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2012/10 降服:信心的完满
 
1. 我们该降服于谁?
 
降服这个辞并不完全表达梵文(Sanskrit)‘saranagathi’这个字的意思。梵文的这个字含有对神的虔诚并接受祂神圣的旨意的意思。它指的不是对某个人的降服而是对我们自己内在灵性的降服。

在灵道上,没有人应该应要求而放弃他的判断,也没有人应该去盲目地接受某些理念。道不可须臾离,可离非道也(绝不可背离真理)。我们必须以我们自己的体验去测试所有的灵性教导。要达到解脱的目标,我们必须自己去评估所有教理的利益。降服无需抛弃智能或理性;它需要的是强大的灵性辨识力。降服于神就是降服于我们唯神是盼的渴望 ---- 我们自己的阿特玛,神的本质。
 

问题不在于对某人的降服或奉献。你降服于你自己。降服就是认清阿特玛(Atma)就是自己。降服确实意谓对人人皆神的认识,对无人降服,无物可用来降服及没有任何人有资格接受降服的认识。一切是神。只有神实存。

《会谈》93面
 
2. 降服的是什么?
 
我们有什么能降服给神的?一切已经是祂的了。供奉于祂足下的花朵是从祂的花园里折下的。我们提供的服务是祂恩赐给我们的。我们的“降服”其实就是我们对祂神圣旨意的接受。它是放弃分开割离的虚幻。它是放弃那自认“这是我的”的自我。

降服要求我们抛弃不能带领我们步向证悟神的一切。我们必须释放对物质需求和感情满足的执著与欲望。我们必须只问耕耘,不问收获地去做;结果握在神的手上。
 

降服于主就是降服所有思想和行动,而不期盼行动的果报,也不是为了获得其结果才去行动,而是基于自己的义务而采取行动。行动是奉献给主的,是故,结果由主决定。

《会话》13-14面
 
3.为何降服?
 
为何不降服?凡我们拥有而必须放弃的一切是束缚我们于生死轮回的欲望。执着仅如野马之缰绳,我们持有执着就像是驾驭着野马,在欲望的污物与荆棘中颠簸地摇晃着。轻率地跳入物质世界,我们获得了什么?有得到更大的心境平和吗?有得到死神阎摩(Yama)不带走的东西吗?

然而降服是那么困难做到。它抗拒自我的渴望。就像马戏团里的大力士,用他滑稽的杂耍来迷住我们一样。心念的特征就在欲望而欲望是自我的得力助手。这欲望使我们跟我们真实的,充满爱的和喜悦的自性保持距离。很自然地,心念会向外寻求快乐。它寻求快乐于物质,于地方,于其他人 --- 于任何东西,而不是内在的自给自足。就像到处寻找挂在鼻梁上的眼镜的傻子一样,殊不知真相,福乐及其衍生物诸如喜悦和快乐等,只能在阿特玛之中找到。
 

不知足者与迷失者一样的糟。信靠主并接受你的命运,随遇而安。祂在你之内,与你同在。祂最知道什么时候该给什么。祂充满爱。

《沙迪亚赛说》第6章176面
 
如果把结果都交给神,生活就更加快乐了。只有主知道我们该得到什么。祂知道每一个人的过去,现在和未来。祂知道我们的优点和缺点并知道如何把我们送到特定的目标。如果让祂决定我们朝圣的道路,那朝圣的道路就显得快速和易走了。
 

把你自己交到主的手里。让祂决定成败又何妨?祂或许一心一意要把你训练得刚强起来,或者终究是为你好而做的一切。你怎么判断?你是何方神圣可做出判断?为何判断?

《沙迪亚赛说》第3章93面
 
放弃错误的欲望和执着,快乐就会到来。如果我们活在现在,永恒的现在,我们就抛弃我们的恐惧和期盼,让神性之光穿透进来。喜悦不需要物质;它是我们自己的本质。我们必须把改造交给主。我们唯一的职责就是做好自己本分的事;结果不是我们的负担。
 

乘搭火车旅行时,你只须买票,进入正确的车厢坐下,其余一切交给火车引擎好了。为什么你要头顶床和皮箱?同理,把一切交给主,信任祂,由祂安排,你只须竭尽所能做你该做的就得了。

《沙迪亚赛说》第1章166面
 
4.降服必须彻底
 
我们正接受手术除去发炎的自我。那虚妄的器官必须除去,因为它恐怕要终止我们的灵性生活。咨询和寻求第二意见之后,我们选择了外科医生 -- 沙迪亚赛峇峇。现在我们必须服从祂的计划。我们不可能审核手术的每一个切开和缝合。我们既无知识亦无技术去判断祂的方法。看到疗养室内都是快乐的生还者,我们必须感到满足了。如果我们坚持要检查手术的每一个步骤,我们只有搅乱整个程序。

