Swami Prakashanand Saraswati: Understanding the Grace of a Saint
Swami Prakashanand Saraswati was a revered spiritual leader known for his profound teachings on Divine love and grace. His wisdom has guided countless devotees toward a deeper understanding of the Divine and the importance of sincere devotion to God. We chose to publish the following excerpt because of how well he clearly and concisely summarizes the deep wisdom found in Hindu scriptures.
Saint is a living form of Divine Bliss and Grace of that form of God which he has attained. So, receiving the blessings or Grace of a Saint is not just a customary act as people normally think. You have to deserve to receive it.
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It is a fact that the majority of people don’t want God, they only want blessings for their material prosperity. You should know that the blessings of a true Saint are only for the devotional upliftment of a devotee, and those blessings come from his heart. But you have to qualify yourself to receive his blessings and Grace.
The Bhagwatam says, “The Divine expressions of bhao in the ecstatic state of Divine love are seen in a Saint, from time to time, while talking about Radha or Krishn, or chanting, listening, and telling the virtues, names and leelas (loving playful pastimes) of Radha Krishn. Sometimes he has tears in his eyes, sometimes he smiles, sometimes he laughs, sometimes he feels separation and sometimes he feels very close to Radha Krishn, sometimes he is still, sometimes he faints, sometimes he loudly or softly says, “Radhey, Radhey” or, “Krishn, Krishn”, and sometimes he ecstatically dances. Such a Saint sanctifies the place where he lives, and glorifies the whole world.”
Such a Saint Graces the souls in many ways.
(1) By his presence. It is a common axiom that everything has radiation. A human being has three kinds of radiations (a) bodily radiation, (b) brain waves, and (c) mental quality (Sattva, raj, tam or devotional). A Saint has Divine radiation from his whole being that makes the surroundings Divinely virtuous which could be felt by any faithful and open-hearted devotee to the extent of his own devotional receptivity.
(2) Speech. There are always sanctimoniously oriented religious missions in the world that misguide the souls and corrupt the true Divine teachings by introducing their own system of faith and there are also true Divine missions that truly guide the souls to God. There is a cycle of four yugas called, satyug, tretayug, dwaparyug and kaliyug.In satyug, such worldly missions are very few and the Divine missions are in abundance. In tretayug, the number of worldly missions increase. In dwaparyug, it comes to fifty-fifty, and in kaliyug (the present age), the worldly missions grow in abundance leaving a few Divine missions. This fact has already beenexplained by Ved Vyas in the PadmPuran.
A Saint re-establishes the Divine truth of bhakti and shows the correct path to God through his speeches and writings.
(3) Instructions. When a soul understands the importance of God realization, comes to a true Saint and accepts him as his Divine guardian, the Saint explains to him the procedure of devotion and also keeps on giving him personal and devotional instructions, from time to time, for his spiritual welfare. This in all his Grace. Every instruction of a Saint follows his Grace.
(4) By accepting service. Service is done in three ways, physical, mental and monetary. Dedication and doing devotion is called mental service. Service is the direct means of receiving the Grace of your Master and, following the advice and instructions of the Master is the best service which a devotee could do.
Dedication, devotion, physically doing some service in the ashram, and monetarily serving the ashram and the Divine mission of your Master, are all forms of service. A rasik Saint does not personally need anything for himself because he is directly under the care of Radha Rani and Krishn, but he accepts the services of his devotees because they are the tokens of their love. This loving offering automatically attracts the Grace of the Master.
(5) Blessings. Blessings of a Saint are mainly of four kinds: general, occasional, personal, and special. In general, he blesses all the souls who come into his contact, by his presence and teachings. Sometimes if some soul wants some guidance in his existing style of religious practice, he explains the Divine truth to him. Sometimes someone wants to do some voluntary service or donation for his mission, which he accepts. These kinds of occasional instances of Grace are also seen.
Grace or blessing of a Saint is the same thing. It is his Gracious affectionate feeling for a soul or a devotee which is called the blessing. Generally, a Saint thinks good for all the world. But, when a person firmly and faithfully joins his heart and mind with the heart of the Saint and desires to receive the love of Radha Krishn, he then becomes a devotee. All such devotees are like children of their Spiritual father in a big spiritual family, so he personally cares for them.
According to the faith and love of a devotee for his Master, the Master also thinks of him lovingly which becomes a Divine boon for the devotee, because the loving thoughts of a Saint contain Blissful Divine power that reaches the heart of the devotee as the Divine blessings of his Master.
A Master keeps on blessing his devotees all the time, and a devotee could receive such Divine blessings while being anywhere in the world. Distance makes no difference. So, it is up to you how much you keep your Master happy by your humble love for him, and how much you receive his favor, Grace and blessings, and how much you win his confidence in your life. At the final stage of heart purification, your Divine rasik Master will specially Grace you with the Love and Vision of Radha Krishn. This final and special Grace is called ‘prem dan’ that reveals the Divine prema bhakti (blissful love), the Bliss of raasras (the nectar of the Divine Bliss) of Divine Vrindaban.”