Self-Reliance and Surrender

December 25, 1996Lake Lucerne, Switzerland

Self-Reliance needs enormous courage. When there is nobody else or you want to depend on yourself for everything, you need a lot of courage.Surrender needs less courage.A person who cannot surrender cannot be self-reliant either. If you don't have enough courage to surrender, then it is not possible to be self-reliant; you simply fool yourself. If you don't have a hundred dollars, you cannot have a thousand dollars. Even a little fear is detrimental to self-reliance.Self-reliance contains surrender. Fifty dollars contains ten dollars.Often people think that surrender is a way to escape from their responsibilities, then they end up blaming the Divine for all their problems. In fact, true surrender is taking total responsibility for everything.Susannah: How can we do that?Sri Sri: You take responsibility and you pray for help.Surrender eventually leads you to self-reliance because there is nothing other than the Big Self.