by Janaki Johnson,
Contributing Author, Conscious Reminder
The descent of Grace is the most magical, mystical, mysterious, and marvelous thing that ever happens to a human being.
What is this power, and who controls it? Why do we want this to happen to us? What does this mean for our lives and deaths? How wonderful is the descent of Grace? It is the greatest experience you will ever have.
The descent of Grace is one of God’s five powers through which the veil of his essential nature is lifted. God may bestow Grace on anyone at any time. The descent of Grace awakens one’s spiritual energy and begins the process of spiritual maturity.
The descent of Grace is traditionally facilitated through the Guru, or spiritual director. The Guru is one who has “acquired mastery over the divine powers inherent in the letters of the alphabet (Muktananda, Introduction to Kashmir Shaivism, 1975, p. 50).”
In the Sanskrit language, the syllable “GU” means darkness, and the syllable “RU” means light. So the Guru is one who awakens an individual from the darkness of ignorance and guides him or her to the light of the Self (God). Without this Grace, we would never be able to know God.
The Guru commonly uses a mantra, a spiritually charged group of sounds, to awaken the spiritual energy within a seeker. Just as the power or energy inherent in sound is significant to involution (the projection of a human into being), it is equally significant to evolution (returning back inside to Source), to the process of Self- realization. Divine Grace can use phonemes to grant us communion with God.
The state of God is supreme silence and bliss. Thoughts, such as “I am not good enough,” “I am unhappy,” or “I am alone,” are projections of phonic energy and do not exist at this state of being.
These limiting thoughts become conditioned and strengthened in an individual through repetition over years and lifetimes and prevent one from easily experiencing Self-consciousness.
After Grace awakens an individual to the awareness of Self-consciousness, its subtle vibration continues to churn inside a person’s awareness, eradicating conditioned thoughts so that the awareness of God may be sustained.
Eventually, an individual’s consciousness rests in the Self, in supreme silence and bliss, and is united with God, never to be exiled or projected into manifestation again. All the thoughts, all the projections, were only the play of God to begin with, and only God has been awakened, purified, and returned to Himself.
Since Grace is always flowing, the receptivity of the individual and his or her willingness to gain intellectual knowledge or the right understanding will determine his or her final level of Self-realization for this lifetime. Either the “individual realizes his unity or identity with the universe and transcends all differences (Muktananda, 1975, p. 51)” or he doesn’t.
Once awakened, a person’s small self-consciousness is eventually assimilated by his greater Self-consciousness. He sees the world as it really is—a reflection of the Self, of God. He becomes Self-absorbed.
The seeker may now extract and experience the essence of every manifest thing he is aware of, which is bliss. Because he is approaching the source of all light, the primal level of expression, he will enter a state of beatitude at the same time.
To help himself retain the inner quiet and the bliss he has uncovered, he develops an attitude of gentle worship and humility. It is the state of beatitude that he worships, because this is his own true Self, his initial expression.
He becomes quiet, full, and content within his own being and gives up the illusion of becoming anything other than the Self, for in reality, there is nothing greater. He remains eternally conscious and full of bliss even after leaving his body, and he does not get projected into the reflection again.
The urge to go inside and re-discover our primal “I” is hard-wired into us. By taking part in the evolution process, our lives are filled with Grace. Grace permeates our lives and helps us to make the transition from sound to silence, from thoughts to stillness, and from manifested being to unmanifested being.
We don’t have to give up anything except our limited concepts. We gain eternal consciousness and bliss. As we venture to return to the Source of our expression, we begin to realize our unity with the universe, and we discover there is nothing to fear.
Claim your birthright. Ask for Grace and return to the Source now.
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