--- title: "The Ultimate Power of Surrender - Lessons" url: "https://webinars.bhagavadgitauniversity.com/powersur" updated: "2026-11-05T05:00:50Z" --- # The Ultimate Power of Surrender - Lessons The Ultimate Power of Surrender Part 1 of 3 – Lessons 1 to 8 **Lesson No 1** Shankaracharya once shared how he chooses his successor. He explained that sunlight falls everywhere, but when it touches a mirror, **it doesn’t just capture the light beautifully—it also reflects it in any direction.** Similarly, a Guru selects a successor whose *antahkarana* (inner instrument made up of mind,intellect memory ego) is like a mirror—clear, reflective, and capable of spreading the Guru’s message to millions of worthy devotees. In the same way, if you want ***God to reside in your heart*** your memory(Chitta) should be like a clear mirror fully surrendered to Him. Of the four elements of Antahkarana memory is like a mirror it can reflect the Sat chit Ananda(Existence, consciousness and bliss) of the Self. **Memory is gifted to you to capture the Self and reflect it.** But what do we do? We fill it up with excessive attachments of the world and hatred and burden it with worldly desires… As a result The glass **always looks empty no matter how much it is filled…** The memory that that is clear becomes the perfect dwelling place for God to dwell. It is foolishness to spend decades meditating and practicing rituals **without first preparing the house where God will reside.** God has only one criterion: the extent to which your memory—your mind—is surrendered to Him. I recall a recent incident from my own life happened this week. After finishing three books on Shankaracharya, which took me six months, **I had a deep desire for the two Shankaracharyas to read a few pages, give me feedback.** Their schedules are very tight…It was a noble desire, yet my mind was flooded with thoughts: *Will the book reach them? Will someone forward it? Will he give feedback?* This noble desire **consumed a large portion of my mind.** Fortunately, the books were received, read, and appreciated by the two Shankaracharyas, and my desire dropped away. **But I realized how foolish I had been to let it dominate me**. No matter how noble our desires, they will control us. Shankaracharya says you cannot destroy desire and desire will consume your life…no matter how much you meditate or do good things.. **So great ones nurtured the desire to surrender**. When this becomes your primary focus, **other desires lose their power to harm you**. Their poison fades. This is the most beautiful goal: to make surrender your foundation. Shankaracharya shared a profound story. A teacher once filled a glass halfway with water and asked the students, "What do you see?" One student said, "The glass is half full with water." Another said, "The glass is half empty." The teacher smiled and replied, "The glass is full. One half is filled with water, and the other half is filled with *vayu* (air) and *akasha* (space).” **Even when the glass appears empty, it is always full.** Then, the teacher broke the glass. The students gasped and said, "Now, there is nothing." But the teacher responded, "Even when the glass is broken, the idea of the glass remains. From that idea, another glass can be created." We’ve all heard that energy cannot be destroyed; it can only be transformed. In truth, matter—name and form—can never be completely destroyed. When an object is unmanifest, its essence still exists. From this unmanifest essence, the manifested object arises, and the cycle continues eternally. From idea of glass to glass the cycle continues **Yet, there is something beyond the matter of the glass—**consciousness**.** This consciousness existed before the glass was created, sustained it while it existed, and remained even after the glass was destroyed. **Consciousness is the unseen force that unites the insentient (**jad**) with the sentient (**chetan**). This is what we will be covering in the class.** *Jad* refers to matter—our bodies, our senses, our 14 tools ,the trees, the world—everything you can perceive. None of these have consciousness of their own. If you take away space from the universe what will be left is Self… Ishwara, who resides in your Self, is the consciousness that pervades the entire universe during creation, sustenance, and dissolution. **The glass is always full—with the love of Ishwara.** We often feel something is missing in our lives. We think the glass is empty. But this is a one-dimensional way of thinking. In truth, the glass is full, even when it seems empty. **Even when the glass is broken, you remain whole.** This understanding is essential because our greatest enemy is not the lack of objects **but the lack of realization.** **Ignorance is what creates the idea of lack.