Surrender

What is Tarka?


Perhaps one of the most important parts of a strong spiritual practice is the practice of tarka or reflective journaling. Reflection upon your inner and outer life is essential if you wish to progress along the path. These reflections on your life can help you see your mind more clearly. Your relationship to yourself, the world, and others is revealed in each journal entry. We can sometimes be blinded by our own beliefs or trapped in a cycle of thinking that is unhealthy for us.

Tarka can help us to illumine the way before us, discard old beliefs, and change our attitudes and ways of thinking.

Tarka is designed to help you reflect upon your life and examine your mind so that you may travel the path of enlightenment with greater ease and harmony.

Today's Tarka Practice

In Patanjali’s book on the Yoga Sutras, we are taught that there are 3 things we must do in order to progress along the path. One of the most important but most difficult is to surrender. This is called Isvara Pranidhanam. It is with this teaching we are encouraged to dedicate the fruits of our actions to God or humanity (depending on your beliefs). When we act out of pure awareness or act from the heart, we are steady and calm along the path. If we act from the heart and dedicate each of our actions to God or humanity, this is an act of surrender. We discover that we do not own anything or possess anything. Instead, we are just the keeper or trustee of the skills we are embodied with. To share that skill and leave it as an offering to the universe, we deeply surrender any expectations we have of gaining something. When all expectations are discarded, we are free.

In your journal today, reflect on a skill that you have that you could share with someone else. Once you have reflected on that skill, take action. Do something today for someone without having any expectations or receiving anything in return. Open your heart and surrender completely to what you can offer in this present moment. Practice this technique again and again until it becomes a habit and you will be free.

Shanti,

Swami K