Swami Viditatmananda Saraswati
Three factors are required for the successful accomplishment of any undertaking and they are: adequate effort, time and daivam (grace). An undertaking can hardly be successful without adequate effort. It is clear that without adequate effort on our part circumstances cannot be beneficial to us however conducive they may be. For example, even with fertile land and bountiful rain, harvest cannot be reaped without ploughing and sowing of seeds and other such necessary efforts on our part. Time also plays a significant role besides our effort. In the illustration of farming, the effort will be successful only if ploughing and sowing are done at the right time, and we continue to do whatever needs to be done with vigilance and patience until the crop is ready.
And yet we have often experienced that, in spite of our best efforts done at the right time and for the required length of time, success evades us. What could be the reason for this? The reason is this: besides our endeavour and time, a third factor is also required and that is daivam which means God’s grace.
On the whole, the two factors of endeavour and time are within our control. Generally, we have the freedom to decide whether to act or not to act, how to act, when to act and for how long to act. But, there are innumerable factors which are beyond our control and our venture will not be successful if those factors are not favourable to us. We may release an arrow from the bow but its trajectory is decided by the laws of nature. Therefore it is not given to us to decide that the arrow will definitely hit the target. In that case, what should we do so that the arrow hits the aimed target, meaning, what should we do to get the desired result of our effort?
There is someone who is governing this creation and he is īśvara, God. This creation functions according to His laws. These laws are not under our control but we are controlled by them. All our actions happen within the framework of these laws and the result of any action is also determined by these laws. Neither can we change these laws nor can we fully understand them with our limited intellect. That is the reason why it is said that, ‘inscrutable are the ways of action’ and therefore, more often than not it is impossible for us to decipher the whys and wherefores of many happenings. But all the same, favorability of these laws is extremely important for the success of our enterprise.
Then what can we do with our limited understanding and power? We can only pray to that īśvara under whose control are all the laws of nature, to favour us so that we become successful in our endeavour.
GRACE OF GOD
Prayer means to entreat, to request, to make a humble plea. There is humility in prayer, it involves a keen awareness and acceptance of one’s own limitation as well as of the greatness of God. In prayer, there is a trust, a conviction that not only is īśvara omnipotent and therefore capable of giving anything that He wants but, He is also merciful. Everything is possible with His grace. In prayer, there is an attempt to invoke the grace of īśvara. Someone may well ask: is it not that īśvara is equally kind to all? Are not all living beings His offsprings? Then why should He shower His grace upon one and not upon another? And if it is not so, should he not be called partial ?
Yes, it is indeed true that He should shower his grace equally upon all. And that is precisely what He is doing and yet jīva’s, individual’s self effort is also called for. Just as even though the rain is equally available to all, one with an umbrella above his head cannot enjoy it. To enjoy the rain effort in the form of folding up the umbrella is called for. Even though the light of the sun is spread everywhere, we need to open the windows, if we want the light present everywhere to enter our house. The warmth of fire is equally available to all, but only those who go close to the fire, experience its warmth but not those who keep away from it. Similarly, we need to open the gates of our heart to experience the grace ofīśvara. Prayer opens the doors of our heart. We can also experience the grace of īśvara, if we fold up our ahaÑkāra, ego which is akin to an opened umbrella, and open the gates of our heart with a humble and imploring prayer. But why pray in this manner?
Since īśvara is omniscient and knows everything, where is the need for me to ask or beg for anything? Yes, it is true that He is omniscient and knows everything and yet effort is required on our part. It is precisely for this purpose that He has endowed us with the threefold powers in the form of knowledge, desire and action; endowed us with a capacity to discern and given us free will to choose our actions. Other living beings do not need to pray for it appears that He has not given anyone of these capacities to them. Īśvara provides for all their basic needs such as food, sleep, self preservation, and sense gratification and they do not seem to desire anything beyond that.
