Self-Surrender

Sri Lakshmana Swamy

Why did Ramakrishna love Vivekananda more than any of his other devotees? If the jnani sees only the Self everywhere he looks, how can he appear to treat one devotee differently from another? The same thing happened at Sri Ramanasramam when Ramana Maharshi was alive. In the late 1940s many people noticed that Sri Ramana appeared to give G V Subbaramaiah more love and grace than anyone else. How can this be so?

It is true that the jnani sees the Self in all devotees, but when he looks into a devotee's eyes he also sees the devotee's mind. If the jnani sees that there is great devotion or a pure mind free from thoughts, then the love and grace will flow towards that particular devotee. Not all devotees have reached the same stage of development, and so the love and grace are not equally distributes. Because of this the jnani may ignore some people and shower his grace on others. The same grace is available for all, but it cannot be given until the devotee starts to surrender his mind to the Self.

Very advanced devotees who have reached the effortless thought-free state do not even need to to the jnani. The jnani will come and sit at their feet and give them enough grace tor realize the Self. Such is the power of self-surrender.