the Question of Surrender

Still a valid concept?
The question that any aspirant will come up against in a Master-disciple relationship is the problem of surrender. In earlier times this was not a difficulty for a religious person, but, with the collective experience of the Inquisition behind us, it is now problematic indeed. Krishnamurti attempted to solve this problem by appearing to invert the Master-disciple relationship, but the reality was that even the most eminent of his partners in dialogue were placed in the role of supplicant. Why is this? Because the Master has destroyed every false notion of what it is to be a human being within him or herself, whereas the rest of humanity lives from imaginary values and concepts. However erudite or knowledgeable an aspirant may be, the job of the Master is to strip away all false notions of self. To surrender oneself actively and willingly to this process is to gain Enlightenment in a very short time. However, most surrender is of a passive nature where the aspirant is merely hoping that the Master will fulfil one of their imaginary goals. These imaginary goals usually have little to do with the Master's real work.

'Surrender can be active or passive. An active surrender means taking responsibility for everything that happens, while a passive surrender means putting the responsibility elsewhere, which is a guarantee of not only failure but possible abuse.'

In the Gospel of St Thomas Jesus says: 'my yoke is easy, my Lordship light'. To the modern mind this conveys an archaic idea, and certainly the imagery of 'Lordship' belongs to feudal times. But to see this statement in that light is to miss the point that the genuine Master is gentle, and the discipline is easy, joyous in fact. All genuine Masters know this, but such is the nature of many seekers that some Masters seem forced to invent a plethora of daunting tasks to engage them.

Another important element to understand in this relationship is that it is often short. A great Master's natural instinct is to teach as many as possible, because they know that their gift is precious and that is rarely available. Hence they are looking for new aspirants all the time, and it often becomes physically impossible to minister to the needs of everyone. Hence if the discipleship has been successful the Master will send the disciple away at the first opportunity, which has historically been seen by some as a betrayal. It should be seen more that the Master wants those who have attained to teach others, and to make way for those who still need guidance. Sometimes the Master will send an aspirant away because everything possible has been done and no progress has been made. The best reason for the relationship being short however is that the aspirant is intelligent enough and with sufficient humility to 'get it' quickly. All the men and women in the great Buddhist text 'the Elder's verses' seem to have fallen into that category.

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