GOD and GURU

God and Guru can only shower grace and nothing else. Let us consider the case of a Saint. Prior to the attainment of God-realisation, a Saint performs all kinds of actions, both good and bad and bears the fruits. However, upon becoming God-realised, he ceases to work.

तस्य कार्य न विद्यते ।

(Gita 3.17)

The scriptures declare that a true Saint has no work to do; he is complete in all respects. However, we do observe that Saints perform all kinds of work. For example, the great devotee Prahlada ruled the entire world for millions of years. Similarly, many other Saints entered into matrimony, had children and participated in battles, like Arjuna, etc. All the actions they performed seemed to be material in nature, whereas it is said that a true Saint needs to do nothing at all. Why is this so?

Every individual in this world performs any action only for the attainment of happiness. Having found the source of joy and fulfilment, a Saint no longer works to seek happiness.

यस्त्वात्मरतिमेव स्यादात्मतृप्तश्च मानव ।

आत्मन्येव च सन्तुष्टस्तस्य कार्य न विद्यते ॥

(Gita 3.17)

However, the scriptures state that a Saint performs all types of actions. Even God when He descends on this planet performs all kinds of actions.  Lord Rama stayed on the earth for 11,000 years and Shri Krishna stayed for 130 years. Many Saints remained in this world after God-realisation and performed all kinds of good  and bad actions. However, their actions were all performed by Yogamaya, a personal power of God which is beyond maya. All their actions are therefore performed without attachment, and are only done for the benefit of suffering souls like us.

As long as we are under the influence of maya, we shall continue to have the feelings of either love or hate (raag-dvesh) in the world. The root cause of all our suffering  is raag-dvesh.  However, God is beyond raag-dvesh,

समोऽहं सर्वभूतेषु न मे द्वेष्योऽस्ति न प्रियः ।

ये भजन्ति तु मां भक्त्या मयि ते तेषु चाप्यहम् ॥

(Gita 9.29)

In the Gita, Lord Krishna says,

“I neither love nor hate anyone; I look upon all creatures equally.”

Similarly, a true Saint neither loves nor hates anyone. He is an embodiment of causeless mercy and grace, therefore whatever he does is only grace and nothing else. It is, however, impossible for us to fully understand and comprehend his graceful nature due to our ignorance.

Observe the behaviour of a mother in this world. She loves and embraces her child, but she also slaps him if he does anything wrong. Her reason for doing so is that she wants her child to become a person of good character, as well as someone who loves God. Thus, what can appear to us as punishment is actually a form of grace, as she only has the best interests of the child in mind. Now consider if a worldly mother can perform an act of grace, then it would only be natural that God and the Saints would do nothing else but grace the suffering souls of this world, though their ways may be strange to us.

Thus, Shri Radha Krishna, as well as Saints have no other aim or desire except to Grace. Every action they perform is solely with the aim of bestowing causeless grace and mercy upon suffering souls; to immerse souls in the limitless ocean of divine love by shattering their ignorance and bondage for all eternity. In fact, they endeavour to break our attachment to the material world and take us towards God.

Shri Krishna killed many demons like Aghasura, Bakasura and Putna, etc. but these actions were all acts of Grace, because they all attained His Divine abode, Goloka. In other words, God can do nothing except shower grace. If He loves someone, it is Grace and if He hates or kills someone, this is a form of Grace too.  If He punishes us and makes us revolve in the 8.4 million species of life, this is also Grace. He wants us to realise our mistakes, to take the shelter of Guru and God and always think favourably of them, so as to avoid spiritual transgressions (namaparadha) and to ultimately attain our goal of God-realisation. 

Revolving in the cycle of birth and death may be considered the jail of the Spiritual Government to punish us, the prisoners, so that we fully realise our mistakes and work towards attaining God-realisation. In other words, these personalities only have a single-pointed agenda and that is showering grace upon us.

The Ultimate  Grace

The causelessly merciful Supreme Lord, Shri Krishna Himself Graces souls and adopts them forever. He assumes a variety of forms and performs divine pastimes to deliver suffering souls from the powerful clutches of maya, gracing them with unlimited divine bliss. 

From time to time, Lord Krishna appears before us in the form of a Guru, and He worships His own self to show us the path to God-realisation. He, in turn. motivates us to follow that path and attain Him forever. In so doing, He becomes His own devotee, performs His own devotion and destroys our ignorance of countless lifetimes by giving us His true divine knowledge.

अज्ञान तिमिरान्धस्य ज्ञानांजन शलाकया।

चक्षुरुन्मीलितं येन तस्मै श्री गुरवे नमः ॥

I offer my humble obeisance unto my dear Spiritual Master who with pure spiritual knowledge has  illuminated my consciousness which was blinded by the darkness of nescience.   

Adi Jagadguru Shankaracharya is considered the descension of Lord Shiva.  Jagadguru Shri Nimbarkacharya is considered the descension of the Sudarshana Chakra of Shri Krishna. Jagadguru Shri Ramanujacharya is considered the descension of the Shesha Naga. 

Lord Krishna or Vasudeva Himself appeared as Jagadguru Shri Madhvacharya to protect and propagate bhakti.  In this manner, many personal powers of Lord Krishna have descended as Braja Saints (maharasikas), appearing before us in the form of a Guru to guide us on the path to God-realisation. 

Many devotees adamantly believe that the power of Grace, Shri Radha Rani, Herself descended in the form of our beloved Gurudeva, Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj to take us on the path of devotion, so that we could realise the ultimate goal of receiving the Divine love of the Divine Couple, Shri Radha Krishna.

Credits:

A Journey Towards Divine Love

*A brief introduction of Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj*

(Known by His devotees as Shri Maharaj Ji)

The original title of Jagadguruttam (‘Greatest Spiritual Teacher of the World’) was bestowed upon Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj on January 14, 1957, by ‘Kashi Vidvat Parishad’ (a council of 500 greatest scholars saints of India). He composed divine texts like ‘Prem Ras Madira’, ‘Prem Ras Siddhant’, and ‘Radha Govind Geet’ to lead us on the right path of devotion. He also gave priceless monuments as gifts to the world which include  -  Bhakti Mandir located in Bhakti Dham, Mangarh,  Prem Mandir located in Vrindavan Dham, and Kirti Mandir located in Barsana Dham. Shri Maharajji also built hospitals for the impoverished, the Jagadguru Kripalu Chikitsalaya in Vrindavan, Jagadguru Kripalu Chikitsalaya in Barsana, and another one in Pratapgarh. All three help millions of underprivileged to gain free access to medical care. His Kindergarten, School, and College for impoverished girls Jagadguru Kripalu Parishat Education is located in Kunda and provides completely free education.