THE ART OF SURRENDER

I paid a visit to one of my favorite studios in NYC and bumped to one
of my teachers. We were having a conversation that reminded me of how
important it is to surrender all activities, actions and thoughts to the
(*your word representing divinity here*) in every moment in the days of our lives.

There is a word in yoga that some of you are familiar with called
Niyama. The Niyamas are a set of behaviors and observances set forth
by the eight limb system of Raja Yoga (this being the second limb).
As I think of surrender, there is one of the Niyamas that come to mind
immediately: Isvara Pranidhana (प्रणिधान). Isvara literally translates into
God or Lord or ruler. Prani- basically means to compose or to make;
it could also mean to produce. Dhana- translates to mean giving up
or the act of giving; it could also mean donation. So when we put this
term together, we have "God, Compose, and Giving Up (donation). We can
loosely translate this as "Composing or Producing a donation
(or giving [something] up) to God / Lord / Ruler." When you are are
doing something in the name of (*your word for God*), you are surrendering
all your activities, actions and thoughts to this divine being; you are in
essence 'donating' your actions. In order to give up your actions, you must
rid yourself of them. There cannot be an attachment to them of any sort;
you should be able to give them up as if they were never yours to begin with.
When surrender occurs, the channels of consciousness can be opened.
Once you open your channels to the divine, the divine will open its
channels to you. All becomes possible. How can one open the channels if
you are blocking them with selfish actions? If you are constantly
doing everything for one's own benefit in the physical, material world,
how can one benefit from the non-material, non-physical world?
You cannot 'donate' your actions because you expect some sort
of reward; give them up selflessly as if you were excited to go and
do more work and repeat the process again and again.

The greatest reward here is, being able to surrender. Simply this alone can
prepare you for the union (Yoga). Don't think before you jump
into surrendering...Just do it and everything will follow you and fall in line accordingly.

I wish you all Eternal Bliss.

Shukriya Aur Namaste