Shri Rama Dootham - Story Series - Part 6

Selflessness & Surrender

Click here to read Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

After few silent moments passed away, the Messenger then looked back to me again, as if waiting for me to leave. 

My emotions were mixed. I certainly didn't want to leave the place. Sometimes, it feels so much of peace and inner satisfaction just being around with great masters. If one understands to listen to the voice of Inner silence, then there needs no discussion, talks, individual attention, just the mere presence of great Master around speaks volumes of divine inner experience. I felt I am beginning to experience that ecstasy and hence didn't want to lose it so soon. 

"Sir, Can I stay here for some more time…" I started to plead once again...

The messenger eye brows took its peak height as if asking what more you want from me.

Not knowing how to start, I mumbled, "Sir, Can I know who are you? I have never seen you here before…" 

He calmly responded back stating, "I already told you that I am just a Messenger to the lord, what else you need to know?"

Now sensing the opportunity to ask my next question, gently I folded my hands and asked , "Sir, how can I become a Messenger to my Guru? ".....

"You are already one my son…" the Messenger replied calmly.

I responded back, "But Sir, I feel sometimes, my actions are more selfish oriented when I do any service to my Master. In the name of service to the Guru Parampara, sometime my mind goes in search of recognition, it demands attention, it demands status. Sometimes it get hurts, when the service rendered are not noticed or sometimes there is a great fear if the service rendered does not go as per my plan…"

The Messenger now sat back with folded legs and said, "Often, in this path, everything is mystery which cannot be decodified by ordinary human beings. You plan your service according to your wish & how your ego wants to execute it. However, the result always goes not according to your expectation"

"In that case, how should I make myself effective to overcome these personal emotions when one is in the service of the Guru Parampara? How can I overcome my ego, which longs for recognition & expectations?" 

The Messenger silence, allowed me to pour out more that is occupying in my mind for quite some time.  I continued stating:

“Sir, Sometimes I feel what I am doing is so small that I regret my helplessness for not able to do much beyond this. Sometimes I feel so high thinking, even with my limited ability, when I am doing so much, I start to long for recognition & Guru’s attention & blessings. I want to come beyond both these stages, where I just want to be the Messenger, where I can deliver the best I am capable of, yet not worry about the outcomes. So kindly let me know how should I approach this issue sir". 

"Son what you have asked is a very important question. Often many disciples when they start doing service to the Humanity, they get struck with their own inner ego . When you are doing service to your Guru, there is no point in seeing the gain & pain. Rather one must feel blessed to have become an instrument to do this service". 

Messenger continued, “Never feel that it is YOU who is doing. The Guru parampara can always see better alternative than YOU. It is the sheer kindness & concern that they have in YOU, they have chosen YOU to render this service, so that in the same service you render, they silently teach you how to overcome from the issues created by your personal emotions & ego". 

"However if you start doing calculations of how much you have done for the Guru Tradition & how much you have got in return, then you are doing accounting system of Debit & credit. Unfortunately, if one does the calculation of Debit Vs Credit in this, the life become miserable and you are no where". 

Then looking straight into my eyes, the Messenger said sternly, "If you have to lose your identity, lose your esteem, lose your pride, be ready to face it. Never feel afraid losing them. If you are, then please never pretend to do any service to the Lord or the Guru". 

I took some time to understand what I heard from the Messenger just now. But still I thought I am still unclear on how to over come these emotions. I again asked, "Sir, I totally agree with you, but still sometimes these emotions keep coming and I find it difficult to keep it aside while rendering the service. I get struck & don't know what to do". 

The Messenger closing his eyes stated, "Bete, Selflessness & Surrender is the only way ahead.  Your Baba, Swami Rama also have given a wonderful talk on Selflessness & Surrender. 

Swami Rama used to say, “Do not work for yourself; that is not the way of life. You will become selfish. Learn to work for others. If the wife learns to work for her husband, and the husband learns to work for his wife, they both will be happy. Problems come when they both become selfish, demanding, and expecting. Learn the path of selflessness. That is the only way of liberation.”

Learn to give to each other, and then slowly that learning will expand to the whole universe. One day you will feel that the whole universe is your family, and you are one of the members of that family.

On the path of selflessness there is a great joy. Selflessness is the singular expression of love.

True enjoyment can never be had through the satisfaction of greed, but only through the surrender of the individual self to the universal Self.

When Christ was crucified, he never said, “Sorry, forgive me; release me from the cross.” Christ had conviction. He had faith in God. He had so much faith in God that he didn’t care what was happening to his body. This is something great. One can see the same thing in Buddha and Krishna. Buddha was very calm, and Krishna played the flute. Why the flute, when there are so many good instruments? Why did he not play another instrument, like the vina or the guitar?