Truly speaking, there is an inbuilt arrangement in nature whereby these basic needs of all living beings can be fulfilled. But human beings are not satisfied with this much, for he is ambitious and want to become great. He feels a sense of inadequacy and wants to become free from it. And therefore, first, he wants material achievements and having understood their limitations, desires spiritual progress. It is because of such specific desires which are over and above the basic needs, that a human being has to exert himself to fulfil them. There is no need to exert oneself if one is happy with what is given by īśvara, but if one desires more than what one is getting, then one has to definitely make a specific effort to fulfil that desire. From that standpoint prayer too is a part of one’s endeavour. Just as we need to make an effort to fulfil our various needs and requirements, so also we need to make an effort to seek īśvara’s grace, and that effort is called prayer.
BEGGING
Prayer means to beg, to beseech. How can I do that? Why should I not accomplish everything with my own effort? Why should I ask for īśvara’s help? In this manner, ego becomes an obstacle in praying. Human beings are under a notion that whatever he has achieved so far is a result of self-effort. But as mentioned earlier, success is impossible without the favour of daivam (īśvara).
From where did one acquire the desire, the knowledge, the skills and all the conducive factors to make any effort? Were we not born totally ignorant and helpless? Have we not been constantly gaining help and favour for acquiring the knowledge and skills that we possess today? Has it not happened innumerable times that what we badly needed, appeared before us without our asking ? Many a time has it not happened that because of favourable circumstances we could easily forge ahead of our companions, who were as capable or even more capable than us? Did it not often happen that what we predicted came out to be right and we secured the desired result? That we gained success easily just because we happened to be present at the right place at the right time? Has it not often happened that somebody favoured us without any great reason and we were benefited by it? In this manner, when we think about the events in our life, we shall realise that without our knowledge, without our asking we have been constantly favoured. Who is showering that grace upon us? It is īśvara. We are the recipients of īśvara’s grace at every step and still if we arrogantly claim that our success in past or in present is due to our own strength, then it shows a lack of understanding on our part. In fact, He continues to shower His grace upon us even when we arrogate our success to our own strength. Then why this reservation in praying for his grace ?
But it is a beggar who begs. Am I a beggar? Yes. Am I not a beggar since birth? I have been demanding one thing after the other since birth — toys in childhood, then objects of sense gratification, the spouse, children, home, power, name, fame and so on. My demands continue ceaselessly. Do I remember a single day when my mind was free from desires? Each and every desire arising in the mind is nothing but begging. We are constantly begging for happiness, peace, security, acceptance etc., from the world. We are indeed beggars. It is only to expedite the fulfilment of our demands and cravings that we strive and do all the activities in life. Even when I believe that some person has fulfilled my demand, done my work, has obliged me, repaid me, compensated me, or when I give credit to my own knowledge and strength for my success in some area, who is it that is really conferring all these favours upon us? Ultimately, it is īśvara alone who is the giver of the results of our actions. It is īśvara who gives us the result of our actions through the medium of a person or a circumstance for He is the ruler of this creation. Wherever you see any prowess, know it to be His. And therefore it is īśvara who fulfils all our desires, for knowingly or unknowingly, it is He whom we are soliciting. In this manner, albeit unknowingly but through our different desires we are appealing to Him only. Then, what is the hurdle in appealing to him directly with our prayer?
It is said that emperor Akbar had allotted a time slot for his subjects, wherein they could present their grievances and needs before him. One day a fakīr (Mohammedan religious mendicant) came to the emperor with his wish. Emperor Akbar was praying to God at that time so the fakīr was asked to wait in the room outside. After completing his prayer when Akbar came out, he saw the fakīr leaving the room. Akbar called him back and asked him, “Why are you going away without presenting your wish for that is the reason for your coming here ?”
Fakīr replied : “O Emperor! I do not like to beg of a beggar.”
Akbar was shocked to hear this. He said, “I am the emperor. Why do you call me a beggar?”
