Surrender and will-power

Divine surrender, from the spiritual point of view, comes from will-power. If we have an adamantine will, then we will get the capacity to make unconditional surrender. Again, if we can surrender unconditionally to God, then we will get the capacity to develop will-power. Inner will-power, which is the soul’s light, and surrender, which is the oneness of our heart with the Absolute, always go together. They are inseparable. There can be no difference between the soul’s will-power and the unconditional surrender of our entire being to the Will of the Supreme. Both are equally strong. If we can make unconditional surrender to the Will of the Supreme, it is the result of our inner will-power, our soul’s light.

In the spiritual life the real Guru is the Supreme. At every moment we have to feel that our own Guru, who represents the Supreme, knows infinitely better than we do. We must then surrender to his will, not to our own so-called conviction. The Master and God will do something for us and in return we will do something for them. There is a mutual feeling of surrender between the aspirant and the Highest. To surrender unconditionally to someone, we need tremendous will-power. We accept surrender only theoretically, because when it comes to the practical life, we cannot obey our superiors for more than one or two seconds. Although we say, “He is my superior,” we immediately revolt because we feel that we know better than he does.

If we can have tremendous soul’s will-power, we shall be able to surrender to the Will of the Supreme. There is no difference between the soul’s will and life’s dedicated surrender.

Sri Chinmoy, Surrender's unlimited power, Sri Chinmoy Lighthouse, New York, 1974