Grace, explained by Swami Lakshmanjoo

Excerpt from the 10th chapter of Kashmir Shaivism: The Secret Supreme, audio study set, revealed by Swami Lakshmanjoo.

(scroll down for consecutive audios, while reading along with the transcript)

JOHN: This is the seventh lecture to be given by Swami Lakshmanjoo on December 22nd, at his ashram in Srinagar, Kashmir, 2:30 pm.
SWAMIJI: It is going on now?
JOHN: Yes.
SWAMIJI: Today I want to explain to you five great acts of Lord Shiva.
JOHN: The five great acts.
SWAMIJI: These five great acts are called: srishti, creative act – srishti, first; protective act – sthiti; destructive act [– samhara]; act of enfolding his nature . . .
JOHN: Concealment you mean?
SWAMIJI: Enfolding.
JOHN: Enfolding.
SWAMIJI: . . . and act of unfolding his nature, the fifth one [anugraha]. Do you understand?
JOHN: So enfolding of nature means to conceal his nature.
SWAMIJI: Conceal his nature.
JOHN: And unfolding means his grace, anugraha, to unfold himself.
SWAMIJI: Although these are functioned by individual soul also . . .
JOHN: Each act?
SWAMIJI: Each act.
. . . but this act is not called act, it is called action because this kind of act is dependent to the will of God, not to the will of individual being. Individual being does not act according to his will. He cannot. So he is dependent to the will of God, Lord Shiva. So this kind of act is called action, not act.
JOHN: In other words it is just a reaction in a sense.
SWAMIJI: A reaction?
JOHN: He doesn’t, the individual soul doesn’t . . .
SWAMIJI: . . . he acts but dependently.
JOHN: He depends on God. God acts thru him and he acts.
SWAMIJI: Yes.
JOHN: As a chain, in one of the members of a chain. And this means that a man really has no freedom of action?
SWAMIJI: No.
JOHN: Like the Gita says that there is no freedom.
SWAMIJI: No freedom.
JOHN: That everything is of the three gunas.
SWAMIJI: Yes. But on the contrary, when this is functioned by Lord Shiva there is no kind of dependence.
JOHN: He is free in functioning.
SWAMIJI: He is free in functioning. So this kind of action is called act. So there is difference between action and act. Action is attributed to individual soul and act is attributed to Lord Shiva.
JOHN: Only Lord Shiva. Only Lord Shiva acts.
SWAMIJI: Yes. Only Lord Shiva.
JOHN: What if . . . but then if man has no freedom, if all action is from Lord Shiva then he is responsible for his actions?
SWAMIJI: He is responsible for his actions. There is ego also.
JOHN: There is.
SWAMIJI: There is ego. Ego. He feels that he is acting himself.
JOHN: He feels, so that is the responsibility, when you feel you are acting yourself then you are responsible for your actions. If you feel that Lord Shiva is acting through you then you are not responsible.
But then you could do no wrong.
SWAMIJI: Then you can do no wrong.
JOHN: There is no right and wrong on that level then.

(scroll down for consecutive audios, while reading along with the transcript)

SWAMIJI: And I have to explain to you now how Lord Shiva creates masters and disciples in the kingdom of spirituality. But this creation is functioned by his fifth act, anugraha. Fifth act anugraha. And that anugraha is nine fold. It takes place in nine ways.
First is tivrativra; tivrativra shaktipata means super supreme anugraha, super supreme grace.
JOHN: The highest grace.
SWAMIJI: Yes. When super supreme grace is functioned the one becomes perfectly self-recognized. He recognizes his real nature completely, in perfect sense. And at the same time this kind of grace cannot be resisted by his body. So he throws away his body also and he is dead. This person becomes master but he functions the act of his mastery secretly in deserved hearts of disciples. He is not visible in this world.
JOHN: He is dead. But now, for one to become supremely self-recognized, perfectly self recognized and the body falls away isn’t he in a sense no more? I mean he has . . . his mortal coil . . .
SWAMIJI: He exists in this world.
JOHN: He still exists in this world?
SWAMIJI: He exists in this world to uplift mankind secretly.
JOHN: In such a way as the Bodhisattva.
SWAMIJI: Yes.
JOHN: So he is not completely merged with Shiva so that he loses all personal identity. He still has some . . .
SWAMIJI: Not exactly, quite that.
JOHN: He has some, still some personal identity.
SWAMIJI: But that personal identity that cannot be perceived by ordinary people. Only those who deserve, they experience his existence.
JOHN: He would be in sense almost a god or something.
SWAMIJI: Subtle body.
JOHN: A subtle body.
SWAMIJI: He has got some subtle body.
JOHN: He would be almost a deva.
SWAMIJI: He moves just like a deva.
JOHN: Just like devata. Is he always in that condition or? In other words . . .
SWAMIJI: It is his will.
JOHN: It is his will.
SWAMIJI: If he is satisfied with his work he will be no more. He becomes merged in Lord Shiva. And that takes place according to his will.
JOHN: So he can stay or go as he wishes?
SWAMIJI: Yes.
SWAMIJI: I see now, because I was wondering whether there wasn’t some imperfection there, if he was forced to stay in the subtle body.
SWAMIJI: There is no imperfection.
JOHN: He is not forced though, he has free svatantrya, freedom to be, or to stay or go.
SWAMIJI: So this master is supreme master.

