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                 THE WAY TO HAPPINESS: SURRENDER

                                Natural freedom

MAKING THE RIGHT MOVES

   We all want to enjoy ourselves, and this includes the enjoyment of those whom we hold near and dear, but due to our lack of ability to consistently make the correct choices, we seem to experience more than our share of suffering rather than enjoy continual happiness. This is not merely due to a little ignorance but a demand enforced upon us by our senses, which when combined with emotional upsets, leads us to forget our own long term welfare in favour of some short term "emotional band-aid".

   So, what I've just said implies that we don't always have control over ourselves. You don't believe this? Just watch your responses next time you get angry. You'll probably say and do things that may well be embarrassing later on. Other emotions exert a similar, but not always malefic influence upon our decision making. In the company of persons we admire we feel emotionally buoyant and can weather problems that might otherwise disturb us. The exuberance of young love is a classic illustration of this case.

   I'm not intending to get into some psychological treatise on the influence of the emotions upon decision making, but merely wish to bring the reader's attention to the fact so as to point out that we are not as self determining as we may like to think. The responses of an emotionally stable person when in a challenging situation greatly differ to those of the unstable, and we really must ask ourselves if we are actually reliable enough to determine our own directions. If you are extremely happy and never seem to suffer then you are among the extreme minority who have little use for this page.

   Many of our day to day decions are posing no threat to us but when we consider our deeper motivations and recognise the limitations of our modus operandi, we may be able to understand that we need to accept the assistance of one who can and is willing to guide us, rather than to merely follow the whims of our minds. It's rather difficult to surrender to this authority immediately but with practice as time goes by we achieve greater faith and by seeing the results of our previous attempts at surrender, we can realise that the process is working. Then we are willing to surrender more and more. This brings, by degrees, a stability into our decision making, according to our surrender unto this guidance.

ACCEPTING AUTHORITY

   We can see from recent events in Iraq, after the old Saddam regieme was ousted that people, lacking an authority to govern them, simply ran amok, rioting and looting. Authority, even a less than perfect authority, is not necessarily a totally bad thing.
   If we are ready to accept an authority as our guide, then it can be said that we have faith in that authority. I, personally, have faith in the Oxford English Dictionary to supply the correct meaning to my enquiries about the words in the English language. Children, albeit grudgingly, accept the authority of their parents. This implies that children have faith in their parents' guidance and decision making ability. Faith, based on fact, is a prerequisite for surrender. Faith based on whim or fanaticism is of no further use to us; in fact it never was of any use to anybody, anywhere.

WE ARE SPIRIT SOULS: ONLY HAPPY WHEN LIVING SPIRITUALLY

   A guru, or spiritual master, is an authority on spiritual life, from whom we are willing to accept guidance. One accepts a guru because, based on our knowledge of the guru, we have faith in that person's guidance.

   I remember that on one sunny winter's day in suburban wherever, I came upon a blind man who was walking along the footpath alone and unaided. As I was walking in the same direction, I inquired from him if he would like assistance, wherupon he replied in the affirmative. He had faith in my intention and ability to assist him (and perhaps had no real need of assistance, but welcomed the conversation we enjoyed during our stroll). Nevertheless, he was willing to have faith in me, just as we have faith in our friends to be our friends, otherwise we would certainly avoid them.

   So, how do we know if a guru or spiritual mentor is able to assist us, and more importantly, how do we enlist their aid? Is faith enough?

   Srila Gour Govinda Swami has said that if one thinks that, by my prowess, by my intelligence, I will determine who is pure enough to be guru and who is not, he will surely be mistaken. Thinking that we can determine who is guru and who is not is apparently intelligent but actually unintelligent; the reason it is unintelligent is because we are ignorant of who is guru and what qualities a guru must embody. Yes, it is true that we may estimate or guesstimate, but the reality is as hereinbefore stated, we simply don't know. So this begs the question of how to ascertain the actual guru from the pseudo guru.

   As Srila Gour Govinda Swami goes on to elaborate, we have to come to the recognition that there is no way that we can actually decide with any certainty, so we can merely cry to Krsna, God, for guidance. It is said that by the grace of Krsna we get guru and by the grace of guru we get Krsna.

SO WHAT DOES KRISHNA SAY ABOUT THIS?

    When we get guru, it's necessary to demonstrate to him that we are actually serious about following his advice so Krsna Himself says in the Bhagavad-Gita that:

         Quote

Chapter 4. Transcendental Knowledge
TEXT 34
tad viddhi pranipatena
pariprasnena sevaya
upadeksyanti te jnanam
jnaninas tattva-darsinah
SYNONYMS
 tat--that knowledge of different sacrifices; viddhi--try to understand; pranipatena--by approaching a spiritual master; pariprasnena--by submissive inquiries; sevaya--by the rendering of service; upadeksyanti--initiate; te--unto you; jnanam--knowledge; jnaninah--the self-realized; tattva--truth; darsinah--the seers.
TRANSLATION
 Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Inquire from him submissively and render service unto him. The self-realized soul can impart knowledge unto you because he has seen the truth.

PURPORT
 The path of spiritual realization is undoubtedly difficult. The Lord therefore advises us to approach a bona fide spiritual master in the line of disciplic succession from the Lord Himself. No one can be a bona fide spiritual master without following this principle of disciplic succession. The Lord is the original spiritual master, and a person in the disciplic succession can convey the message of the Lord as it is to his disciple. No one can be spiritually realized by manufacturing his own process, as is the fashion of the foolish pretenders. The Bhagavatam says: dharmam tu saksad bhagavat-pranitam--the path of religion is directly enunciated by the Lord. Therefore, mental speculation or dry arguments cannot help one progress in spiritual life. One has to approach a bona fide spiritual master to receive the knowledge. Such a spiritual master should be accepted in full surrender, and one should serve the spiritual master like a menial servant, without false prestige. Satisfaction of the self-realized spiritual master is the secret of advancement in spiritual life. Inquiries and submission constitute the proper combination for spiritual understanding. Unless there is submission and service, inquiries from the learned spiritual master will not be effective. One must be able to pass the test of the spiritual master, and when he sees the genuine desire of the disciple, he automatically blesses the disciple with genuine spiritual understanding. In this verse, both blind following and absurd inquiries are condemned. One should not only hear submissively from the spiritual master, but one must also get a clear understanding from him, in submission and service and inquiries. A bona fide spiritual master is by nature very kind toward the disciple. Therefore when the student is submissive and is always ready to render service, the reciprocation of knowledge and inquiries becomes perfect.

         Unquote

   So here we have in a nutshell, the actual path to real, extended and eternal happiness. The bona-fide guru will show us what it is that we do that is preventing happiness, so all we have to do is to stop the nonsense activities and act as much as our faith will permit, according to the instructions of our guru. Progressive surrender must naturally follow as we are blessed by the mercy of God, through the via medium of Sri Guru.

TRY IT OUT TO SEE FOR YOURSELF

   Soon it becomes apparent to the sadhaka (one who follows sadhana or Sri Guru's instructions) that Krsna has been merciful and that He has given us real assistance in our search for actual happiness. This is natural since real guru is krsna krpa sri murti; the actual embodiment of Krsna's mercy. In other words, the guru is the proper vehicle of God's mercy, and the only way to get actual happiness. If you don't believe this, that's OK. Simply give the idea a possibility of being correct, since you obviously don't know that it's not he truth, and follow the process a while. It won't be long until you realise that you have been blessed by Krsna.