|
We must never be disappointed of the Divine Grace
(Silence Speaks, Second Edition, pg 313)
Dr.S.V.Raghavan
The topic chosen from the Chapter, Role of
Abhyasi,
in Silence Speaks is a profound instruction from the
Divine Master to all of us and is almost of the
nature of an injunction which every
abhyasi
keenly desirous of attaining the ultimate objective
ought to obey. The subject of divine grace poses its
own challenges to the dialectical, categorizing and
discriminating intellect though the cultivated,
purified and devoted heart of the real seeker is
able to receive, acknowledge and have a direct
intuitive perception of it in an authentic manner.
We have all imperienced just now that very Divine
Grace showered on us bounteously by the gracious
all-loving Master, the Light of the Day, whose heart
is ever full of it and who is ever impatient to fill
up all pining hearts.
It is also the experience of the regular
abhyasis
that whenever they sought the assistance of their
trainers they were never disappointed in that they
received the
Pranahuti. However we all appreciate the need to
understand Master’s statement in the way it ought to
be and that happens to be our real duty as well. The
discussion I present before you is one such attempt.
The Master defines constant remembrance and
describes the exalted states in spirituality which
could be attained through remembrance in the article
from which the topic is selected. He says, ‘The more
you go deep into this thought (associated with the
idea of a fellow being who is merged in the
absolute) the more of the coverings of subtler
nature shall be torn off one by one, till finally
the one-original- alone comes into view. Now since
the origin is in view he shall be blessed with the
direct divine grace’ (Ref. 1 p308). There can not be
a more direct clue to the
abhyasi
than in the above as to the object of his loving
remembrance. The efficacy of remembrance has been
extolled by the Master at every opportunity He gets
to do so. The saying found in our diary for 30th
April declares remembrance as the instrument for
attaining the destination (the Unknown) which is not
far off.
Master asks us to love Him who loves all for
attaining complete success in our noble endeavour.
One of the effects of remembrance in its highest
flights is the development of sameness which leads
the aspirant to the transcendent state of devotion
described by Kabir in the words, ‘my mind can be at
rest only when the Lord gets busy with the
remembrance of me’. At this stage the lover has
become beloved. The role of remembrance in
sadhana is
to water the seed of reality which is infused into
the abhyasi’s heart at the time of introduction; it is the instrument to
ensure speedy progress and eventual success in our
pursuit.
The topical sentence is followed by a discussion
dealing with maintaining regularity of
sadhana in the presence of inner disturbances. The
abhyasi
should not feel disheartened; he should feel himself
bankrupt and carry on with his worship and devotion
unmindful of the disturbances with firm resolve and
in a spirit of duty to be done in obedience to
Master’s commandment even as the elephant marches on
undisturbed despite the barking of dogs. Master
interprets the metaphor, ‘barking of dogs’ to mean
unregulated and ill-disciplined activities of the
mind and the sense organs. The
abhyasi
should have firm faith and confidence in Master’s
grace and support right through his endeavour for
realizing his true nature and this will enable him
to develop the required endurance and forbearance in
the midst of the difficulties caused (adyatmic)
by the unregulated activities of his mind and
senses. He should have realized his responsibility
and have trained them in the first place such that
they do not pose any problem in
sadhana.
The Master advises against a direct repressive
confrontation with the ‘barking dogs’ for their
control which is likely to turn them offensive and
violent. He recommends their indirect and effective
control through the practice of meditation and
remembrance. He makes a very significant point when
he says the inner state of mind developed through
the practices should be such that even animals begin
to take in its effect and become calm and
controlled. We realize that stabilization in the ‘U’
plane and especially in the virtues of
ahimsa,
prema, karuna
and maitri towards all beings can bring about
such a result. Our
literature is quite rich in the discussion of the
efficacy of the methods of practice in particular
the ‘A’ & ‘B’ meditations, cleaning practices and
diversion through
Pranahuti
from ‘L’ to ‘U’ in bringing about regulation and
discipline in the activities of the mind and the
senses. Hence I will not be discussing this aspect
any further.