“O Emperor, I beg your pardon! But some time back when I heard you begging before God in your prayer, I thought, why not I directly approach God with my wish ? After all, you beg of Him and then give it to your subjects.”
But what we are doing is contrary to what this fakīr did. We don’t mind flattering the world but when it comes to bowing down our heads before God we think it is below our dignity to do that.
Why should I flatter īśvara? But do you know that the person whom you are flattering is also flattering īśvara?
Īśvara is the only giver in this creation. Everybody is flattering Him alone. It we have to flatter — and one cannot but flatter and beg either overtly or covertly as long as there is inadequacy at the core — then why not flatterīśvara?
FOUR TYPES OF DEVOTEES
In the discussion so far we have seen that it is proper and in fact, absolutely necessary to pray. Thinking people are humble and modest and therefore, have no difficulty in praying; prayer comes naturally to them. At this stage, it may be mentioned that it is only due to the fructification of the past meritorious deeds that one is modest enough to bow one’s head before the Lord and enjoy trust in His kindness. Blessed indeed are those who can surrender themselves to the Lord.
According to their understanding of jīvas, the individuals ask for different things from īśvara.
In the Bhagavad Gita Lord Krishna says:
The people, given to good actions who worship me are four-fold, O Arjuna, — the one in distress, the one who wants security and pleasure, the one who wishes to know (me) and the one who knows (me), oh foremost in the family of Bharata. Bhagavad Gita 7-16When one is seized by some distress then one remembers God. One resorts to God when the distress continues to remain even after trying all the available means of getting rid of it. This is the devotee in distress, ārtaḥ. We find several instances of such devotees in our scriptures. Gajendra, Draupadī etc., fall within this type. It is said that once when Gajendra, a big and strong elephant went to drink water in a river, a crocodile caught one of his legs and began to pull him in the river. In the fierce battle that ensued between the two, the crocodile proved more powerful and Gajendra found himself being pulled in deep waters. When Gajendra realised that his ears and nose had also
begun to drown and there was no way that he could be saved then at last his heart cried out for the Lord’s help. The moment the Lord heard his prayer, which emerged from a heart in distress He appeared before him and saved him. Even today we come across many instances wherein īśvara protects his devotees from dire difficulties. In Kerala a devotee called Nārāyaṇa Bhaṭṭādri was seized with paralysis. Sitting before Lord Nārāyaṇa in the temple of Guruvāyur, he prayed to the Lord with all his heart and lo! He was freed from paralysis. A Saint called Punit Mahārāj in Gujarat was suffering from tuberculosis but he was cured from this incurable (in those days) disease with the constant japa, repetition of the name of Lord Rāma.
Praying to the Lord with a desire to gain some material benefit are arthārthī devotees. We often make such resolves in our mind — I will make an offering of such and such amount, I will do these many japas (repetition of god’s name), perform this vrata (religious vows), go for pilgrimage and so on if my particular desire gets fulfilled. Many businessmen give to God a share in their profit. Not having worked hard for the whole year many students begin to visit temples to have Lord’s darśan (sight), hoping to get through the exam with His grace. Most people are arthārthī because every individual is constantly seeking something or the other. Human being desires for more than what he deserves or is capable of and hence, often has to turn to īśvara for His grace.
It is understandable that most of the devotees fall in the category of ārta and arthārthī. What is important is that man takes shelter of īśvara and not of the world to be saved from distress, or to fulfil his needs. Even if man is praying to īśvara for a personal favour, it shows that he possesses faith and devotion to the extent that he begs from īśvara and not from the world. Gradually this faith and devotion will grow. In the Bhagavad Gita Lord Krishna says that if a devotee is worshipping a devatā (deity, a particular form of god) with faith then I firm up his faith in that devatā. All the devatās are nothing but different forms of the same īśvara. And so it is īśvara alone in the form of those particular devatās, that ordains the result of a devotee’s prayer. Īśvara in the form of these particular devatās, fulfils the desire of the devotee so that the faith of the devotee in that particular devatā is firmed up. The devotee then worships the devatā endowed with a firm and intense faith.
