Charudutta Panigrahi

Bliss strikes when we become fluid with the mainstream. When we assimilate with the flow and flow with the flow. Bliss does not trickle because it cannot be separated into doses. Either bliss happens or it does not. Either you are happy, or you are unhappy. You cannot be little happy. So, bliss strikes. Flowing with the flow is the biggest challenge for the human mind, which is stacked with the most lethal poison, ego. This ego chokes the pipeline of our life. It creates tumours inside us, blocks our chakras, weakens our navel area, makes us irrational and ultimately asphyxiates us. Yet we cling on to the vanity, which is vain.

There is an indescribable ecstasy in the opening of the door. When the door opens, the world opens out for you. Till now you were in a tiny dark corner of the world and now you can see light. This change in status brings that smile on your lips, the smile of no worry. Worry is another manifestation of ego – when I fail in doing something, when I consider myself as the doer, I slip into misery and as I am sliding down, my ego keeps inflating. Ego and my demotion are inversely proportional. That is why when you are satiated inside your ego dips. Ego vanishes when you stop being the doer. You are witnessing everything but as a bamboo piece. A flute has all the notations, all the breathing through it. It plays to a tune. It does not have a tune of its own. If you be the passage for the world to flow through you, you are not the doer. You are the medium, which does not have to worry about the music. Without any worry of the consequences, which is nothing but the future, you are blissfully playing to the tune. Nothing is yours except yourself. So where is the genesis of this ego? Ego is the most venomous and it stalks us even when it does not have any locus standi. How helpless are we when it comes to ego?

When you become the bamboo, you surrender to the airflow, the reeds and the play of fingers which creates the music. Once surrender has happened completely, your state becomes the door for you. Suddenly a different world of light, life and bliss opens. This is Satchidanand. It is the true existence, the true consciousness, the true ecstasy and the ultimate truth. The creator never wants us to be miserable, but ego ensures that we deviate from the basic objective of our being. Our being is Satchidanand. Surrender is the key to life, a life with never-ending joy. As mentioned earlier, when you surrender, the door opens. So, you need not bother much about where to surrender. Just keep surrendering more and more. You will realise the magic. Start your day with surrendering and you will realise that you are not running away from your responsibilities. Rather you are getting more attracted to them. Ego is waiting to gobble you up, so it would occur to you that by surrendering you are escaping, or you are being fatalistic. No. By surrendering you are being bold and prepared to face the obvious. Surrendering brings you closer to the obvious. There is a system in everything, said or unsaid, felt, or un-felt. Start feeling the obvious and you can develop Satchidanand qualities. You can develop a premonition when your mind is clutter free and when you are as fluid as water without any ego blocking your ways. Bow to a bodhi tree, bow to kalpabrikshya, bow to the cross. The Gospel of John also records that Jesus bowed his head as he died on the cross.

Surrender
Surrendering yourself to the Lord

Surrender anywhere you like – be it the banyan tree in the field near your house, the God or Goddess at the temple, the unbridled stream singing and flowing, the hill in the forest (like the Dongrias do), but let the surrender be total. A partial surrender is a transaction with the Supreme, the mainstream. It is cheating oneself. If the surrender is total, then even if they are not there, any ordinary man can also be helpful to you. You can experience this when you start surrendering every moment. You would be completely free of shackles. No hypertension, no BP, or no diabetes. You would continue to be yourself. Even at the workplace when you be a Satchidanand, even your severest critique turns your friend. The positive energy that you transmit touches everyone around you. The marital discords peter out. The differences with children burst open like a bubble. Your soul, is beyond space, matter, and time. It needs its own wont, its nourishment. To save the soul you don’t have to do any complicated exercises or rituals. All that you ought to do is surrender and that ironically becomes the insurmountable hindrance. What a pity? Eckhart Tolle reflects that ‘anything you accept fully will take you into peace. This is the miracle of surrender.’

Surrender to Satchidanand is a glorious journey, the most glorious in this life. Let’s learn to surrender to a higher arrangement because we have inherited a beautiful life. It is a gift and not our manufactured one. So why this ego?

Happiness is the death of the ego. Satchidanand does not know ego.

(DISCLAIMER: This is an opinion piece. The views expressed are the author’s own and have nothing to do with OTV’s charter or views. OTV does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.)

(Charudutta Panigrahi is a polymath. Author, community worker, TED speaker, public intellectual & policy influencer. He can be reached at charu.panigrahi@gmail.com)

More from the author: Op-Ed: Electric Bus In Smart Bhubaneswar

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