Guru's Grace
( Guru Kripa )
( Guru Kripa )
Shree Hari
Guru's grace or the grace of an ascetic has special significance. Due to God's grace, a living being is gets a human form, and because of the grace of a Guru, he realizes God. Generally people believe that if they accept somebody as their Guru, the Guru would shower his blessings on them, but it is not really so. Everyone takes care of his/her children, even the animals take care of theirs. But the grace (kindness) of a sage is exceptional.
It is not the concern of the ascetic, whether people become his disciples or not or whether they love him or go against him. When the ascetic is moved, looking at their humble and distressed state they are automatically blessed by his grace. There is a difference between "Kripa" and "Daya" i.e. grace and compassion, grace is accompanied with a sense of command, whereas, compassion depicts soft feelings. In compassion there is no command as such, only the heart gets diluted. A disciple's mission is achieved when Guru's heart gets diluted. Jagai-Madhai were two notorious sinful persons and used to bear malice against saints, but still Chaitanya Mahaprabhu humbly reformed them and helped them in achieving salvation.
The saint is compassionate to everyone, but only the inquisitive aspirant who is genuinely keen to know the essence of Almighty, can be benefited with that kindness. In reality, the one who is devoted towards his goal with thirst to know the true nature of the Supreme Soul – he can only receive that compassion the most.
Ther person who is truly a seeker, receives blessings of a saint or a Guru in the same way just as a thirsty person receives water. There remains nothing more to know once a Guru bestows his kindness but such real Gurus are rare to find.
The Paarasa stone can transform iron into gold by its mere touch, but the gold does not have the power to turn the iron into gold with its touch. But if a disciple comes across a genuine Guru, by the Guru's grace, the disciple also becomes a Guru and an exalted soul -
Paaras mein aru sant mein, bahut antarou jaan |
Wah loha kanchan kare, wah karai aapu samaan ||
Such is the extraordinary nature of the grace of a Guru.
This grace of a Guru is showered in four ways – by memory, by sight, by words and by mere touch.
The way a female tortoise lays her eggs inside the sand and stays under water itself, but by mere remembering the eggs, they ripen. Similarly by mere recalling nature of a Guru, the disciple gains wisdom (enlightenment). This is known as "initiation" by remembrance. The fish lays its eggs in water and keeps looking at them from time to time, so by mere seeing them, the eggs ripen. The same way, by the sight of compassion, the Guru helps the disciple to attain wisdom. This is called – "initiation by sight". A Kurari (sparrow) bird lays her eggs on earth, but keeps flying in the air with her particular sound and through that, the eggs ripen. So, the Guru with his profound words helps the disciple to gain knowledge. This is called – "initiation by words." The hen sits on her eggs and as a result, the eggs ripen. In the same manner, by the mere touch of a Guru, the disciple attains salvation. This is known as – "initiation by touch."
By God's grace, the human body is gifted but is upto the human being whether to go to heaven or hell or to achieve salvation. But by the grace of a Guru or a Saint, a person does not go to heaven or hell but he attains salvation. A fraudulent Guru can't do anything for the welfare of his disciples. Formal initiation does not enable a disciple to receive Guru's grace. It is not that after making a disciple only, the real Gurus or the saints shower their blessings. Their compassion is natural, self-evident e.g. it is not that the Sun would radiate, to the one who makes the Sun his ideal deity. Such is not the case. It is the nature of the Sun to spread its light, whether people use or not. Similarly a Saint's and Guru's compassion is self-evident and natural. The one who accepts it, is gained by it and the one who has disinclination for it, loses it. If it is raining and you put a utensil, it fills up with water, but if the utensil is kept upside down, it stays empty. So, the one who is capable enough to feel the greatness and grace of a sage, gains -
Satguru bhoothaa indra sam, kabhi na raakhi koye |
Waisaa hi phal neejpai, jaisi bhoomika hoye ||
The rainfall is the same everywhere, but it depends on the seed, what fruit it will produce. In the manner, the grace of God, the Gurus and Saints is uniform for everyone and it is up to the individuals the way they utilize it.
