Narada Bhakti Sutra - Post 48

Sutra 38. Mukhyatastu Mahatkripayaiva Bhagavat kripaa leshaadwaa.

But it (devotion) is obtained chiefly by the grace of great men or through a slight measure of Divine grace.

Mukhyatah: chiefly

tu: but  

Mahat-kripayah: by the grace of great men

Eva: only

Bhagavat- kripa-lesaat: through a slight measure of the grace of the Lord

Vaa: or.

In the preceding three Sutras the devotees’ exertion was emphasised, for example: 

“Vishaya tyagat sangatyagat cha”: abandoning of objects and attachment; 

“Avyavrita Bhajanaat”: ceaseless worship and 

“Bhagavat-Guna-Srava-kirtanaat”: hearing of the glories of the Lord and Kirtan or singing the names and glories of the Lord.

In this Sutra and the next three, the descent of the Lord’s grace is referred to.

Mahat-kripayah: by the grace of great men 

Let us try and understand the essence and the sequence which leads to the Grace of great men now.

PROCESS 1- God's claim

• When God created man, God bestowed the power of discrimination to mankind, the last and the pinnacle of God's creation.
• So, God does not rush and shower His unlimited grace to man to realize God, just like that. Why Lord does not do that??
• Because, Lord says, I have given you the discrimination to choose between the good and the bad, between the eternal and the ephemeral, between true and false, between Godly deeds and Demonic deeds. Should you not then use your discrimination O Man, and realize that Realizing me is the only purpose of your life??

PROCESS 2 - God's little help / grace 

• Having said that, God cannot sit back and allow the man to wander without any aim, without any focus and keep performing karmas not aligning with Godly deeds and then, get fixed in the cycle of birth and death. So, God does intervene and extends His grace with a little help. What is that help / grace??
• God sends the realized masters / Gurus / Acharyas to the rescue / guidance of men.
• What do these great men do??

PROCESS 3- Grace of great men of wisdom

• When the great men are moved by compassion towards their mortal brothers, the Lord works through them.
• This compassion is the very nature of these great men / acharyas. They do not carry a flag and go about deliberating on their compassion. The compassion just flows.
• It is logical. Only a man who himself had lost direction to a pilgrimage, went here and there and at last found his way to the sanctum sanctorum, had the divine darshan, is qualified and only he, effortlessly, selflessly, without a thought, just comes forward and approaches a prospective wanderer and says, " I have struggled to find the temple, why should you also struggle? Come, I shall guide you  and make you board a direct flight to divinity. I shall give you all the guidance you require, to reach the Lord.
• In Srimad Bhagavatam it is said, “In the company of the great prevail talks which perfectly convey My majesty and which soothe the heart and the ear. From listening to these, faith, attachment and devotion will succeed one another towards Him who is the way to salvation.”

PROCESS 4 - Upto man, to take the guidance of these great men

We will continue with this process and then see how again, man reaches the stage to call for that little grace of Lord, the final one, to reach and merge with the Lord, in the next post.

Love.