Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: The Way of Grace

Through the grace of the Master you can reach all your goals … both worldly and divine.

Only once in uncountable seasons does the Divine shine forth fully in one human being as in Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. In him, the healing balms of love, wisdom and enlightenment are as free and abundant as nature’s fresh air and sun.

In his presence the fragrance of grace is all-pervasive. No one is ever left out. Even with so many people around him, his all-seeing awareness attends to every single person. At any time, whatever is needed, whoever needs help, his attention goes there naturally. He is keenly alert to who is happy and who is having difficulties, who has meditated and who has not, who is present on a course and who is missing from a group (even with hundreds of people), who is sleeping and who is up talking, which plants have been watered and precisely which plants are thirsty.

This may seem unbelievable to the reader, who may be skeptical at first. But when you spend even a short time around the Master, you see for yourself and you become amazed. Fully awake with pure consciousness, he takes compassionate care of everyone and everything.

The Master has bestowed upon us a wealth of wisdom and consciousness-elevating practices for every spiritual aspirant: meditation, breathing, yoga asanas, study of scriptures, singing and dancing, service to others, and more. Every aspect of his teaching is profoundly rich and so thoroughly soaked in grace.

Grace alone transforms. Spiritual practices merely give an excuse to access the grace that is already present. Spiritual techniques are like using a spoon to eat soup; you must know the correct way to hold a spoon (right-side-up!) or the soup won’t come from cup to mouth. Knowledge of proper technique is vital, but first the cup itself must be full. In the Master’s presence one discovers that life’s cup overflows on all sides with grace; through his teaching one learns how to drink.

Connection with the Master is the way that is old and new — the way home to yourself. This ultimate quest involves no travel to any remote place. It is life’s inner journey from head to heart, from shallow concepts and beliefs to full truth and love.

These are not just pretty words. With the grace of the Master they are a living, breathing reality. — David Lucas Burge