Copyright 2010 SOUL Research Institute
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bliss
SURRENDER
Surrender means,
• Laying down arms and non-resisting.
• Freeing oneself from the burden of judgment and from the burden of fighting for justice.
• Surrendering to the laws of karma as the ultimate authority on delivering justice and on everything else.
• Developing trust in the fairness of the laws of karma.
Let’s say a colleague deceives you during a business deal. In a situation like this, if you are surrendering, it does not mean you will simply abandon or overlook what your colleague did. Also, you do not say, “Let me not worry and let me not fight for justice because the universe will judge him and he will be punished fairly.” This would not be in the spirit of surrender. If you are rightfully surrendering, what you will do is recollect the laws of karma and understand that the unwholesome action of your colleague will generate unwholesome fruit. A sense of compassion will then arise in you for your colleague because you will know for sure that your colleague is going to suffer now or later as a result of his unwholesome action. Due to compassion arising out of surrender, you will feel light, peaceful, and at ease. Notice that it is compassion (and not a sense of getting justice or getting even) that has positive results. For this to occur, you will have to firmly establish yourself in surrendering to the ultimate laws of the universe—the laws of karma. Your faith in them should be unshakable.
In many spiritual traditions, the ultimate laws of the universe are misunderstood as God. The practice of surrendering is therefore mistaken as the act of surrendering to God. This is wrong. The act of surrender actually is not something that happens between two entities (you and God). It is absolute, meaning it is non-relative.
If you imagine that you are surrendering to the judgment of an entity, such as God, you are simply shifting the ego and passing on the burden of judgment to that entity. In surrender, there is absolute letting go of everything, including the judge, the one being judged, and the judgment. In surrender, there is no desire or wish for justice. Instead, there is forgiveness. This is the definition of absolute letting go, based on perfect understanding of the accountability of the laws of karma.
Surrendering in this way has a profound effect on one’s being. It generates impartiality, lightness, straightforwardness, faithfulness, flexibility, non-resistance, and non-attachment. These qualities facilitate effortlessness in one’s actions and eventually, due to surrendering, one becomes peaceful and carefree.
A carefree, peaceful mindset is the result of surrender, a virtue that is developed by:
• Remaining mindful of the laws of karma and their perfect accounting capability.
SOUL RESEARCH INSTITUTE NEWSLETTER, MAY 27, 10
EVENTS AT S.R.I.
INSPIRATIONS
Summer Meditation Gatherings,
Workshops, Presentations
*There will be no gathering on May 30th due to Memorial weekend.
*Mary Jo CLeaveland will lead Sunday gatherings during summer.
*Various presentations and short workshops are tentatively scheduled for the entire summer. Please check weekly newsletter for details on the presenters and workshops. ______________________________
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"Justice that love gives is surrender; justice that law gives
is punishment."
Mahatma Gandhi
"Creativity is the process of surrender, not control."
Julia Camaron
"Surrender to the flow."
Mike Gordon
12-Hr Meditation Marathon
"Celebrating Buddha's Birthday"
When: May 27,10 (Full Moon Day).
Time: From Noon until Midnight.
Where: Residential Retreat Facility of Paul and Nya at 3619 Estates Circle, Larkspur, CO. Only 15-20 minutes north of Colorado Springs.
Phone: 685-6294. Call anytime.
Guidelines:
*Come and go anytime on the hour. *Alternate between walking and sitting meditation. Meditate as little or as long as you like.
*Bring your own food and drinks. Feel free to use the kitchen facility downstairs for eating and resting.
*Observe noble silence. Please avoid any verbal or visual contact.
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• Not reacting to feelings of unfairness, injustice, heaviness, and rigidity, or to a tendency for judging, fighting, resisting, and so on.
• Giving wise attention to the impermanent and impersonal nature of such unwholesome tendencies, and allowing them to subside in mind on their own before they gain enough strength to turn into the physical and mental actions of judging, fighting, and resisting.
• Concentrating on the beauty and power of surrender, and on becoming peaceful and carefree.
Often, I’ve been asked if it is really practical to implement the virtue of surrender in daily life. Is it really possible in the real world, which is fraught with greed, hatred, competition, and the mentality that seeks justice at any cost, that seeks to win? People wonder whether or not it is really possible to remain in the spirit of surrender when their life, fortune, name, or fame is at stake. They wonder whether or not it is possible to let go of their negative feelings towards an unjust person and forgive when it seems extremely unfair or even suicidal to do so.
These are valid questions and concerns. They also arise in me from time to time. When they do, I simply observe them without reacting, which allows me to give wise attention to them. First, I recognize them as the products of a mediocre mindset that thinks in terms of mundane parameters, such as fairness, survival, material loss or gain, name, fame, and so on. Second, I concentrate on inspiring myself to go beyond the mediocrity of this mindset and to live an extraordinarily virtuous life in pursuit of excellence. Third, I embrace surrender as the true marks of excellence. And then, due to wise attention, I am able to practice surrender wholeheartedly.
I invite you to do the same.
-Sam Adettiwar
! Rescheduled !
Monsoon Retreats in India
(Samadhi and Vidya)
(Concentration and Insight)
Retreat I: July 24th-July 31st, 10.
Retreat II: July 24th-August 6, 10.
Instructor: Sam Adettiwar. No fees.
Memorial Day (May 29, 2010)
Book Signing by Sam Adettiwar
Castle Rock Outlets
Book Warehouse
5050 Factory Shops Blvd, Ste 340
Castle Rock, CO
(303)-663-2665
Also available on amazon.com
All profits go to S.R.I.
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