Importance of Grace in Devotion

Nav:Home/blog/Secrets of Spiritual Sadhana/Secrets of Spiritual Sadhana – Part 2- Importance of Grace in Devotion

Date: 27th September 2021

साधना ते ही मिले तोहिं, साध्य हरि रति  प्यारे 

 sādhanā te hī mile tohiṅ, sādhya hari rati pyāre

“Only by doing spiritual practice one can receive the Divine Love of God.”

We all have a sadhya. Sadhya means the thing which we want to achieve – our aim. What is our aim?  Hari-Rati. Hari means God, Rati means Love. Our aim is to attain Divine Love of God. This Divine Love is our biggest treasure. All other treasures and possessions become insignificant in front of this treasure. Shree Maharajji says:

अस रस महँ मोहिं सद्गुरु  बोरी 

asa rasa mahañ mohiṅ sadguru borī

“My Gurudev has completely drenched me in the nectar of Divine love. So sweet is this nectar that compared to it, the combined fruits of ‘dharm’ (virtuous deeds), ‘arth’ (wealth), ‘kaam’ (material pleasure) and ‘moksh’ (liberation) are absolutely tasteless.”

muktānām api siddānām nārāyaṇa parāyaṇaḥ sudurlabhaḥ praśhāntātmā koṭiṣhvapi mahāmune

Even the highly evolved yogis search for this Divine love of Radha Krishna. This Divine Love of Radha Krishna is very rare to attain. So, how will we get this Divine Love? Chaitanya Mahaprabhu explains to us that we cannot attain this Divine Love by doing Sadhana or devotional practice.

नित्य सिद्ध कृष्ण प्रेम साध्य कभु नाय 

श्रवणादि शुद्ध चित्त कराय उदय 

nitya siddha kṛiṣhṇa prem sādhya kabhu nāy 

śhravaṇādi shuddh chitt karay udāy

This Divine Love is an eternal entity that cannot be created by any means not even by Sadhana.  And Shree Maharajji says Divine Love can be attained by doing Sadhana. Now here comes a contradiction. Our scriptures have such apparently contradictory philosophies and knowledge that without a true Saint or a Guru we cannot understand them. On one hand the scriptures say:

नानुग्रहस्तव विना त्वयि भक्तियोगं

nānugrahastava bina tvayi bhaktiyogam

Without the Grace of God, one cannot receive real devotion (Bhakti).  On the other hand, the scriptures also say:

नानुग्रहं तव विना त्वयि भक्तियोगः

nānugraham tava binā tvayi bhaktiyogaḥ

“Without doing devotion one will not receive the grace of God ”. Now these two precepts seem to be contradictory. How will one receive devotion? Through Grace. How will one receive Grace? Through devotion. So, what comes first? The chicken or the egg? Did the tree come first or the seed? If you say the seed came first, how could it come into existence without the tree?   And if you say the tree came first, how did it come into being without the seed?

There is a similar contradiction here. One can ask, without the grace of God how can we do Bhakti? So, first God should shower His grace and then we will start doing Bhakti. But how can God shower His grace if we do not do Bhakti? It seems like there is no way out of this puzzle. Does that mean we should not do anything and sit quietly? Well, this circular logic is resolved quite easily.

Shree Maharajji says that there are two forms of Bhakti (Devotion) – one is that which we have to practice and the other is that which we will receive when our devotional practice is complete. The one which we must practice and observe is called Sadhana Bhakti. The one which we will receive is called Siddha Bhakti (Prema Bhakti). This Siddha Bhakti will be attained by the grace of God. It is possessed by Rasik Saints who have been graced by Radha Krishna. So, we need to do Sadhana Bhakti and then God gives Siddha Bhakti.

Ved Vyas says in Bhagwat:

भक्त्या सञ्जातया भक्त्या बिभ्रत्युत्पुलकां तनुम्

bhaktyāsañjātayā bhaktyā vibhratyutpulakañtanum

“To receive Bhakti, one must do Bhakti”. What does that mean? How can someone practice and receive the same thing in return? The verse means that we have to practice Sadhana Bhakti and once we have perfected it, we will receive Siddha Bhakti. However, even for the Sadhana Bhakti that we are supposed to do, we tell our Guru, “Guruji! Please grace me so that I can do Sadhana Bhakti”. This is impossible. If without our efforts, merely by the Guru’s grace everything could be done, then the world would not have remained.  The Guru would have bestowed Siddha Bhakti on everyone and released them from the bondage of maya.

God and Guru ask us to first realize and utilize the Grace that They have already showered on us.  God has showered His grace in many ways – God has given us this human life. On top of that, we were born in India where we got a spiritual environment. We were bestowed with faith in God. Again, by His Grace, we developed a desire to come to Satsang. And the biggest Grace was that we met a God-realized Saint and got attached to Him. He gave us the knowledge of God, showed us the right path of devotion, and taught us how to practice it.  After so many graces, if we do not utilize them, we have only ourselves to blame for it. In spite of knowing the importance of devotion we become lazy, careless and procrastinate in our spiritual practice. The more we realize and utilize the grace that God has showered on us, the more grace we will receive. If we do not utilize what we have already received, how can we expect more?

Shree Maharajji says, “I do not expect too much from you all.  I know you cannot enter Golok in one day.  But you do not do as much as you can do, and that is what makes me feel sad.” The reason for this is our own laziness.