** Commit to nurturing your desire to surrender. Allow God to gift you the vision to rise above name and form, **so the idea of lack is completely destroyed.** Realize there is no place—inside or outside of you—where Ishwara does not dwell. Your Self resides everywhere. You are born to realise you were never born says Shankaracharya. Tomorrow, we will dive deeper into the idea of *reflected consciousness* and explore how it can help you dissolve emotions that block the path of surrender. --- **Lesson No 2- Untying the knot of Self with the Ego(Aham)** You have to trust your Self. To trust your Self you have to trust the Word of God. To trust the Word of God you have to trust the source who is committed to bringing it to you. The reason I'm saying this is because we are interacting with words, but superior to the word is the person. The person here represents the source, who has realised the Self and is fully committed to bringing the realization of the Self to you. At the end of the day, you're trusting yourself only, there's no second person here. The source gets eliminated, or the source gets merged with the word, the word gets merged with your Self. This is why it is very important to love your Self. The more you love Ishwara who resides in your Self the more you love the word of God and then the more you can identify those who are bringing that message of Ishwara to you. **Here one thing comes in between…** Our ego is bigger than our knowledge.. Many times we don’t even notice it because you did not create ego.. You were born with it. It is a Tatwa element.. called Aham of the universal mind… Aham is absent in the causal body. In waking it **identifies itself in 3 ways** 1\) When you awake Aham gets falsely identified with Atman or rather we mistake Aham to be Atman and get superimpose experiences. 2\) Aham gets identified with Chidabasa-reflected light falling on the intellect 3\) Aham gets identified with the gross body We cannot do much about the second and third identification but the first one Panchadasi author says **if you disidentify your Self from the ego then even though you may have desires it will not bind you for you have cut the knot of conscious with the unconscious..** Conscious is called Chetan and Unconscious is called Jad in Vedanta. Self gets identified with Aham- Aham with Chidabasa- Chidabasa with intellect… This is a big secret because Self can get identified with Aham only due to ignorance…. Ignorance means Avarana a covering caused by Tamas of Maya… Atman has no modification no creation, maintenance and dissolution. For these to happen first the Atman has to be covered.. that is ignorance and on the covering the superimpsotion happens Like a movie on the screen all names and form are superimposed… Nothing happens to the screen and to the person watching The good news is it is easy to **disidentify** the Self from the ego…. Why? It is because there is no action involved here. It is a result of direct knowledge… Atman the Self has no modification. It does not create , act and so does not experience… It is called nirvikar, kutashta… The first thing that happens is Atman gets covered by Avarana of Tamas. The nature of Tamas is to cover the Atman and present it as something else. When Atman is covered with Avarana …. we lose discrimination of Self and non self and start treating all non-self as Self. . This is called Avivek in Vedanta.. we lose memory of Atman… The moment we do so Aham takes over…. We treat insentient or unconscious objects as consciousness. We start treating the 14 tools Memory, Aham,intellect , Mind the senses as conscious objects. This Aham gets identified with reflected light Chidabasa which gets identified with the intellect and “I” consciousness is formed we will see that later tomorrow or later… But the simple thing to realise is all the doership and experience sticks to you because of mistaking the Aham as Self… Doership and experience is the dharma of intellect which is a tool but the superimposition of this doership and experience on the Self happens because of Aham… **The only conscious person here is YOU the Self..** So don’t think you have to do anything you have to separate the consciousness from the unconscious Aham first.. Don’t complicate it as **this the first BIG STEP to surrender and freedom** Aham is a tool that is unconscious but it slaps the doership and experience on the Self because you have not **disidentified yourself** from Aham… **You have to take responsibility to cut the knot of conscious with the unconscious.. through direct knowledge.