Seven Principles of Right Surrender
Introduction
Each of the seven principles plays a definite role in preparing the human personality to grow out of the way of life in which they are and create a link with the Divine.
These principles have been explained in the Explanation of the Seven Principles of Right Surrender by Bahram Shahmardaan.
The Importance of Surrender as a Principle:
Although they are invisible, principles control all manifestations. For instance, it is the Principles of Aerodynamics that control the flight of an airplane through the medium of air and it is the Principles of Flotation that support the weight of a ship through the medium of water. So, although principles are invisible, they control what is visible. Principles are inexorable and they never fail.
You will always be controlled by whatever it is that you surrender to. If you surrender to alcohol or drugs of any kind, you will be controlled by them. If you surrender to your own thoughts and desires, you will be controlled by them. If you are in love with someone, you will surrender to their will and do all you can to serve them.
Therefore, you have to be very careful about just who or what it is that you are surrendering to. Moreover, you voluntarily and joyfully surrender to whatever you are attached to. For instance, you joyfully surrender to your desires and to the will of your beloved. As a matter of fact, you will fight with anyone who tries to stop you from surrendering to your desires or thwart your efforts to fulfill the wishes of your beloved.
As a principle, surrender is the opposite of submission. Whereas one will joyfully and voluntarily surrender to whatever one is attached to, those who submit are forced to do so against their will and they resent it. Unfortunately, the English dictionary considers the words surrender and submission to be synonymous, but as you can see from the above explanation, the two words can and do have a very different meaning.
Therefore, for their spiritual growth towards the goal of Life Eternal, SSG encourages people to surrender to the Divine and teaches them how, by following the Seven Principles of Right Surrender.
The three sets of principles: Seven Principles of Right Surrender, 7 Principles of God Guidance Through Force of Circumstance and 7 Principles of Karma Yoga together form the key spiritual practices taught by SSG, have been explained in great detail in the book on Karma written by Bahram Shahmardaan.
So, SSG advocates that instead of pursuing our own desires and plans, we should strive to fit into the Divine Plan for each one of us by following “God Guidance through Force of Circumstances” and the “Seven Principles of Karma Yoga” and simultaneously empty our minds by weaving the “Seven Principles of Right Surrender.”
SSG teaches that we will be controlled by whatever and whomsoever we surrender to. If we surrender to drugs we will be controlled by drugs. If we surrender to our desires, we will be controlled by them, and if we surrender to the Divine we will be controlled by the Divine. The Divine Plan is to restore all of us, including Satan, to our rightful place in the hierarchy of the Kingdom of Heaven. Once Satan is restored to his rightful place, all conflicts will cease. God is suffering, and His suffering is more than any of us can ever imagine.
Even logically one can appreciate that if God is everywhere and in everything, then His suffering is at least as great as the sum total of everyone’s suffering and His joy would be at least as great as the sum total of everyone’s joy. Rev. Dadaji taught that God is the greatest giver in the universe. So, he emphasized, “Do not make God a beggar. Earn for God and give for God but do not beg for God.” Therefore, SSG does not solicit donations.
Discourse on the Seven Principles of Right Surrender
THE FIRST PRINCIPE: THE ENTITY
The first of the Seven Principles is: Select the one to whom and through whom you want to surrender all that you have and all that you are, body, mind and soul. Remember, “the one” is important. Do not select more than one. It is a great mistake to think, as many human minds think, that all the great beings are the same to them. First of all, how can one say they are the same? If one knows that they are the same, then one knows everything, but many just conceptually accept this idea because somebody has said so, or because they come to the conclusion by their own superficial logic that all these high beings, in whatever form, are the same. They are the same, and yet they are also different. Just as the Christ has said, “He that hath seen me hath seen God”, but He has also said “My Father is greater than I” There is a difference. Even though they are the same, there is a difference in the spiritual hierarchy. Buddha has also said, “I am not the first Buddha. Before me, there have been many” (He mentioned at least five) “and after me there will be Buddhas – the next one will be the Maitreya Buddha – and also many Arahants.” Arahants are also Buddhas in one sense, but they reach Buddahood by following the teachings of the Buddha, whereas the Buddha follows only the teaching that comes to him from and through his innermost self. The Buddha has no guru; the Arahants have the Buddha as the guru.
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