There are two powers that alone can effect in their conjunction the great and difficult thing which is the aim of our endeavour, a fixed and unfailing aspiration that calls from below and a supreme Grace from above that answers.
But the supreme Grace will act only in the conditions of the Light and the Truth; it will not act in conditions laid upon it by the Falsehood and the Ignorance. For if it were to yield to the demands of the Falsehood, it would defeat its own purpose.
Sri Aurobindo – The Mother with Letters on the Mother: CWSA, Vol. 32, p. 3
The Grace is something that pushes you towards the goal to be attained. Do not try to judge it by your mind, you will not get anywhere, because it is something formidable which is not explained through human words or feelings. When the Grace acts, the result may or may not be pleasant―it takes no account of any human value, it may even be a catastrophe from the ordinary and superficial point of view. But it is always the best for the individual. It is a blow that the Divine sends so that progress may be made by leaps and bounds. The Grace is that which makes you march swiftly towards the realisation.
The Mother – Words of the Mother – II: CWM, Vol. 14, p. 97
It is not indispensable that the Grace should work in a way that the human mind can understand, it generally doesn’t: it works in its own “mysterious” way. At first usually it works behind the veil, preparing things, not manifesting. Afterwards it may manifest, but the sadhak does not understand very well what is happening. Finally, when he is capable of it, he both feels and understands or at least begins to do so. Some feel and understand from the first or very early; but that is not the ordinary case.
Sri Aurobindo – Letters on Yoga – II: CWSA, Vol. 29, p. 171
Who is worthy or unworthy in front of the Divine Grace?
All are children of the one and the same Mother.
Her love is equally spread over all of them.
But to each one She gives according to his nature and receptivity.
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The Grace is equally for all. But each one receives it according to his sincerity. It does not depend on outward circumstances but on a sincere aspiration and openness.
The Mother – Words of the Mother – II: CWM, Vol. 14, p. 85
…. There is yet another aspect to the divine grace, the aspect of progress that will be victorious over all obstacles, the aspect that will propel humanity into a new realization, open the doors unto a new world, enable not only a select few to benefit from the divine realization, but through their influence, their example and their power, bring a new and better condition to the rest of humanity.
The Mother – Agenda: Vol. 1, p. 168
In an outburst of heavenly joy and ease
Life yields to the divinity within
And gives the rapture-offering of its all,
And the soul opens to felicity.
A bliss is felt that never can wholly cease,
A sudden mystery of secret Grace
Flowers goldening our earth of red desire.
Sri Aurobindo – Savitri: CWSA, Vol. 33 , Book Two, p. 278
All depends on what you want. If you want Yoga, take all that happens as the expression of the Divine Grace leading you towards your goal, and try to understand the lesson that circumstances give.
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For those who have given themselves to the Divine each difficulty that confronts them is the assurance of a new progress and thus must be taken as a gift from the Grace.
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When difficulties besiege you, know that the Divine Grace is with you.
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People believe that the Grace means making everything smooth for all your life. It is not true. The Grace works for the realisation of your aspiration and everything is arranged to gain the most prompt, the quickest realisation.
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Of one thing we must be convinced―all that happens is exactly what must happen in order to lead us and the world as quickly as possible to the goal―the union with the Divine and ultimately the manifestation of the Divine.
And this faith―sincere and constant―is at once our help and protection.
The Mother – Words of the Mother – II: CWM, Vol. 14, pp. 96-97
It is only by remaining perfectly peaceful and calm with an unshakable confidence and faith in the Divine Grace that you will allow circumstances to be as good as they can be. The very best happens always to those who have put their entire trust in the Divine and in the Divine alone.
The Mother – Words of the Mother – II: CWM, Vol. 14, p. 94
… the only thing which is really effective is to will what the Divine wills, and to keep an unshakable confidence in the supreme compassion of the Divine Grace, for through that it is always the best that happens; not the best according to human ideas but the best according to the supreme Truth.
Be calm and full of a solid and pure faith.
The Mother – Words of the Mother – II: CWM, Vol. 14, p. 95
The Divine Grace alone has the power to intervene and change the course of Universal Justice. The great work of the Avatar is to manifest the Divine Grace upon earth. To be a disciple of the Avatar is to become an instrument of the Divine Grace. The Mother is the great dispensatrix―through identity―of the Divine Grace, with a perfect knowledge―through identity―of the absolute mechanism of Universal Justice.
And through her mediation each movement of sincere and confident aspiration towards the Divine calls down in response the intervention of the Grace.
