Bhagavad kr^pa (grace of God)

[Gummuluru Murthy]

On Wed, 7 Jan 1998, sadananda wrote:

> [...]

> There is no difference in what we both are saying.  What is in our control
> is our human effort.  The grace will come automatically for those that
> deserve.
>
> Contemplation or Meditation as means is also action at mental level. There
> is an inquiry involved for knowledge to take place. It is not negating the
> mind.  It is using the mind to go beyond the mind like a pole walt.  Who I
> am or what is the souce of contents of the thougts or even jagat involves
> an intense inquiry by a prepared mind ( pure mind). Meditation involves
> meditator, meditated and meditating.  By meditation one goes beyond
> meditation - that happens by grace.
>
> Hence human effort is upto the end and one goes beyond the begining and end
> by grace. Ultimately one can declare as Bhagavan Dattatreya says in
> Avadhuuta Gita
>         aham dhyaataa param dhyeyam akhandam khadate katham|
> I am the meditator and meditating on the supreme - how can one divide the
> indivisible?
> Hari Om!
> Sadananda
>
>

Namaste.

I agree. There is no difference in what we both are saying (and Shri Ram
Chandran). Divine grace would show up on us in the form of proper mental
frame of the human and the proper action taken by the human. Except, the
human is to recognize that this action of the human (either mental or
physical) is by the divine grace only and not because of the human's
viveka. When we do japa, we pray the Saguna Brahman to provide us the
proper purushhArtha [mama chaturvitha phala purushhArtha siththasye jape
viniyogah: Lalitha trisathi dhyAnam, similarly in Vishnu sahasranAma, the
two japas I am familiar with]. The same is alluded by Shri Ram Chandran in
his post also.


Regards
Gummuluru Murthy
------------------------------------------------------------------------
... aham bhAvodayAbhAvo bodhasya paramAvadhih ...
                        Shri Shankara in Viveka ChuDAmaNi (verse 424)

The end of the rise of the sense of "I" of the ego is the culmination
of knowledge.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

>From  Thu Jan  8 10:34:35 1998
Message-Id: <THU.8.JAN.1998.103435.0500.>
Date: Thu, 8 Jan 1998 10:34:35 -0500
Reply-To: chandran at tidalwave.net
To: "Advaita (non-duality) with reverence" <ADVAITA-L at TAMU.EDU>
From: Ram Chandran <chandran at TIDALWAVE.NET>
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Subject: Mind Purification and Holy Kural
Comments: To: Advaita List <advaita-l at tamu.edu>
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Advaita List is unique in several respects.  First, we the list members
have the desire to learn from each other on how to become better human
being.  Most important, we want to remove negative tendencies and
develop positive attitude in our daily life.  We all agree that before
we plant the seed for a tree, we have to prepare the ground.  The ground
preparation for spiritual growth is the purification of mind.  A good
starting point for purification of our mind is to express our ideas
using pleasant words and to avoid pointless and meaningless
discussions.  In this New Year, let us undertake this noble path of
improving our communication skills.  When knowledge rises in us,
revealing the True Nature of Jiva, then and only then can we rise above
all misery and regain the state of bliss that is natural to us.

I want to share the wisdom of Thiruvalluvar, a Tamil Saint who wrote
TiruKural which describes different aspects of human virtue.  The first
ten verses discuss the importance of  using pleasant words.  The second
ten verses describe the significance of avoiding pointless writing.
These verses will hopefully remind us to correct our writing style and
communication skills.


The importance and advantages of writing pleasant words (Holy Kural,
chapter 10):

Pleasant words fall from the lips of virtuous men,
Full of tenderness and free from deceit.

Better than a gift given with a joyous heart
Are sweet words spoken with a cheerful smile.

A kindly countenance and sweet words
Spoken from the heart are virtue's way.

Poverty-provoking sorrow will not pursue
Those who speak joy-producing words to all they meet.

Humility and pleasant words are the jewels
That adorn a man; there are none other.

If a man seeks good works while speaking sweet words,
His virtues will wax and his vices wane.

Words yield spiritual rewards and moral excellence
When they do not wander far from usefulness and agreeableness.

Sweet speech which is stranger to pettiness
Imparts pleasure not only in this life, but in the next.

Why would anyone speak cruel words,
Having observed the happiness that kind words confer?

To utter harsh words when sweet ones would serve
Is like eating unripe fruits when ripe ones are at hand.

The Significance of Avoiding Pointless Writings and Discussions (Holy
Kural, Chapter 20):

Everyone is disgusted by a man
Who offends one and all with meaningless chatter.

Uttering useless words to crowds is worse
Than committing unkindnesses toward companions.

A long and pointless discourse itself declares
To all the speaker's lack of  worth.

Worthless words are doubly unprofitable: the listeners'
Enjoyment is lost, and the speaker's own virtues vanish.

 Prestige and popularity flee the best of men
 The moment they speak inane and useless words.

 Do not call him a man who enjoys displaying
 His own empty words. Call him rather the chaff of men.

Let the wise, if they deem it necessary, speak even unpleasant words,
But it is good if they always refrain from pointless speech.

 In search of extraordinary gains, the wise
 Will never speak trivial or ungainful words.

 The wise, faultless and free from ignorance,
 Never utter pointless words, even forgetfully.

 In your speaking, say only that which is purposeful.
 Never utter words which lack purpose.

The Holy Kural was written by Thiruvalluvar, a weaver who lived with his
wife, Vasuki, in what is today a part of Madras in South India during
first century B.C. This was Tiruvalluvar's only work, and though it is
relatively short, it was sufficient to bring  renown to a humble weaver,
making him a venerated sage and lawgiver of the Tamil People.  In the
Tamil language "Tiru" means "holy" or "sacred," and "Kural" means
anything that is brief or short. In this case it describes the very
difficult and disciplined venpa meter in which the verses were written.
Each verse is extremely short, containing only two lines of fourteen
syllables. In fact, it is the shortest form of stanza in the Tamil
language. In many ways these couplets are similar to the Sanskrit sloka.
The entire scripture consists of 133  chapters with each chapter
describes a different aspect of human virtue or human fault. To properly
understand his perspective on a subject, each of the ten couplets must
be read, for they are like facets of a gem - all reflecting the light of
his understanding slightly differently and adding to the richness of
his  comprehension. (This summary introduction also comes from the Web
page referenced below).

Reference: Kural a Tamil literary work on Human Ethics is available
in the Internet at:   http://www.magna.com.au/~prfbrown/kural/
Copyright 1995, Himalayan Academy, All Rights Reserved.
The information contained in this document may not be published for
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Academy. (The publisher's request is that the material not be used in
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Redistribution  electronically (for free), photocopying to give to
classes or friends, all that is okay.) This copyright  notice may not be
removed, or the text edited or changed without the prior written
authority of  Himalayan Academy.