** You can never **feel any bondage in the Self** because it does not retain any doership or experience.. **Retention of any experience and doership is only possible when the Self is covered** and Aham becomes the Self through superimposition… Your enemy is ignorance not action or discipline or control of mind… Ignorance can only be destroyed through direct knowledge What is direct knowledge? **Taking responsibility to cut the knot of conscious with the unconscious..** So read this many times and concentrate only on Self and Aham **and just like you easily separate a fake lion on the screen from a real lion in the zoo or a picture of yourself in your phone from you cut the knot of conscious with the unconscious..** Your direct knowledge of Self now will become million times bigger than your ego just like that magically without doing anything. **Tommorow we will dive more deeper.** --- **Lesson No 3- What is reflected consciousness? How was jiva born, got itself bound and finally became free?** Says Shankaracharya “The Atman is of the nature of consciousness and **it does not have any kind of bondage**. The mind is an inanimate object and **it is not possibl**e for an inanimate **object to have bondage**. Bondage is only for Jiva who is a **combination of mind and Atman**- Shankaracharya”- Read this atleast 10 times. The Atman cannot think… The mind cannot be **conscious of thinking.** Who is saying “I am thinking”? The Atman cannot feel… The mind cannot be **conscious of feeling** Who is saying “ I am feeling pain or pleasure”? So it is very clear that both Atman and the tools in you cannot have bondage and is not conscious of the object. **There is no object in the Self. Read that 10 times** **Where is the object appearing?** Intellect is where **subject-object relationship** is formed or rather the appearance of the object is first seen. In the Self is pure concsiousenss Sat chit Ananda … Shuddh Chaitanya. It is Advaita. Atman is Kaivalya(Independent of everything) and nirvikar(no modification and so has no relationship to any object) The object appears only when the **consciousness is reflected** in the intellect. This reflected consciousness is called Jiva. Now Atman cannot be attached to the intellect because it by its very nature is Kaivalya and so **cannot be conscious of object** Intellect since it is a tool **cannot be conscious of object** **So from where is the object or second thing appearing?** Says the Panchadasi author “The supreme spirit pervades the whole creation, both animate and inanimate. The distinction rests on the susceptibility to present a reflection of the supreme spirit through the medium of intellect.” **Objects having intellect in which Chidabasa is formed by reflection are called animate.** Just as the conscious Jiva is created by illusion based on Kutashta(Self) even so the inanimate objects are created by Avidya. Atman gets falsely attached to Aham and Aham to Chidabasa and this falls on the intellect and intellect appears to be conscious of pain pleasure and delusion. To learn this let us take a simple example You are sleeping in your bed comfortably and you have a dream. In the dream you created an airplane rode to many countries in the world had lot of pleasure and pain and took good care of your plane and then you suddenly woke up and the plane disappeared… **Now who had this experience of creating maintaining and disappearing the plane?** Atman here representing you sleeping in the bed has nothing to do with creation maintenance and dissolution. Your intellect is a tool and **cannot be conscious** of creating the plane, maintaining and disappearing it. Who is it that was conscious and had the good and bad experience of the plane? It is the Jiva which is combination of Atman and mind created through Maya. This is important to realise It is the Jiva which is in bondage and wants to be free not the person sleeping on the bed – the Atman who is already free neither the tools for they are object…. Intellect is the **one tool where consciousness gets reflected** and we see the entire universe of name and form in that intellect. As soon as the intellect disappears in deep sleep the names and forms disappear and objects disappear. Reflected consciousness called Jiva is made up of on one end Shuddh Chaitanya free Chit of Atman and on the other end Chidabasa (reflected light because of Avidya or karma) like an arrow. The sharp end representing the effects of pain pleasure and delusion we become conscious of in intellect and the other end is the free Atman. Chidabasa has the dirty habit of maintaining the false experience.. So there are three activies in Chidabasa like in dream. You create a thought, You maintain a thought and you disappear it .. We are so **good in maintaining it** that we forget to remember the other end of Jiva which is the Shuddh Chaitanya free Chit of Atman.. which is what will give us freedom Says Vivekananda “Atman is **dormant** in non moving object **partially conscious** in