Thus, īśvara is always with His devotees and is eager to see that the faith of the devotee is firmed up and therefore, whatever may be the reason for praying and whatever may be the form of devata to which prayer is made, the prayer is answered by Him. Gradually the devotee begins to get interested in īśvara Himself. Earlier he remembered Him only in distress, then whenever he wanted something. And now, what for is he remembering īśvara? He now remembers īśvara without any reason. Previously he was interested in health, wealth, fame etc., and now he is interested in īśvara Himself. Now he wants to know īśvara. He wants to become one with īśvara. Now questions such as these arise in his mind — who is that īśvara who is constantly showering His grace upon me? Who is that īśvara who has been removing all my difficulties, heeding my prayers? What is the nature of īśvara who has been fulfilling all my demands? Where is He?
Devotee who wishes to know īśvara, for the sake of knowledge, is called jijūāsu. He no more seeks any material benefits. He is now seeking only to know Īśvara. Now īśvara’s mode of favouring such a devotee also changes. Situations become favourable for this devotee so that he can study. Teacher is required for knowledge, emotional maturity is also required for the study of the scriptures. By the grace of īśvara all this comes easily to the devotee. Finally, when he comes to know the true nature of īśvara, jijūāsu becomes a jūānī, the one who knows. Among all the devotees the jūānī, one who knows, is the most exalted for there is no difference between him and īśvara. For this devotee only īśvara is the object of love and this devotee is also the beloved ofīśvara.
PRAYER FOR ADEQUACY
In the earlier discussion we saw that prayer in one form or the other is constantly emanating from everybody’s heart. If we properly understand those prayers, we shall find that all those prayers are really for īśvara. Human beings are constantly plagued by a sense of smallness and inadequacy. He can never accept this sense of inadequacy and therefore, always desires to be adequate. Each individual’s understanding of adequacy and the level of emotional maturity being different, the form of prayer coming forth from each one is also different.
The person who seeks īśvara’s help and prays to Him for relief from distress, is more mature than the one praying to the world for relief from anxieties and fulfilment of needs. Arthārthī bhakta (devotee seeking security and pleasure) is more mature than an ārta bhakta (devotee in distress) and jijūāsu bhakta (devotee desiring to know) is even more mature than arthārthī for he is directly praying for adequacy. The culmination of maturity is in a jūānī (wise man) for he knows that adequacy, fullness is his very nature. Thus, we receive the grace of īśvara in keeping with our prayers which knowingly or unknowingly are all for fullness only. When we come to know this, a question arises in our mind that albeit, human beings are not aware of it but īśvara certainly knows that fullness is what each individual is seeking. Mokṣa, liberation is what each one wants. Then why does He not directly give fullness or mokṣa, liberation to everyone?
In reply to this Lord Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita that, I bless them in keeping with the manner and purpose for which the prayers are offered to me. Human beings do not seek mokṣa, liberation as long as a burning desire for it has not arisen in him. Consequently, he does not even get it. Even if we get a thing we cannot appreciate it, if we do not know its value. If we give a child a golden wrist watch to make him forget the chocolate that he is asking for, he will even throw away the watch for he has no value for it. A hungry person will even happily eat a simple roṭī (bread), whereas, even giving of nectar will carry no appreciation for the one who does not suffer from the pangs of hunger.
It will be nice to know the dialogue between Prahlāda (a great child devotee of Lord Viṣṇu) and Lord Nṛsiṁha (one of the ten incarnations of Lord Viṣṇu) in this reference. Hiraṇyakaśipu (a powerful demon and father of Prahlāda) was killed by Lord Nṛsiṁha who emerged from the hot iron pillar to save Prahlāda. Thereafter Prahlāda sang a hymn in praise of Lord Nṛsiṁha to pacify His anger.
