What is Grace !!!

I was hooked onto the Indian Kirtans this evening and listened “Pibare Rama Rasam” song several times. After taking our puppy dog Leo for a walk, I had to drop him back at home and wired again, now with Swami Dayananda’s AtmaBodha lectures. I wanted to share the definition of Grace, spoken by Swami Dayananda.

Grace is the capacity to suspend all notions about yourself and the world and be with yourself.

While there is a constant sense of “I am small and insignificant”, there are moments in the day, we are able to stop our identifications, our beliefs and assumptions and able to enjoy peaceful moments, just being with ourselves. This capacity to be with oneself dropping all notions and ideas is Grace.

If I am able to be perfectly happy for one moment, in spite of all the problems that surround me, I can come to realization that I don’t have to solve any of my problems to be happy.

When we look at an oxidized Copper pot, tarnished in all spaces except in one spot where one can see the glimpse of copper, we are able to recognize that this is a copper pot, even though the pot is oxidized and ruined in all other places. We use salt and vinegar to clean up the oxidized portions and get the pot to its original shine.

In the same way, the momentary light breeze of happiness we experience is an indication that our essential nature is happiness. The words of our teacher and scriptures act as salt and vinegar, aid us to see divinity within.

Adi Shankara gives a beautiful example in Atmabodha verse 4: “The Self reveals ItSelf to ItSelf, like the sun sun reveals itself when the clouds pass away”. While the breeze (Scriptures and Guru’s Words) moves the clouds (ignorance), the Sun (Atman) is revealed without any effort.