You can’t earn it.  You can’t buy it.  You can only receive it with gratitude.  What I’m talking about is Grace.  It’s given to you freely, abundantly and lovingly by Bhagavan (God).  It’s yours to cherish while you live in the material world.  It helps free you from the cycle of karma, and it remains with you when you return to transcendental existence.[1]

So what is Grace? All religions embrace it, and I will summarize their views in a moment.  But I first want to share my initial experience of Grace.  I was 20 years-old standing on the Berkeley shoreline at sunset, and for the first time I experienced being part of God and the entirety of existence for that moment and in all time. This was not an abstract experience, and I was not taking psychedelics or any other drug.  It was a very powerful feeling of personally belonging in a loving universe in which God, the natural world, other humans, other animals including me were playing.  I realized this way of being was what I had been looking for a very long time, over many human lifetimes.  I understand now this experience is Grace.  It’s warm and cozy and loving and it explains who you are, and what you are part of. 

And then I forgot.  I didn’t forget immediately and not entirely, but that experience gradually receded from my day-to-day life.  It took a very long time to recover Grace, and to understand the treasure that I had been given. During that more than 40-year long journey I now understand that I was searching to find Grace even though I didn’t know that was what I was looking for it, and therefore I took a very long and winding road to rediscover it. 

I began the search by studying Christianity, but that didn’t feel like my path.  I looked into other religions as well, but they weren’t my way either.  The quest took me to an ashram in Bali where I learned Vedic mantras, and saying those prayers over many decades really did help. It also helped to study Gandhi.  My growing love with Felicity pushed me further on the rediscovery process, and when I looked into my newborn sons eyes I began to understand as well.  I learned from friends, family, colleagues and even strangers. I learned it from doing service for others. But what really revved up my journey was finding a teacher, Jeffrey Armstrong, who finally explained what those mantras I had been reciting for so many years really meant.  He gave me the vocabulary and context to understand my experience that day 46 years ago on the Berkeley shoreline: We are divine beings living in a world that is loving, cozy and fully connected in place and time.

Understanding the philosophy of the Vedas was huge step forward, but to actually return to living the Grace I had once found, I needed another teacher.  I found him in Coimbotore, India.  His name is Baba and he showed me how to taste Bhagavan (God) again, and once I found that taste I’ve never forgotten it. Once you know the taste of chocolate, you don’t forget it, right?

Oh, from time-to-time, I do forget, but thanks to Jeffrey and Baba, I have the philosophical and tantric tools to get back in the groove, and stay in Grace…for which I am eternally grateful.

Here’s how three religions describe Grace

“Therefore, O Arjuna, wholeheartedly take shelter in the divine refuge of My Being, receive the loving gift of blissful existence, and soon you will attain to My immortal realm.”

Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 18 Verse 62

In Vedic philosophy, of which I am a very imperfect student, Grace, the eternal and unconditional loving gift of blissful experience, is yours simply by embracing Bhagavan (God). Christianity has a very similar view that Grace is the love given to us by God because God wants us to have it, not necessarily because of anything we have done to earn it.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

Ephesians, Chapter 2 Verses 8-9

And Grace is a key element of Islam:

“God is the Possessor of Infinite Grace” and “He bestows this grace upon whomsoever He wills (or desires).

Quran, Chapter 62 Verse 4 and Chapter 57 Verse 29

Is it really this simple?

• How can there be Grace in a world of suffering, pain and death?
• What if I don’t deserve Grace?
• How can I get some of that Grace?

Some context may help.

[1] According to the Vedas, (the ancient library of knowledge from which Hindu and other religions derive) who we are really is an atma or soul who is an eternal, conscious, and joyous individual being.  We decided to visit the material world (earth, et al) to gain experience.  While here, we cycle through various lives and deaths as humans and other animals.  This is known as reincarnation.  In other words we are eternal, conscious and divine atmas (souls) who go through many lives and deaths.  Think of Bill Murray in the film, Groundhog Day. While in the material world, we are subject to the laws of karma which are the actions and reactions caused by the exercise of our free will. When we are finished with what we have come to learn and experience here in the material world, and are free of karma, then we, as atmas, return to the transcendental world from which we came.  Note: Credit to my teacher Jeffrey Armstrong for this information.  Any screw-ups are mine alone.

And if you really want to go deep:

For anyone interested in a new and inspired translation of the Bhagavad Gita, go to GitaComesAlive.com