individuals like us and fully conscious in incarnations like Krishna, Adi Shankaracharya, Jesus and few others… Why partially conscious.. Because we faintly remember the Self directly we are always remembering the reflected light consciousness Our goal is to surrender the Chidabasa to Atman Chidabasa keeps us busy in maintaining the thought and feelings in intellect…and stops us from disappearing it. Here is the secret **Creation happens through visualization** **Maintained by ignorance and** Disappearance by realization You have to surrender the dream to the dreamer sleeping on the bed who is not affected… **You did not create the problem** **You visualized it and it got created** You did not maintain he problem You were ignorant and so you held on to the visualized problem Now that you are realised that Self is already free of bondage and the tool can never be conscious of bondage it is the fake Jiva who is knowing and experiencing you disappear the visualized problem **Chidabasa feels ashamed** of being a fake experience and maintaining a visualization and surrenders to Kutastha- Atman That is the goal.. That realization will come to you… Read it many times. --- **Lesson No 4- The Billion dollar secret why liberation takes so long...** Lets revisit this beautiful passage again. “The Atman is of the nature of consciousness and **it does not have any kind of bondage**. The mind is an inanimate object and **it is not possibl**e for an inanimate **object to have bondage**. Bondage is only for Jiva who is a **combination of mind and Atman**- Shankaracharya”- This is such a wonderful passage that if you read this once a day for 30 days great power will come to you. For 365 days will make you fully established in the Self… The reason why we have not been successful in liberating ourselves is because **we could never figure out who is it that is in bondage and who is it that needs liberation.** If you figure that out 90% of work is done… the good news is this 90% is direct knowledge.. Your Atman is not in bondage.. because Atman is Kaivalya independent of everything. Atman has no relationship to a name and form and so there is no idea of object rising in it… It is important for you to know that in you there is only Atman ,the Antahkarana(mind intellect memory ego) and the senses. One of these three is in bondage…. However the good news is none of the three is in bondage. The Atman is free of bondage The Mind and senses cannot be conscious of emotions and so has no bondage and has no desire for liberation. Here a important realization is formed that the Jiva who is a combination of Atman and mind is feeling bondage and wants to liberate itself. **However Atman can never combine with Mind .It is not possible at all.** It is because Atman is nivirkar there is no modification in the Atman and it is Kaivalya.. independent by itself there is no duality So the **Atman combining with the mind is a visualization not a reality.** This you have to get yourself brainwashed. So the bondage is the Atman falsely visualizing itself to be combining with the mind and the liberation is rightly visualizing that the Atman can never combine with the mind. This is our task So doing meditation, controlling the mind all that is never going to attain liberation. They have their advantages but liberation has got nothing to do with mind or Atman it has got to do with conquering ignorance… This is the reason most of those who spend decades in intense spiritual practice don’t attain liberation. **They don’t aim for conquering ignorance** This combination of Atman and mind is **called Granthi…** knot… which instead of untying we are making it stronger everyday through our actions and feelings. No amount of good actions can liberate us. Good actions help us purify the mind and this purified mind becomes fit for loving the Bhagwan dwelling in the Self which in turn **puts our attention on removing this gordion’s knot which we never untied for millions of lifetimes** To put in simple terms when you are hating someone and maintain the hatred thought for days or years first realise that the one who is hating does not exist at all.. You cannot hate anyone even if you wish with all your might.. You are the Atman The mind cannot be conscious of any hatred… You are falsely visualizing you are hating someone and you are falsely maintain that visualization… when you realise this the bondage the Granthi between the conscious Atman and the unconscious mind will be **snapped** and you will become free of hatred or any other emotion in your mind Outside you may maintain a distance but in your mind you will never hate anyone because you have known the truth. As the memory rises you will not investigate how it got created, nor will you maintain it you will simply allow it to