One king came to Gautam Buddha. He was a devotee, a great devotee, and he had come for the first time for his darshan - for his audience. In one of his hands, in his left hand, he had one beautiful golden ornament, priceless, with many jewels in it. It was the most precious that he had - a rare piece of art. He had come to present it to Buddha just to show his devotion. He came near. In his left hand was that priceless jewelled ornament. He was going to present it. Buddha said, "Drop it!" He was disturbed. He never expected this. He was shocked. But because Buddha was saying "Drop it", he dropped it.

In his other hand, in his right hand, he had brought a beautiful rose. He thought that Buddha might not like stones. He might just think that this was a childish thing that he had brought. But it was good to have an alternative, so he brought a beautiful rose. A rose is not so gross, not so material. It had a spirituality; something of the unknown is there. And Buddha might like it because he says life is a flux, and the flower is in the morning and in the evening it is no more. It is the most flux-like thing in the world. So he put his second hand in front of Buddha and he wanted to present the flower. Buddha again said, "Drop it !" Mahakashyap, Sariputta, Ananda and his other disciples were there, and they started laughing. The man became aware that even to say that " I present myself to you is egoistic. Even to say, " Now I am here and I surrender to you," is not surrender. So he himself fell down. Buddha smiled and said, "You understand well."

Unless you drop even this idea of surrendering, unless you drop even this idea of empty hands, it is not surrender.