Give your Burdens to God

When you take a train journey, upon reaching the railway station you have to transport your luggage via a porter, or by one means or another. If there is no one to help you, you have to carry the luggage yourself. But once you enter the train you can put the luggage down anywhere you like. Then you can relax and there is no further bother with the luggage. The train will carry you and your luggage. Nevertheless, there are some fools who will sit in the train and carry their luggage on their heads. Those are the ones who have been blessed with God's grace but still doubt and continue to follow their own independent will. They have not surrendered fully.

Once you surrender yourself fully to the Lord and offer up everything that is to be done, as well as when it is to be done and how it is to be done, at the Lord's feet, he will take care of everything. To achieve this level of surrender there can be no trace of ego left; there should be no sense of yourself remaining. This has been shown in a particularly clear manner in the Ramayana by Lakshmana, the brother of Rama.

Let us pick up the story when Rama, Sita and Lakshmana during their exile in the forest, were moving through a mountainous area. As is the Lord's nature, he always loves to carry on some playful sport; he is the perfect actor. He never has any sorrow or pain whatsoever, but sometimes he will act as though he has these feelings. Whenever God comes down in human form he acts this way in order to conduct himself in a natural way as man. The human form is taken on by him so that he can be easily accessible to people. On that particular day, Rama, the incarnation of God, acted as though he was very tired. He was removing the sweat from his brow and telling Lakshmana, "Lakshmana, I am so tired. I don't think I will be able to go any further. Please put up a hut somewhere nearby, so that we can take a little rest."

Lakshmana asked Rama, "Brother, where shall we have this cottage?" Rama said, "You can decide for yourself which place will be most appropriate, and then put it up." Lakshmana responded, "Rama! Rama! What have I done? What is my error? What sins have I committed to hear these words? Please let me know why you have spoken to me like this!" Now, Rama knew the mind of Lakshmana and so he knew why Lakshmana was saying this, but in order to help Sita understand the level of Lakshmana's surrender, Rama said, "Lakshmana, please tell me what is troubling you. What have I said that has made you feel so much pain?"

Lakshmana replied, "I have given up everything. I have given up wife, mother, father, kingdom, everything. I have come along with you feeling that you are the father, that Sita is the mother, and that wherever you are is our beautiful capital city of Ayodhya. I have come only to implement your will. I have given up my own individual will, and now you ask me to construct a hut and choose the place in which to build it. Your command is my only thought. I have no other thoughts than that. Whatever is your will, I will do. My only duty is to obey you. My only goal, truly my everything, is you. You alone must tell me where the hut is to be put up." Sita realized the depth of Lakshmana's devotion and surrender. She turned to Rama and asked him to relieve Lakshmana's distress by designating the site for the hut himself.