How to Make Life Cheerful and Charmful

[Guest guest]

An Interview with Dr. A. Chandrashekhara Udupa (IT IS AN EXCELLENT ONE. I

REQUEST ALL TBP MEMBERS TO READ AND ASSIMILATE IT)

 

What are the different domensions of Divine grace? How can we acquire Divine

grace?

 

I must make it clear at the very outset that the finite cannot grasp the

infinite in Its entirety. Even the many-tongued Adishesha finds it impossible to

describe the glory and greatness of God. The holy Quaran says, " If all the trees

on the earth were pens, and the sea with seven seas to help it (as ink), the

words of Allah cannot be exhausted. " Aurobindo echoes the very same feelings

when he says, " There wil always be more in God than the thought of man has ever

conceived, or the tongue of man has ever uttered. "

 

At the utmost, we human beings may catch a fleeting glimpse or a key-hole vision

as it were of the greatness of the Supreme Principle. Our plight is in no way

different from that of the seven blind men. Each of them touched a certain part

of the elephant, mistook the part for the whole and tried to describe the

elephant as it apeard to him!

 

With our blinkered vision, we can only say, 'miriad are the ways in which God's

grace manifests itself.' It is God's grace that has created the universe and is

sustaining it. It is His grace again that causes the dissolution of the universe

when it has outlived its purpose. You know that many scientists have pooled

their talents togther and have embarked on an ambitious projet of conducting a

mock Big Ban experiment on a miniature scale. They would have us believe that

the world was born as an aftermath of a Big Bang. But would they be able to tell

us who Big Boss it was that engineered the original Big Bang? Was it caused by

accident or by design?

 

Nevertheless, there are a few obvious manifestaion sof Divine grace. Thus, it is

Divine grace that has conferred a blanket boon on the universe by providing us

with abundant light, water and air. It is Divine grace that regulates more than

ninety per cent of our biological functions to keep us alive. By providing the

soul with intuitive guidance, Divine grace steers the soul clear of gaping

pitfalls waiting en route. All this adds to the fact that we owe our very

existence to Divine grace.

 

For the ambrosia of Divine grace to pour into the cup of our life, it is

necessary that the cup should be empty of the ego that represents our lower

self. Hence, we ought to cultivate emptiness or 'zeroness' if we are to merit

divine grace which is the reason why I have been insisting repeatedly that we

should become zero. The Divine flows in, in proportion to the emptying of the

self. Immense faith in and devotion for God, extreme selflessness, total

forgiveness, child-like simplicity and innocence, service-mindedness, prayerful

and above all, selfless, deep and unconditional love for all beings are some

otehr virtues that can attract Divine grace sooner than later.

 

Contd...