93 - The Spiritual Psychology of Self-Surrender | Swami Tattwamayananda

Summary:<br /><br />9th chapter: verse 22<br /><br />22nd verse: “People who meditate on God as not separate, who worship Him in all beings, who are always engaged in that divine pursuit, who engage in noble, unselfish deeds – for such people, I carry what they lack, and preserve what they already have.”<br /><br />Lord Krishna makes a big promise in this verse. “If you do God’s work, God will work for you.” When we do good, noble deeds without selfish motives, then some of our problems are automatically solved. Sometimes we are not aware of this, and we think results are due to our own efforts.<br /><br />Suppose a person is traveling on a train. If he moves around on the train, he cannot reach the destination faster. He will reach the destination when the train reaches its destination. He is better off sitting quietly and letting the train driver do the work. This example illustrates the self-surrender attitude of a devotee of the highest type. He is an instrument in the hands of God – the higher power works through him.<br /><br />Devotees, who have not reached the highest level, need a combination of their own effort and God’s grace. They should reach a level of spiritual fitness to become graceworthy and recognize God’s grace as God’s grace, not an accident.<br /><br />Those who pray to God for material prosperity. They are also worshipping the same divine Lord, but not in its most sublime sense. There are four levels of spiritual seekers: (1) Those who are in distress and seek God’s help (2) Those who pray for material comforts (3) Those who are inquisitive to know what lies beyond empirical comforts (4) Those who have realized the highest spiritual truth. All these seekers are noble-hearted, as they are directing their minds to God instead of undesirable channels.<br /><br />Even though God answers prayers for material prosperity, he does not give what is harmful to the devotee. Along with granting desires, he grants higher wisdom to understand the harmful effects of material things and develop aversion to