From my last article, many of you may have read about the phenomenal 21-day yoga retreat called Nithyanandoham 1008 which is going to take place in Phuket from December 7-27 by a living incarnation, Paramahama Nithyananda (fondly known as Swamiji). Frankly, this program itself can’t be verbalised because it is going to be very experiential energy process which awakens the God particle in you. It is an open invitation from LIFE itself to explore the Unknown dimension of you. For some people who have been seeking in their life for a long time and who are in tune with their Being, the moment they cognise this invitation, they simply take the jump with a leap of faith and a deep trust in the Master.
However, for most people who are centred on the mind, they need more understanding, convincing and removing the obstacles they face in their life. In the process of enriching people for this life-transforming opportunity, it made me learn so much about the work of the cunning mind and the ways how people miss LIFE again and again. I also cognise that the whole process of making the conscious decision to spend 21-day with a living incarnation is a process of surrendering one’s mind.
Swamiji once said that ‘Surrender is nothing but merging with Existence, with no identity of ‘I’ and ‘mine’. When you surrender, it means the death of the mind, your ego. Ego is nothing but feeling yourself to be a separate entity from Existence. This feeling happens as a result of a strong ‘I’ and ‘mine’. The mind is a direct conflict to the being whereas the being always concurs with Existence.’
In the process of going to this retreat, one can see how the mind invariably comes in the way. Although the Being knows, but the cunning mind continues to doubt. Our mind can only exist in the oscillation between the past or the future. It is only in the present moment that the mind does not exist, hence there is no past nor future, we become open and innocent like a child.
I’ve seen that so many devotees and seekers who are not able to surrender the mind. There is one devotee who is very stuck in the past, he is so afraid to open up his traumatic past that he just drops out of the opportunity to be healed and transformed by life. Even if life gives the blessing for him to be there without any struggle on the financial part, somehow he finds a way to either postpone or escape from life. Another devotee who is too busy working on her future business plan, she was unable to let go her plan and live with utter insecurity of loss of future income. She missed life too. Another seeker who was stuck on the fear of her Unknown and the need for acceptance by her family, she just gave up on herself because she was not able to convince her family why she had to attend this retreat. One intelligent devotee who was able to surrender his intellect when he saw someone like Ma Nithyadevi who is more intelligent than him and she was able to answer all his doubts, he simply surrendered and took the jump to life. Good for him!
For those who are more centred on the heart, the emotional surrender happens when they feel deeply connected to the Master. They start respecting master’s guidance much more than their emotions. For these people, the master has become the centre of their life and a shift in priority happens. For them, a feeling connection with the master is enough to move them there.
Finally the deeper level of surrender is the surrender of the senses to the Master. The Master stands for the ideal “You are Infinite.” There are many dimensions in your being, which you have not yet explored and experienced. He is showing you so many dimensions of your being to yourself! As of now, your senses can only cognise that you are body and mind. But according to him, you are God. Only when you trust the Master more than your senses, you will realize – Master’s words are true. I’ve seen one seeker who had surrender her senses to the Master, she simply starts having direct guidance from him and expresses extraordinary intuition in sensing people. She made a list of her friends to the Master whom she would like them to attend this retreat. By surrendering her senses and constantly making herself available for her friends in removing the obstacles that come their way, everyone on her list made it to the retreat!
In this process, one thing I am still learning – that is to drop everything and surrender whatever I know as life, whatever I know is only my knowledge; it is not what is. The “I” and “Mine” need to drop at the Master’s feet!
In essence, ‘Surrender’ does not mean you will lose everything in life, you are not going to lose anything when you surrender, you are only going to gain everything and merge with Existence. Namaste 😀