降服于神的旨意是最安全的途径。然而,降服必须真诚和彻底。如果信靠主,主就照顾我们所需并带我们安抵我们的目标。主提供我们旅途一切所需。
 

只降服于我。如果降服是彻底的,并且把所有的意言行及其结果都奉献给主,那么,祂就答应了你,会把你从罪恶与哀痛中解救出来。

《沙迪亚赛说》第5章54面
 
如果我们还保持一个巨大的自我,我们所做出的努力注定失败。我们不能把胜利据为自己的功德而把失败归因于神的意愿。然而,如果我们真的把结果交给神,神就为我们负全责并在旅途中为我们加速。
 

那全看牵涉于其内的人们而定了。对一个持有纯净思想和纯净之心而又降服了薄伽梵的信徒而言,斯瓦米完全对那生命负责并悉心照顾那信徒。然而,若是一个持有强大自我的人,依赖的是自我欲望而不是薄伽梵,那么,斯瓦米就跟他保持距离而袖手旁观了。

《会谈》131面
 
彻底的降服赢得神的爱。当我们奉献我们所有的时间和精力给主的时候,主就走近我们。当我们向祂走前一步,祂便向我们走前十步。
 

如你想得到主的爱,你就应该做好彻底降服的准备。你不应该执著肉身也不应该重视荣誉或尊敬。你应该完全从所有这一切中解放出来。唯有如此你才能亲近主。

《夏季浸濡1978》94面
 
5. 大门的守卫者
 
若欲实行降服,耐心与毅力在所必需。我们不可能在一天之内就完全展示我们对神旨意的降服。主考验祂的信徒以测量他们的信心和力量的程度。所以我们必须时时记得要信靠主。判断好和坏不是由我们来决定。降服必须是真诚的,不是要有立竿见影而后才继续遵行的。降服要求你接受痛苦和欢乐,失败和胜利。假以时日我们会抵达我们的自性天数,但是,努力和耐心还是不可或缺的。
 

如果你想进入‘超脱’的宫殿,你会发现大门之前有两个守卫者在看守。这进口即你供奉你自己的地方,而这或可被称为‘降服’之门。两个守卫者被称为努力(Srama)和耐心(Dama)…不论你在降服之中做出的供奉多大,你还是不可能在缺乏努力和耐心之下进入神的宝殿。

《夏季浸濡1973》129-130面
 
6. 抵达成功的高速公路
 
灵性降服的实行是一个彻底的灵修(sadhana)。借之,足以确保明心见性(或自性证悟)。彻底的降服要求一系列的灵性修行始得成功。自我的抑制是必需的,从而得到谦卑与平静的美德。降服要求的是对主的信心和虔诚。信心产生大无畏的精神而虔诚培育大爱,神对众生的爱。耐心和努力促进功绩。这些素质确保一生服务人群。

在旅途的终点,我们发现目标总在我们举手可得之处。我们没有其他降服的对象,因为我们自己的本质是神。我们没有什么要知道的,也没有什么可做的。在天地万物中,只有神实存,别无他物。
 

只要在神与个人的‘我’之间存有分殊,这样的心念就不能被称为彻底的降服。只要这二元性显现,你就不能接受这种情况为彻底降服。

《夏季浸濡1972》104面
 
常常念着神使我们看到神于众生之中,因为一切都是主的游戏。当我们常常念着主时,我们在万物中看到祂。除了诚挚的信心与耐心之外,什么都不需要了。降服不要求特别的资格或先决的条件 -- 只要信靠主就得了。
 

作为降服者行为的一个标志和为了维系之,念着神的名号就够了,什么都不需要。灵修枯竭摄生法的药方是不存在的。忆念(Smarana)就足够了。

《沙迪亚赛说》第9章41面
 
学习圈的问题:
 
  1. 降服是什么?
  2. 降服有什么利益?
  3. 降服是冷漠吗?
  4. 降服意指缺乏判断力吗?
  5. 我们降服于神或我们自己?
  6. 降服使我们依赖神吗?
  7. 降服是灵性成长的一个征象吗?
  8. 在修习降服的同时,我们必须做其它的灵性修习吗?
  9. 如果降服于神,神会照顾我们所需的一切吗?
  10. 我们怎么知道我们已真的降服?
  11. 降服的是什么?
摘自《归向神之道》第24章
 
Surrender: Fullness of Faith
 
1. To Whom Do We Surrender?
 
The word surrender does not properly describe the Sanskrit word saranagathi. The Sanskrit word connotes surrender in terms of devotion to God and acceptance of his divine will, it implies not a surrender to some other person, but surrender to our own inner divinity.

