Self-surrender is considered to be the highest of all yogas. In this path the yogic exercises and other techniques like concentration and meditation are not involved. The yoga of self-surrender has been explained by Lord Krishna in the eighteenth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita. According to this method of attainment, the aspirant surrenders all that he has-his body, mind, intellect, and ego-entirely to the Lord of life in order to establish truth and supreme bliss. Two qualities of action lead the aspirant to self-surrender: faithfulness and sincerity. Faithfulness is to admit and to manifest no movement other than that which is promoted by the innermost conscious-ness. Sincerity requires the lifting of all movements of mind, body, and action to the level of the highest consciousness where the thought of individuality or duality ceases. Sincerity is one of the qualities that aspirants should cultivate with all efforts. Those who surrender without reserve, to them Atman reveals itself. Desire for self-surrender and mere assumptions of mental attitude do not help much in this path. When total surrender is accomplished, the entire personality is transformed. Without complete self-surrender, it is not possible to attain the Divinity. In the process of self-surrender, the student opens himself to the divine force and allows it to work through his mind, action, and speech. Divine grace and bliss are ever-present, but the human ego creates a wall and resists this force because of the ignorance he develops with the association of the mind, which flows to the external world with the help of the senses. Mind has its own ideas and always clings to them. It has its habits and always flows to the grooves of its habits. The ego controls the life of the ignorant: he lives in the world that is ruled by ego. Unless there is a burning desire to go beyond, self-surrender is impossible. Self-surrender should be unconditional. Self-surrender is the way of accepting the divine with the whole heart and mind. It is the shortest of all paths, yet very difficult and very easy also. The Ishopanisad declares, “Tena tyaktena“; that is, the way of practicing self-surrender is to “offer all the fruits of thy actions and then enjoy.”

Editor’s Note

This is an excerpt from Choosing a Path by Swami Rama, published in 1996, The Himalayan International Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy of USA, pp. 129-130