disappear because you are the Atman not the Jiva Atman… We maintain an emotion **because we are engaged in controlling the mind** when you give up controlling the mind and focus on conquering ignorance you will disappear emotion faster. So freedom and pain can co-exist says Shankaracarya . You can be free and yet encounter bad days but freedom and bondage cannot co-exist… Our job is more easier now when you realise that you have to correct a false visualization of the knot tied between Atman and mind… You don’t need to do any action or meditate for hours… You saw the rope as a snake in darkness because of Tamas.. The light of direct knowledge removed the Avarana (covering) of Tamas on the Atman . You became free without doing anything… This is what we aim for… --- **Lesson No 5- How to make your mind like a clay?** The nature of the mind is like the clay says Bhagwan Ramakrishna Why clay? It is because creation cannot begin without a visualization… When you have transformed your mind into a clay you can surrender easily to God dwelling in your Self. Most don’t recognize how poisonous our likes and dislikes have become. Vivekananda gives an example There was a monkey, restless by its own nature as all monkeys are. As if that were not enough some one made him drink freely of wine, so that he became still more restless. Then a scorpion stung him. When a man is stung by a scorpion he jumps about for a whole day so the poor monkey found his condition worse than ever. To complete his misery a demon entered into him. What language can describe the uncontrollable restlessness of the monkey? He goes on further to say human mind is like that monkey restless by default, drunk with the wine of desire, increasing its turbulence. After desire takes possession the sting of the scorpion of jealousy at the success of others and last of all the demon of pride enters the mind making it think itself of all importance. This is the reason we have **lost the power to LISTEN** to the voice of God residing in our Atman Ramakrishna would give an example that even when a person is free from all responsibilities he or she would get a cat or dog and get themselves bound… or they will get involved in some cause and bind themselves. I used to watch sports tennis and cricket for 8-10 hours a day earlier now I don’t even watch it for 8 seconds… The mind is very dangerous because which karma of previous lifetimes will spring up we don’t know... Which addiction will come on us which infatuation, which companionship …. Maya has many wings to make you fly and trap you… **You should never underestimate the power of your mind nor like a fool think you have it in full control.** The Antahkarana is ruled by Maya. In seconds it can topple it upside down and you will never know it. This is the reason you should worship God. As you do so the mind slowly but surely figures out its way back to the Atman. Here something interesting comes up **So long as you are concentrating you will end up controlling the mind…** We have to destroy the mind says Vedanta. This is the reason realization of Brahman the substratum the base on which the superimpositions of creation maintenance and dissolution is happening is necessary. Says the Panchdasi author if you are **concentrating or controlling you are meditating the knowing has not yet come** We have to begin with increasing our concentration through work prayer and small bouts of meditation that happens in between prayer… However at some point you have to surrender your concentration also at some point to **access the Shuddh Chaitanya the pure consciousness**. Everything we are conscious of now is coming from reflected consciousness. Our consciousness of body, our past our memory even knowledge of Atman is coming from reflected consciousness. The Shuddh Chaitanya the pure consciousness which is prevalent in your Atman, in the Atman of Ishwara and in the reflected consciousness falling on the intellect **can only be accessed directly when you commit to completely destroying the mind**. Destroying the mind means stop playing with the mind to control it. The mind keeps you busy by first giving you the chance to concentrate and then making you control it. Your goal should be neither to concentrate the mind nor control it **but directly access the Shuddh Chaitanya** residing in your Atman We don’t want reflected consciousness. We want to taste Shuddh Chaitanya which is free of all bondage by default It is this Shuddh Chaitanya that **reveals** you the existence of Brahman The Sat Chit Ananda. It is important for us to remind ourselves that our mind is like a clay and you have full power over a clay to mould it in the way you want. You may forget it but **forgetting does not make you lose that power**. Ignorance does As you commit to making the mind like a clay and moulding it as often as you want in different shapes quickly you will begin to start tasting or accessing The Shuddh Chaitanya the pure consciousness directly There would be no need to concentrate or control the mind to surrender That is the game plan. --- **Lesson No 6- How to bless yourself?