It is not the concern of the ascetic, whether people become his disciples or not or whether they love him or go against him. When the ascetic is moved, looking at their humble and distressed state they are automatically blessed by his grace. There is a difference between "Kripa" and "Daya" i.e. grace and compassion, grace is accompanied with a sense of command, whereas, compassion depicts soft feelings. In compassion there is no command as such, only the heart gets diluted. A disciple's mission is achieved when Guru's heart gets diluted. Jagai-Madhai were two notorious sinful persons and used to bear malice against saints, but still Chaitanya Mahaprabhu humbly reformed them and helped them in achieving salvation.
The saint is compassionate to everyone, but only the inquisitive aspirant who is genuinely keen to know the essence of Almighty, can be benefited with that kindness. In reality, the one who is devoted towards his goal with thirst to know the true nature of the Supreme Soul – he can only receive that compassion the most.
Ther person who is truly a seeker, receives blessings of a saint or a Guru in the same way just as a thirsty person receives water. There remains nothing more to know once a Guru bestows his kindness but such real Gurus are rare to find.
The Paarasa stone can transform iron into gold by its mere touch, but the gold does not have the power to turn the iron into gold with its touch. But if a disciple comes across a genuine Guru, by the Guru's grace, the disciple also becomes a Guru and an exalted soul -
Paaras mein aru sant mein, bahut antarou jaan |
Wah loha kanchan kare, wah karai aapu samaan ||
Such is the extraordinary nature of the grace of a Guru.
This grace of a Guru is showered in four ways – by memory, by sight, by words and by mere touch.
The way a female tortoise lays her eggs inside the sand and stays under water itself, but by mere remembering the eggs, they ripen. Similarly by mere recalling nature of a Guru, the disciple gains wisdom (enlightenment). This is known as "initiation" by remembrance. The fish lays its eggs in water and keeps looking at them from time to time, so by mere seeing them, the eggs ripen. The same way, by the sight of compassion, the Guru helps the disciple to attain wisdom. This is called – "initiation by sight". A Kurari (sparrow) bird lays her eggs on earth, but keeps flying in the air with her particular sound and through that, the eggs ripen. So, the Guru with his profound words helps the disciple to gain knowledge. This is called – "initiation by words." The hen sits on her eggs and as a result, the eggs ripen. In the same manner, by the mere touch of a Guru, the disciple attains salvation. This is known as – "initiation by touch."
By God's grace, the human body is gifted but is upto the human being whether to go to heaven or hell or to achieve salvation. But by the grace of a Guru or a Saint, a person does not go to heaven or hell but he attains salvation. A fraudulent Guru can't do anything for the welfare of his disciples. Formal initiation does not enable a disciple to receive Guru's grace. It is not that after making a disciple only, the real Gurus or the saints shower their blessings. Their compassion is natural, self-evident e.g. it is not that the Sun would radiate, to the one who makes the Sun his ideal deity. Such is not the case. It is the nature of the Sun to spread its light, whether people use or not. Similarly a Saint's and Guru's compassion is self-evident and natural. The one who accepts it, is gained by it and the one who has disinclination for it, loses it. If it is raining and you put a utensil, it fills up with water, but if the utensil is kept upside down, it stays empty. So, the one who is capable enough to feel the greatness and grace of a sage, gains -
Satguru bhoothaa indra sam, kabhi na raakhi koye |
Waisaa hi phal neejpai, jaisi bhoomika hoye ||
The rainfall is the same everywhere, but it depends on the seed, what fruit it will produce. In the manner, the grace of God, the Gurus and Saints is uniform for everyone and it is up to the individuals the way they utilize it.
Narayana ! Narayana !! Narayana !!!
From book "Is Salvation Not Possible without a Guru?" by Swami Ramsukhdasji
Ram Ram
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If in doubt regarding the translation, please read the original Hindi message by Swamiji.
FOR MESSAGE IN HINDI PLEASE VISIT Date : 2nd September, 2012 ( Guru Kripa ) http://www.satcharcha.blogspot.in
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