When you read today’s message, please surrender to it. It is a message about surrender, but in order to fully realize the lesson in the message, you will have to surrender to the message.
When today’s message asks you to do something, surrender to it, and do it right then. If there are thoughts in your mind that say you don’t need to do it, or you don’t have time to do it, or you can do it later, practice self-inquiry to notice how the mind is trying to stop you from surrendering.
Why would the mind try to stop you from surrendering?
Is the mind trying to control you?
Is the mind in control of you, or is your Heart in the lead in your daily life?
In the Bible at John 15:4, Jesus said:
Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.
“Abide in me as I abide in you,” is a call to surrender. The “fruit” that Jesus spoke of is awakening. Just as he told the disciples previously that salvation (awakening) is not possible for man, but only for God, this scripture points out that awakening is not possible if the mind remains in the lead. Surrender is necessary.
When I was the scribe of Inner Ramana, I received guidance to add, “Abide in me as I abide in you,” to my mantra practice. In other words, just as I said, “I am that I am” to myself whenever the reminder came to do so, I also said, “Abide in me as I abide in you,” to myself whenever the reminder came to do so. As I used this mantra, I felt my inner desire to surrender. Through using the mantra, my resistance to surrender weakened, because I noticed that I (the true ‘I’) wanted to surrender. As I became more aware of my desire to surrender, surrender came more easily to me.
If you feel guidance to journal about anything you read as you read today’s message, surrender to that inner prompt, and journal with inner wisdom as guided.
Thoughts of Awakening # 316
The past has no meaning now.
Any meaning it ever had
was only the meaning you gave it.
Now is a fresh moment.
This means that meaning from the past
can be looked at anew
and new meaning can be given.
However to make this change
do not deny one critical point.
Any meaning the past seemed to have
was absolutely given by you.
From our Holy Spirit
Homework for this week
- Practice daily meditation for 30-60 minutes each day.
- Practice the “Loving All” Method.
- Thoughts of Awakening, 316-322 including the Commentary on False Perception (Day 317) and the Commentary on Attachment (Day 321).
- Read the following messages from The Teaching of Inner Ramana: The Mind that Thinks it is Lord, A Contract for Awakening, Pain and Purification, The Grace of the Guru, Full-Time Inquiry for Self. There is no reading on days 317 and 321.
*If you don’t already have it, order The Seven Steps to Awakening. That will be our text for Year 3.
