Don’t Wait for God’s Grace; Comprehend It

Although we don’t appreciate it, the Lord’s grace is at work at every moment of our lives. There isn’t a single moment passing without his grace being showered. But alias. We are oblivious to it. If we become aware of it, we will feel the presence of the Lord and his grace at each and every step in our lives. The more your heart is honestly engaged in service, and the more self-sacrificing it is, the more will you experience the Lord’s existence and his grace. The Lord’s existence and his grace beggar description, words are too inadequate to express it.

Atheism, which is equivalent to egotism or hedonism, has utterly confused today’s man, so much so that he denies the existence of God and thinks himself to be the all in all. He has conveniently forgotten that his body started with a drop of semen and will end in a fistful of ash. O man, Look at the beginning and the end of the body. Whatever happens in the intervening period is transient, which you will not be able to hold on to, however hard you may try. If some good deeds are being done by the body, it is on account of the Lord’s abounding grace. Yet you embellish you ego, ‘I have given two lakhs in charity to that institution… Now I am doing this charitable work… It is divine grace.’ You say it is divine grace, but whether you say so to erase or to embellish you ego donning the garb of modesty, you alone know. If you search your heart honestly, you will instantly attain to supreme good. The more you forego the pleasure of appreciation, approval, recognition and sense-enjoyments, and experience God’s compassion and grace, the more will you be entitled to receive his boundless grace, peace, bliss and eternal life.

Whenever you feel conceited of having something, that thing is snatched from you, or nature creates some problem in relation to it. If you are overly fond of somebody, differences creep into the relationship. And it must happen for your own good. Not knowing that auspicious law, we become miserable. At times, God brings adversity and troubles into our life in order to eradicate our ego and attachment. At other times, he brings favorable and convenient circumstances and comfort and fame to alleviate our despondency. If we utilize convenient circumstances and success to engage ourself in doing good to all, it will bring about our own development. If we make good use of adversity and despondency, that period of adversity will turn out to be an opportunity for increasing dispassion and removing our faults. It would indeed be an opportunity to awaken discrimination and dispassion, overcome our shorthomings and also move ahead with industriousness, courage, patience, tact and special alertness. This is his auspicious law. Lacking such thinking, we complain, ‘Why did God do this. Why did he do that?

If we analyze this, we will find that behind every misfortune is hidden an inspiration to be alert and watchful and that every misfortune is a harbinger of true bliss. Hidden behind every joy and luxury on the other hand, is vanity and misery. If we comprehend this thoroughly, both happiness and sorrow work to awaken us. But we are so native that we brood over past sorrows and make ourselves miserable. Even when fortune smiles, we mar our joy out of feat of losing it. We are miserable in happiness as well as in sorrow, in old age as well as in youth, at the time of birth as well as death, and all because we do not perceive the grace of the supreme. Everything will be just a game if we realize the nature of our self-soham I am that. For example, a wise spectator will enjoy the enchanting or horrifying scenes of fire, or the gushing waves of the sea on the cinema screen, but an ignorant one will be carried away by them.

Our supreme Lord is not a pauper that he has to keep us in the same state, same body, or same set of circumstances all the time. He has, for his dear children, 8.4 million species and billions of circumstances. He takes us through different circumstances and finally awakens us into our real nature. We should not wait for his grace. Waiting is done for what is not there at present; what is yet to come or happen. Appreciation or comprehension is done of what is already happening, we merely need to ‘see’ it with discrimination. But we lack this art of ‘seeing’; instead we ‘become’ something, habitually.

‘Seeing’ what happens is one thing, ‘becoming’ a part of the happening is another. ‘Seeing’ gives joy; becoming or being is painful. Look at the rich men… take joy looking at the Lord, the richest of the rich, abiding in them as their self. But if you become a rich man, you have to worry about the income tax. If you become a poor man, you have to worry about earning your daily bread.

There is no joy in becoming rich or poor, man or woman. Just play the part you are given – be it that of a rich man or a poor man, a man or a woman. Be a ‘seer’, not the ‘seen’.

