(Synopsis of a lecture given by Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj on September 22, 2009, in Golok Dham, New Delhi, India)
God only graces the souls. Except for this, He has no other work. If anyone ever asks you,”What does God do?” Your answer should be, “Grace.” All his other actions are a result of His desire to grace. His gracious nature forces Him to perform all other kinds of action.
The Gita (4/13) says that God has the title of “doing nothing while simultaneously doing everything”. He is the abode of two opposite and simultaneously existing characteristics. The Bhagwatam says that even the intellects of great scholars fail at this point when they hear or read about these contradictory characteristics of God.
The scriptures say that God has no desire. Only the one who has something to attain forms desires. God has nothing to attain so He doesn’t have any desire. He is also ever-existing, all-knowing and eternally happy. Why then should He have any desires? On the other hand, we are repositories of unending desires. So when God doesn’t have to achieve anything, then the question of His having desires doesn’t arise. But still He performs action.
For example, God created this universe. What was the reason? This is an important question. The Taitariya Upanishad says, “God is defined as the One who creates everything. All the living and non-living, sentient and insentient beings are maintained by Him, and at the time of mahapralay (final dissolution) of the universe, everything merges into Him.”
(1) God is atmaram. God is also referred to as atmaram, completely desireless. Why then did He create this impure, temporary, material and lifeless world? All of God’s qualities are the opposite of what is found in this creation!
God is the supreme enlivener, yet He created a lifeless world. God is an ocean of divine bliss, but there is not a single drop of true happiness in this world. When we entered this world, we made our start by shedding tears, and we keep on crying until our death time. But if God is not like this, then why did He create such a bad world? He should have at least created a nice world. After all, He is better than the best. What then was the reason for this material world?
(2) God is ajanma. God is called ajanma, eternally unborn. But still He appeared on this earth. What was the reason for this? The cause for an embodied soul’s rebirth is the consequence of his actions. But when God doesn’t perform actions at all, then how did He take birth? Why is He called “Nanda-kumar” (the son of Nanda), “Dasharath-kumar” (the son of Dasharath), “Vasudev-kumar” (the son of Vasudev) and so on? Is He the father of the eternal soul or is the soul His father? The Vedas say that each and every individual soul, from an ant to creator Brahma, are all His children. But God says, “No, Nanda was My father.” This is very odd!
(3) God is satyasankalp. The Katha Upanishad (2/3/3) and the Taitariya Upanishad (2/8) say the even death itself is scared of God. He is that great a destroyer. With one single thought, God causes uncountable worlds to merge into His being. He doesn’t have to do anything. He just thinks. So He is also called satyasankalp. Yet, on the other hand, when Shri Krishna was attacked by Jarasandha in Braj, He was so scared He ran from Braj and kept on running until He crossed India’s border and finally came to live on an island called Dwarika. These activities of God are very difficult to understand.
(4) He is poornkam. God is divinely contented, but in Braj He asks the souls for love. For example He performed the pastime of raas with the Gopis. These characteristics are completely opposite to each other. How is it possible for God to exhibit both of them?
God embodies several completely opposite characteristics. But in His original form He is always ever-existing, all-knowing, and ever-blissful (sat-chit-ananda). He actions may be contrary to His original nature, but He remains always established in His original nature.
God and God-realised Saints are beyond the reach of Maya. They have no relationship with mayic or material subjects. Saints attain such a state that even Maya can’t enter. They don’t have any desire or any need to perform action after reaching that state. They become fully satisfied. With nothing left to do for themselves, whatever the Saints’ do is only for the spiritual welfare of others. What could they do? In this regard, they are completely helpless. They have crossed the limits of Maya and attained divine happiness. Now they only grace the souls. Similarly, whatever God does is only to grace the souls.
Before creation, all the uncountable individual souls were in a dormant state within God’s own personality. God thought, “I must grace the souls.” Feeling compassion, His kripa shakti, power of grace, came forward, created the material world and placed the souls there so they would have the chance to do devotion and attain their ultimate goal: God. This was only God’s grace upon us.
After creating the world, He also made so many arrangements for our survival such as making available food, water, air, land, and so on. He didn’t do that for Himself. He created all these things only for us with His grace. His gracious nature compels Him to perform all these actions. His kripa shakti makes Him the servitor of His devotees. What can He do? He is completely helpless because gracing the ignorant souls is His nature.
On the other hand, we can’t grace anyone because we exclusively desire our own happiness. But God and the Saints exclusively think of and work for the welfare of others.
This is a brief description of divine grace.
© Radha Govinda Samiti and Bhakti Bliss
