If god showers his grace on some people then why not everyone? My mother always tells me that god’s special grace is on you! But I’m not satisfied with this. If god showers his grace on me, then why not each and every living being? If I do get liberation from the cycle of birth and death, then why not everyone? There are a lot more living beings who need help! Then why doesn’t god shower grace on everyone and liberate them?
—Buddha, India
Considering the state of the world and the things that happen to people — good people — it is easy to think that some are favored with grace and others not. However, “God showers His grace on everyone.” Your mother is right. Unless people are open to this, they do not see or feel grace. Rather, they are identified with their circumstance and hardship and feel that because of these, they live outside of grace. And so, it sometimes appears to those looking on. Swami Kriyananda said, “Everyone is living in a state of grace, even if they don’t know it.” How can this be? What about those who suffer? In response to a very difficult circumstance in his own life, Swami Kriyananda reached out to the great woman saint, Ananda Moyi Ma, whom Paramhansa Yogananda speaks of in his “Autobiography of a Yogi.” She advised him to consider this very difficult karma as his guru’s grace. It was indeed challenging and at first he wasn’t sure he could do it. But he put out the energy inwardly to deepen his attunement with his guru and to try to feel his consciousness and the “grace” behind the outward test. In so doing, he was able to feel the hidden blessing and in later years came to view that very difficult circumstance as the catapult which spurred him forward to create for his guru cooperative communities where individuals could come together and support one another in seeking God. He went so far as to say that without that challenge, he would not have been able to complete the fullness of what his Guru was asking him to do. We need to be inwardly conscious of God’s presence in our lives and trying to the best of our ability to tune into that consciousness, regardless of circumstance and trials. In so doing, we will feel God’s grace. And, by so doing, anyone can feel His grace. If you feel to, I would suggest that you pray for others to receive the flow of God’s grace in their lives. It will be very helpful to them and to you as well.
Joy to you, Nayaswami Maria
