Our existence as embodied beings is purely momentary; what are a hundred years in eternity? But if we shatter the chains of egotism, and melt into the ocean of humanity, we share its dignity. To feel that we are something is to set up a barrier between God and ourselves; to cease feeling that we are something is to become one with God. A drop in the ocean partakes of the greatness of its parent, although it is unconscious of it. But it is dried up as soon as it enters upon an existence independent of the ocean….

As soon as we become one with the ocean in the shape of God, there is no more rest for us, nor indeed do we need rest any longer. Our very sleep is action. For we sleep with the thought of God in our hearts. This restlessness constitutes true rest. This never-ceasing agitation holds the key to peace ineffable. This supreme state of total surrender is difficult to describe, but not beyond the bounds of human experience. It has been attained by many dedicated souls, and may be attained by ourselves as well.

Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) led India to freedom through a 30-year struggle based completely on non-violence. Gandhi dedicated his life to the wider purpose of discovering truth, “Satyagrapha.” It is based on the Vedantic ideal of self-realization and contains Jain and Buddhist notions of nonviolence, vegetarianism, the avoidance of killing, and ‘agape’ (universal love). Gandhi also borrowed Christian-Islamic ideas of equality, the brotherhood of man, and the concept of turning the other cheek.

Satyagrpaha seeks to eliminate antagonisms without harming the antagonists themselves and seeks to transform or “purify” it to a higher level. It has been called a “silent force” or a “soul force” (a term also used by Martin Luther King Jr. during his famous “I have a Dream” speech”). It arms the individual with moral power rather than physical power.

Gandhi sometimes reminds me of Mother Teresa in that they were both ‘doers’. They were active people, engaged in the world and living their beliefs and not just talking about them – which then segued in my mind to the celebration of Labor Day in the U.S. on Monday.

In the excerpt above, written while he was imprisoned, Gandhi emphasizes that the surrender of the self is the surrender of the ego, that feeling, intellectual or emotional, that causes us to feel different, to feel special, to feel better than others.

It is only when we cease to desire to be important that we can be one with God, and the soul-searing pain of separation is healed. The surrender of the self is the surrender of suffering. When we work with love, we can take joy in responsibility, and lose the burden of our ‘self’ in the doing. “The miracle is not that we do this work, but that we are happy to do it,” said Mother Teresa.