Swami Shreeji
To Earn the Grace of God
One of Param Pujya Pappaji’s great brahmsutras is, “Speak less, work more. Let your results speak for you.”
People express their bhakti in different ways. Some are very outward in their acts of devotion, showing a lot of emotions and need close contact with the guru and Guruhari. Others are more reserved and introspective, and do not necessarily show freely their love for God. This was the case with Param Pujya Kakashri and Param Pujya Pappaji, where Kakashri spent most of his time with Yogiji Maharaj whilst Pappaji remained at home keeping a low profile.
Either way, when something happens that may cause us distress it is how we keep God in that instance that is important. In such a situation we often fail to live as per our guru’s wishes. Time and time again our guru preaches to us about observing samp, suhradbhav and ekta with our fellow devotees, and to see that God is the all-doer (nirdoshbuddhi). However, on occasions we fail to keep that vachan, we let our crude nature take control of us and we fall down.
We all have shortcomings and faults that have accumulated over millions of years; Pappaji will remove them. Our guru does not blame us for having these drawbacks but the expectation is that when an incident occurs that causes us distress, we should become our own guru and critically analyse as to how we have behaved in that situation rather than blaming others. We may have become upset (munjvan), despondent (vikshep) by a fellow bhakta’s behaviour and may have quarrelled with them. Because of our ego (aham) we may have become angry or jealous, or may have thought and spoken ill of them (abhav). Becoming hurt and upset is in itself our dehbhav.
In such circumstances we should pray to stay unaffected, to keep spiritual equanimity, remain cheerful, not see the bad side of the bhakta but also pray not to gossip about or complain about that person or incident, except to be frank with our guru about our feelings. When we accept that the reason why we have become upset, jealous or distressed in the first place is because of our intrinsic crude nature and ego, and with sincerity if we completely surrender to Maharaj praying for those faults to be removed, then our guru will be pleased with us. It is at that moment when we have gained such realisation, that Guruhari will shower His grace on us and He will remove those faults.
However, Pappaji will keep on inspiring incidents that cause us to see faults in others until we accept our own faults. So, we should save time and effort and avoid going through these trials and tribulations by recognising our own shortcomings. It is essential that we develop this sort of awareness so that we can reach the highest level of purification where flaws can no longer exist so that we can do Pappaji’s work.
It may take time for our faults to be completely removed depending upon how ingrained they may be because we often fall back to our old habits. Once a devotee said to God, “I am constantly praying for my faults to be removed but day by day it seems that my desires and crude nature are getting stronger.” God replied, “I want to remove all your faults root and branch and that is why I have brought them out to the surface.” All we need to do is to remain sincere, be patient, keep praying and stay eager to please Guruhari Pappaji; He will grace us with the strength and courage to overcome all of our shortcomings.
Sometimes we become unhappy and have negative thoughts about ourselves because the revelation of our shortcomings can itself cause us distress. But we should actually take it positively and thank Guruhari for inspiring the incidents that have highlighted our faults.
If we behave in this manner, by accepting our own faults, then Pappaji will reward us with His trust and He will accept us to be truly His. Therefore, it is not necessarily the outward devotion but actually how we keep God internally that earns us God’s grace. Therefore let us all keep Pappaji’s vachan – “Speak less, work more. Let your results speak for you.”
Sahajanand Swami Maharaj ni Jai.
Author: Sunil Gandhi