Attracting Grace

For the treasure of divine love to awaken in our hearts,  to overcome the ahankar, the false ego, and to free ourselves from the shackles of endless selfish desires and fears, it’s only possible through grace. Why? Because there are powers beyond our intelligence, beyond our physical strength, beyond our will power that we are up against within this material manifestation.

This grace cannot be attained simply by our efforts. We could memorize entire scriptures, we could eat one grain of rice a day, we could sleep 5 min a day, we could build enormous temples, we could feed 1 million people, we could chant a billion names of God, but that doesn’t necessarily attract grace.

But when we are sincere, serious, humble and  are eager to serve the Supreme Lord and all living beings through Him, with no ulterior motives, then Krishna is eager; Srimati Radharani, the feminine potency, the source of all grace, is eager to deliver us.

You cannot digest food if you have no hunger. This is the principle of Ayurveda. Digestion is the key to good health and you can’t digest unless you are hungry. So similarly grace is everywhere. Grace is all-pervading, just like the sunlight is all-pervading, but we have become so habituated to live in dark places. In order to digest and assimilate that grace we have to be hungry for it. We are beggars for grace. We understand the need for grace.

- Radhanath Swami