A flute has many holes, just as all human beings have many weaknesses. However, a flute has nothing inside; it’s empty. Christ said, “Empty thyself and I will fill thee.”

Having many holes, if you become an instrument of God, a beautiful melody will come through. In all conditions, trust in God who is within you, witnessing your thoughts, speech, and actions.

"So bete, Become that flute, become that Bansuri with Selflessness & Surrender. Soon you can play beautiful melody", Messenger said with a twinkling smile in his face. 

"Sir, Thank you so much for explaining this to me. This means so much to me now". Having said this, I watched meditating Lord Anjaneya statue at the backdrop and I thought to myself that, when we talk about "Selflessness & Surrender", who else than Lord Hanuman, that perfect Messenger who always stood first in the service of Lord Rama is a great example for all of us. 

The Messenger calmly started speaking again, "Son, in the service of Lord Rama, there are thousands of great souls who are always in the service of the Lord. Some of their service though may be significantly small, but still they have it's own importance like the story of Squirrel in Ramayana." 

Even though I have heard about the Squirrel story in Ramayana, I wanted to hear again from the Messenger, so I gently asked him to share it for me. 

The Messenger now started to talk about it more enthusiastically and I was eager to hear it as a child hearing stories from the Grandfather. 

"When the great mighty monkeys were helping Rama to build the bridge to Lanka, a little squirrel also wanted to join to render service to the Lord. However seeing its size and strength, it was obvious that it cannot carry the mighty rocks & stones as the others were doing. 

However not for a minute, it stood aside & idle thinking of its helplessness & inabilities. You know what it did!? It thought for a moment, and then started collecting small pebbles lying on the shore, and dropped them in the ocean. After a while, it was too tired to even carry those pebbles, but still wanted to participate. It ran to the edge of the water, and, after rolling in the sand, ran to the water and washed himself. He ran back to the shore and rolled again, and more sand got stuck to him, since he was now wet. Again he ran to the water to wash himself. The small grains of sand which stuck to his body were all he could contribute to the massive task of building a bridge across the ocean!!

Though one may think the service rendered by the Squirrel is not significant enough, but when you see from the view point of squirrel, it did its best to its capacity, without any expectation, not longing for any recognition, not worried about its limitations. It only had two qualities, Selflessness & Surrender, and that is what one should learn from this episode. 

Always remember, however small, every task is equally important. A project can never be completed by the main people alone. They need the support of all, and however small, an effort should always be appreciated!

The Squirrel did not pretend to work only when the Lord was around, so that it can gain attention. For the squirrel, it is not relevant if Lord Ram is around seeing his work or not. For the squirrel, what is more important is the selflessness & surrender".

After speaking, the Messenger looked far ahead as if searching for something which only he could see.  But that doesn't stop me from disturbing him and I continued asking, "Sir, from your story, I get the self assurance that if one work with selflessness & total surrender, automatically they would get the blessings & attention from the Guru, isn't it sir?...

"Yes Son, also if you don't know where to start & if you want to gain your Guru’s attention, I am giving you a clue, take His projects. 'Guru ko pakadna hai to, unke Kaam ko Pakado'. So the moment you take Guru’s projects, you would automatically be in touch with the Guru". 

The Messenger continued, "But the word of caution is, it’s not easy to take up His projects. At the start, You may have to face humiliations, frustration, dejection, failures, sufferings, pains and what not. But that is the pure love from the Guru, who is silently working on you to overcome from your own clutches. So if you succeed in your project, surrender the fruits of it at Guru’s feet. If you have faced failures & humiliations, again surrender them at Guru’s feet and seek more strength to start again". 

Having said this, the Messenger closed his eyes gently. By now, I have learnt not to disturb him until he open his eyes again. 

Meanwhile I recollected what my grandmother used to say from oral tradition that Rama, delighted with the squirrel's selflessness & surrender, picked up the squirrel and stroked it; because of which, one can still see the imprint of Rama's three fingers in the three lines that are obvious on the back of every squirrel! 

I prayed to the divinity to make me that worthy instrument so as to receive those gentle three lines from my Master one day...

(to be contd..)

-'Bansuri'

(Please note that the views expressed in this fictional story series are the views of the author's own imagination taking reference from various sources which includes but not limited to Valmiki Ramayana, Kamba Ramayana, Hanuman chalisa along with Swami Rama & Guruji Pattabhiram's teachings. If you find any text inappropriate, the author seeks humble apologies.)