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The Grace of the Lord - Maharaj Charan Singh

We can never truly worship unless the Lord wills it. How can a blind man ever catch hold of a man who can see, unless the latter either calls out to him or gives him his own hand? Our attention is always concentrated on the world and its passing show. We are entirely world-oriented; only the Lord’s mercy and grace can make us God-oriented. Guru Amar Das says:

Birth and death are in your hands, O Lord!

It is only he on whom your grace is showered

Who is exalted1.

Similarly, Kabir Sahib says:

The Lord can do all,

Man can do nothing;

He can turn a mustard seed Into a mountain, for the mountain

Is contained within the seed. The individual neither did

Nor can he do anything;

This body is not capable

Of achieving aught.

Whatever has been done

Has been done by the Lord; And that is how Kabir

Became kabeer, the ‘Great One’.

Neither did he nor can he

Do anything; he is capable 

Of doing naught

Whatever has been done

Was done by You;

I have done nothing.

How can I say I have done it? You were the one within me!2

In the same way, Christ says in the Bible that man is by himself powerless to realize God; he can only do so with His grace: "Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father."3

Guru Arjan, at the beginning of the poem called The Twelve Months, says:

We have been separated from you

Because of our own karmas;

Be gracious now, and unite us With yourself, O Lord!4

O Lord, he says, we are separated from you because of our karmas and it is not in our own power to return to you. Therefore, in your kindness, shower your grace and mercy on us, so that we may return to you. Further he says:

If the choice were our own

And anyone could meet the Beloved

Why would we be weeping

And suffering in separation?

The Lord is obtained

In the company of Saints

O Nanak, enjoy that bliss!5

If we could reach you by our own efforts, he says to God, why should we be undergoing the misery of birth and rebirth and be crying our heart out in suffering? We are utterly helpless, unable to reach you by ourselves. Christ says that no one can come to him unless it is by the wish and will of the Lord:

No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him.6

And he adds:

I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.7

Guru Amar Das goes as far as saying this of the Lord:

The counterfeit coin and the genuine,

Both, O Lord, have been made by you,

And you yourself are the judge. The coins that are genuine

You put in your treasury;

The base ones are rejected

And left to wander,

Lost in delusion.8

The Lord created all human beings, both good and bad. He himself sits as judge to determine who is good and who is bad, who is genuine and who is counterfeit. Those whom he makes fit for his test, he accepts in his treasury, while the others continue to wander about in this world of delusion.

When the Lord bestows his grace, he does so through the saints. Actually, he himself comes in the form of a human being and awakens in us love for the Lord. By devotion to the Name he merges us in him. Guru Amar Das says:

By His grace we find a true Guru,

Who teaches us the practice

Of attaching the soul to the Shabd.9

Christ says in the Bible, "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit."10

With the Lord’s grace we obtain the company of saints. With their grace we learn the secret of joining our soul with the sound current, the Word or the Name. Once the mind becomes fond of listening to this ‘voice of God’, it turns away forever from the world and all worldly objects. The sweetness of this inner spiritual melody makes everything else seem tasteless or bitter. Compared with its enchantment, everything else seems dull and uninteresting. The possession of diamonds naturally causes one to lose interest in colored shells. In the same way, the sweetness of the inner melody makes this world lose its attraction and turns the mind Godwards. One’s love for the world comes to an end and love for God takes its place. Guru Amar Das says:

Whatever is, is by His will;

By His will we find the Guru Who fills our mind with love for Shabd.11

Similarly, John the Baptist says: "A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven."12

Whenever the Lord wishes us to join him, he connects our soul with the Word or audible life stream through one of the saints. Saints are messengers of God. They come to the world at his command. They take back to their real home those who are blessed with his grace. Christ speaks of this in the Bible, saying:

And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.13

I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.14

End Note:

1. Adi Granth, Guru Amar Das, p. 110.
2. Kabir, Kabir Sakhi Sangreh, p. 103.
3. Bible, John 6:65.
4. Adi Granth, Guru Arjan, p. 133.
5. Adi Granth, Guru Arjan, p. 134.
6. Bible, John 6:44.
7. Bible, John 17:9.
8. Adi Granth, Guru Amar Das, p. 119.
9. Adi Granth, Guru Amar Das, p. 109.
10. Bible, John 15:16.
11. Adi Granth, Guru Amar Das, p. 125.
12. Bible, John 3:27.
13. Bible, John 10:28.
14. Bible, John 17:23.

© "The Path" by Maharaj Charan Singh, published (2000) by Radha Soami Satsang Beas, Dera Baba Jaimal Singh, Punjab 143 204. Reprinted with permission.

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