My Pilgrimage to the Spirit

November 21, 1933

Q. (1) It is true that there is a surrender beyond mind, vital and physical surrender which Krishna asks Arjuna to attain by saying—nistraigunyo bhavarjuna?

A. Naturally, the whole being must surrender, not the mind, vital and body alone.

Q. (2) Is this surrender the same as the psychic surrender?

A. No, it is the surrender of the self on the higher planes.

Q. (3) Is this surrender final among all surrenders?

A. Neither is complete without the other. The psychic brings about the surrender of the manifested nature—the self on the higher plane surrenders to the Divine all the spiritual possibilities including that of Moksha.

Q. (4) Can anybody pass beyond the barrier of the gunas and ego?

A. It is the double surrender that makes one free from the gunas. If only the higher self is free from the gunas and other parts remain their subject, then there is not the full liberation.

Q. (5) Surrender to the Divine and surrender to the Guru are said to be two different things. Is this true?

A. No. In surrendering to the Guru, it is to the Divine in him that one surrenders—if it were only to the human entity it would be ineffective. But it is the consciousness of the Divine Presence that makes the Guru a real Guru, so that even if the disciple surrenders to him thinking of the human being to whom he surrenders, that Presence will still make it effective.

Q. (6) Does surrender to the impersonal (formless) Divine leave the parts of the being subject to gunas and ego to a certain extent?

A. Yes—because the static parts would be formless, the active nature would be still in the play of the gunas. Many think they are free from ego because they get the sense of the formless existence. They do not see that the egoistic elements remain in their action just as before.

Q. (7) What makes the surrender to the Guru so grand and glorious as to call it the surrender beyond all surrenders?

A. Because through it you surrender not only to the impersonal, but to the personal,—not only to Divine in self but to the Divine outside you; you get a chance for the surpassing of the ego not only by retreat into the self where ego does not exist, but in the personal nature where it is the ruler. It is the sign of the will to complete, surrender to the total Divine.

Of course it must be a genuine spiritual surrender for all this to be true.

Sri Aurobindo