Surrender

My blog is called Journey to Surrender. I don't know how far I have to go, but I've walked the path. Surrender is the final stage of love, beyond sacrifice. Surrender is a spiritual path.  One may make small sacrifices along the path, but surrender is the final step. If one hopes to make progress, risk is involved. My guru used to say, "No risk, no gain. This is the general idea. Without risk, no progress is made. But all risk, no gain: are you ready for that?"



At the end of his life, The great Russian writer, Feodor Dostoyevsky
 lamented that he had not created a character as great as the Quixote of Cervantes. The Quixote surrenders everything for his high ideal.

Don Quixote, tilting at windmills

Perhaps he is mad. But he is defined by his idealism. All my life I've been tilting at windmills, but I'm not sure if I've really made any progress. Surrender is a high ideal.

I found the deepest expression of the idea of divine surrender in the Bengali poetry of  Sharanagati by Bhaktivinoda Thakura. It's an amazing work. Those of you who have been to India might be familiar with it. I visited the house of Bhaktivinod in Nabadwip dham. He was quite a idealist.

Kedarnatha Dutta, Bhaktivinod Thakura

He was a high court judge, a prolific writer, and a deep mystic who embraced the concept of divine surrender.  The journey to surrender is never-ending. I'll leave you with a definition.

sur·ren·der

  (sə-rĕn′dər)

v. sur·ren·dered, sur·ren·der·ing, sur·ren·ders

v.tr.

1. To relinquish possession or control of (something) to another because of demand or compulsion: surrendered the city to the enemy.See Synonyms at relinquish.

2. To give up in favor of another, especially voluntarily: surrendered her chair to her grandmother.

3. To give up or abandon: surrender all hope.

4. To give over or resign (oneself) to something, as to an emotion: surrendered himself to grief.

5. Law To effectuate a surrender of.

v.intr.

To submit to the power of another, especially after resisting; give up.

n.

1. The act or an instance of surrendering: The general demanded the unconditional surrender of the fort.

2. Law The yielding of the possession of an estate to a party with a reversion or remainder interest in the estate, or of a lease to alandlord, prior to the term's expiration.

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[Middle English surrenderen, from Old French surrendre : sur-, sur- + rendre, to deliver; see render.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.