In English
There is no shortcut to earn God’s grace
A man once sold an old cow to the butcher, and when he went to his fields after the transaction, he was confronted by a snake. He shouted, “Oh kill the poisonous reptile.” The snake said, “I am no reptile, you deserve the name better.” When he protested, the snake said, “Go and ask the calf.” The calf gave a pathetic story of his greed and cruelty: how he dragged it away from the mother, tied it at the end of a rope, starved it of its mother’s milk, and beat it and twisted its tail to force it to draw heavy loads. The calf said that that man was an ungrateful beast. He derides other men as cows, when he is himself far worse. As a matter of fact, do not cast a bad word on person or beast; for He is in all Beings and your harsh abuse strikes the Dweller within. Follow the rules of righteousness (), which these deer describe. They are not deer, they are the representatives of the ; yes, there are four in all. The Scriptures () are the authority for the , and the activities () based on . Only when you are blessed with the grace of the Lord, which is earned by , can you have peace (). A fish can have peace only when it has water above and below and on all sides; so too, you must have God’s grace all around you. There is no shortcut to this grace, and remembrance of the Lord’s name () is the safest route. Do not believe others who prescribe shorter routes; they may talk of breath control () and yogic exercise (). Be warned; they are fraught with danger. Do not lend ear to such, or read and believe the books on physical and start practising the exercises. I know of many cases of madness and other dislocations happening by practice from the printed page. Follow the scriptural (sastraic) injunctions and you will not go wrong. They lay down a set of rules for all stages and all professions. See how the panic spread by astrologers regarding the conjunction of eight planets in space has driven men to seek refuge in the scriptures (). Yes, specifics have to be taken just when the disease catches you. You must pray more intensely when danger threatens. There is nothing wrong in that. It is better than doing some stupid thing or other.