I would however draw your attention to the Master’s
commentary on the 4th commandment which
deals with the problem of the restless and downward
tendencies of the mind coupled with the runaway
senses and the effective solution to the same.
Considering Master’s advice for resorting to
remembrance as a solution to the problem discussed,
we note that remembering the Master effectively by
the abhyasi with an earnest desire for regaining balance and regulation
in his vrittis
and senses while in the midst of tempting
circumstances creates a vacuum in his heart inviting
the flow of Master’s grace bringing about the
necessary order.
It is well appreciated that mind and speech fail
miserably in knowing God or the Divine and we may
say that equal if not greater is the difficulty in
understanding the nature and operation of Divine
Grace. The great minds of spiritually illumined
souls blessed with God vision in an authentic manner
more or less profound have tried to fathom the
depths of this concept and the various religious and
spiritual traditions contain such wisdom. The direct
apprehension of God and discerning of His nature
being virtually impossible for the ordinary run of
mortals like us, we have to depend upon the
teachings of God-realized souls for gaining some
understanding of the subject. Their teachings become
the Pramanas called apta vachana
and even sabda
or sruti,
the very veda itself in some very special cases such as in the case of the
Divine Masters Rev. Lalaji Saheb and Babuji Maharaj
who have established an irrevocable connection with
the very Source and not only that have also secured
mergence therein.
The Masters of our Order as we are aware have direct
intuitional and revelational imperiences of the
Divine which constitute another important
Pramana
viz., that of
anubhava imparting authenticity to their
utterances on such subjects which are beyond the
reach of the ordinary intellect. I intend to take up
mainly the various teachings of the Master as
contained in Showers of Divine Grace and Silence
Speaks through the course of this discussion for
showing how they could bring about a better
understanding of the topic on hand. I feel that we
should first have a reasonable understanding of what
constitutes Divine Grace before we get to the
operative part of the topical sentence namely, ‘we
must never be disappointed of it’. My attempt would
be to show that the moment we get enough clarity as
to the nature of Divine Grace, we would readily
appreciate the justification behind the Master’s
directive already referred to.
It has been widely held by the seers that the
incarnating soul has to take innumerable births
through countless wombs covering the mineral, plant
and animal domains, go through enormous suffering
and struggles before it secures even the first one
of the three blessings, this is getting a human
birth. The difficulty is three folds greater in the
exponential sense, if we were to treat the problem
according to the laws of probability, for the soul
if it were to be content with self- effort alone.
As Master puts it , ‘The problem before us is not to
find out a solution of our present life but for all
lives that we may henceforth have—It is not mere
deliverance from pain and misery but freedom from
bondage which is the ultimate cause of pain and
misery’ (Ref. 2). Thus we ought to think of the
innumerable lives of suffering and unending trouble
we can save for ourselves just by following His
loving instructions and have the bare minimum goal
of securing liberation which would signal the end of
our pains and miseries.
Some reflection would tell us that, the Master is
like the mother who cajoles using like terms the
adamant child which refuses to take the bitter and
unpleasant medicine which would result in the cure
of its sickness. This sacrifice consists in sparing
time for the
sadhana practices,
indriya nigraha, terminating superfluous activities, saying ‘no’ to
audio visual entertainment, refraining from undue
involvement with friends and relatives and the
subduing of our lower nature while implementing the
Ten commandments. The sincere aspirant would see
that the sacrifice is nothing but his legitimate
duty, a duty to be discharged for the sake of the
discharge of the prime duty of man, namely of
realizing his real nature and living according to
it. Serious
sadhakas would realize that what we can get in
turn for the little sacrifice is something which is
inconceivably great envied even by the gods viz.,
the life in God, by God and for God
.
All of us here have the greatest of good fortunes in
having established our connections with the great
Master and enjoy His continuous support on this, our
dynamic Path of Grace vibrant with
Pranahuti,
the Divine
Pranasya Prana. This naturally reminds us of the
Master’s saying, ‘A man is not fit for spiritual
training unless and until he has developed the
capacity of fomenting the disciples with superior
force which is all in all … they should first judge
their fitness to deserve such a Master. Sometimes,
fortune favours and one gets such a Master even
though one is not fit for the best sort of training.
