Grace

[Guest guest]

Dear Friends,

 

This is an edited version of a talk given by my guru Swami Dayananda

Sarawathi on Grace. Swamiji is the one who teaches at Arsha Vidya

Gurukulam in Saylorsburg, Pa, USA and also at Arsha Vidya Gurukulam,

Anaikatti, Coimbatore, India.

 

 

with love and prayers,

 

Jaishankar

 

Grace

 

Pujya Swami Dayananda Saraswati

 

 

I thought I would think out loud about what is said to be grace.

Everybody uses the word. It is very common in India to say, ‘It is all

His grace; it is your grace’. These are very common expressions. In the

Western Culture also, I see the word being used often. The course of

grace is always assumed to be the Lord, the one who is beyond our

empirical purview. Even though people really do not understand what

this Lord, or God, or Isvara is, that person is accepted as the source

of grace by those who recognize that there is grace in one’s life. In

the Indian tradition there is a lot of thinking about this grace

(anugraha, krpaa). We don’t simply accept things without inquiry.

 

What is Grace

 

Suppose grace comes from Isvara , the Lord. In that case, he has to

choose. How is he going to choose to whom he is going to give grace

today? Getting up in the morning he has to ask Lakshmi ’Today, to whom

should I give’? He should use some method of choosing, a lucky dip

perhaps. How is he going to choose the person who deserves the grace?

We always think that grace is something that comes to us from somewhere

- sometimes asked and sometimes unasked, now and then. Really speaking

grace is the result of action karma.

 

But how do we know when we did the karma to earn the grace? Nor do we

know which karma is the cause for this particular grace. When I am not

able to pinpoint which karma is responsible for this desirable thing,

which is with me now, I gracefully say that it is grace. It is the

result of action (karma-phala) gracefully expressed. The result of

karma earned by me, either in this birth or in a prior birth, that

produces grace, is definitely not a simple karma, which is

self-centered. It is not centered on a small self that is confined to

myself the individual, or to my small family. Such karma is not going

to win grace.

 

But when I reach out to do something to help another person, to help

the community, to help other living organisms in this world, when I do

something which implies a self which accommodates more than the small

unit called family, that karma called puurta-karma earns grace. In the

days gone by, people established things for public use like a well, a

pond, even a temple of worship, a place where people can go and relax

(vaapi-kuupa-tataakaadi-devataayatanaani ca). All these are called

puurta-karma. Doing any of them wins grace. But we don’t know which

karma produced which grace. Similarly, our daily prayers, rituals, and

so on, also win grace.

 

Source of Grace.

 

Grace is not something that the Lord distributes to some chosen people.

It is something that we earn as a result of our actions (karma-phala).

The Lord is very much present in it as the one who gives the results of

actions (karma-phala-daataa). The laws produce the result of action,

and those laws are not separate from Isvara the Lord, this universe

being a manifestation of the Lord

 

So we earn grace by actions, which are deliberate, and not by our

reactions. Actions that reach out, actions of prayer, earn grace.

 

Most of us are busy day after day, with our time consumed by our

reactions and reactions and reactions. First we react with anger and

say things, which are inappropriate. Then we regret what we said. That

is another reaction. It is through action alone that we can express

ourselves.

 

What makes you really different from any other living being on this

planet is your capacity to choose. That capacity to choose is what is

called free will. If a cow is a vegetarian, it is not by choice, but if

you are one, it is by choice. That is will. You choose. And this

freedom that our will seems to have is inhibited freedom. It is not

total freedom because you are always in a position where you are called

upon to do something appropriate in the situation. I may not like to do

it, but I have to do it, because it is my duty. The concept of duty

imposes a pressure on you unless you love to do what needs to be done.

If you have to do it, whether you like it or not, then it is better to

learn to like it.

 

Prayer is also like that. It is not easy to pray and it is very

difficult to pray heartily. The ego will not let that happen. Even

though the person knows that he is helpless, still, there is something

that makes him incapable of praying. Why? It is some kind of an

authority problem. Those who cannot pray may have some real problem

with their father. It is a psychological issue.

Grace is something you have to tap. It is not distributed by God. It is

like underground water in that you have to tap it, and the tapping is

done by action alone. Grace is always there. It is a possibility like

any other possibility. There are many things that are manifest,

surfaced, in this universe. There are also many potential possibilities

lying there for you to tap. Every piece of software is a possibility.

Every piece of hardware is a possibility. This grace is another

possibility.

 

This grace is another possibility. Nobody prays simply because he or

she is under pressure. People think that when you are in trouble you

will pray. No. When you are in trouble you hit your head on the wall.

You phone somebody and cry. Or you go on a buying spree and purchase a

lot of things you cannot use. You need not pray.

 

Prayer is the only action where the will is totally free, because you

need not pray. It is an action, karma. It is physical, oral or mental

action (kaayikam, vaacikam, maanasam karma). Mentally you pray,

deliberately; orally you pray, or ritually you pray. Prayer is a

deliberate action where the free-will is totally free - an uninhibited

free-will. It is that kind of action that wins grace.

 

This is why we say ,’I perform this karma to win the Grace of

Parameshvara’(sri parameshvara priityartham aham idam karishye). It is

not to please Isvara. If Isvara has to be pleased, we’ve had it. Then

we have to keep him in good humor. No, we win the grace.

 

There are varieties of grace. We first identify grace from the original

source as isvara’s grace. There are subsets also. There is the guru’s

grace, the elders grace which we earn by seva (service) etc. Besides

the Grace of isvaraa (isavara-krpa) and of the guru (guru-krpaa), we

require the grace of the shastra. The guru may be there, but when you

pick up the book, you go to sleep. The shastra has to reveal itself.

That is also Ishvara’s grace. Finally there is aatma-krpaa - you should

be deserving of grace. You should be earning that grace. Sometimes we

don’t recognize the grace. It is like the flowers that bloom in your

own garden, after so much work by your wife. Yet you don’t even look at

them because you are so busy; you mind is occupied completely by the

problems that are to be solved. Naturally therefore, you have no eyes

to see. Grace is available. Acknowledge it. In the eyes of your child

you can see grace. When you open your mouth and say a good word there

is grace flowing. You have to be aware of it. You find that your life

is one of Grace. That is aatma-krpaa. You earn that grace by reaching

out, by recognizing a cause and doing what you have to do. Recognize a

situation where you have got to do something. See whether the cause is

worthwhile. Don’t fritter away your energy, your resources, and the

money you have earned. Identify a worthy cause, reach out and be bigger

than you think you are. This is how we grow. This is how we earn grace.

 

 

Om tat sat

 

 

 

 

 

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