Grace of God is showering uninterruptedly on us

God's Amazing Grace

 Grace of God is showering uninterruptedly on us, but we simply do not look towards that!  We disregard this grace, we disrespect it,  we dishonor it,  then too God does not leave His compassionate and merciful nature.  He continues to shower His grace.   A child does not disrespect the mother any less, for he urinates and excretes somewhere, he spits other times,  but mother constantly protects him. Similarly, we too are clever like the child in following the wrong path.  But God is not any less sharp than the mother in showering His grace,  rather he is very quick.  Therefore we must have faith in His grace. 

Even if the worst of all situations befalls,  in that too His grace is ever the same.  If illness overcomes us, if we suffer financial losses,  if someone dies, if sickness takes hold,  if we are dishonored or disgraced, in all of these situations, there is God's grace.  We must have faith in His grace. 

Laalane taadane maaturnaakaarunyam yathaarbhake |

Tadvadeva maheshasya niyanturgunadoshayoh ||

Just as while caring for the child and also while  reprimanding the child, in both these incidents, there is never a time that mother's is never not gracing the child, similarly God who is governing our good and bad qualities, can never not be gracing us.  

In this way,  sometimes without any cause God showers His grace on us and gives us this human body - 

Kabahunak kari karunaa nar dehi

Det is binu hetu sanehi ||  (Manas, Uttar.  44/3) 

Sins amassed in the past (sanchit) never come to an end;  because every being has been committing these sins from time immemorial.  However, in between, inspite of  being sinful, God blesses us with a human body, and in the midst He gives us an opportunity for our salvation.   This is God's extra-ordinary grace.  God's nature is such that he continues to shower His grace without any cause, then this is His two-fold grace!  On having faith in His infinite grace, if one engages in spiritual disciplines, then there will be much blessedness, unique and natural, self-evident divinity and progress.   We do not take shelter of that grace, therefore that grace is less fruitful.  If we yield to that grace, then the grace will bare abundant fruits.  Therefore while offering praises to the Lord,  Brahmaji says - 

Tatte-nukampaam susameekshamaano bhunjaan evaatmakrutam vipaakam |

Hrdvagvapurbhirvirddhannmaste jeevet yo muktipade sa daayabhaak ||  (Srimad Bhagwat  10/14/8) 

He who while enjoying the fruits of his actions,  at every moment continues to look only towards Your grace, and with his heart, speech and body, time and again prostrates to You, he becomes the one eligible to Your Eternal Abode, just like a child becomes the rightful heir to the father's wealth! 

From "Bhagwaan aur Unki Bhakti"  by Swami Ramsukhdasji

The work that can be accomplished by God's grace, can never be accomplished by our wisdom and strength

The work that can be accomplished by God's grace, can never be accomplished by our wisdom and strength. However, until you do not put your complete effort, till then the geniune prayer that takes place within, will not happen. This is because on applying your full strength and effort, when one experiences a feeling of being helpless and without any strength or power, then reliance on one's own strength, capabilities, power, abilities, effort will break off, and once this happens, geniune prayer will take place.

Buddhirvikunthataa Naath Samaaptaa mama yuktayah |

When our intellect feels overwhelmed, when our abilites, our effort fails, at such time, geniune prayer takes place, or else a subtle element of pride of our strength that remains makes one pray superficially. Such false prayer will not do. When people say that we have prayed but nothing whatsoever has happened (no effect whatsoever), then in fact, geniune prayer has not taken place ! Prayer is not something that is done, it happens from within, in other words, it happens by the Self axiomatically and automatically. If the praying is from within, then immediately the work will happen.

When there is reliance of some sort on our own strength, abilities, position, knowledge, wisdom, caste, stage in life, particular group / organization, then neither geniune prayer will take place, nor geniune surrendering to God will happen. Because as long as there is reliance on one's strength, abilities, etc., a subtle egoism persists. As long as there is egoism, geniune prayer or geniune surrendering to God will not happen. And without geniune prayer and surrendering, the work will not happen.