** You have to bless yourself. Shankarcharya talks about how great ones bless the right seekers He says in most individuals both good and bad will manifest out of their mind but in a sage only good comes out because their rajas and tamas is not mixed with Sattvic This is the reason most used to visit sages of the past because when they bless you their blessings come from every pore of their being and their Words produce the desired effects. How do they do that? They manifest from the pure consciousness Shudd Chaitanya residing in the lotus of your heart… Their consciousness is not reflected… Why? Their ignorance which is called Avarana the covering of Tamas on your causal body is completely destroyed… A sage is nothing but one established in the Atman who has destroyed the avarana the covering of Tamas that hides the Self… That sage exists in you too. Your Self Your Atman You have to bless yourself… Surrender is more straight forward than we think… To master surrender you need to know **What is an obstacle?** We may feel that a person or event or a rule or organization is an obstacle in our life… Shankaracharya sees differently He says there are only two obstacles posed by Maya Avarana that which covers the Atman and hides your real nature of Bliss . You can experience this in deep sleep. When you wake up you say I had uninterrupted absence of sorrow and the next moment you say I don’t know what happened The I don’t know is **the AVarana…** Pay careful attention Bliss is an established fact.. You don’t have to run anywhere to manufacture it or search for it… However the real obstacle is not people the world or anything it is **ignorance the covering of Avarana** caused by Tamas of Maya.. It is **like complete darkness** it covers the Shuddh Chaitanya the pure concsouenss of the Atman We experience that in deep sleep. It is of the nature of **complete darkness** and so we don’t remember what happened in deep sleep even though we had complete absence of sorrow. **Even if there was no waking state you will have remained ignorant and enjoyed pain pleasure and delusion in dream state** based on your accumulated samskaras( the combination of Sattvic rajas and tamas brought forward) Why am I telling you this? There are only two things. **Unrestricted Bliss which is your real nature** ..and pain pleasure and delusion which is superimposition on this bliss. This unrestricted bliss gets covered by Avarana and Viksepa which is the other power of Maya makes this Bliss appear as effects of pain pleasure and delusion in waking state. **Viksepa is not the real obstacle. Your pain delusion and people are not the real obstacles.** **Viksepa which is manifested in your thoughts and feelings is only increasing your obstacle not creating it..** For example if you are extremely angry with someone **that person in the world is only increasing your anger he or she is not the reason for your anger.** The reason for your anger is Avarana the covering of Tamas which hides your Atman. You came with it and unless that is removed no matter whom you meet anger will rise… The obstacle is **always ignorance** never the human being or an object. The first unseen object is ignorance and this is of the nature of darkness. Tamas… Human beings and world **increase the frequency and nature of the obstacle but they are not the creators of the obstacle.** **If you realized this completely it will change your life forever.** **You will save so much time and not throw all your energy at hating or getting frustrated with people and others for you know they are only increasing your emotions not the cause of it.** You will turn your attention in removing Avarana by worshipping your Self which has the Shuddh Chaitanya the light… As you surrender the Viksepa to Avarana your mind will be eventually destroyed and the light of the sage in you will shine forth directly…. **Your WORDS will manifest into** reality… You would have blessed yourself. --- **Lesson No 7-** The Path That Never Closes**...