आलस्यं हि मनुष्याणां शरीरस्थो महान् रिपुः

ālasya hi manuśhyāṇām śharīrastu mahān ripu

The biggest disease of the human body is laziness.  We know what we are supposed to do, but being lazy, we do not do it. Hence, in the preparatory stage, we must work hard to overcome carelessness and do proper Sadhana.  What is this sadhana, and how is it to be done?  This is explained by Shree Maharajji in subsequent lines of this excellent kirtan.

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Meenu Nanda
Meenu Nanda
30/09/2021 9:41 pm

What a wonderful wisdom and explained so well . Just loved it . Loads of Gratitude

Madhusmita
Madhusmita
03/11/2021 2:40 pm

Shri Maharajji says, My Gurudev has completely drenched me in the nectar of Divine love. So sweet is this nectar that compared to it, the combined fruits of ‘dharm’ (virtuous deeds), ‘arth’ (wealth), ‘kaam’ (material pleasure) and ‘moksh’ (liberation) are absolutely tasteless.

Sanjay Bhati
Sanjay Bhati
03/11/2021 2:58 pm

Even the highly evolved yogis search for this Divine love of Radha Krishna and it is very rare. So how do we attain divine love? Read this blog to further understand.

sasmita sing
sasmita sing
06/11/2021 7:48 pm

“Siddha Bhakti will be attained by the grace of God. It is possessed by Rasik Saints who have been graced by Radha Krishna. So, we need to do Sadhana Bhakti and then God gives Siddha Bhakti.

Bandita Pradhan
Bandita Pradhan
07/11/2021 9:24 am

How will one receive devotion? Through Grace. How will one receive Grace? Through devotion. Read this beautifully explained blog to further understand this contradiction.

kiran Panigrahi
kiran Panigrahi
07/11/2021 6:25 pm

Only by doing spiritual practice one can receive the Divine Love of God.

Aryan Raj
Aryan Raj
08/11/2021 11:53 am

The biggest Grace was that we met a God-realized Saint and got attached to Him. He gave us the knowledge of God, showed us the right path of devotion, and taught us how to practice it.

Dillip Kumar Praharaj
Dillip Kumar Praharaj
14/11/2021 7:06 am

The one which we must practice and observe is called Sadhana Bhakti. The one which we will receive is called Siddha Bhakti (Prema Bhakti).

Sasmita Pradhan
Sasmita Pradhan
17/11/2021 8:24 am

Our aim is to attain Divine Love of God. This Divine Love is our biggest treasure.

SRNIBASHA PRADHAN
SRNIBASHA PRADHAN
23/11/2021 9:40 pm

Shree Maharajji says that there are two forms of Bhakti (Devotion) – one is that which we have to practice and the other is that which we will receive when our devotional practice is complete.

Anusaya Patel
Anusaya Patel
23/11/2021 9:55 pm

God and Guru ask us to first realize and utilize the Grace that They have already showered on us.

Bisakha Pradhan
Bisakha Pradhan
23/11/2021 10:01 pm

God has showered His grace in many ways – God has given us this human life.

SUMIT RANJAN BAG
SUMIT RANJAN BAG
28/11/2021 9:10 pm

We can not understand the contradictory philosophy and knowledge of our scriptures without a Guru.

Annapurna Das
Annapurna Das
28/11/2021 9:27 pm

The biggest desease of human body is LAZINESS.We must do proper Sadhana.

UmaBag
UmaBag
29/11/2021 10:32 pm

Without the Grace of God,we can not receive real devotion.

Jyotsna mayee bag
Jyotsna mayee bag
30/11/2021 9:58 pm

we can attain the Sidhha Bhakti or Prema Bhakti by the grace of God.

Manasi Dash
Manasi Dash
02/12/2021 3:18 pm

Manasi Dash

Manasi Dash
Manasi Dash
02/12/2021 6:45 pm

The biggest desease of human body is laziness.We must do proper Sadhana.

Sibani Naik
Sibani Naik
03/12/2021 9:44 am

We can receive God’s love only by Sadhana.

Chinmayee Bag
Chinmayee Bag
03/12/2021 8:09 pm

We all have an aim–to attain Divine Love of God.

Bina Pani Sahu
Bina Pani Sahu
04/12/2021 5:48 pm

Even the highly evolved yogis search for the Divine Love of Shri Radha Krishna.

Manjushree Nanda
Manjushree Nanda
06/12/2021 7:49 am

Without the Grace of God ,one cannot receive real devotion.God and Guru ask us to first realize and utilize the grace that they have showered on us.The biggest Grace was that we met a God realized Saint and got attached to Him. He gave us the knowledge of God, showed us the right path of devotion,and taught us how to practice it.

fakirmohan behera
fakirmohan behera
09/12/2021 5:53 pm

The Divine Love is an eternal entity.

Prakash Sharma
Prakash Sharma
11/12/2021 2:35 am

Even the highly evolved yogis search for the Divine Love of Shri Radha Krishna.

Tuna Pradhan
Tuna Pradhan
11/12/2021 2:38 am

We should do Sadhana Bhakti and then God will bless us with Sidhha Bhakti.

Sasmita Padhan
Sasmita Padhan
11/12/2021 2:40 am

There are two forms of Bhakti–one is which we practise and the other is which we will receive when our devotional practice is complete.

Khira sindhu
Khira sindhu
11/12/2021 2:44 am

Without Sadhana,we can not receive the Grace of God.

Kurukshetra bag
Kurukshetra bag
12/12/2021 10:32 pm

All the worldly treasures and possessions become puny in front of the treasure of God’s Love.

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