Forms of Kripa - Ishwara Kripa

Kripa or Grace is a very significant word, that signifies a sense of compassion, a sense of blessing.

In this series - Forms of Kripa - we will examine four forms of Kripa, namely,

1. Ishwara Kripa - God's compassion and blessing
2. Atma Kripa - Compassion and blessing of oneself
3. Shastra Kripa - Shaastra's compassion and blessing
4. Guru Kripa - compassion and blessing of ones Guru.

To start with we will examine, Ishwara Kripa

There is a verse in Shri Adi Sankara's famous work, 

Vivekachudamani - The Crest Jewel of Discrimination - that runs thus:

The above verse says that Ishwara Kripa is indispensable for three blessings that are verily rare, to materialise in a Jiva's (living being's) Yatra, (journey), namely: Manushyatwam (Human Birth), Mumukshutwam (the intense yearning for liberation from a life of becoming) and Maha-Purusha-Samshraya (the association with a realised soul, a teacher of Brahmajnanam).

Ishwara Kripa is a subtle idea, which is termed Adrishtam - literally that which is beyond the ken of human senses. It requires that ones mind be sensitised through a process of cognitive change, resulting out of awareful living. Sensitivity is achieved by choosing to live a life of Dharma, or righteousness, abiding by the code of conduct set out by primary sources of knowledge belonging to any culture.

In Hindu culture, Vedas are considered to be our Upajivyapramanam - Primary Sources of Knowledge. Any person who conducts his life, abiding by the injunctions of the Vedas, is said to be an Astika. Astikyam, or the quality of being an Astika, includes an attitude of Shraddha - the knowledge that our primary sources of knowledge have validity built into them. 

We will examine the aspect of Ishwara Kripa, in the context of the following, to start with:

Manushyatwam, or human birth, and in this context, to be endowed with a sensitive intellect is indeed a rare achievement, considering the 84 Lakh species in God's creation! It is a complex configuration that results having been paid for with the currency of Punyam (a unique concept in Vedic culture), simply understood as merits gained through righteous living. Ishwara, considered to  be the Karma Phala Dhata, the bestower of the results of our actions, blesses us with an appropriate body, in this case a human body. This is the ideal vehicle or boat that needs to be used to cross Samsara - the ocean of transmigration. 

There are two verses, one in Sanskrit and the other in Tamil, oft quoted by my illustrious teacher, Swami Paramarthananda, that bear out the importance of this rare phenomenon of human birth.

The Tamil song: 

Courtesy: http://narayanmurti.com/4_38_nanndhavanathil.php
I am reproducing the contents of the above page here, with all due respect to the authors of the content, being used purely with the intention of sharing the depth of Indian culture with humanity.

Gardener

"Nandhavanathil Or Aandi Avan
Naalaaru maathamai Kuyavanai Vendi
Kondu Vandhan Oru Thondi
Adhai Koothadi Koothadi Pottudaithaandi"

Siddhar Paadalgal is a very significant philosophical part of Tamil Devotional literature. They are centuries old, and extremely popular throughout Tamilnadu.. They were sung extemporaneously by wandering minstrels, who were realised souls. They communicated the fundamental truths of our shastras in a language the common man could understand and relate to.

Superficial meaning

The superficial meaning would look funny. It means that a poor man in the garden begged for a pot for ten months from the potter. He gets it finally, but the poor man carelessly misused the pot and  broke it. But there is an esoteric angle to it, which we will look into after understanding the meaning of the individual words. 

Nandhavam - Garden, Earth
Oru - one
Aandi - Man without any possessions (a poor man, beggar)
Avan - He
Naalaaru - Naalu + Aaru - Four + Six that is ten
Maatham - Month
Kuyavan - Potter, Creator
Vendi - Beg, Ask, Pray
Kondu - Bring
Vandhan - Refers to the Aandi
Oru - One
Thondi - Pot, Container
Adhai - Pronoun referring the pot
Koothadi - Play
Pottu - Drop
Udaithaan - Broke

Meaning

The actual meaning is as follows. Nandhavam means the Earth and Aandi refers to the human. A human born on the face of the Earth garden, comes empty handed, therefore is a poor man. He comes into existence on this earth after ten months. These ten months are interpreted as the human praying to the creator (God) for a physical body, human birth, on this Earth garden. His body is being referred to here as the pot that holds his life - the Potter being God. This penance of his is wasted if he fritters away this blessing, by not valuing it and not using it for the purpose it was meant for.

The greatness of this song is that it conveys a profound message using a simple analogy. 

Thus the importance of Ishwara's Kripa, or grace in the context of Manushyatwam is clearly borne out. It is for us to understand this blessing, and seek the path to Moksha or liberation from a cycle of limitations and the resulting lack of fulfillment.

This is the subject of focus for the topic of Mumukshutwam, which will be dealt with under the topic of Atma Kripa - ones own grace that is required for the Jiva Yatra - which I propose to address in my next blog.

AhamVande

Keywords:

Vivekachudamani, Ishwara Kripa, Jiva Yatra, Manushyatwam, Mumukshutwam, Maha-Purusha-Samshraya, Brahmajnanam, Adrishtam, Dharma, Upajivyapramanam, Astika, Astikyam, Shraddha, Punyam, Karma Phala Dhata, Samsara, Siddhar Paadal, Atma Kripa

Credits: 

Shri Dakshinamurthy: Picture shot at home of a photo frame bought from Sastraprakasika, a library run by my Guru, Swami Paramarthananda in Chennai. www.yogamalika.org is the website.

Vivekachudamani verse: https://www.arshabodha.org/adiShankara/Vivekachudamani-1.pdf
Gardener: http://moziru.com/images/garden-clipart-male-gardener-7.jpg