In that case there is nothing but the grace of God’.
(Ref. 3)
The incidence of divine grace may be viewed from two
angles, the subjective or the standpoint of the
utterly devoted seeker who feels with gratitude that
he has been blessed with divine favour ill-
deserving though he is in every respect. The feeling
of worthlessness is created in such a seeker because
he keeps always his abject lowliness before the
Master/God in his view. Taking the viewpoint of the
divine, grace is its response to the fervent prayer
of the devout heart which has totally surrendered to
Him alone seeking His succour in the hour of crisis.
The devotee feels that he has been blessed with
divine grace when he is faced with situations
wherein a task which is humanly impossible is
accomplished, insurmountable obstacles are overcome;
the person is blessed with bounties entirely
disproportionate to his deservingness especially in
the spiritual realm; the person is saved from an all
consuming existential crisis of
adyatmika
nature or an extraordinary gain is made from very
little effort.
We also find in the functioning of divine grace a
great leverage or multiplication factor operating on
our puny insignificant efforts (We may recall here
the rules used in Game of Life!). Thus according to
the words of Saint Kabir the Lord takes ten steps
towards for each step taken towards Him by the
grihasta
whose heart is full of love for Him. The Master says
almost identically (Ref. 4), ‘Whoever moves one step
towards it (Goal), the goal advances ten steps
towards him.’ In fact He calls it as a divine
assurance in which we shall have firm faith.
If we examine the idea of divine grace, it will be
found that it is closely tied up with our conception
regarding God/Divine. In this context I would like
to draw your attention to discussions dealing with
conceptions of God as found in the articles of our
brother K.C. Narayana (Ref. 5, 7). There are three
principal viewpoints regarding God mentioned in Ref.
5 namely,
(1) the conception of God as masculine, paternal and
unsympathetic, viz., the Creator, the King, the
Father, the Judge and the Old man up there, the
outer God. (2) God as maternal and feminine though
not necessarily female, the conception arising out
of adoration. The devotees seek tender care,
kindness, a caressing and caring individual and this
emotional along with the aesthetic need for sensing
and appreciating beauty are responsible for the
origin of such conception termed as the Inner God.
(3) The third idea of God arises from our
imperiences in meditation in the Natural Path in
which the presence of a reverential ‘Suchness’ is
intuited, such an awareness granting us the
conviction that we are one with all that exists or
rather all that exists is One. The limitations
imposed by multiplicity and the sense of
separateness in particular are transcended in this
insight gained through the imperience.
The subject matter of divine grace is obviously
related to the second viewpoint of God; God’s Grace
is often deemed in the tradition to be vested in His
inseparable spouse, the compassionate Divine Mother
and this may be regarded as His feminine aspect. The
masculine aspect is connected with lordship,
protection, administering justice, punishing the
wicked, running the universe (jagatvyapara)
and so on. We may say it is justice of the father
tempered with the mercy and saving grace of the
mother. The divine attributes such as
kripa or anugraha (grace),
daya (mercy),
prema
(love), kshama
(patience and forgiveness) are all personified by
the mother. She is the compassionate intercessor
between the souls and God, pleading with Him to
forgive the sins and various transgressions of the
repentant souls and recommends the soul for His
acceptance. In the
visishtadvaita
tradition she is the chief of all preceptors and the
surrender to the Divine Lord is to be made through
Sri alone. We can also see that grace requires the
platform provided by unconditional love, overflowing
mercy, forbearance of even gross wrong doings,
preparedness to ignore the past transgressions of
the soul and readiness to forgive on the part of the
Divine. It is to be noted however that when we
mention the above as viewpoints it is surely not
meant that they are mere speculative conjectures on
the contrary they are intimate relationship (sambhanda)
imperiences felt in the heart by earnest devotees at
a particular stage of their spiritual evolution. We
may even say that the view points arise because of
those intense imperiences which inform the
intellect.
