DIVINE GRACE AND SELF-EFFORT

We cannot say that God is gracious because He feeds us, for every father is bound to provide his children with food; but when He keeps us from going astray and holds us back from temptations, He is truly gracious.

Q. By what kind of work can God be attained ? A. There is no difference in work. Do not think that this work will lead to God and that will not.

Everything depends upon His grace. To have His grace, whatever work you perform, do it with sincerity and earnest longing for Him. Through His grace the environment will become favourable and the conditions of realisation will become perfect. If you want to renounce the world, and if your family depends upon you, perhaps your brother will assume its responsibility for you. Perhaps your wife will not hinder you in your spiritual life, but will rather help you; or perhaps you will not marry at all and be attached to the world in any way.

The darkness of centuries is dispersed as soon as a light is brought into a room. The accumulated sins of countless lives vanish hy a single glance of God.

There are some fish which have many sets of bones, but others have only one set. Fish eaters, however, remove all of them, whether many or few. In the same way some men have many sins and others have few, but t,he saving grace of God purifies them all alike in time.

When the Malaya breeze blows, all trees having stamina in them are said to be converted into sandal trees, while the papaw, the bamboo, the plantain and other trees devoid of stamina remain unchanged. So when Divine grace descends on men, those that have germs of piety and goodness in them are made holy and are filled with Divinity, while those that are worthless and worldly are unaltered.

A certain pious man used to tell the beads constantly, uttering the name ' of the Deity silently. To him the Master said, "Why do you stick to one place ? Go forward.' The pious man replied, " It cannot be done without His grace." The Master said, M The breeze of His grace is blowing day and night over your head. Unfurl the sails of your boat (mind), if you want to make rapid progress through the ocean of life.

The wind of God's grace is incessantly blowing. Lazy sailors on the sea of life do not take advantage of it. But the active and the strong always keep the sails of their minds unfurled to catch the favourable wind and thus reach their destination very soon.

Q. Does nothing take place all of a sudden ?

A. As a general rule, one must go through a long preparation before one can attain perfection. Babu Dwarka Nath Mitter was not made a Judge of the High Court in one day. He had to work hard and spend years of arduous toil and study before he was raised to the Bench of the High Court. Those who are not willing to undergo the trouble and labour must be prepared to remain mere briefless pleaders. However, through the grace of God, sudden exaltation does take place now and then, as was the case with Kalidasa, who, from the state of an ignorant rustic, became at once, through the grace of Mother Saraswati, the greatest poet of India. 14

A householder devotee: Sir, we have heard that you have seen God. So please make us also see Him. How can one get intimate knowledge of the Lord ?

The Master: Everything depends upon the will of the Lord. Perseverance is necessary for God-vision. If you merely sit on the shore of a lake and say, ' There are fishes in this lake," will you get any fish ? Go and get the things necessary for .fishing; get a rod and line and bait, and throw some food into the water to entice them. Then from the deep water the fish will rise and come near when you can see and hook them. You wish me to show you God while you sit quietly by, without making the least effort! You want me to set the curd, to churn the butter and hold it to your mouth. You ask me to catch the fish and put it in your hands. How unreasonable is your demand!

681. A bird perching upon the masthead of a ship in mid ocean, gets tired of its position and flies away to discover a new place of rest; but failing to find any other place, it returns at last to the old. roost, weary and exhausted. In the same manner, an ordinary aspirant is disgusted with the monotony of the task and the discipline imposed upon him by his well-wishing and thoroughly experienced Guru. He loses all his hopes as well as confidence in the Guru and so goes out into the world with the belief that he can attain God with his self-effort alone ; but after much fruitless exertion he is sure to return to his old master for his blessing and grace at last.

682. So long as no breeze is blowing, we fan ourselves to alleviate heat; but when the breeze begins to blow, giving relief to all men, rich and poor alike, we give up fanning. We should ourselves persevere to reach our final goal so long as there is no help from above; but when fortunately that help comes to one, one might stop toiling, otherwise not,

683. Fans are of no use when the wind blows. Prayers and penances may be given up when the grace of Cod descends.

684. " Though a soul has received the grace of God, of a Guru and of a good devotee, yet it meets with destruction through the lack of the grace of (a fourth) one." One might have been fortunate enough to receive all the first three forms of grace, yet if one s own heart shows^no grace to itself, i.e., if it has n" yearning tft fiavf itself, they are of no avail.

685. However much you may try, without God s grace nothing can be attained ; He cannot be realised without Divine grace. But Divine grace descends not so easily You shall have to banish your ego completely from the heart If you have the egoistic feeling " I am the doer", you can never see God. If there is somebody in the store-room, and if the owner of the house is asked to fetch a certain thing from the store, he at once says, " Well, there is someone already in the store; please ask him to get it. There is no need of my going there.' God never appears in the heart of him whq thinks himself to be the doer,

686. Through His grace He reveals Himself. He is the sun of Knowledge. One ray of His has brought the power of understanding in this world. On account of it we have the power to know each other and to acquire various forms of knowledge. We can see Him only if He turns His light on his own face.