SURRENDER AND SELF-RELIANCE

Weekly Knowledge #81 Lake Lucerne 25 Dec 1996 Switzerland

Self-reliance needs enormous courage. Surrender needs less courage. A person who cannot surrender cannot be self-reliant either. If you don't have enough courage to surrender, then it is impossible for you to be self-reliant. You simply fool yourself. People who are afraid to surrender fool themselves. Because even a little fear is detrimental to self-reliance. If you don't have a hundred dollars, you cannot have a thousand dollars. Self-reliance contains surrender. Fifty dollars contains ten dollars. Question: Why does self-reliance need so much courage? When you want to depend on yourself for everything, there is nobody else, then it needs a lot of courage. Often people think that surrender is a way to escape from responsibility and they end up blaming the Divine for all their problems. In fact, the true surrender is taking total responsibility for everything. Susannah: How can we do that? You take responsibility and you pray for help. Surrender eventually leads you to self-reliance. Because there is nothing other than the Big Self.

NEWS FLASH A Madras satsang of 3500 people served as a farewell party for Guruji on the eve of his departure from India. It was held in a gigantic marble hall; and a choir of seventy school girls serenaded Guruji with well-rehearsed and enthusiastic bhajans. An entourage of forty-five devotees traveled from Bangalore to Madras for the occasion. India's warm December weather, bougainvillea and coconut palms have now been replaced by Switzerland's mist-shrouded Alpine peaks, snow-covered palms, and the swans on Lake Lucerne. Today is Christmas, and appropriately all the course participants have gone into silence this morning to celebrate in a deep and authentic way. Guruji's message for Christmas: BE A FOUNTAIN OF LOVE