Path of the Guru's Grace.

The path of the Guru’s grace is one of the many paths to God. In Sanskrit it is translated as Gurukrupayoga, where krupa means grace and yoga means the path to God. All paths to God ultimately lead to the path of the Guru’s grace, because without the grace of the Guru, one is not able to progress beyond a certain stage. When the seeker is ready, meaning that he has attained a certain spiritual maturity, the manifest (physical) Guru appears in his life to guide and grace the seeker to merge with God.

The advantage of following the Path of Guru's Grace, is that a seeker directly learns how to acquire the Guru's grace, bypassing all other spiritual paths that ultimately teach the importance of the Guru's grace.

After acquiring the Guru's grace, a seeker’s progress is rapid. The only virtue responsible for the rapid acquisition of a Guru and the constant bestowal of His grace thereafter is intense yearning for Liberation (mumukshutva) or for a Guru.

Therefore, the seeker should make all efforts to acquire the Guru's grace, so that the Guru Himself calls him.

What are the steps in spiritual practice according the path of Guru’s grace?

The seeker can pursue the path of (acquiring) Guru's grace by undertaking the following steps:

• Ritualistic Worship (puja)
• Chanting* the Lord’s Name
• Being in holy company (satsang)
• Rendering service unto the Lord (satseva)
• Sacrificing unto the Lord (tyag)
• Developing Spiritual (unconditional) love (priti)

These steps are explained in detail in our previous Gurupurnima issue

* Chanting: If one is not currently doing any spiritual practice, one can begin with the simple, but powerful spiritual practice of chanting (repetition or constant remembrance of) God's Name as per one's religion. (Seekers at the initial stage should chant the Name of the Family Deity (Kuldevata) or the divine principle as per their religion; refer to Issue 3 section: Clarification of Doubts for a list of the Names of God in various religions. Seekers in the advanced stage of spiritual practice can refer to Issue 124, section: Message to Seekers to determine the appropriate chant for them.) If one is already doing some spiritual practice, one can complement it with chanting.