** The Atman is called Kaivalya. Kaivalya means only ONE. The Power to surrender to the Self is an established fact. God keeps this door **always open**—a doorway through which even the most **unsolvable problems** dissolve effortlessly. All it takes is the courage to step through. Swami Vivekananda explains this beautifully with an example: Through a little corner of his field the peasant brings water from a reservoir and perhaps he has got a little lock that prevents the water from rushing into the field. When he wants water, he has to simply open the lock and in rushes the water of its own power. The power was **not to be added** it is already there in the reservoir. Likewise, **every one of us** possesses infinite **power, purity, bliss, and existence**. But these are obstructed by locks—the **14 tools of Maya**, which we call **nature**. Vivekananda points out: *“Nature appears infinite, but it is **finite under limitations**.”* You cannot conquer all the objective environments so the conquest happens **within**—on the subjective plane. A little fish wants to fly from its enemies in the water. How does it do so? By evolving wings and becoming a bird. The fish did not change the water or air the change was is in itself. This is where Advaita system gets its power in the subjective side of human. How does this happen? Enter the three gunas of Maya.. It is a fascinating study the three gunas of Maya **Rajas creates, Sattvic maintains and Tamas destroys** All that we call the **creation, maintenance, and dissolution** of the universe happens through these three gunas. Yet all three are **superimpositions** on the Atman, like a **dream** superimposed on **deep sleep**. Now here it gets interesting… If you experience misery, anger, or disturbance, Krishna explains in the Bhagavad Gita: *"Let the integrated sage who knows think he works not at all, even when he sees, hears, touches, or smells—knowing that the constituents (gunas) operate via constituents (gunas)."* **The three gunas are all that exists other than the Atman nothing else…** Drill that in your mind… Tamas creates the **Word**…in your mind Rajas creates the **form**… in your mind Sattvic creates the **effect** that you experience The person or object in the world **shapes** this effect. Inside your mind, there is a constant battle—a clash of forces as fierce as two enemy camps waging war. The three **gunas**—**Tamas**, **Rajas**, and **Sattva**—stand at the center of this endless struggle. **Tamas** plants the seeds of **words**—heavy, dull, and dark. It whispers confusion and dullness into your mind. **Rajas** charges forward with restless **form**, pushing and pulling, creating movement, desires, and agitation. **Sattva**, calm and steady, works to balance the chaos, creating an effect—a fleeting experience of **clarity** when it triumphs, or **confusion** when it falters. Like two warring armies, **Tamas** and **Rajas** clash violently—words and forms battling to take control. **Sattva** struggles to maintain order, yet often finds itself overwhelmed. The result? An **infinite stream of effects**—misery, anger, pleasure, and delusion—each arising and dissolving like waves in a stormy ocean. The objects and people outside of you merely **shape the battlefield**, but the war itself is **within**. This is the drama of Maya—the play of the **three gunas**—keeping you entangled in an play of pain, pleasure, and delusion. **Yet, when you awaken to the truth, the battle ends.** **The armies dissolve, and you realize there is only ONE—** **Kaivalya…** Till you realise this you will keep getting bodies and the world will keep appearing before you as objects and events and people giving you three effects of pain pleasure and delusion The whole of nature is for the soul not the soul for the nature says Vivekananda You are an ocean with no waves… That is Nirguna non dual Brahman. Yet you can manifest any wave at will. When a wave arises, it is **created**, **maintained**, and **dissolved.** But remember, the wave exists **inside the water**, not the water inside the wave. You hold the power to dissolve any wave at will. No external force can compel you to sustain the wave—except your **own ignorance**, born of Maya. The power to **surrender to Ishwara** tears apart this veil of Maya. In that surrender, **Atman** merges with **Brahman**. You realise the door was always OPEN... --- **Lesson No 8 : Can Surrender to God Transform Your Destiny?** Bhagwan determines your rewards based on your karma. However God does not interfere in the waking state until you completely surrender. When you surrender God **takes charge of your fate.