Being pleased with his hymn
Lord Nṛsiṁha told Prahlāda : “O child, come, I shall take you to Vaikunṭha (abode of Lord Viṣṇu) with me.”
Prahlāda replied : “O Lord ! I shall come with you if you kindly permit my friends and other subjects also to come with me to Vaikunṭha.” He further said, “they too have worshipped you along with me and therefore, I cannot join you leaving them behind.”
“O.K., you may go and ask them and bring whoever wants to come with you”, said the Lord.
Prahlāda was overjoyed to hear this and told his friends, “Come, come, bhagavān is ready to take
everybody to Vaikunṭha.” But who is interested in Vaikunṭha! Not a single of Prahlāda’s friends was ready to go with him to the heavenly abode. They yet had their whole life before them to enjoy and make merry.
Let us live our life and thereafter we shall think of going to Vaikunṭha. At that juncture Vaikunṭha held no interest in them. Disappointed by the friends, Prahlāda went to ask elders and lastly to old people. But even among them nobody was ready to go with him. They cared more for this mortal world and its varied experiences than Vaikunṭha!
Thus, man can only appreciate that which he values. If he values security and pleasure he will ask for that only. He would ask for devotion to īśvara, if he has a value for that. He would ask for mokṣa, freedom if he valued that. As mentioned earlier, it is the degree of our emotional maturity that decides what is valuable to us. The Bhagavad Gita says that, sāttvika people (people with divine tendencies) worship devatās, people having predominance of rajas (people given to greed, longing, restlessness) worship yakṣas, the deities that grant name, fame, power, wealth etc., and people with predominance of tamas (inertia, anger, delusion) worship ghosts and other lower spirits.
Pleasures and security are seen to gain weightage where there is a predominance of likes and dislikes and devotion, knowledge etc., are valued where there is purity of heart. Lord Krishna says in the Gita that, “I am same in all beings and my grace is also equal on all beings. But those who seek me with devotion are in me and I in them.” What it means is that, the lord answers their prayers and they experience His grace for they have opened the gates of their hearts for Him, through prayer.
PRAYER IN DISTRESS
We shall now see an example of a devotee in distress. Draupadī was the wife of Pānóavas and the daughter of king Drupada. She was a devotee of Lord Krishna. In the court of the Kauravas when Draupadī was being stripped off her saree by the wicked Duḥśāsana in compliance with the order of Duryodhana, she pleaded before her husbands and all the elders present there to rescue her. But, when none of them responded to her pleas, Draupadī at last appealed Lord Krishna :
O Govinda! O king of Dvārikā! O Krishna! Are you not aware that Kauravas are insulting me? O Lord! O Destroyer of sorrow! I am drowning in the ocean of Kauravas, please save me.
O Krishna! O Krishna! O Great Yogī! O Self of all ! O Creator of all beings! O Govinda! please protect me, who am in great distress, trapped in the midst of Kauravas.
A cry emerges out of a person’s heart when he feels totally helpless. There are situations in life when one feels that one is incapable of doing anything. Many a time extremely adverse conditions arise at the physical, emotional or spiritual levels and one finds one has no control over them. Person finds himself obstructed by a number of obstacles strewn in his path. What can man do in such circumstances? He can only pray to the Lord, seek His favour, ask for strength which would enable him to face the adverse circumstances and overcome obstacles.
Like Draupadī who was besieged by enemies all around her, we too are often besieged by adverse and hostile conditions arising from within and without. Other than knocking īśvaraś door, what option do we have when, after having tried our best, we remain helpless? If it is a true prayer coming from the deep recesses of our heart, then īśvara will undoubtedly appear before us to bring us out of the mire we are in, just as he incarnated before Draupadé in the form of her saree.
