S p i r i t ua l i t y S t u d i e s 6 - 2 Fa l l 2 0 2 0 1 1 Gejza M. Timčák (2018) in a video report on surrender indicates the difficulty in keeping the surrender to stay with one and to prevent the mind to try to solve issues in its own way and thus to scatter the attention away from meditation and the state of surrender. Surrender has a very specific algorithm. If the surrender if oriented towards a qualified guru , then there a subtle con - nection is created, where for any life experience a gentle hint comes regarding what to do mentally or physically. This hint manifests through the vijñānamāya kosha . If the surrender is oriented to the Being, the algorithm is similar, but the hint is even more subtle. Sometimes it turns out that our action is not needed. Looking at surrender from another point of view, if one follows one’s own dharma correctly, then one can speak about a surrender to one’s dharma . Dharma is defined in a way that is difficult to comprehend, but it is life in har - mony with the will of the Being. Dharma can be understood also as virtue, i.e. living an “optimal life” (Patanjali, 2001, 131). Mudaliar (1968, 99) recorded the following dialogue related to this issue: Q: Are only important events in a man’s life … or are trifling acts of his life … also predetermined? A: Yes, everything is predetermined. Q: Then what responsibility, what free will one has? A: The whole program is chalked out. Not an atom moves except by His will …As for freedom for man, he is always free not to identify himself with the body and not to be affected by the pleasures or pains consequent on the body’s activities. Balsekar (Timčák 2015, 55–61) pushes the issue into an ex - treme advising the surrender as the logical way of accepting the lack of possibility to go against the will of the Absolute. Vallalar (2013, 71) gives the following advice: “ Unless it is revealed to you, you cannot know the Self .” Surrender seems to be an easy process, but in fact it is very difficult, as one has to walk “on a razor’s edge”– and to act only as advised through the above-mentioned intuitive hints coming from a guru or the Absolute. For this the inner perception is to be opened, which enables to perceive and accept the guidance streamed to us. This, in case of a jñāni , means a life, where life events follow the logics as given in Fig.1. 4 Supportive Processes of Ātma vichāra As we can see in the life of Ramana Maharshi, he was constructively active – he took walks every day, he was reading and/or editing papers or books, answered questions, helped people, he accepted what his karmabrought to him, when he was inspired to accept a goal like adding new buildings to the āshram, he made managerial choices, e.g. to find the right individual to carry out the job and got the projects completed. He kept to traditional vegetarian principles regarding food and nutrition and kept to the simple āshram diet. Venkataramiah (1968, 19) recorded the following dialogue: Q: What diet is prescribed for a sādhaka? A: Sattvic food in limited quantities. Q: What is sattvic food? A: Bread [Note: called chapat and roti ] , fruit, vegetables, milk, etc. It is natural to expect from anĀtma vichāra practitioner an adherence to the yamas and niyamas (Patanjali 2001, 2:30– 32; Ganapati 2016, 23). It means that unless we optimize our life processes and the way how we deal with life situations; it is impossible to expect theĀtma vichāra practice to bear adequate fruits. 5 Ātma vichāra in Everyday Life – Feedback from Ātma vichāra Courses As can be expected, practicingĀtma vichāra does not automatically warrant getting established in samādhi . Our dispositions, life situation, lifestyle, depth of involvement, available help and other factors influence the course of path toward the ultimate result ofĀtma vichāra . But on this road no effort is wasted and what we invest into the practice as regards lifestyle amendments, mainly effort and time, will bring the aim closer to fulfilment. As it can be clear from the above text, it is impossible to shape anĀtma vichāra standard procedure to be followed, as the process in its key steps defies full objective description and depends on the possibilities of the practitioner. This holds true in spite of the fact that the structure of the de-
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