Guru as the Personification of Divine Grace

Sage Vishvamitra was previously the valiant King Satyarath. Once Satyarath went to the jungle with his army on a hunting expedition. By evening, he and his army were tired, thirsty and hungry. In search of water they finally reached sage Vashishtha’s hermitage. Contrary to his expectation, they got splendid hospitality, with excellent food, water and a place to rest. The king was astounded by this and enquired about how sage Vashishtha had so much resources. 

Sage Vashishtha was the divine son of creator Brahma and was a God realized saint. He had been given the divine cow Nandini which fulfilled all his needs. When the king found out that a cow can fulfill all material needs, he was overcome by greed. He asked sage Vashishtha for the cow. The sage refused because the cow had been given to the sage to aid in his spiritual austerities, not for material pleasures. Since the king's desire was not fulfilled, his greed turned into anger. This was the beginning of the ill-will in the king against the sage. 
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The king ordered his soldiers to forcefully take away the cow. From the cow emerged valiant warriors who effortlessly defeated Satyarath's army. Satyarath felt humiliated. Hence, he decided to give up his kingdom and undergo severe penance in order to attain spiritual powers comparable to those of sage Vashishtha. His penance gave him the stature of a rajarshi.

To avenge his disgrace Vishwamitra used those spiritual powers to repeatedly attack sage Vashishtha . However, he always lost as he was never able to match up to the spiritual powers of sage Vashishtha since a jeev can never match up to a God realized saint. 

Also, despite his severe austerities, Vishwamitra could not gain control over his desires or anger. Because of this, he repeatedly used up his spiritual powers through his actions, and repeatedly tried to earn more by more severe penance and austerities. Eventually, he became dispirited due to his repeated failures and was extremely angry. Finally in a moment of extreme jealousy and hatred, having lost his wisdom and intellect, he took a decision to kill sage Vashishtha in his sleep.

So he took his axe, reached sage Vashishtha's hut and waited for the opportune moment to strike. While he was waiting to strike a blow, he overheard a conversation between sage Vashishtha and his wife Arundhati. Arundhati asked her husband who was the biggest ascetic on earth. The sage replied, "In current times, there is no greater ascetic than Vishwamitra on the entire earth. His only problem is anger, due to which he loses all the spiritual powers that he gains from his austerities. If he lets go of his anger, he can instantly become a Brahmarishi." 

Vishwamitra was utterly shocked to know that his sworn enemy whom he had attacked so many times, bore no ill feelings towards him! And the fact that sage Vashishtha was praising him behind his back was proof of no ill-will. Vishwamitra was full of remorse. Crying thus, he knocked on the door of the hut and told sage Vashishtha why he was there. He fell on the sage’s feet and asked for forgiveness. At that very moment his heart was purified. Sage Vashishtha hugged him and not only forgave him, but since at that moment Vishwamitra was completely surrendered, sage Vashishtha graced him and made him a Brahmarishi that very instant.

Moral

• Saints are beyond Maya hence are unaffected by the vices of Maya like anger, greed or revenge. Even when Vishwamitra was repeatedly attacking him, Vashishtha remained calm all along. When a jeev commits sins, saints understand the reason behind it. They are always overcome by the feeling of kindness towards jeev who is afflicted by the vices of Maya. They repeatedly forgive jeev and wait in the hope that the jeev will turn around for the better one day and become truly good. Saints can do nothing but bestow grace. ​

• Always remember - One should never act in anger. Actions done in anger always lead to a total downfall.

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• One cannot overcome Maya and its vices even through efforts equivalent to thousands of years of penance. The heart can be purified only by surrendering to a God realized saint and shedding tears of remorse. Once the heart gets purified, Guru graces the surrendered soul to overcome the ocean of Maya and bestows His divine divine grace upon him.