In this context we may consider the Master’s
recommendation,
‘The conception of a Guru as a mother is, in my
opinion, by far the most appropriate and
advantageous to a disciple. A mother is the very
embodiment of love and affection. Only a mother’s
heart can forbear with patience all the troubles and
miseries caused to her (by the) son thinking all the
while of trying to provide for her son’s comfort and
happiness. The same is the position of the real
Master or Guru who is the spiritual mother of the
disciple.—The conception of the Guru as the
spiritual mother promotes within us the feelings of
love, reverence and surrender which are the main
factors of a spiritual life’ (Ref.6). We are all
aware of the exclusive devotion of our Master to His
Master who is all in all to Him. He says that even
God is secondary to Him as it is only His Master who
granted Him deliverance and enabled Him to attain
the highest approach possible to a human being. God
who is inaccessible in His transcendent status
takes, according to tradition, the form of the real
Guru out of compassion, for the redemption,
spiritual upliftment and transformation of the souls
who are caught up in the snare of their own making
constituted by the illusory ego sense of separation,
desire fulfillment and sense enjoyment. Thus divine
grace is Master’s grace for all practical purposes.
By the logic,
brahmavid brahmaiva bhavati, we may say that the
Guru who has truly realized and secured his mergence
in God would naturally display the divine
attributes. We know and have imperienced our Master
as the
sanatana or eternal and essentially nameless
consciousness called lovingly by us as Sriramchandra
Consciousness to be characterized by unalloyed
unconditional love and infinite compassion. Hence we
can safely conclude that God is indeed compassionate
and gracious! In this connection we may note
Master’s observation,
‘As a matter of fact what we really stand in need of
for our ultimate purpose is only divine grace. But
owing to inner complexities it is almost beyond the
capacity of a
sadhaka to have it for himself. For that reason master’s help is
indispensable. In the earlier stages divine grace
flows into the
abhyasi only through the medium of the master as
such it is often interpreted as master’s grace.
Whether it comes through the medium of the master or
direct it is divine grace in both cases.’ (Ref. 8)
As our Master points out it is Lord Krishna who
introduced love and devotion or
bhakti
into Rajayoga.
The Master also has accepted this as a very useful
means for attaining perfection in the Natural Path;
we would scarcely find any of His teachings which do
not mention love and devotion, He Himself standing
out as devotee par excellence to be emulated totally
by every aspirant on the path.
Bhakti as expounded in the ancient traditions and the religions is
invariably linked with the idea of the Supreme
God-Person possessed of an infinite number of
auspicious attributes.
This implies duality, the devotee and the God of his
devotion. One can not conceive of
bhakti or worship to a non-person God. Thus the ‘Suchness’ concept
of God would not fit in this context as there is no
duality possible, our very selves having been
completely negated as we keep moving towards
Absolute Oneness.
The discussion presented in Ref.7, (satya
padam. Krishna janmashtami 2006 talk by Bro.
K.C. Narayana) examines the concept of God from a
very illuminative standpoint which has a strong
bearing on the stages of spiritual ascent on the
Natural Path and contains in my opinion the
justification for the God viewpoint considered
above. I am confining myself to the relevant
portion-
‘Para 11- when we view the Master in first person we
get one who is a granter of our wishes and the
pinnacle experience in such cases can be
Aham Brahmasmi.
Para 12- when we view the Master in second person
‘Thou’ we move into the realm of devotion and
surrender. Para 13- when we view the Master in third
person ‘IT’ or ‘Tam’ we get a special personality
who is working out the transformation of human
consciousness in which we have a part to play so
that we live in an enlightened world’. We know that
nothingness is the goal and negation is the route.
The stage of
prapanna opens the door to negation and
therefore the second person viewpoint of God turns
out to be very crucial in attaining to this most
important step in the evolutionary ladder of the
human being.
The notion of God as the Centre from which the
energy or the
Kshob issues forth for bringing about creation
appears rather impersonal and the statement of
Master that God has no mind does make it difficult
for us to conceive how grace operates. However we
may see that its function is automatic and the very
nature of God is gracious when we consider Master’s
saying, ‘We see everything tending towards the
Centre and the Centre itself yawning towards the
circumference. After our adventure we initiated the
value of our existence and felt the cooperation of
the highest power around us’ (Ref. 9). The centre
yawning towards the circumference is the process of
pranahuti as we all know practically through imperiencing this
divine influx repeatedly. Again He says, ‘When the
world emerged into the present form the central
point was already rooted deep in all the beings.
