No Surrender, No Grace - Here’s Why
Question
When God is causelessly merciful or Akaran Karun why does He bestow His grace only when a devotee fully surrenders himself unto Him? It appears that God’s grace is not unconditional.
Answer
Surrender means the complete submission of the mind (antahkaran) along with submission of the self [1].
Every jeev has a mind and the mind is the only doer of all karma. Mind is also the controller of all senses; senses cannot perform any physical action without engaging the mind. The moment the mind (the-doer) is surrendered to God it becomes akarta (non-doer). Since the senses cannot perform any karma independently, after surrender of mind no mental or physical action is possible.
It is then that God bestows His grace upon the devotee and God takes complete charge [2] of the devotee. As He says in Gita
अनन्याश्चिन्तयन्तो मां ये जना: पर्युपासते |
तेषां नित्याभियुक्तानां योगक्षेमं वहाम्यहम् || 9.22
ananyāścintayantō māṁ yē janā: paryupāsatē |
tēṣāṁ nityābhiyuktānāṁ yōgakṣēmṁ vahāmyaham || 9.22
"Without being concerned about anything else when one surrenders to Me then I grant him what he needs and protect what he already has."
God does not strike a bargain with the jeev; He does not ask the jeev to pay the price and to get His grace.
He knows that jeev in incapable of giving any meaningful (divine) gift to God. Moreover, God owns everything and for a short duration gives jeev some material things. So, even if jeev were to give some of those material things then those already belong to God.
When the jeev ceases to do anything then God bestows His grace. That divine grace means bestowing divine bliss, allowing eternal stay in divine abode, imbuing divine knowledge and freedom forever from clutches of Maya.
Attachment to Mayic objects is the source of miseries. If mind is ever so slightly attached to the mayic world, how can it be released from Maya?
God does not discriminate or look for any qualifications either. He does not look at the past offences either. The moment a jeev surrenders God bestows divine grace upon the jeev.
Is “surrender of eternally dirty mind to receive divine bliss for eternity” not causeless mercy? [3][4]
LEARN MORE