Who can stand before Thee, Lord, and say in all sincerity, “I have never made a mistake”? How many times in a day we commit faults against Thy work, and always Thy Grace comes to efface them!
Without the intervention of Thy Grace, who would not often times have come under the merciless blade of the Law of Universal Justice?
Each one here represents an impossibility to be solved, but as for Thy Divine Grace all is possible. Thy Work will be, in the detail as in the whole, the accomplishment of all these impossibilities transformed into divine realisations.
The Mother – Words of the Mother – II: CWM, Vol. 14, pp. 83 – 84
The Grace is equally for all. But each one receives it according to his sincerity. It does not depend on outward circumstances but on a sincere aspiration and openness.
The Mother – Words of the Mother – II: CWM, Vol. 14, p. 85
Without the Grace of the Divine nothing can be done, but for the full Grace to manifest the sadhak must make himself ready. If everything depends on the Divine intervention, then man is only a puppet and there is no use of sadhana, and there are no conditions, no law of things—therefore no universe, but only the Divine rolling things about at his pleasure. No doubt in the last resort all can be said to be the Divine cosmic working, but it is through persons, through forces that it works—under the conditions of Nature. Special intervention there can be and is, but all cannot be special intervention.
Sri Aurobindo – Letters on Yoga – II: CWSA, Vol. 29, p. 171
…. Grace may sometimes bring undeserved or apparently undeserved fruits, but one can’t demand Grace as a right and privilege—for then it would not be Grace. As you have seen one can’t claim that one has only to shout and the answer must come. Besides I have always seen that there has been really a long unobserved preparation before the Grace intervenes and, also, after it has intervened one has still to put in a good deal of work to keep and develop what one has got—as it is in all other things—until there is the complete siddhi….
Sri Aurobindo – Letters on Yoga – II: CWSA, Vol. 29, p. 173
Face all these things [inner disturbances] quietly and firmly with perseverance in the endeavour of the sadhana. Trust firmly in the Divine Grace and the Divine Grace will not fail you.
Sri Aurobindo – Letters on Yoga – II: CWSA, Vol. 29, p. 174
The best possible way [to “repay” the Divine Grace] is to allow the Divine Grace to work in you, never to oppose it, never to be ungrateful and turn against it—but to follow it always to the goal of Light and Peace and unity and Ananda.
Sri Aurobindo – Letters on Yoga – II: CWSA, Vol. 29, p. 174
The Grace is always there ready to act but you must let it work and not resist its action. The one condition required is faith. When you feel attacked, call for help to Sri Aurobindo and myself. If your call is sincere (that is to say, if you sincerely want to be cured) your call will be answered and the Grace will cure you.
The Mother – Words of the Mother – II: CWM, Vol. 14, p. 87
Sweet Mother,
In the Darshan message of November 24th, Sri Aurobindo speaks of the influence of the Divine Compassion and the Divine Grace. But what is the difference between the two?
The compassion seeks to relieve the suffering of all, whether they deserve it or not.
The Grace does not recognise the right of suffering to exist and abolishes it.
The Mother – Some Answers from the Mother: CWM, Vol. 16, p. 345
But, Mother, when one prays sincerely for the intervention of the Grace, doesn’t one expect a particular result?
…that depends on the tenor of the prayer. If one simply invokes the Grace or the Divine, and puts oneself in His hands, one does not expect a particular result. To expect a particular result one must formulate one’s prayer, must ask for something. If you have only a great aspiration for the divine Grace and evoke it, implore it, without asking it for anything precise, it is the Grace which will choose what it will do for you, not you.
That is better, isn’t it?
Ah! that’s quite another question.
Why, it is higher in its quality, perhaps. But still, if one wants something precise, it is better to formulate it. If one has a special reason for invoking the Grace, it is better to formulate it precisely and clearly.
All depends on what you want. If you want Yoga, take all that happens as the expression of the Divine Grace leading you towards your goal, and try to
Of course, if one is in a state of complete surrender and gives oneself entirely, if one simply offers oneself to the Grace and lets it do what it likes, that is very good. But after that one must not question what it does! One must not say to it, “Oh! I did that with the idea of having this”, for if one really has the idea of obtaining something, it is better to formulate it in all sincerity, simply, just as one sees it. Afterwards, it is for the Grace to choose if it will do it or not; but in any case, one will have formulated clearly what one wanted. And there is no harm in that.
The Mother – Questions and Answers: CWM, Vol. 8, p. 254