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And there is another kind of grace, tivramadhyashaktipata, supreme medium shaktipata.
JOHN: Grace.
SWAMIJI: Yes. That was super supreme. It is super medium.
JOHN: Super medium grace, madhyama.
SWAMIJI: Supreme madhyama. By this kind of grace of Lord Shiva one becomes perfectly illuminated. Though he does not leave his body, he is said to be pratibha guru, master who is made not by master but by his self, by his own grace. This is the meaning of pratibha guru.
JOHN: By his self in the larger sense, by the self which is Shiva.
SWAMIJI: Shiva. These kinds of masters live in this world with physical body for the uplift of mankind. These masters are not initiated at all by other gurus.
JOHN: Initiated in a sense of diksha?
SWAMIJI: Diksha, as they are self-initiated.
JOHN: So this is a spontaneous enlightenment.
SWAMIJI: Yes.
JOHN: It does not necessarily even require any preparation beforehand.
SWAMIJI: Nothing.
JOHN: One could be walking down the path and then be there.
SWAMIJI: Because it has come direct from Lord Shiva, this grace is traveling from Lord Shiva to individual being.
JOHN: Does Shaivism speak of deserving? In other words the man would have to deserve this grace to receive this grace or?
SWAMIJI: There is no question of deserving. Grace can shine on anybody.
JOHN: Shine on anybody. Then to the question of why is there suffering or why do some people receives grace and other people don’t receive grace? Why doesn’t Lord Shiva give his grace to everyone.
SWAMIJI: But they don’t want.
JOHN: They don’t want?
SWAMIJI: Actually they don’t want because they want to suffer.
JOHN: They want to suffer?
SWAMIJI: They want to suffer.
JOHN: By their own tendencies?
SWAMIJI: By their own tendencies, wrong tendencies.
JOHN: So a man has to at least have turned himself to want?
SWAMIJI: But that turning is also dependent to Lord Shiva.
JOHN: So we could say then that man suffers because of Lord Shiva’s will . . .
SWAMIJI: Suffers because of Lord Shiva’s will.
JOHN: . . . and he wants to suffer because of Lord Shiva’s will. Doesn’t that present any difficulty though?
SWAMIJI: There is no argument, because if he argues then he does not want to suffer. If he does not argue at all, he suffers, he suffers, suffers, suffers, in continuity. At the time when he argues that he is suffering, he wants to come out, Lord Shiva’s grace shines on him . . .
JOHN: . . . and brings him out.
SWAMIJI: . . . and brings him out.
JOHN: But then, for example in Christianity the question is often raised, why didn’t the Christian God, if he is all powerful, created such a world that no one would suffer? Isn’t he an evil or a God that has not the best interest for man in heart?
SWAMIJI: But suffering and not suffering is only play of God, Lord Shiva.
JOHN: Both?
SWAMIJI: Because if you suffer and at the same time if you enjoy, there is no question of suffering. If you suffer at particular time and at that very moment you are enjoying in other side, there is no question of suffering. So there is no question of rise. It is play of Lord Shiva.
JOHN: Just a play of Lord Shiva.
SWAMIJI: Suffering, not suffering, pleasure, pain, sorrow, happiness it is all his will.
JOHN: Are all these emotion real? Are they real things like . . .
SWAMIJI: It is a play. There is no question of reality and unreality.
JOHN: Because the essential nature of Lord Shiva’s is ananda, one of the powers of Lord Shiva, ananda.
SWAMIJI: This is outcome of ananda.
JOHN: Outcome of ananda?
SWAMIJI: Ananda is suffering and not suffering.
JOHN: Suffering also?
SWAMIJI: Yes.
JOHN: Then out of bliss can come . . .
SWAMIJI: Yes, when you are overwhelmed with bliss you want to ignore bliss, that is ananda, you want to leave that bliss.
JOHN: So leaving bliss is suffering.
SWAMIJI: Suffering. And that leaving is also with your own will.
JOHN: With our own will. So then evil could be said to be the lack of good, or the lack of bliss.
SWAMIJI: Absolutely.
JOHN: It is not a real thing in itself. It is just a lack of that another thing.
SWAMIJI: Lack of other thing.

