GOD SAYS that the amount of His grace or divine gift to a person depends on the degree of his surrender to Him. It means that there is a condition about the degree of one's surrender.
If you surrender to Him, He will shower grace on you depending on the degree of your surrender. God takes complete responsibility for a person who has wholly surrendered to Him. So it is only God and the Saints who give in proportion to the degree of one's surrender. For that, you have nothing to offer. Because whatever you have, is of no use to Them.
What can you offer? Your body? It is very dirty. It is not worth God's touch, just as you will not touch faeces lying near you. A human body composed of the five elements is worse than faeces. How can you possibly expect that God will touch it or even look at it? It is not worth His gaze. My mind is still filthier. And intellect is far worse.
What else can you offer? Is it some material thing that you would offer? But EVERYTHING IN THIS WORLD BELONGS TO HIM. How can you say it is yours? Did you bring it along from your mother's womb? If you offer God some water, that water itself is of this earth and it belongs to God. Then what is your own? This body of yours too was formed in your mother's womb by God's grace. Only your sins are your own, on which you can claim your right. The selfless offering of God and the Saints is conditioned by the degree of your surrender to Them.
When a disciple surrenders completely, he receives his special grace. Without that grace nobody can attain God, because after one's heart is completely purified, the Guru blesses him with a divine power that destroys all his vices and virtues that have accumulated during his endless lifetimes and eliminates the very root, maya; all kinds of panchaklesh (five afflictions) (all kinds of worldly love and hatred), rag, dvesh abhinivesh (clinging to life), avidya (ignorance) and asmita (egoism) disappear and he becomes blissful till eternity. This is the special grace of the Guru.
A disciple whose degree of surrender is comparatively less also receives his grace in many ways. The Guru goes to him, looks at him, talks to him, tries to make him understand cautions him from time to time, and forgives him. He points out his mistakes so that he will correct himself and for that, he scolds him and also persuades him.
In case the effect of scolding and persuasion of the Guru brings him to a stage where free from all shortcomings, the whole being of the disciple is overwhelmed; it can be safely assumed that he has arrived. But so long it does not happen, he cannot be said to have surrendered fully. He is under the misconception that as he has done pranam (salutation), taken the charanamrita, and done the aarti, he has surrendered to the Guru. All these are external activities. It is only by surrendering mind and intellect, that one can claim to have achieved that stage.
In conclusion, the teachings of Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj provide profound insights into the concept of surrender to the divine. He emphasizes that the extent of divine grace received by an individual is directly proportional to the depth of their surrender to God. This surrender is not merely a superficial act but a profound transformation of the heart and mind.
Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj reminds us that we have nothing of material value to offer to the Divine, as everything in this world ultimately belongs to God. Our physical bodies, minds, and intellects are imperfect and impure in their natural state. However, when we surrender ourselves completely to God and the guidance of Saints, a remarkable transformation takes place.
Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj's teachings underscore the significance of sincere and wholehearted surrender as the key to receiving divine grace and experiencing spiritual transformation. His natural scholarliness inspired trust in even the greatest intellectuals, while his tremendous love, causeless grace, and endless compassion melted the hearts and inspired devotional love in all who came near him.
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