On the spiritual path, no one should be asked to relinquish their judgment or to accept ideas blindly. Nothing could be further from the truth. We must test all spiritual teachings with our own experience. To reach the goal of liberation, we must evaluate the benefits of all doctrines for ourselves. Surrender does not require discarding the intellect; it requires heightened spiritual discrimination. Surrender to God is surrender to our God-oriented aspirations – to our own God-nature, the atma.
 

It is not a question of surrendering or giving to some other one. One surrenders to oneself. Recognition that the atma is oneself is surrender. Surrender really means the realization that all is God, that there is nobody who surrenders, that there is nothing to be surrendered, nor is there anyone to accept a surrender. All is God. There is only God.

Conversations, p.93
 
2. What Is Surrendered?
 
What do we have that we can surrender to God? Everything is his already. The flower which we offer at his feet is plucked from his garden. The service which we offer is his gift to us. Our “surrender” is actually our acceptance of divine will. It is renunciation of the illusion of separateness. It is abandonment of the ego that says, “This is mine.”

Surrender requires us to discard all that does not bring us closer to God-realization. Our attachments and desires for material acquisitions and emotional satisfactions must be released. We must perform action without desire for the results; the results rest in God’s hands.
 

Surrendering to the Lord is surrendering all thoughts and actions, not wishing for the fruits of the action, not doing action to gain its fruit, but doing the action because it is one’s duty. The act is dedicated to the Lord and the results, therefore, are borne by the Lord.

Conversations, pp.13-14
 
3. Why Surrender?
 
Why not surrender? All that we possess to renounce are the desires which bind us to the wheel of rebirth. The only attachments we hold are the reins of wild horses, which pitch us through the muck and brambles of desire. What have we gained from our headlong plunge into worldliness? Has it resulted in greater peace? What have we acquired that will not be taken away by Yama, the god of death?

And yet surrender is so difficult. It defies the cravings of the ego. Like the strong man in the circus, the ego enthralls us with his carnival antics. The mind is characterized by desire, chief assistant to the ego. This desire keeps us distant from our true, loving, and joyful self. It is natural for the mind to seek happiness outside of itself. It seeks happiness in objects, in places, in other people – in anything but inner self-sufficiency. Like the fool seeking everywhere for the glasses that rest upon his own nose, truth, bliss, and its derivatives such as joy and happiness can only be found in the atma.
 

The discontented man is as bad as lost. Rely on the Lord and accept whatever is your lot. He is in you, with you. He knows best what to give and when. He is full of prema (love).

Sathya Sai Speaks 6, p.176
 
Life is happier when we leave results to God. Only the Lord knows what we deserve. He knows the past, present, and future of each. He knows our strengths and weaknesses and how to deliver us to our specific goal. The pilgrimage is quicker and easier if the path is left to him.
 

Resign yourself into God’s hands. Let him give success or failure, what does it matter? He may be bent upon toughening you, or it may be for your good in the long run. How can you judge? Who are you to judge? Why judge?

Sathya Sai Speaks 3, p.93

 
Happiness is found when we discard wrong desires and attachment. When we live in the present, in the eternal now, we discard our fears and hopes, allowing divinity to shine through. Joy needs no object; it is our own nature. We must leave the transformation to the Lord. Our only duty is to play our part well; the results are not our burden.
 

When you travel by train, you have only to purchase the ticket, enter the proper train, and take a seat, leaving the rest to the engine. Why should you carry the bed and trunk on your head? So, too, put your trust in the Lord and carry on to the best of your ability.

Sathya Sai Speaks 1, p.166
 
4. Surrender Must Be Complete
 
We are undergoing an operation for the removal of inflamed ego. The illusory organ must be removed because it threatens to end spiritual life. After consultation and some second opinions, we have chosen the surgeon – Sathya Sai Baba. Now we must submit to his program. It will not be possible for us to review each incision and suture. We have neither the knowledge nor the skill to judge his method. We must be content to view the recovery room full of happy survivors. If we insist on examining each step of the operation, we can only muddle the procedure.

Surrender to God’s will is the safest path. However, surrender must be real and complete. When we depend on the Lord, the Lord takes care of our needs and delivers us to our goal. The Lord provides all that we require for the journey.
 

Surrender to me only. When that surrender is complete and all acts, words, and thoughts are dedicated to the Lord along with all their consequences, then he has promised that he will free you from sin and sorrow.

Sathya Sai Speaks 5, p.54
 
If we maintain a big ego, our efforts are doomed to failure. We cannot take credit for the victories and ascribe our defeats to the will of God. But if we truly leave the results to God, God takes responsibility for us and speeds us on our way.
 