** Otherwise Karma decides. Initially, you might desire more control over your fate, but as you mature in realization and the whole system of Maya is revealed … you will **prefer God deciding your fate** Krishna says “To work you have the right but not the fruits thereof..” This often perplexes people: how can one work without expecting a reward? Krishna explains that while it may seem that the anticipation of reward propels action, **it's actually the rewards accumulated from previous lives that drive our current actions**. These past karmas influence our present tendencies and desires, guiding us toward specific actions in this lifetime. **Your reward makes you work…** Your reward manifests as Avarana the sum total of tamas rajas and sattvic brought forward from previous lifetime. The purpose of karma **is not to chase a reward** but to purify your Antahkarana so that you don’t store more samskaras for future births. The rewards are already written in your name and the benefits you currently enjoy stem from past lifetimes. Consider your human body. Among the 8.4 million species—ranging from snakes to frogs to crocodiles—receiving a human form is a significant reward, **though often underappreciated.** With a donkey's body, for instance, you wouldn't have the capacity to read this or discriminate between Self and non-Self. The uniqueness of the human body **lies in its potential** to liberate you from the endless cycle of birth and death. Your body itself is a reward… think about it. **We have become shameless taking bodies after bodies and we don’t remember it.** Adi Shankaracharya notes that while in the mother's womb, positioned upside down for over six months, your kundalini was fully awakened. During this time, the Shuddh Chaitanya (pure consciousness) revealed all your past life memories. **You felt ashamed for repeatedly entering a mother's womb** and vowed to dedicate your life to praising God upon birth. Yet, upon entering the world, **you forget your biggest promise to surrender.** Eventually, life compels surrender. The wise begin this practice as early as age five. In this short life most will have some regret… But perhaps **the greatest regret was we did not surrender our mind to God from a young age at 5.** Recognizing this as your sole regret can be transformative. Other big challenges and emotions become manageable when you realize that, in the end, **not fully surrendering to Bhagwan would be your deepest remorse.** Don't be disheartened by unmet desires in wealth, health, or relationships, or by life's hardships. As important as they are they will not matter in the end and even now they are dominating only in your mind Don’t destroy yourself if you feel hurt by others Words or life did not treat you well.. Redirect your attention to your **earlier promise of surrender.** Had you upheld it, current problems would hold less sway over you. The next best moment to surrender is now. The good thing about surrender is you get a chance to change 75% of your destiny… though the rewards are already decided. How does this work? There are four types of karma. Mild, medium strong and very strong Most cannot shift even the mild karma for there is no scope for manifestation in waking with the 14 tools. To manifest you got to surrender and that can only be done with the realization of power of dream and deep sleep. The first three types of karma mild, medium and strong can be **influenced by Gods grace if you commit to surrender** The last type “very strong” is a tough order and despite you doing many things it may not work… However 99% of even the worst karma falls in the first 3 categories so we have a good chance. **How does surrender function?** Karma introduces obstacles that emerge as names and forms in your mind. **Engaging with these names and forms** lends them reality, often linked to specific individuals, rules, or events. Now here is the whole thing. Atman is not conscious of obstacles… The mind cannot be conscious of them either for it is a tool It is the Jiva which through visualization strengthens and makes it real. How? The Jiva make **the obstacle conscious only** in your mind. Externally t**here is no obstacle there is only Sat Chit Ananda** (existence, consciousness, bliss). When you realise that there is no way this **obstacle will cease to be conscious** in the waking you will surrender to the Shuddh Chaitanya appearing as the source light…. That very moment the reflected light will disappear and the obstacle outside will disappear magically. That is the premise… So long as you don’t see God as Shuddh Chaitanya… the source light the **form of God will not appear** in your Antahkarana and the reflected light will not disappear by His grace. **The commitment to surrender produces the right visualization that can produce a reward even if it did not exist at the time of your birth.** It is called yogakshemamvam. God protects what you have and gifts you what you don’t … This is what Krishna encourages. Do your work but surrender the rewards to me… and it will benefit you… in this lifetime and also help you attain liberation in the end. This is not easy neither is it hard. We don’t commit to it and we are causal in remembering our promise to surrender. If you can turn that around Magic can happen in your life [Continue to Lessons 9 to 15](https://webinars.bhagavadgitauniversity.com/powersur-2)