This being a part of the Supreme it turns our
attention towards the Source. In prayer we try to
reach up to that point.’ (Ref. 10) ‘Thus everything
that comes into activity by the divine flow tends to
fly towards the Origin. Man has also inherited the
same tendency. So when his downward tendency is
checked the thought of reaching the Origin
automatically revives in his heart.’ (Ref.11)
Thus it appears to be the case of an eternal
inescapable mutual attraction between God and His
off-springs conscious or otherwise even like the
attraction between unlike charges of electricity,
iron filings and the magnet and the gravitational
attraction between material bodies as seen in the
manifest physical nature. It is however natural for
us embodied as human beings to describe the arising
and operation of grace of God in anthropomorphic
terms. The end result is the same whether we try to
understand grace through the view of an impersonal
automatic process or that of the personal loving
compassionate feeling- response of the inseparable
spouse of God. It is not necessary to know about the
recipe and the cook for enjoying the sweet pudding.
The Creator has to care for the created who are
nothing but His own very limbs or
amsas
having been created for the fulfillment of His own
purpose. The organic view of the universe pervaded
and interpenetrated by God and all the constituent
parts of the universe, sentient and insentient
regarded as His limbs enjoying an inseparable
mutually interdependent relationship with Him looks
best suited for an explanation.
The Master has described the dynamics of divine
grace, or in other words, how it is set into motion,
in the following words, ‘There must be one thought,
one object and one pursuit in view and that must be
related with the divine. That is the type of mania
which I wish every one to develop in himself. When
god feels that there is one in quest of him the
divine grace is set into motion to take him in. If
the quest continues with a pining heart it becomes
so forceful that the Lord himself sets out in quest
of him. The intensity of eagerness with restless
impatience creates within him a vacuum for the
divine grace to flow in establishing a connecting
channel between the two’. (Ref.12)
Divine grace is indispensable for complete success
in our sadhana. Liberation is not possible unless we
are able to outgrow the limitations imposed by maya.
The Lord says in the Gita (7.14) that
maya, the
veiling and binding power constituted by the three
gunas (daivi
hyesha gunamayee maya mama) whirling the
helpless creatures mounted on the engine of nature (yantrarudani
mayaya), is His own power. He says further it is
extremely difficult to be crossed over (duratyaya) except by the devotee who has surrendered to Him alone.
The Master says regarding
maya, ‘It
is a Godly power which has brought into existence
the entire creation in its different forms and
shapes and which regulates its entire workings. We
are all the while surrounded by this great power and
its effect is visible in all phases of our activity.
We are whirling round in the glossy sphere of
maya
clinging at times to one or the other object in view
thinking it to be Reality.—
We remain entangled within the snare of
maya
without any hope of emancipation until we divert our
attention towards the unchanging Reality at the
root’ (Ref. 13). We stand in need of the grace of a
Master of caliber endowed with the power of
Pranahuti
for escaping the clutches of
maya and
achieve the much praised liberation from the
unending cycles of birth and death in one lifetime
even as promised in our system.
The Master emphasizes the cardinal importance of
divine grace in the path saying, ‘In our spiritual
march we proceed from point to point crossing from
one point to another after covering the intervening
spaces known as buffers…. Now if one attempts it by
mere self effort he gets hopelessly involved in its
intricacies and remains held up indefinitely within
it. One has to be favoured with divine grace to
cross them- the power that can take us safely along
through all those intricacies can definitely be one
who has established an irrevocable connection with
the divine source’ (Ref.14).
We may now examine the role of self effort in
relation to divine grace. Master says, ‘Self effort
is just the means of making oneself deserving of
divine grace’ (Ref.15). Self effort is absolutely
essential along with Master’s support which is
nothing but divine grace in operation for attaining
the supreme goal of life. There has been a lot of
discussion in the tradition about God’s grace being
nirhetuka (spontaneous and without reason) but Master’s position is
quite clear. The hall mark of His approach is
practice and sincere hard work. Even the most
trivial task such as feeding oneself involves the
exertion of the body and mind as self effort. When
we are aspiring to achieve the
summum bonum
of life that is God-realization, it is patently
obvious that one has to apply his body, mind and
heart to the task and be prepared for any sacrifice.
