The Hindu Newspaper Article: Prayer elicits divine grace

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Date:22/11/2002 URL:

http://www.thehindu.com/2002/11/22/stories/2002112201610900.htm

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Miscellaneous - Religion

 

Prayer elicits divine grace

 

CHENNAI NOV.22 . Those who have realised God have often reiterated

that an individual will take to the spiritual path and come under the

influence of saints only when the time is ripe for him to benefit

from such association. One of the youngest disciples of Sri

Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Swami Subodhananda, who was drawn to him

even in his youth, asked the saint when he met him for the first

time, "Why did the Divine Mother not send me to you earlier?" The

Guru told him that the time had not come till then. The rapid

progress the eager spiritual aspirant made under the saint who took

him under his wings and claimed as his own is documented in the

annals of the Ramakrishna Order. He became an apostle of Sri

Ramakrishna's spiritual ministry in the select band of monks who

founded the Order to spread his gospel.

 

In his address on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Swami

Subodhananda, Swami Gautamananda said, Subodh as he was known before

he became a monk, was so precocious that even during his second visit

Sri Ramakrishna initiated him. He immediately had spiritual

experience and rare visions. Simplicity was his hallmark and he

retained this quality till the end. When the saint asked him what he

knew about God and spirituality he replied that he did not know

anything. Such humility from one who went into a state of ecstasy the

moment he was initiated! This is a testimony to the fact that it is

not possible to know God who is infinite. Those who claim to know God

do not know Him. The saint taught his disciple a simple spiritual

exercise. He told him to remember Him twice a day. On another

occasion when he asked the saint whether it is possible to see God,

Sri Ramakrishna replied that one could hear, see and sit near Him as

palpably as he was then sitting by his side. The saint then gave his

oft-repeated advice, "You must forget everything else. You must

remember only Him and weep for Him."

 

The saint used to say that divine grace was always flowing like the

breeze. But human beings sit inside their dinghies without unfurling

the sails. How then is it possible to reach the other shore? In

spiritual life also one must open one's heart to God by means of

prayer and worship; then only can one experience the presence of God.

It is possible to remain wherever one is placed in life and awaken

one's love for God and progress spiritually by following the

teachings of such realised saints, for they speak from firsthand

experience.

 

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