It is not that only outside enemies make our life difficult; there are many sitting inside too. Desire, anger, greed, delusion, arrogance and envy are known as six inner foes. However, as long as we are seeking security and pleasure these six do not appear as foes to us. On the contrary, sometimes they look like friends to us. But when we begin to imbibe dharma (righteous conduct) and values in our life, we find these base tendencies blocking our way. But they have become very strong and we realise that we are helpless before our inner foes. We wish that divine sentiments such as love, forgiveness, compassion etc., permeate my mind, but instead, the mind emanates anger, cruelty, harshness etc. Enemies such as desire, anger, jealousy have sieged the mind. I don’t see how I can overcome them. O Lord! I entreat you to kindly come and rescue me.
Sitā (consort of Lord Rāma) surrounded by demonnesses in Aśokavāṭikā (garden were she was held hostage by Rāvaṇa) constantly prayed to Lord Rama, to come with His army and kill the demon Ravaṇa. Verily speaking, we can be freed from these inner foes only by īśvara. Såradāsa (a blind poet who was a great devotee of Lord Krishna) says :
O Lord! do not mind my vices for all men are the same in your eyes, regardless of whether they are good or evil. A Philosopher’s stone does not pay attention to the virtues or vices of iron, and converts all iron into gold; whether it is an image of god or a lock, everything is converted into gold by it. Even a stream of sewage water is sanctified by river Gañgā for it sanctifies all the streams of water flowing into it regardless of where they are coming from. Similarly, O Lord ! Please do not look at my vices and help me cross this saṁsāra.
Tulsīdāsa (a great devotee of Lord Rāma and the author of the epic Rāmacaritamānasa) says :
O Lord! You are merciful and I am miserable; You are a giver and I am a beggar; I am a sinner and you are destroyer of the heap of sins. If You are the shelter for all the orphans then why not of an orphan like me? There is none in pain like me and there is none greater than you in removing the pain.
Śrī Śañkarācārya says :
O Mother! All in this world are your children and many among them are wayward. But this son of yours is the most dull witted and restless of them all. But in spite of that your apathy towards me is not at all becoming of you, for a mother never ceases to be a mother even if a son has ceased to be a son. I have given up worshipping other devatās, for it is very difficult to propitiate them. Now you are my only refuge. O Mother! If you do not take me, who is in such a dire state, within your loving fold, who will I turn to for shelter?It is not that only people overcome by external adverse conditions fall in the category of ārta bhaktas (devotees in distress), but people tormented by inner foes (lust, anger, envy etc.,) and even those who cannot bear separation from īśvara are ārta bhaktas. It appears that the inner pain seems to increase and the seeker experiences an intense sense of helplessness, as the mind becomes more and more pure, transparent and ingenuous and at that time, an unbroken current of prayer begins to flow from his heart.
PRAYER OF A SEEKER OF KNOWLEDGE (JIJÑĀSU)
Just as an ārta devotee prays to īśvara to remove his obstacles coming from within or without, so also a jijūāsu prays to īśvara for His knowledge. Arjuna is such a jijūāsu. When Arjuna realises that the purpose of life will not be fulfilled even with victory, kingdom and all the means of pleasures at his command, he surrenders to Lord Krishna and prays for that knowledge gaining which nothing remains to be gained in life. It is indeed a great blessing that there arises a desire to gain that knowledge which fulfils the purpose of life; it is but the result of the grace of īśvara. As such there is no dearth of desires, they keep on arising every moment in our mind but more often than not, these desires pertain to our security and pleasures in present and future. A seeker will pray for knowledge only when he realises that ignorance is the root cause of all the desires, of all the sorrow and pain, and the nagging sense of dissatisfaction in life, and that it can be removed only with knowledge. A prayer imbued with the following spirit will then emerge from him :
O Lord! from unreal lead me to real, from the depth of darkness O Lord! lead me to supreme light, O Master! from death lead me to immortality, bless me, who is unworthy, with thy darśana (vision).
