What is the importance of Guru's grace (Gurukrupa) ?

Path of Guru’s Grace (Gurukrupayoga)

1. Meaning

The word krupa has been derived from the root krup which means to be compassionate. Krupa means compassion, initiation (anugraha) or a blessing (prasad). Thus Gurukrupayoga is the path in which by means of the Guru’s grace (gurukrupa) the embodied soul is united with Shiv.

2. Importance of the Path of Guru’s grace

In this path a seeker learns how to acquire the Guru’s grace at the earliest, bypassing all other paths instead of wasting several years fol­lowing various paths of spiritual practice. Consequently it is only natural that one makes rapid spiritual progress by following this path. Refer to the table ‘24 A. Path of Guru’s Grace (Gurukrupayoga) and other paths of Yoga’ at the end of the book and also the back cover of the book.

3. Importance of the Guru’s grace (Gurukrupa)

‘One comprehends the unmanifest (nirgun) with intellect and the manifest (sagun) with spiritual love (priti). This intellect is a subtle form of the intellect acquired by studying the scriptures. This intellect destroys the anadi (one without a beginning) illusion. From the beginning of the state of the embodied soul (jivadasha) each one has the illusion (misconcept) that “I am distinct from Brahman”. By studying the scriptures one realises by means of his intellect that “I am not distinct from Brahman”. However later he begins to feel, “If I am not different from Brahman then how is it that I do not experience it?” and thus another illusion develops. This illusion having an origin is described as the adi illusion. This adi illusion is destroyed solely by the grace of the Guru. This means that on account of the Guru’s grace the love of the manifest (sagun prem) and the devotion of the manifest (sagun bhakti) derived through satsang (holy company) transform his love, that is convert love into spiritual love which is devoid of expectation and thus the form of the manifest itself vanishes. As a result, the notions originating from relative knowledge that the manifest has a form and the unmanifest is formless are destroyed. When relative knowledge gets transformed into absolute knowledge the difference between the manifest and the unmanifest with regard to form, no longer persists. If rela­tive knowledge were to be true then its awareness would not have been destroyed. This awareness of relative knowledge, that is pratyay itself is the adi illusion. Once devotion of the manifest begins, actual realisation (sakshatkar) that the manif­est is really unmanifest Bliss occurs, the knowledge of the unmanifest that is thinking that the unmanifest is different from the manifest dissolves and one experiences that “I am Brahman” that is one experiences non-duality. Hence, saints term the unmanifest as the most subtle among spoken topics (vachyansha) and the manifest as the ultimate target (lakshyansha), that is The Lord. Since scholars have no experience of satsang, this concept is not acceptable to them. Rameshvar Bhatt who was in­strumental in immersing the holy verses of Saint Tukaram in water attained Absoluteness (Purnatva) with the grace of Saint Tukaram alone.’ - H.H. Kane Maharaj, Narayangaon

Who dwells in My heart ? I would never realise that without the Guru’s grace. - Saint Bhaktaraj

(Ref: Sanatan's Publication - 'Path of Guru's Grace (Gurukrupayoga)')