SmartSurat  #  Hinduism

The grace of God

Another important aspect of the concept of God in devotional Hinduism is that of the grace (prasad) of God. This should not be seen quite in the Western sense as a wiping clean of the slate of sins of individuals, the overriding of all past karma, but more as a grace which provides every opportunity in manifest creation for the devotion of humankind to God. Strictly speaking, the grace of God is not so much something which can be petitioned for, as something which can be experienced at moments when the ego is lost, at moments of desirelessness - something to be celebrated and not requested. Yet, at the level of the village deities, particularly the less benign female deities, the grace of the deity is an important issue for the welfare of the village as much as for the individual, and it is perhaps at this level that there is something of a request for the grace of the deity through devotional practic.