Tyagaraja

More On Love…

I did not meditate this morning.  I did not do yogasana or pranayama.  I performed a special puja for my friend Austin Fry.  I prayed for his safe journey and that divine love shines on him always.  I began to think about the conversation I was having with my love Gunjen in the car ride from dropping Austin at Intercontinental Airport.

on his way to Cambodia.

Gunjen and I were talking about love.  Gunjen and I were driving one afternoon, and a silence had fallen over us.  We were both in deep thought, my thought had no words only feeling, and Gunjen broke the silence with a phrase.  “Man, everyone just only needs love.”  She continued, “that’s all anyone’s ever looking for.”  Last week we had the fortunate experience of meeting an ascetic westerner that’s lived in India for 40 years named Radhanath Swami.

Radhanth Swamiji and Tyagaraja

He gave a talk in which he said this very same phrase.  And this morning while in traffic returning from the airport I told Gunjen, that if it weren’t for the love of my parents I very well could have been the kid addicted to hard drugs or God knows what for many years to come.  It was love that would shine even in the darkest depths.  It was the fragrance of love that my body yearned for like the stomach to nourishment.  Previously we spoke on love.  We said that love is compassion and compassion implies surrender.  Like tributaries leading to mighty rivers, and rivers leading to universal oceans there are many links through the journey of love.

album artwork by Joe Zuniga

Without surrender it is very hard to love another.  You have not given to yourself yet how can you give and share with others?  Surrender.  Surrender is compassion.  Surrender is a gift—an offering—the only gift worth offering—is every—and all—and anything—the only gift worth giving is complete surrender.  Complete implies totality—totality cannot come from a selfish heart, or from a heart that bares judgment and this is important because there can be no surrender if judgment blackens the heart.  There can be no judgment of oneself or to others.  This philosophy then becomes an every moment practice.  Every passing moment there comes a new opportunity to apply the practice of surrender.

High in the mountains of Rishikesh, a natural spring from the top.

Practicing bowing on hands and knees prepares an unready heart for surrender.  The act of coming to the fetus position and placing the head on the ground brings us back to purity—creates softness in the heart, eases the mind and releases stress and fear.  The practice of bowing to that which is eternal is the best step toward understanding surrender, and the understanding of the object or principal in which we focus our bowing.  The surrender may be offered to anything or any idea—surrendering to truth, purity, Divine Love—God, expanse of the eternal—all these forms are suitable.  When this act is performed with a pure and open heart, love and truth are the flowers that bare fruit of knowledge and self awareness.

Child's pose, sitting on ankles or on pillow in between legs with forehead on the ground breathing gently in out the nose

The act of surrendering to all that which you do not understand brings self awareness, knowledge, and oddly enough more understanding.  Because you are surrendering to the fact that your knowledge is limited makes you humble, reduces your ego—yet expands your capacity for the input of knowledge and understanding which inevitably destroys arrogance and pride.  These two being obstacles in the way of understanding our own faults.

Surrender to God is one of the most conflicted concepts yet is also the most rewarding.  Humans create conflict around surrender based on the need to clearly define the object of which one is surrendering.  In this sense the word surrender implies submissive which makes humans feel trapped and vulnerable, which leads to anger, hatred, and confusion.  It has turned us into a separatist society, and this is not true surrender.  In true surrender there is no need to place right or wrong on anything or decide what is worthy or unworthy—there only exists the truth.  The truth we said was Love and Love we said was many things and we are still not finished nor are we ever finished with Love Talks.  It’s funny even still Truth can be relevant from one experience to the next.  One only knows what is true based on one’s own understanding of the truth therefore how is anyone ever false?

Surrender to God means a surrender to all that which is unknown.  God is unknown—God is mystery.  The idea of the unknown could be observed from mind set of the word ‘unknown’ meaning—without thought.  Our thoughts sometimes result in misguidance.  On the other hand thoughts lead in positive creative directions.  The idea of being without thoughts when applied to the act of surrender opens and expands the heart and increases awareness.  To become self aware is to surrender yourself to truth.  Nothing speaks louder than the Truth.  Even in acts of dishonesty the echo of truth resounds so strongly off the walls of the subconscious—so much so that the truth can never be forgotten.

Lost in the Rishikesh back roads behind Ram Jhula

Sometimes the truth is an unlearned inspiration.  When truth is discovered through inspiration many positive reactions occur.  First of all when truth is found through inspiration there must first be a void of thoughtlessness.  The clouds of thought are removed and appears a clear canvas.  Through this void the Divine Light of Truth springs forth like the rising sun giving light to any coming inspirations.  The Truth through inspirations is pure and unaffected or imposed.  A piece of understanding or a fact, or a school of thought or a supposed truth that comes from outside influence most often has some degree of personal interpretation—meaning the piece of information has already traveled through one channel, and this channel has loads—nay—mountains of ideas, beliefs, and through this narrow funnel information is being projected similarly to what I am doing now.  Even if I was inspired—not aspired—my words and translations of these truths are limited and because there is space, and galaxy there is proof that the truth I wish to convey could never in its limited capacity give the true perception in its entirety.  Love is an ever-new richness that we can bathe in every waking moment, and spread to all those around us.

taken by Gunjen Mittal

In summary we said that Love is Truth, and we said that to see Truth one must have surrender and that surrender must come without any judgment or imposed idea of any kind.  These revelations now lead us to Faith, which is a completely different thing from ‘belief’ all together.  And this will be our next topic of discussion.  Because surrender and faith can create a complete life of harmony, and the altogether goal of Love is this harmony we are all struggling so desperately to find.

By Tyagaraja

Tags: god, love, Radhanath Swami, surrender, tyaga, tyagamusic@gmail.com, Tyagaraja, tyagaraja.com