Miscellaneous - Religion   

Operation of grace

CHENNAI : Spiritual evolution is a gradual process, which progresses over several lifetimes, as the bonded soul has to shed its ego and the feeling of mine completely before it can realise its true relationship with God. The operation of divine grace in the awakening of the soul to its spiritual nature is crucial at every stage of its evolution. Man can neither do without God's grace nor can he withstand it if He overwhelms him with His bounteous grace. Like the mother feeding her infant according to its digestive capacity as it grows up, God also blesses man according to his maturity.

In his discourse on the Tiruppavai, Velukkudi Sri V.Krishnan said Andal had beseeched the Lord to grace His devotees gradually. She sings, "May Your lotus bud-like eyes open slowly on us... may the gaze of Your two eyes fall upon us, like the Sun and the Moon risen together. May the curse on us be lifted." An example from the Ramayana is apt to understand this. After the coronation of Vibhishana, Rama did not tarry longer than necessary during His return to Ayodhya with Sita. He could not refuse the hospitality of Vibhishana and Sugriva but He left immediately. Bharata's words when he accepted His paduka (sandals) instead to rule the kingdom from Nandigrama on the outskirts of Ayodhya, that he would not live even a day after the 14-year exile was over if Rama did not return, weighed heavily on His mind. So He made posthaste to be by Bharata's side and accepted the aerial chariot given by Vibhishana.

When Rama called on Bharadwaja, the sage told Him to stay for the night and He could not refuse. So it was Hanuman who was despatched again by the Lord to Bharata to convey the glad tidings of His victory over Ravana and His return to Ayodhya. When Hanuman saw Bharata emaciated by the sorrow of separation from Rama, he conveyed the Lord's message in a manner he could endure by relating all the events that had happened over all these years slowly. Even then, the Ramayana notes that Bharata fainted through joy. The esoteric significance of the Pranava mantra, Om, also has been interpreted by preceptors to connote a gradual understanding of the nature of God and the soul, and the eternal relationship between them by first realising that man is not the body and then that he is a spark of the Divine.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

CARTOONSCAPE
The Hindu Crossword 8495
Solution to Puzzle 8494
Operation of grace
dated January 9, 1956: Day of records
dated January 9, 1956: Appreciation of music
Weather

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu