GRACE Worthiness is not enough, but one also cannot receive grace without worthiness. Grace is not received just because of your being worthy. This is the complexity. It needs to be understood a little more deeply. Worthiness means that you are eligible. But with the idea of worthiness the ego enters saying, “I am worthy, I deserve it.” When you feel that you are worthy, you soon make the demand that now you should receive it. And if you don’t get it then you complain. If you do receive it, then you are not grateful because you feel that you deserved it. At the time of his death Kabir said, “I refuse to die in Kashi. Take me to Maghar.” There was a saying that even a donkey who dies in Kashi will attain liberation, moksha, he will reach to heaven. And even if an enlightened person dies in Maghar, then he will become a donkey in his next life. So Kabir said, “I will die in Maghar.” Why did he say this? Kabir said, “If I attain liberation just by dying in Kashi, then where is God’s grace in it?” – it was the inherent quality of Kashi that by dying there you would enter moksha, it was guaranteed – “So I will die in Maghar, and then if I become a donkey in my next life it will be my own responsibility. And if I attain liberation, then it will be through God’s grace.” It is a very profound story. He died in Maghar, but he had lived his whole life in Kashi. This is a statement to all of us, a message, an indication. He pointed out that even if one attains liberation because of one’s worthiness, it is still ego. Only if it is attained by God’s grace is it real. So whoever feels he is worthy, a subtle ego will start arising that “Now I deserve it, I should receive grace.” If he receives it he will feel no gratitude, but if he does not receive it then there will be a complaint. And where there is no gratitude, then the divine has not been experienced. Where there is no gratitude, where there is ego, the eyes are covered; they are blind. The heart has not yet awakened; it is still sleeping. Hence, worthiness is necessary but it is not enough on its own.
Posted on: Sat, 02 Nov 2013 06:57:51 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015