The Cost of Discipleship: Handing Everything Over to God

How to become a good disciple of the Atma? The more you empty yourself of 'me', the more you empty of ego, which means you empty of self-image, self-concern, and self-will. So ask yourself: what do you want? And keep that aside. Become empty of self-will. Then we learn obedience. What do you think is right? Keep that aside. Ask God what is right. Which way do you want your life to go? Keep that aside. Ask the spirit within to guide you and to tell you the next step. You must become full-hearted about it, you see? Full-hearted. Just hand everything over to God's grace, to His love, to His light. Don't keep anything for yourself. And as you progress more and more in that, then the better disciple of the inner Satguru you are becoming.

In the human condition, even for those who are coming into spirituality, we are trying to hedge our bets and juggle with what we want, what we think is right, and following God's will, following His way. Don't hedge your bets. Just let everything go. Why was Hanuman able to basically do miraculous things? Why was Moses able to do them? Not by their own strength, but because they were in service to God's will and they trusted, had faith in God that He is all-powerful. So doubt did not cross their mind. But if you're going to mix love for God and obedience of God with self-concern and 'what about me, what do I really want?', then it's a longer journey.

So we want the benefit of grace without the cost of discipleship. It's a beautiful book by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 'The Cost of Discipleship'. What is the cost of discipleship? Everything that you're holding on to. To expect the benefit without handing over would be a very smooth and cool trick which nobody can pull off. So that's why I said that we must put everything that we think we have at our disposal. And we become very... we become the non-doer very conveniently when it comes to spirituality. With our work, with our family, with everything else: 'I will do this, I want this, I need this, this must happen,' you see? All those things are very much prevalent. But when it comes to God, we say, 'Grace has to do it. Why should I inquire? Grace has to do it. Why should I pray? Grace has to do it.' Yes, grace has to do it, but it is our job to set the table whether the guest comes or not.