O Lord! lead me from unreal to real. What is the truth of this creation which is constantly in a state of flux? There seems to be nothing permanent and lasting. Things appear to be of one kind and turn out to be altogether different. Everything is changing. Even my mind undergoes a change every moment. There has to be an unchanging substratum for all this change to take place and you are that substratum. Therefore, O Lord! kindly lead me from impermanent to permanent.
My heart is filled with the darkness of ignorance. In the absence of the light in the form of a guide, my path remains pitch dark and hence, I stumble at every step. O Lord of knowledge! Remove the darkness of my heart by lighting the lamp of knowledge. Today I find myself choosing preyas (that which appears attractive), instead of choosing śreyas (that which is ultimately good), I fall prey to the temptations of the transitory gains, I become instrumental in hurting and causing pain to any number of people even without my desire. O Self-Effulgent Lord! Enlighten the path of my life by lighting the lamp of viveka (discriminating śreyas from preyas) so that my goal and my path become crystal clear to me. May thy kind self be my guide and direct the path of my life. From death, O Immortal! Lead me to immortality. My coming under the sway of my impulses and likes and dislikes itself is death. May I conquer them and abide in the self, so that I can have a darśana (vision) of you, who is immortal. O Benedictor! I am aware that I do not deserve your kindness and yet O Refuge! O friend of the helpless! May you kindly pay heed to the pleas of this wretched one, who seeks your refuge. O Delight of the eyes! May you consummate me by granting a vision of thy self.
In the Bhagavad Gita Arjuna requests Lord Krishna to describe His glories. O Best among beings! Neither the celestials nor the demons can fathom your greatness and power. O Creator of all beings! O Ruler of all beings! O Lord of gods! O Master of creation! You know yourself by yourself and therefore, you should describe to me your greatness and power. Moreover, your divine glories can best be described only by you, for you pervade these worlds by your divine glories. O Yogī! Always contemplating, how can I know you? O Bhagavān! In which objects should I meditate upon you? O Janārdana! My ears are never satisfied listening to your nectarean words and therefore, once again describe in detail your glories and your power.
Arjuna is a jijūāsu devotee of the Lord. He does not want kingdom, happiness etc. He is quite capable of acquiring them on his own. What Arjuna wants is knowledge. In order to know the truth of Bhagavān he wanted to constantly contemplate upon Him. His love for knowledge is evident from his prayer to the Lord to again describe his glories, for his ears are never satisfied drinking Lord’s nectarean words. Does even Bhagavān have freedom not to shower grace on such an ardent devotee? No sooner did Arjuna request, and Lord Krishna immediately began describing His glories. Later on Arjuna prayed to the Lord to show His cosmic form and lo! the compassionate Lord fulfilled that too, for He can never disappoint his devotees and in fact, He is controlled by His devotees as it were.
GRACE OF GOD
When the Lord sees that His devotees have completely surrendered themselves unto Him — their minds, their sense organs, their actions everything is surrendered to Him and He is the focal point of everything they do, and all this is done purely out of love for Him and for no other reasons — a surge of compassion arises in the Lord for His devotees, and He, the indwelling paramātmā Himself lights in the heart of His devotees, a lamp of knowledge which dispels the darkness of their ignorance.
Lord Krishna Says in the Bhagavad Gita: My devotee never suffers a downfall. Such is the compassion of the compassionate that, ere long even the lowliest of the lowly becomes a saint, if there is a resolve in his mind to attain īśvara. We need only to call Him for He is ever ready to reach out.
We can say that prayer is the most powerful weapon that is available to human beings. It enables the seeker to overcome obstacles coming from both within and without. Hence, regardless of whether a human being desires material success or spiritual success, prayer is indispensable for him. Let us all pray in the following manner : O Lord! May you kindly make our whole life prayerful. May you kindle faith and devotion in us. From ārta and arthārthī, transform us into a jiñūāsu so that we attain you, so that we cease to remain entities separate from you and become you.
OM TAT SAT