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JOHN: We were talking about the self-initiated.
SWAMIJI: Self-initiated is pratibha guru. This kind of master is created by his . . .
JOHN: . . . own self.
SWAMIJI: . . . fifth act of second type . . .
JOHN: Second type of grace.
SWAMIJI: . . . second type of grace. Now third type of grace. This grace is called super inferior supreme grace;
JOHN: And the Sanskrit for it is?
SWAMIJI: Yes.
JOHN: What’s it, Sir?
SWAMIJI: Tivramandashaktipata.
JOHN: Tivra . . . this is an inferior.
SWAMIJI: Inferior supreme grace. This kind of master is called Rudra shakti-samavishtah, and has completely entered in the trance of Shiva-shakti, Rudra-shakti, energy of Shiva. He has entered completely in energy of Shiva.
JOHN: It is called what now?
SWAMIJI: And his signs are five, to be observed by people. First sign is intense love for Lord Shiva. Second sign is whenever he recites any mantra the devata of mantra appears to him at once. It does not take him long to recites mantras and with no fruit. No, he gets fruit at once. This is called mantrasiddhih.
Third power, third sign, is in him observed by people, that he has got control on elements, five elements. For instance if he has headache, he can remove headache. If he is hungry and there is no food to eat he can conceal that hunger. If he wants to take food and he has no hunger, he can create hunger. So this kind of power in elements he achieves. This is third sign.
Fourth sign is whatever work he begins that becomes complete without any defect. Absolutely, all his actions are defect-less.
And forth great sign in him is . . .
JOHN: Fifth sign.
SWAMIJI: Fifth great sign in him is that he masters on all shastras.
JOHN: All sciences.
SWAMIJI: All science. All sciences he masters and there is no difficulty in understanding any school of thought. And at the same time if his mastery on . . . if he does not master completely but still he becomes great poet. Either he becomes a great poet or he masters all shastras. This is the fifth sign in him.

Now third one, third grace, third grace is . . .
JOHN: Tivramanda . . .
SWAMIJI: Tivramanda shaktipata. Tivramanda shaktipata is third one.
JOHN: Yes.
SWAMIJI: You should put that there.
JOHN: When I rewrite these, yes, I will.
SWAMIJI: Tivramanda shaktipata is third grace of Lord Shiva and by this kind of grace in one’s mind desire shines for going at the feet of master. He goes at the feet of master, and that master also he gets the master of second type, second type grace. Graced with second type of shaktipata. And the master he achieves is all-perfect, all-knowing, and there is no difference between Shiva and this kind of master. This kind of master does not initiate him. He puts his divine hand on his head that is all, or he gazes with grace on him that is all, or he embraces him that is all. And he becomes perfectly, he transcends that individuality and enters in that supreme transcendental meditation without doing japa or meditation or dhyana or such thing.
JOHN: He becomes enlightened . . .
SWAMIJI: Enlightened.
JOHN: . . . at that very moment.
SWAMIJI: Yes, by his mere touch, mere look. Although he has got pain and pleasure in his physical body but that pain and pleasure does not affect him as his Being is supreme, his Being has become supreme. So these three kinds of graces . . . so by these three kinds of graces of Lord Shiva masters are created in the kingdom of spirituality.
Now there are other graces also and by those graces of Lord Shiva worthy disciples are created.
[to be continued here…]

(source: Kashmir Shaivism: The Secret Supreme, audio study set, revealed by Swami Lakshmanjoo)