By Michael Ketterhagen
“’Ishvara pranidhana’, [translated] ‘trustful surrender to God’, … means to [surrender to] God as our inner guide, protector, provider and eternal companion.”
-Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, commenting on Yoga Sutra 2.1
“It is then a truth of our faith that God is responsible for all the happenings … in the world and … we cannot doubt that all the misfortunes God sends us have a very useful purpose.” -Blessed Claude de la Colombiere, “Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence”
Surrendering to God – Our Final Step on our Spiritual Journey
Surrendering to God, or in reality, surrendering to the source of the events in our lives, is one of the most difficult steps we must take in our journey to oneness with our God. Accepting the events that happen to us in our lives is often much more challenging than blaming ourselves, others or God for those events. Humans in today’s culture have the tendency to “litigate” when it comes to negative things that happen to us or have the tendency to assume responsibility for all the good things that happen to us. We cast blame all over the place.
In fact, according to the mystical understandings of Christianity, as Blessed Claude de la Colombiere says, all “the misfortunes” in our life “have a very useful purpose.” They give us the opportunity practice our free will. We have the choice to accept that misfortune as beyond our control or blame someone or something
for it. We can remember to choose that our God, as Yoga says, is always with us as “our inner guide, protector, provider and eternal companion.”
This demands that we have a firm relationship with the Source of Life/God. That takes faith or direct experience of that loving companion. Faith is a good start, but direct experience really is the game changer for me.
Through my meditation practice, especially Vishoka meditation, and through my challenges with cancer, I am convinced that I am always loved and protected by my Divine Mother (my understanding of and label for God), even when bad things happen. I have learned that the choice I have is positive acceptance and gratitude or blame and all the negative emotions that accompany that blame.
I have also learned that sitting in meditation and practicing attuning myself to my deepest self allows me to have a direct experience of life beyond the physical and mental worlds. I have begun to fathom my interior domain and begun to release my attachment to all that gets in the way of my union with the joy and peace associated with my Spirit. I am also learning to be less fearful of death and to not worry about any harm that might come to my personal identity and beliefs.
Now, I am beginning to place the unfolding of my life into the hands of my “eternal companion,” my Divine Mother.