It depends on the people involved. In the case of a devotee who has pure thoughts and a pure heart and who has surrendered to Bhagavan, then Swami takes full responsibility for that life and takes care of that devotee. But where a person has a big ego, relying on ego desire and not on Bhagavan, then Swami keeps a distance and does not interfere.

Conversations, p.131
 
Complete surrender earns God’s love. When we devote all our time and energy to the Lord, he moves closer to us. When we take one step toward God, he takes ten steps toward us.
 

When you want the love of the Lord, you should be fully prepared to completely surrender yourself to the Lord. You should have no attachment to your body or pay attention to your honor or respect. You should completely detach yourselves from all these. Only then can you get close to the Lord.

Summer Showers 1978, p.94
 
5. The Guards at the Gate
 
When we practice surrender, we must exercise patience and fortitude. It is not possible for us to demonstrate surrender to God’s will in one day. The Lord tests his devotees to measure the degree of their faith and strength. And so we must constantly remember to trust the Lord. It is not up to us to judge what is good or bad. Surrender must be real, not a practice followed only if it yields quick results. Surrender requires acceptance of suffering as well as joy, defeat as well as victory. With time we will reach our Atmic destiny, but effort and patience are needed on the way.
 

If you want to enter the palace of moksha, or liberation, you will find that at the main entrance there are two guards. This entrance is the place where you offer yourself, and it may be called the gate of surrender. The two guards who are there are called Srama (effort) and Dama (patience)…However much you offer yourself in surrender, it is not possible for you to enter God’s abode without Srama and Dama.

Summer Showers 1973, pp.129-130
 
6. Expressway to Success
 
The practice of spiritual surrender is a complete sadhana (spiritual path). It is sufficient by itself to ensure self-realization. Complete surrender requires a range of spiritual disciplines for its success. Control of the ego is essential, and with that control come humility and equanimity. Surrender requires faith and devotion to the Lord. Faith engenders fearlessness and devotion nurtures love for all God’s creatures. Patience and effort contribute to the accomplishment. These qualities ensure a life of service to others.

At the end of our journey, we find that the goal was always within our reach. There was no other one to surrender to, for our own nature is God. There is nothing to be known and nothing to be done. There is none other than God in all the wide creation.
 

So long as there is this distinction in the mind of the individual between God on the one hand and “I” of the individual on the other hand, this cannot be accepted as complete surrender. So long as this duality is evident, one cannot accept the situation as complete surrender.

Summer Showers 1972, p.104
 
The constant remembrance of God enables us to see God in all, for everything is the play of the Lord. When we remember the Lord always, we see him in all things. No more is required from us than sincere faith and patience. Surrender requires no special qualifications or prerequisites – just trust in the Lord.
 

As a sign of this deed of surrender and in order to sustain it, nothing more is enjoined than constant remembrance of the name. No regimen of exhausting sadhana is prescribed. Smarana (remembrance) is enough.

Sathya Sai Speaks 9, p.41
 
Questions for Study Circle:
 
  1. What is surrender?
  2. What are the benefits of surrender?
  3. Is surrender indifference?
  4. Does surrender imply lack of judgment?
  5. Do we surrender to God or to ourselves?
  6. Does surrender make us dependent on God?
  7. Is surrender a sign of spiritual growth?
  8. If we practice surrender, must we do any other spiritual practice?
  9. Will God take care of all our needs if we surrender to him?
  10. How do we know if we have truly surrendered?
  11. What is surrendered?
 
References for Further Study:
 
  1. Conversations, pp.13-14, 130-131.
  2. Gita Vahini, pp.170-175 (The pundit and the king).
  3. Sathya Sai Speaks 5, p.12 (Surrender the ego and God will ensure liberation).
  4. Sathya Sai Speaks 5, pp.52-53 (The stages of wisdom).
  5. Sathya Sai Speaks 6.p.89.
  6. Sathya Sai Speaks 7, p.376 (Surrender even your judgment to the Lord).
  7. Sathya Sai Speaks 7, pp. 464-465 (If you are God, to whom do you surrender?).
  8. Sathya Sai Speaks 9, p.41 (The surrender of Lakshmana).
  9. Summer Showers 1972, pp.101-104 (What is surrender?).
  10. Summer Showers 1972, p.113 (Arjuna was taught the Bhagavad Gita because he had surrendered).
  11. Summer Showers 1972, pp.248-249 (God takes care of the responsibilities of one fully surrendered to him).
  12. Summer Showers 1973, p.206. (If one surrenders to God, one will be happy).
  13. Summer Showers 1973, p.246
  14. Summer Showers 1974, pp.30-31.
  15. Summer Showers 1977, p.166 (Vibhishana’s surrender).
 
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