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Surrender to Joy!

Sat Chit Ananda Guru Ki Jay

For a recent mini course titled “Surrender to Joy,” Kedarji instructed students to contemplate several “Verses on Surrender,” which are included in his sacred text, “The Sutras on the 5-Fold Act of Divine Consciousness.” One of the Verses contains the following wisdom utterance by Kedarji: “To Surrender is to have a quiet mind that is no longer restless and embraces Silence.”

By steadily contemplating this wisdom utterance, I directly experienced how Surrendering to Joy allows me to thrive in Kedarji’s Four Pillars of Joy in Daily Living: The Spiritual Power, Improved Mental State, Emotional Resilience, and Vibrant Health.

Heightened Awareness for a Quiet Mind

By my Guru’s Grace, when I enroll in our mini courses, I always begin to have direct experiences connected with the theme before the official start of the course.

For example, shortly before our “Surrender to Joy” mini course, I had a conversation with a friend, and we started talking about skiing. My friend asked, “What is it about skiing that you enjoy so much?” In response, I directly compared my experiences of skiing before and after engaging in our Nityananda Shaktipat Yoga approach over the past decade, and the differences that I have observed with respect to Joy.

I have always loved cold-weather winter sports, especially snow skiing. I learned how to ski at a very early age, and it is a privilege to have enjoyed many years of quality time skiing with family, friends, and instructors.

When I was growing up, I used to view skiing as a basis for comparing myself to others, in an attempt to achieve a level of skill and finesse that I did not have, but I saw it was possible while watching friends who were much more experienced skiers. Today, I love the peace and solitude that I feel when I am in the midst of skiing – the fresh air, the exercise, and the fact that I must stay present in each moment, from moment to moment, or else I will slip, slide or fall.

Without regularly skiing over a long period of time – just like with my daily spiritual practices – I cannot attain a higher level of experience unless I practice steadily and consistently. And even more importantly – just like in my Sadhana – I cannot attain a higher level of understanding without leadership and ongoing instruction (and corrections!) from an expert instructor who has been authorized to lead after passing all required tests.

Only after crossing paths with Kedarji did I begin to observe and experience skiing as part of my Sadhana, as a way to practice Surrendering my attachments to how “well” I thought I should be skiing – to Surrender the machinations of my restless mind and simply use the activity of skiing to practice focusing on the present moment from moment to moment; to appreciate true leadership and the benefits of instruction, corrections and tests; to focus on Gratitude for being able to ski at all; and to Surrender to the Joy of quieting my restless mind while skiing downhill responsibly. What Grace!

Letting Go of Expectations and Superimpositions to Embrace Silence

In our region, we have had mild winters in recent years. But this year, plenty of snow has fallen and conditions at nearby ski resorts have been excellent. So, I felt excited about skiing as soon as possible!

However, the first time I went skiing this winter, I almost talked myself out of it. I was in the midst of our “Surrender to Joy” mini course, but I still felt anxious due to all of the expectations that I had built up around how to “guarantee” a “perfect” skiing experience.

Lift ticket prices have dramatically increased over the years, so I always want to be sure that conditions will be good enough to get my money’s worth. Plus, so much of the ski industry has moved its business online, which means that tickets are now purchased online in advance, with specific instructions and technical steps that must be learned for mobile passes or cards to be electronically loaded. Gone are the days of waking up one day and spontaneously deciding to ski, purchasing a paper lift ticket at a resort, hanging it on your jacket, and hitting the slopes!

Eventually, one morning, after I practiced the methods that Kedarji instructs to heighten my Witnessing Awareness and passively observe where my mind goes, I saw how much I had worried (while calling it “planning”). My tendency to worry had invited fear, which subsequently led me to get stuck in distractions. This cycle of reaching for useless thoughts eroded my Mental State and Emotional Resilience, and after a short period of time, I felt less energetic, less enthusiastic, less joyful about going skiing at all.

Then, I reached higher for The Spiritual Power. After taking three deep breaths, inwardly recalling Kedarji’s form, and repeating a mantra that he had given for me, I Surrendered my concerns and quieted my restless mind. And in the silence that ensued, inwardly, I heard Kedarji’s voice clearly utter, “You should go skiing.” Yet I did not take that utterance at face value, because there is always a higher meaning, even when Kedarji appears to utter something casually.

So, I went skiing later that day. And it was very cold and foggy! But it was truly glorious – Joyful! – as I used each run to inwardly repeat my mantra and focus on each present moment.

I put forth effort to consistently reach for The Spiritual Power and steadily maintain my daily spiritual practices throughout the evening, especially when I narrowly missed getting hit by a snowboarder. This happened right after I heard someone behind me yell a ruder equivalent of “You [stink]!” and I superimposed that the comment was meant for me.

In that moment, I felt my Emotional Resilience wane, and my Mental State wavered as my mind restlessly wandered back to a memory from fifth grade when a classmate had told me, “You could not ski for your life!” This was a subtle impression that had been stuck in my mind for decades.

But what Grace! Instead of contracting into that superimposition and my understandings connected to it, I immediately reached higher to engage the methods instructed in our approach to dissolve that thought. And I focused on my moment-to-moment effort with skiing; I proceeded slowly, with full awareness of each breath and each movement.

Consequently, I heightened my Witnessing Awareness enough to avoid a collision with the out-of-control snowboarder, and my heart expanded with Joy and Gratitude!

Now, due to the Grace of crossing paths with an authentic Shaktipat Siddha Guru and the Grace of my self-effort with daily spiritual practices, I can choose to reach for The Spiritual Power, an Improved Mental State, Emotional Resilience, and take full responsibility for where my mind goes – and therefore, I can learn how to avoid crossing paths with a mundane disaster, and preserve my Vibrant Health. What Grace!

Choose Joy!

As further proof that the Mirror of my Guru is always up, by the Play of the Shakti, while contemplating and preparing my homework during our “Surrender to Joy” mini course, I came across a seemingly mundane utterance on social media: “If you choose not to find Joy in the snow, you will have less Joy in your life but still the same amount of snow.”

This point reinforced for me how very important it is to Surrender to Joy – and how that is only possible by having an outside agent: the Grace, Blessings and Leadership of Kedarji.

For example, during another evening of skiing with an expert instructor, the instructor offered useful tips, including how to get off of a chairlift safely – an action that I have taken hundreds upon hundreds of times.

At first, my ego idea flared, and my restless mind quietly protested, “Duh! I know how to get off of a chairlift safely!”

And then, I immediately recalled how important it is to have an outside agent who can observe and test my level of attainment – because we cannot truly test ourselves, on our own.

So, I reached higher for an Improved Mental State. I took three deep breaths and repeated my mantra to silence my restless mind.

Instantly, I inwardly saw Kedarji’s form reflected in the instructor, which then helped me make the most useful choice: to imbibe the wisdom that the instructor was sharing based on his 50 years of direct experience and authorization to teach.

And as soon as I practiced Surrender, then I experienced so much more Joy in skiing for the rest of the night! Because I had actually opened up to learn new approaches, and to be reminded of important points.

And most of all, I was reminded how to keep practicing Surrendering to Joy in each moment – to quiet my restless mind, embrace Silence, and choose to find Joy…even in the snow. What Grace!

Om Guru Om

 Kambra McConnel is the Treasurer of The Bhakta School of Transformation. She sits on our Board of Directors and also volunteers as a certified staff teacher and program leader for Nityananda Shaktipat Yoga.

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