Master quotes in one of His writings a popular
couplet which means that if Hari could be got by
giving off one’s head, the bargain is still cheap.
Summing up, we as abhyasis connected to the great
Master through Rev. Dr. KCV Order and having the
good fortune of loving guidance of our capable guide
can say with certainty that we have divine grace in
abundant measure going by the yardsticks indicated
in the above discussion., namely,
1)
we are on the Natural Path and it is certainly due
to the grace of God as per Master’s saying, ‘it
depends upon one’s own judgment and the grace of God
to get the real method to solve the mystery of one’s
life’ (Ref.16). Also we will do well to acknowledge
the spiritual fact revealed by the Master that
sahajmarg
or the Natural Path itself has not arisen
accidentally but has been given graciously to
mankind waiting in eager expectation.
2)
getting the connection to the great Master the
eternally present Supreme Personality
3)
having the divine influx of
pranahuti
on a regular basis
4)
the responsive and loving guidance of a person who
has traveled the path and is endowed with practical
spiritual wisdom
If only we can count our blessings mentioned above
and be grateful to God for the same we can never be
disappointed of divine grace. Disappointment can
arise only from a feeling of lack and as our
position is to the contrary there is no issue.
Disappointment can arise from comparison, contrast
and expectations. The development of
santushti (inner contentment) and the realization that God is
samavarthi
and we are only enjoying the result of our own
actions being makers of our own fate would prevent
the occurrence of disappointment. The experience of
miseries and being wronged by others can disturb our
faith and make us feel disappointed of His grace. A
firm adherence to commandments 5 and 7 would correct
the situation for which we need to have firm
unshakeable faith or
shraddha
in the Master, in His capacity to deliver us from
all miseries and bondage and the knowledge that He
knows what is best for us.
To meet fully the requirement ‘we must never be
disappointed of divine grace’, the aspirant has to
be fully stabilized in
titiksha
(endurance),
shraddha (firm faith) and
samadhana
(settledness) keeping in view the spiritual fact
that God is the supreme Master and His will must be
carried out in every respect, or putting it in other
words, he must be fully established in
prapanna gati.
All of us can derive inspiration and strength from
Master’s saying, ‘I myself am very weak and worn out
with age. Still I am doing my best to bring real
peace to humanity.. What we have to do is only to
have a strong grip always on divinity. I never felt
disappointed and worked single handed and the result
is before us all. I have full confidence in myself,
with the master’s hand at my back; it has always
worked. The same thing I want from all of you.’
(Ref.17) The referenced message contains Master’s
gracious invitation to all noble men and women for
participation in the divine work He has been
entrusted with for transforming human consciousness.
We ought to consider it an extraordinary blessing to
be invited thus by the great Master for
participating in the divine work, accept the same in
all reverential humility and cooperate with Him as
duty bound in the spirit enshrined in the sentence
‘Service is the only concern of the serf’.
Pranam.
References:-
Ref.1 - Silence Speaks (307-14); Ref. 2 - Dawn of
Reality 2002 Edition (15-6); Ref. 3 – Showers of
Divine Grace (145-6); Ref. 4 – Showers of Divine
Grace 174; Ref. 5 – Bodhayanti Parasparam V (165-8);
Ref. 6 - Dawn of Reality (95-6);
Ref. 7 -
SathyaPadhamu (13-3-39); Ref. 8 – Silence Speaks
187; Ref. 9 Showers of Divine Grace 56;
Ref. 10 –
Imperience Beckons 27; Ref. 11 Imperience Beckons
13; Ref. 12 – Silence Speaks (53-4); Ref. 13 – Sruti
595; Ref. 14 – Silence Speaks (193-4);
Ref. 15 –
Showers of Divine Grace (19-21); Ref. 16 – Showers
of Divine Grace 143; Ref. 17 – Showers of Divine
Grace 159.
|
