The joy of surrender

The joy of surrender

January 2014

Mata Amritanandamayi De

One day, old man Yu became ill, and his friend Ssu came to visit him, asking how he was. Yu answered, “Amazing! Look how crooked I am becoming! My back sticks up like a hunchback, my intestines are over my head, my chin digs into my belly, and my bottom points up to the sky!” He hobbled over to the well and, looking at his reflection, remarked, “My, how the Creator is changing my shape!”

Ssu was surprised at how at ease his friend seemed, and asked, “Are you really not upset at all?”

Yu answered, “Not a bit: what is there to be upset about? Maybe tomorrow I’ll awake, and my left arm will be changed into a rooster, and I’ll announce the dawn; or, perhaps, the Creator will make my right arm into a crossbow and I’ll go out and hunt for dinner. Maybe my buttocks will be transformed into cartwheels, and I’ll climb up onto myself and go for a ride! I’ll never need a carriage again!

“I was born when the time came, and I will similarly die at the appointed hour. When you fight against reality, you lose: that’s just the way things have always been. So, instead, I am content with whatever life presents to me, and therefore immune to both sorrow and joy. That’s why I’m not upset.”

-From the sixth chapter of the
Chuang Tzu