Principles of Spirituality
Path of Guru’s grace (Gurukrupayoga)
Meaning
The word krupa has been derived from the root ‘krup’, which means to be compassionate. Krupa means compassion, initiation (anugraha), or blessing (prasad). Thus Gurukrupayoga is the path where, through the Guru’s grace (Gurukrupa), the embodied soul is united with the Supreme soul.
Importance of the Path of Guru’s Grace
On this path, a seeker, instead of spending several years on various paths of spiritual practice, learns how to acquire the Guru’s grace at the earliest. He thus bypasses all other paths of Spirituality in acquiring the Guru’s grace. Consequently, it is only natural that one makes rapid spiritual progress by following this path.
For further explanation, please refer to the table below:
|
Path
of Devotion |
Path
of Action |
Path
of Knowledge |
Path of Guru's Grace |
1. Necessary intelligence* |
Average |
Average |
Superior |
Average |
2. Main component of the Trigunas (Three attributes) |
Any one |
Any one |
||
3. Creation of a new centre due to spiritual practice, in the subconscious mind |
Centre of devotion for The Lord | Difficult |
Impossible |
Centre of devotion for the Guru |
4. Ability to reduce the ego (%) |
30 |
10 |
10 |
100 |
* - This intelligence refers not to worldly intelligence but to the sattvik (pure, subtle) intellect.
Importance of the Guru’s grace (Gurukrupa)
One comprehends the unmanifest (nirgun) form of God with a sattvik intellect and actually experiences God in the manifest (sagun) form with spiritual love (priti).
Comprehending the unmanifest (nirgun) form of God
Dissolution of the anadi illusion
’Anadi’ literally means one without a beginning. Thus, anadi illusion is an illusion that exists from the very beginning of Creation. From the beginning of the state of the embodied soul (jivadasha), each individual has the illusion, “I am distinct from God (Brahman).” By studying the science of Spirituality, one develops a subtle or sattvik intellect, which destroys the anadi illusion and makes one realize that he is not distinct from God (Brahman).
Experiencing God in the manifest form (sagun)
Dissolution of the adi illusion
Once the anadi illusion of a seeker gets destroyed, he begins to feel, “If I am not different from God (Brahman), then how is it that I do not experience this fact?” This feeling is due to another illusion called the adi illusion. ‘Adi’ literally means one with a beginning. Thus, adi illusion is an illusion that begins when the anadi illusion gets destroyed. At this stage, one intellectually knows that one originates from God, but cannot experience it. The adi illusion is destroyed solely by the grace of the Guru.
A seeker develops spiritual love (prem) for and devotion (bhakti) to the manifest (sagun) form of God through satsang (holy company). The Guru’s grace transforms the seeker’s manifest, spiritual love and devotion into spiritual love (priti). This causes the very form of the manifest to vanish, making one realize that the manifest and the unmanifest are, in fact, one and the same. As a result, the notions originating from the relative knowledge that the manifest has a form and the unmanifest is formless, are destroyed. Thus, when the relative knowledge gets transformed into absolute knowledge, the difference with regards to form, between the manifest and the unmanifest, does not persist any longer. If relative knowledge were true, then its awareness would accordingly not be destroyed. Therefore, the very awareness of relative knowledge is itself the adi illusion.
Once one begins to develop devotion to the manifest, one gets the actual realization (sakshatkar) that the manifest, in reality, is the unmanifest Bliss experienced by him. Due to this, the thinking that the unmanifest is different from the manifest dissolves and one experiences non-duality, which is the feeling, ‘I am God (Brahman)’. Hence, saints refer to the unmanifest as the subtlest among spoken topics (vachyansha) and recognize the unmanifest in the manifest as the ultimate target (lakshyansha), that is, the Lord.
“Since scholars have no experience of satsang and are stuck in word knowledge, this concept is not acceptable to them.”
- His Holiness (H. H.) Kane Maharaj, Narayangaon, India.
“Who dwells in My heart? I would never realize that without the Guru’s grace.”