NADAR - DIVINE GRACE Within my innocent ignorance, I thought that Divine grace was a universal concept, understood and accepted by all cultures and religions, but as I began my search for the broad and deep concept of divine grace, I could see the diversity of understanding in every religion, and once again I loved and agreed with Guru Nanak's clarity of thought and conscious discernment of divine grace.
Divine grace flows into us the more we surrender ourselves to Waheguru. It doesn't come to us from outside. It is the operation, from within, of our own connection with the sacred. Divine grace comes, the more we live in soul-consciousness, and the less we live centered in the ego.
Waheguru grants us divine grace, but we have to be open & ready to receive it. The rain may pour, but if a vessel is upside down no water will collect in it. Our mind is free, by our own free will we have to decide to receive what Waheguru is ready to give us. By our own volition, we must decide to trust in Waheguru, to trust His Hukam and surrender to Him. If by supplanting our will, Waheguru must give us what we need, then there need be no creation, no existence of the universe.
This is the WONDER of Waheguru's creation. Also, this Divine grace allows beings to have the feeling of separateness from Him and then it waits and waits until the beings, that have emerged from Him, come back to Him. If they don't want to come back to Him, He allows them to go their own way and take their own time to discover the Want which will finally rid them of all their wants. In this great cycle of creation, the paradox of divine grace is that sometimes beings do not want to get out of this cycle. So sometimes He gives them all the petty things they want, so that in due time they would want only what He wants to give them.
For us to understand the magnitude of divine grace, we have to tune our minds to become divine, we must remember and practice and then, "live" the Naam. We must live in the memory of His Name.
"I am in the Refuge of the One; Bless me, Oh Lord with your Grace, so that the lust, anger, greed, attachment and ego may be destroyed" (Guru Arjan Dev) If we coldly analyze the concept of karma, we realize that no one "really" deserves Divine grace! But if we understand Guru Nanak's concept of karma, the "principle of divine grace", can be received by anyone practicing good deeds. And for this we must ask and pray to Waheguru to help us find our spiritual path so that we can be in touch with our inner self and begin to make the real connection with Him, to tune our mind into Waheguru, reverberating Waheguru, recognizing Waheguru in all living things.
Guru Nanak teaches us repeatedly about the powerful tools we may use as a help in this process: Reading the Gurbani and understanding the messages, devotional meditation, recitation of the name of God (Naam Simran), good actions and seva, living a honest life and so on, but these are just some of the means to earn divine grace. All these tools and good deeds are extremely important, but without Divine Grace, not even they can help under the law of karma. According to Guru Nanak, Karma can only be undone by Divine Grace. It's like a judge who is the only one who can acquit a criminal, or at least reduce the penalties if the judge understands, that a particular criminal is deserving acquittal.
Our main role is to prepare ourselves (sincerely) to receive Divine grace. The true devotee must be ready and connected with Waheguru. The true devotee must always be open in the heart, filled with Naam, ready to surrender to Waheguru and regardless of whether the circumstance is good or bad. We must trust the Hukam and surrender wholly to Waheguru to receive divine grace. By surrendering and accepting the Hukam, we create the awareness that Waheguru is within us, and our life gets another purpose. Our life begins to make sense in every little detail.
"The Creator has showered His Kindness; He cherishes and nurtures all beings and creatures. He is Merciful, Kind and Compassionate. All are satisfied and fulfilled through Him." (SGGS pg.103) The Sanskrit word for grace is prasada, meaning "favor." Other Sanskrit words of similar meaning in Hinduism include daya, meaning sympathy, graciousness and tenderness; Kirpa, indicating grace in the sense of compassion; and anugraha, meaning loving-kindness-a key term in the drama of salvation.
Sat Naam