It is believed in conventional yoga, that surrender and aspiration are contradictory to each other. For e.g. often a question is asked to an aspirant that if he is truly surrendered, what is he really aspiring for? Or rather how can he even aspire or seek when there is surrender. Due to this predominant thought in conventional yoga, aspiration and surrender get divorced and are considered a deterrent force to each other.
For e.g. in conventional Vedanta, santosha (satisfaction) is considered to be a negative attribute for spiritual progress. In Bhakti Yoga, surrender is given utmost importance and any seeking or aspiration is considered a violation of the surrender principle. This hiatus between surrender and aspiration often confuses a sadhak and he/she is unable to set their strong hold on either of these two principles.
In the integral Yoga it is important for aspiration, rejection and surrender to co-exist and compliment each other beautifully and effortlessly without any struggle of any sorts. In this article, I have made an attempt to elucidate how these three principles can operate simultaneously and coherently and thus aiding the sadhak towards spiritual evolution and progress.
One needs to understand carefully the difference between the aspiration of the mind and the aspiration of the soul. It is true that if one is adhering to the principle of surrender, the mind cannot aspire because the mind has offered itself up into the fire of divine knowledge and truth and entered into silence. When the mind has truly effaced itself into the Divine, the Divine provides direct guidance to the soul to move into the direction destined or chosen for itself. And in this process of the soul moving into the desired direction, there will be a subtle knowledge of aspiration emanating from the soul and observed by the silent mind.
The mind does not react to this aspiration and simply allows it to function as guided under the vigilance of the Divine. A silent mind is a surrendered mind as it does not choose but becomes merely an instrument of the soul. And the soul aspires to a wider comprehension and perception of the truth divine. This is when the aspiration of the soul and the surrender of the mind become complementary and function in harmony with each other.
One needs to be careful not to cloud the soul with predestined conditioning, ideas or thoughts that would hinder its forthcoming. A simple conclusion reached by the mind about its own beatitude can provide a false perception of peace and the real peace can never be experienced as all the experiences get filtered by the mind principle alone. The mind has tremendous power to assume, operate and concoct a state of mental peace which is grossly mistaken to be coming from within. This mental peace is merely a product of mental and intellectual understanding of what peace is and how it functions. For experiencing true peace, you need a silent and a surrendered mind and not a mind that functions of conclusions. Only when the mind is silent, receptive and open to the divine force, surrender happens in the mind and the potential for the aspiration of the soul becomes possible.
For e.g. in conventional Vedanta, santosha (satisfaction) is considered to be a negative attribute for spiritual progress. In Bhakti Yoga, surrender is given utmost importance and any seeking or aspiration is considered a violation of the surrender principle. This hiatus between surrender and aspiration often confuses a sadhak and he/she is unable to set their strong hold on either of these two principles.
In the integral Yoga it is important for aspiration, rejection and surrender to co-exist and compliment each other beautifully and effortlessly without any struggle of any sorts. In this article, I have made an attempt to elucidate how these three principles can operate simultaneously and coherently and thus aiding the sadhak towards spiritual evolution and progress.
One needs to understand carefully the difference between the aspiration of the mind and the aspiration of the soul. It is true that if one is adhering to the principle of surrender, the mind cannot aspire because the mind has offered itself up into the fire of divine knowledge and truth and entered into silence. When the mind has truly effaced itself into the Divine, the Divine provides direct guidance to the soul to move into the direction destined or chosen for itself. And in this process of the soul moving into the desired direction, there will be a subtle knowledge of aspiration emanating from the soul and observed by the silent mind.
The mind does not react to this aspiration and simply allows it to function as guided under the vigilance of the Divine. A silent mind is a surrendered mind as it does not choose but becomes merely an instrument of the soul. And the soul aspires to a wider comprehension and perception of the truth divine. This is when the aspiration of the soul and the surrender of the mind become complementary and function in harmony with each other.
One needs to be careful not to cloud the soul with predestined conditioning, ideas or thoughts that would hinder its forthcoming. A simple conclusion reached by the mind about its own beatitude can provide a false perception of peace and the real peace can never be experienced as all the experiences get filtered by the mind principle alone. The mind has tremendous power to assume, operate and concoct a state of mental peace which is grossly mistaken to be coming from within. This mental peace is merely a product of mental and intellectual understanding of what peace is and how it functions. For experiencing true peace, you need a silent and a surrendered mind and not a mind that functions of conclusions. Only when the mind is silent, receptive and open to the divine force, surrender happens in the mind and the potential for the aspiration of the soul becomes possible.
