How to Surrender when Challenged (Part 2)

In yesterday’s post Sri Vasudeva (SV) gave us some strategies to deal with a situation where we feel stuck. As promised today we go on to explore another facet.

M: Is it that surrender or humility is a recognition that we need help?

SV: Well of course surrendering means “I can’t do anything more in this situation. I need help.” So you’re surrendering to the forces of life, “I don’t know where I am; I’m totally lost; I’m surrendering to the process.” Surrender means that you’re giving up trying to find something, and expect that help is coming towards you. You’re giving up all the efforts that you made which didn’t work, that’s surrendering. “I don’t know what to do anymore; I can’t do anything; everything seems to not work. So I just need grace here.” So that’s a form of surrendering – helplessness – that you can’t do anything, so you give up. You give up trying to do, because in all your doing, nothing is happening.

M: So when you say “surrendering to the process, what does that mean?”

SV:  It’s surrendering the effort that is not helping…and opening up the way to something else coming to pull us out of the space. The faster you begin to recognise that all the tools that you’re using  are not working, then you have to look outside of the toolbox, “There needs to be a tool somewhere to help me.” So that means “I’m surrendering every effort to stay with my old tools.” I’m opening up now; I’m opening up to grace that a new tool will emerge.

So the surrendering there is the surrendering of useless efforts, efforts that don’t work, that’s where the surrendering is focussed on. But in surrendering there is the intention of opening up the space for a new tool, a new way of working, a new support. So there is a very powerful intention to hold on to any kind of grace that will bring me relief from the situation. So it is not that: I am surrendering hope. I’m surrendering the efforts that don’t work; I’m holding on to hope.

M: This is not the same as giving up in a disempowering way…

SV: No. It is not about giving up everything.

M: From what you’re describing it seems that it will be easier to recognise the new tool, or the new inspiration. 

SV: Right. What it does is it opens up the consciousness space. Because, on one hand, a part of my consciousness has been making effort and it’s useless. It’s not working. I’m going to another part of my consciousness that has hope and has the awareness that grace exists. So I’m opening up to that part of the consciousness. And I’m surrendering all the efforts that I tend to make with my ego, in wanting to do this by myself.

Is it like opening up to my bigger self?

SV: Well, I’m centered in the bigger self, so it is opening up to another part of my bigger self. Because I believe that I have more possibilities than just this. I believe that with my intuitive power I can find something inside of my being that will work. So I need to go into that space of grace within my being. I need to call upon the god within.