There is no reason to lament or feel distressed. The almighty does what he thinks to be appropriate. Feel secure within saying to yourself, ‘The Lord is going to do only that which is in my best interest, which destroys my delusion, which takes me forward on the spiritual path. Who am I to complain.’ It is the mind which complains. Be alert and a witness to the complaining mind.

We think, ‘He should do what we want.’ Is God our appointed servant? We fail to appreciate how well he cares for us. Can our real good lie in God doing what we want? If things happen according to our wishes, that will increase our desires, our ego, and will tighten the noose of delusion around our neck; it will nourish the demon of attachment and the fire of hatred will start burning our heart.

If you pray for it, He gives you a spiritual intellect that can take you beyond the transient pleasures of the world and provides you with satsanga to enhance that intellect.

If you have attachment to the family, he brings some trouble in relationships. He wants you to march ahead on the path of progress. If your ego is inflated, he brings it in balance by pitching a strong opponent against you. If you are tired or despondent of frustrated, he gives you joy through a friend, or a near and dear one. He acts through a daughter-in-law to set a mother-in-law right and vice versa. The same applies to father and son and friends.

A ditty child doesn’t like to get rubbed and scrubbed while having a bath, but the mother knows that it is in the child’s best interest. The mother gives the child good clothes to wear and scolds it when necessary. She gives the child delicious food and makes it drink bitter medicine. She gives the child beautiful clothes to wear so that it looks beautiful and puts a black dot on the face to save it from the effect of evil eyes. The hearts of thousand mothers combined may come, if at all, somewhere equal to the heart of a saint or of God. A mother may be ignorant, weak or unintelligent; she may act out of delusion that the child will help her in her old age. But the Lord has no personal interests. Whatever he does, he does in you best interest.

Whatever happened was good, whatever is happening is good, and whatever will happen will be for the best. This is the divine law. Don’t complain, learn to be grateful. Learn to comprehend. Your life will move towards excellence; it will be illuminated.

Don’t let go of patience and courage in the face of troubles and impediments in life. See the Lord’s grace at work in the form of that trouble or impediment.

So never wait for God’s grace. Never think it is yet to come. Whatever he does is from his kindness; just find and appreciate it and develop the virtues of industriousness, courage, patience, intelligence, strength and valour, etc. within you. When what you want doesn’t happen, see God’s grace in it. When it does happen, see God’s grace there too. When you are praised and honored, see God’s grace. See God’s grace even when people torment you. It doesn’t mean that you should tolerate injustice however. Seeing God’s grace in everything doesn’t mean you should become idle and passive. Make appropriate efforts to improve the situation, but see God’s grace behind your efforts. Don’t allow your efforts to be driven by desire, hatred, egotism or escapism inherent in your disposition, let them be rooted in God’s grace. God’s grace is being showered incessantly; just find and appreciate it. It will make you life stress-free and equanimous. You may visit thousands of places of worship but unless you find and comprehend the grace of the Lord in you heart, visits to places of worship will serve no purpose. They will have served their purpose only when you start coming towards the Indwelling Lord abiding in the temple of your heart.

God’s grace is already being showered in innumerable forms and ways – in the form of medicines, in the form of sweetmeats, in the form of insults, in the form of inspiration to go to satsanga, in the form of a profound utterance in satsanga… If you are careful, you will find innumerable instances of God’s-grace being showered and your mind will be permeated with thoughts of the Lord. Then you will go on enjoying or suffering the fruits of your good and bad karma, but your heart will be in tune with the merciful Lord whose mercy you are seeing and appreciating. How simple is this approach and how sweet. If you are able to meditate, it is very good. But even if your mind doesn’t become quiet, complain to the Lord against it, ‘O Lord, See, my mind doesn’t become quiet. What should I do? It is for you to decide what is to be done. Your grace is being showered, still the mind is not absorbed in meditation. I am not at fault, I am sitting.’ Carrying everything to God in tears and stop insisting on claiming the mind down. Keep sitting and the mind will calm down. You can see this miracle happen. The only condition is – offer yourself to him honestly and comprehend his grace.