Saraswati namastubhyam varade kaamaruupini
Vidyaarambham karishyaami siddhirbhavatu me sadaa.
Salutations to you, O Goddess Saraswati, who is the giver of boons, and who has a beautiful form! I begin my studies. Let there be success for me always.
Grace is something which is earned. It is not something that the Lord randomly distributes day by day. If he did, he would be partial, which is not the case. Grace is a graceful expression for karma-phala. Karma is what we do and phala is is the result of what you do. Prayer is also a karma, an action. Because it is an action, it necessarily produces a result. The result is two-fold- seen, drsta-phala and unseen, adrsta-phala.
One example of a seen result is the psychological benefit of prayer. The very fact that you are able to pray is itself a benefit. Also as a result of prayer, there can be the psychological benefit of having someone upon whom you can rely. Any individual has limitations, whereas the one you pray to is looked upon by you as limitless. Even without understanding, the Lord is looked upon as someone who is omniscient.
Grace is earned in the same way that you earn something else. Since you are not able to relate an unseen result to a given course of action on your part in the immediate past, we are constrained to call this result, grace.
Mukam karoti vaachalam, pangum langhayate girim
Yat kripa tamaham vande Parmaananda Maadhavam.
This grace is able to convert a mute into one who is eloquent and enables a lame person to climb mountains.
Kaalidaasa, the celebrated poet, was considered to be a mute but, because of grace, he began pouring out verses. Similarly, Vaalmiki became a great poet because of his grace. In day to day life, we often hear various stories of the disappearance of incurable diseases. Cancer suddenly vanishes and no one knows how. We call it grace because the causes are not known. You can call such happenings grace, accident, or chance. However, a perceptive person, with a certain maturity and understanding of Ishvara, appreciates these unseen results as what we call grace or Daiva.
A dhaarmika, one who is committed to a life of dharma, appreciates his or her limitations and then takes this one step beyond- recognizing that success is ultimately possible only because of this unknown factor, Daiva. Daiva is a factor over which you have no control at all, that makes the difference between success and failure, between victory and defeat. We often call this unknown factor “luck- “good luck” and “bad luck”. In all cultures, I suppose, there are equivalents for these two words because people have to account for a factor that seems to work favorably or otherwise. Even a hard-boiled dialectical materialist has to miss a bus occasionally and is constrained to say, “I was unlucky.” Catching the bus earlier than expected is also not an uncommon event.
This unknown factor is viewed here as a divine factor, the unknown invisible adrsta. It represents an order and is called the law of karma, the law of dharma. The factor is not visible, but the results that are reaped by us are seen very clearly. The results are Drshta, whereas the causes are adrsta.
The one who doesn’t leave the Adrshta to the hands of chance, the one who does something to change the adrsta, is considered to be a bhakta and is religiously mature.
Kaayena vaachaa manasendriyairvaa buddyaatmanaa vaa prakrtessvabhaavaat,
Karomi yadyat sakalam parasmai naaraayanaayeti samarpayaami.
Unto Lord Naarayana, I dedicate all the acts that I perform with my body, speech, mind, senses and intellect which are born of deliberation or natural tendencies.
You may call such person a religious person, but I would refer to him or her as a mature person who recognizes unseen hands that shape and are behind these known hands. Such hands are not the hands of chance. They are the hands of the law, hands that are the law, and are looked upon as the Lord. A mature person is one who has fear of adharma, one who tries to conform to Dharma. He has a commitment, recognizes his own prowess and believes in his skills and knows the importance of effort. He does not keep beseeching to the Lord “Please give me, give me, give me.” He knows it won’t work.
Udyamah saahasam dhairyam buddhi-shakti-paraakramaah,
Shadete yatra vartante tatra devah sahaayakrt
In order to be successful, six qualities are required; udyama-proper effort, saahasa- perseverance, dhairya- courage, Buddhi- knowledge, Shakti- skill and resources, and paraakrama- the capacity to overcome obstacles.
You may have courage and enthusiasm, but no proper effort at the right time. On the other hand, you may have right effort, but no enthusiasm. You may also have the necessary enthusiasm to persevere but if, after some time, you have not accomplished what you set out to accomplish, you may give up due to lack of courage.
You must be like a flowing river, unmindful of all obstructions. If a huge mountain is there, the river simply flows around it. It does not stop. If the obstruction is a simple rock, the river jumps over it. If it is a bigger rock, it simply goes around or swallows it and flows over it. If it comes to a valley, the river fills the valley first and then continues flowing. That is the nature of a river. It does not see an obstruction as an obstruction.
Even if these six qualities are present, we cannot say with any degree of certainty that a person will meet with success. There is still that unknown factor to be recognized, Daiva, that extended helping hand, to be sought. One can always fight if one has to. With the six qualities required for success, one can take care of the obstructions. However, the seventh factor is in Bhagwaan, the Lord. Recognizing the Lord, Daivam and his power is the quality of a mature mind. Seeking him in all circumstances is what makes you a successful.
Om Tat Sat
Raadhaa Acharya
