The Western world is all about fighting. We have war on terrorism. We have war on drugs. We have war on cancer. When somebody dies they announce on TV that the person died after a three-year long heroic battle with cancer. I find the whole concept of war on such things totally ridiculous. Have you ever been sick? I mean really sick? If you have you’d remember that you had no strength to even drink a glass of water to take your pills let alone do battle with the disease. I don’t think anybody battles their cancer. The media just makes it up to glorify that person. When the ambulance came to take me to the hospital, I decided that I had fought long enough avoiding going to the doctor and it was time to let the medical professionals do their jobs. So I surrendered. Kalpana was totally amazed by my transformation. I, who does not believe in taking drugs, was letting the doctors and nurses do their thing without resisting. I, who thinks the medical establishment is misguided, did not battle them for following their procedures. I had totally and peacefully surrendered.
On the last day, just before they discharged me from the hospital, the doctor wanted to write me a prescription for some heart medication because they had seen my heart rate go up very high once during the hospital stay for no reason at all. That is when I fought and refused the prescription. I was no longer in surrendering mode. I was in fighting spirit again and that was proof positive that I was well.
All this led me to contemplate the whole concept of surrendering. While meditating it occurred to me that every religion in the world talks about surrendering. Bible talks about surrendering to Jesus, Gita talks about surrendering to Krishna, Koran talks about surrendering to Allah. The new-age gurus talk about the same thing in slightly different language. Eckhart Tolle, the “Power of Now” author, talks about surrendering to the moment that is NOW because there is nothing else. When those NOW moments pass they become past. They are not real because they are only in our memory. We have no way of predicting what the future moments will bring until they become the NOW moments. I actually find it a lot easier to understand the concept in the language of these modern authors rather than the flowery language (અલંકારિક ભાષા or अलंकारिक भाषा) of the “holy” books. May be in those days such language made sense and therefore was necessary. None of the Indian religious books make sense to me. I find them to be gobbledygook! May be the authors of those so-called holy books were trying to convey the exact same thing that these days Eckhart Tolle is talking about. Surrender to NOW, the moment that is, for the simple reasons that (a) there is nothing else, and (b) you cannot change it. In the old days it was a lot easier to say, surrender to Allah or Krishna or Jesus. But now we know better, or do we?
Whether you are diabetic or overweight, whatever your situation may be, just surrender to the situation. Accept it totally. It is what it is. It is not going to change no matter what you do. Resistance is futile! By surrendering you will feel peaceful. Then go ahead and deliberately take any action needed to recover. Be focused and be determined. Calmly go about implementing your action plan and you’ll see amazing results. Do not work “hard” at it. “Hard” work only increases stress. Calm, focused and disciplined approach brings positive results and peace.
