To surrender in spirituality and religion means that a believer completely gives up his own will and subjects his thoughts, ideas, and deeds to the will and teachings of a higher power. The term is also used in a similar manner, in some schools and approaches to psychology, in which sense it is an antonym of hostility, signifying something akin to acceptance of one's own nature and that of the world.
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According to the Bhagavad Gita, one of the most authoritative scriptures of Hinduism, Krishna, said the following to the warrior Arjuna who became his disciple:
Several gurus teach their disciples the importance of surrender to God or to themselves, as part of the guru-disciple relationship. For example, the Sri Sai Satcharita, the biography of the guru/fakir Sai Baba of Shirdi that according to its author was authorized by the guru says that surrender to the guru is the only sadhana.
Another example, Prem Rawat, formerly called Guru Maharaj Ji, was quoted in 1978 as "[.]. But there is nothing to understand! And if there is something to understand, there is only one thing to understand, and that is to surrender!"[1]
In Christianity, Jesus is the head of the believer. The first main principle of "surrender" within the religion is "Dying to Self", or the "emptying of self" to allow Christ to live through the believer, illustrated in the following passages:
And
The second issue of surrender in Christianity is allowing Christ to "take our place" through the believer, in other words, the emptying of self so that God may live through the believer as evidenced in Phl 1:21.
Another doctrinal principle central to the Christian Concept of Surrender in line with the other two, and often expounded more, is the concept of surrender to God's Will. Surrendering to God's will entails both the "surrender of our will to His in macrocosm", in which His plan prevails over man's and the adversary, and secondarily to the surrender of one's will for individual life to "His will for our personal lives in microcosm." This is done through the emptying or dying of self, the "putting self aside" in favor of divine influence. This includes the idea of surrendering to a call (the word "vocation" is rooted in the Latin vocare, referring to God's voice). The corollary of this personal surrender is obedience, and obedience to God is denoted as bringing about His will, having lasting effects, and often associated with earthly and divine blessings.
The Supreme act of Surrender which the believer is called to emulate is the surrender of Christ first as coming into the world as God incarnate and then the surrender to the Cross in the act of sacrificial atonement, breaking the Curse of sin and death from the Fall.
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Surrender is also noted in Christian doctrine as one of the three columns of victorious living, or Christian victory: the Blood of the Lamb [Christ], their Testimony of the Word of God [Scriptures] and their lives, and Loving not their lives to death.
Surrender and Obedience are premiere values of faith and a walk in Christ, superseded only by Agape Love for man and God.
One of the meanings of the word Islam itself is surrender. Surrender in Islam means surrendering or submitting your will to God. This means that all other responsibilities of life are removed and are replaced with the singular aim of living your life in accordance to God's will.[2] Every single action in a Muslim's life, whether marriage or building one's career should theoretically be for the sake of God. This way of life is believed to crush the ego and self-importance within an individual.