When one experiences a total feeling of helplessness (i.e. feeling of being without any strength or abilities), then geniune prayer and geniune refuge in the Lord will take place - "Sune ri mein ne nirbal ke bal Ram." The meaning of helplessness (without any strength whatsoever) does not mean that our body has turned weak, there is no strength in it, we become ill. Rather it mean that we are feeling a sense of hopelessness with our own strength, there remains not the slightest bit of dependency, reliance or pride of our own strength. There is feeling of complete hopelessness with regards to power of the intellect, the mind, our wealth, our body, our education etc., and there is intense and single-pointed hope in attaining only God, then the prayer will work.

From "Praarthnaa Aur Sharanagati" in Hindi pg 53-55 by Swami Ramsukhdasji

The work that can be accomplished by God's grace, can never be accomplished by our wisdom and strength

The work that can be accomplished by God's grace, can never be accomplished by our wisdom and strength. However, until you do not put your complete effort, till then the geniune prayer that takes place within, will not happen. This is because on applying your full strength and effort, when one experiences a feeling of being helpless and without any strength or power, then reliance on one's own strength, capabilities, power, abilities, effort will break off, and once this happens, geniune prayer will take place.

Buddhirvikunthataa Naath Samaaptaa mama yuktayah |

When our intellect feels overwhelmed, when our abilites, our effort fails, at such time, geniune prayer takes place, or else a subtle element of pride of our strength that remains makes one pray superficially. Such false prayer will not do. When people say that we have prayed but nothing whatsoever has happened (no effect whatsoever), then in fact, geniune prayer has not taken place ! Prayer is not something that is done, it happens from within, in other words, it happens by the Self axiomatically and automatically. If the praying is from within, then immediately the work will happen.

When there is reliance of some sort on our own strength, abilities, position, knowledge, wisdom, caste, stage in life, particular group / organization, then neither geniune prayer will take place, nor geniune surrendering to God will happen. Because as long as there is reliance on one's strength, abilities, etc., a subtle egoism persists. As long as there is egoism, geniune prayer or geniune surrendering to God will not happen. And without geniune prayer and surrendering, the work will not happen.

When one experiences a total feeling of helplessness (i.e. feeling of being without any strength or abilities), then geniune prayer and geniune refuge in the Lord will take place - "Sune ri mein ne nirbal ke bal Ram." The meaning of helplessness (without any strength whatsoever) does not mean that our body has turned weak, there is no strength in it, we become ill. Rather it mean that we are feeling a sense of hopelessness with our own strength, there remains not the slightest bit of dependency, reliance or pride of our own strength. There is feeling of complete hopelessness with regards to power of the intellect, the mind, our wealth, our body, our education etc., and there is intense and single-pointed hope in attaining only God, then the prayer will work.

From "Praarthnaa Aur Sharanagati" in Hindi pg 53-55 by Swami Ramsukhdasji

We must inquire what is the Absolute Truth.

When we travel by airplane, we sit with some other passengers for an hour or two and then after landing we separate from each other, never to meet again. Therefore we do not take our temporary relationships with the other passengers very seriously, and we do not feel there is anything wrong with completely forgetting about them. We accept this as a normal part of everyday existence. But yet even though our relationship with friends and family is also temporary just like our "airplane relationships", we take these relationships as something eternal. Why is this? This is due to the influence of maya, the illusory energy.

This is the underlying mistake that it makes it impossible for us to taste genuine permanent happiness. We build these castles made of sand failing to see that very soon they will be washed into the sea. We cannot experience genuine happiness by basing it on something that is temporary, because our actual nature is that we are eternal.

If we want actual happiness we must inquire into that which is permanent. We must inquire what is the Absolute Truth. But we live in such a society where practically no one is interested in such things. This was observed by Sripad Shankaracharya as follows:

balasya tavad krida-saktah
tarunas tavad taruni-raktah
vrddhas tavad cinta-magnah
parame brahmani ko 'pi na lagnah

"Children are playing. Young boys are after young girls. And the old men are always in anxiety about what it is be done. Nobody is interested in the Absolute Truth."

There is no reason for us to be the herd mentality of foolishly going along with the mass psychosis. It is wise and expedient us for us to see beyond the everyday life of so-called happiness to the real happiness of the spirit-soul in a loving relationship with the Supreme Spirit, Lord Sri Krishna.

We should realize that our relationships in this world are nothing more than "airplane relationships" and should focus our energies on developing a permanent relationship with the Supreme Person.

Taught by His Grace Sriman Sankarshan Das Adhikari