers are ready to kill or die for their beliefs.”
“Yes – the result of their belief = god doesn’t have any power to protect himself, so we have to protect the god and anybody questions my god should be killed…So let’s don’t have such idiotic beliefs…”
“Ok. So belief is ego…”
“Belief becomes ego. How can God and ego co-exist? EGO=edging god out…If you surrender your ego and allow the cosmic plan to guide you, the surrendering attitude will make you calm. Beliefs make you anxious, insecure and scared. Surrender makes you happy and relaxed.
Something amazing happens when we surrender…”
“I am still confused Uday, without believing how can you surrender?”
“From childhood you are being taught what to think and not how to think. You are thus conditioned with a belief of God who is an outsider and autocrat. You are ordered to live your life according to HIS (note the gender) commandments (or his whims and fancies) as depicted in those Holy books. If you don’t, you will be roasted in the hell. You are fearful of god. That’s how the phrase “god fearing “pops up. Surrender means you don’t think of God as the enemy but as your in-separable friend.”
“Still, there need to be a god to surrender to…”
“Surrender is not towards somebody – it is simply a way of life. Sanatan Dharma says, ‘I am not the doer’. I am doing my karma on behalf of the cosmic. For instance, there are 4.2 to 6.1 million red blood cells (RBCs) per microlitre of human blood. That means there are billions and billions of RBCs in our body. Each RBC does it karma for the body – not for itself. It doesn’t feel as the doer. It does it duty by surrendering itself to human body. Similarly, we are like a RBC in the spectrum of the cosmic. We have to do our karma by surrendering to the cosmic (divine). We are not separate from the divine power; we are an integral part of it. When you feel separate, that becomes ego. Ego wants some beliefs or concepts (of god or no god, whatever) to thrive upon. Surrender doesn’t need any beliefs. The surrender itself is the real god…”
“Have you surrendered?”
“I still have some subtle ego. I am an ordinary, conditioned human being, thriving to surrender. So before doing anything, I try saying:”Krishnarpanam astu”[Everything I surrender to Krishna.]”
“Aha, so it is a belief in Krishna…”
“For us Krishna is not a personal god – it is a representation of the entire divinity that includes you. In ‘Viswaroopa’ (universal form or Omni-form), Krishna himself and Arjuna are also seen. It says everything and everybody is inclusive. The word Krishna has thousands of other meanings too.”
“Hmm. I got the point. But you people always recite some mantras for surrendering, right?”
“Yes, many. For instance,
Kaayena vaachaa manasendriyairva
Buddhyaatmanaa va prakrite swaabhaavath
Karomi yadyad sakalam parasmai
Naaraayana-yeti samarpayami”
“What does it means?”
“Whatever I do with the body, speech, mind or the sense organs, either by discrimination of the intellect, or something beyond mind or by the deeper feelings of the heart or inner nature, or by the existing tendencies of the mind, I do them all, over and over again (i.e. whatever work is to be done) without ownership, and I surrender or dedicate them to the Supreme Narayana.”
“Again, Narayana denotes the concept of god…”
“Here, Narayana (Lord Vishnu or Krishna) means the infinite all pervading form of cosmic. The word “Na-ra-Ayana” has voluminous inner meanings. Na= not mine, ra= perishable, Ayana=a resting place (abode), or support. By saying Narayana, you are saying: “I am not mine. Everything belongs to the cosmic” This is the true form of surrendering…Variations on the meaning of Narayana include “path of man,” “eternal man” and “the abode of beings.”
Our ancestors said, abandon all varieties of beliefs and just surrender unto the cosmic. The surrender is the most beautiful experience and the most wonderful concept in all the creation. It means to genuinely offer our love, “I am yours…” The belongingness (or togetherness) is surrender. You do not lose anything in surrendering to the divine. You become one with the divine by surrendering.
By
Udaylal Pai
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