Article sent from The Hindu on indiaserver.com

[Guest guest]

=============================================================

This article is emailed to you by Ram Chandran ( rchandran )

=============================================================

Source: The Hindu (http://www.the-hindu.com)

 

Divine grace accelerates spiritual progress

 

CHENNAI, JUNE 26. Among the innumerable species of living beings

in this world only human beings have been singled out for

spiritual life. Not everyone realises how fortunate he is to be

born as a human and fritters away this rare opportunity in

pursuing materialistic pleasures. Ultimately, only few among the

teeming humanity strive for the spiritual goal and it is a rare

one who develops true devotion to God and sustains his efforts

till the goal is attained.

 

It was such a devotee Lord Krishna had in mind when He declared

to Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita, ``The best is the man of wisdom,

ever established in identity with Me and possessed of exclusive

devotion. For I am extremely dear to the wise man and he is

extremely dear to Me.'' This reciprocal relationship in which the

devotee exists for the sake of the Lord, and God concerned about

His devotee, is the end to be attained. There are instances

highlighted in the scriptures to show that God in His

incarnations sought the company of His devotees and graced them.

The classic case was the example of the Gopis during the Lord's

incarnation as Krishna, said Sri B. Sundar Kumar in his

discourse.

 

The childhood pranks of Lord Krishna are legion. The Gopis

complained to Yashoda that her darling son had stolen curd and

butter from their houses and broken the pots and shared the booty

with the monkeys, making a mess in their tidy homes.

Occasionally, He untethered the calves before time so that they

drank all the milk. After committing all this mischief He

presented a picture of innocence when they complained to His

mother. Bhattathiri in his Narayaneeyam says ``neither Yashoda

nor the Gopis had the heart to rebuke Him because He stole not

just the butter but their hearts as well.''

 

Krishna's bewitching face cast such a spell on them that they

forgot the reason they had come for; Yashoda and the Gopis stood

laughing at Him. Esoterically, the butter-thief episode signifies

that the Lord removes the ignorance of His devotee and also his

Karma which impedes his spiritual growth - an act of grace.

Likewise, His act of untethering the calves before their feeding

time focusses on His compassion which enables His devotee to

realise Him ``here and now'' by nullifying the Karma accrued over

several lives.

 

Divine grace accelerates spiritual progress without much effort

on the aspirant's part. His act of breaking the pots underscores

the importance of getting over body-consciousness to realise God.

The bliss of spiritual union cannot be realised till the

identification with one's body is there.

 

Copyrights: 2001 The Hindu & indiaserver.com, Inc.

 

Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly

prohibited without the consent of The Hindu & indiaserver.com, Inc.