What should I do to get the grace of God?

[Reply to Dr. Sheshadri Thiruvenkadam (Balaji).] Your question contains the answer. You have to do something practically to get the grace of God, which is the divine fruit. Fruit is always related to action (karma) or doing. Knowledge is related to intelligence and words. Devotion is related to mind and words. Mind (including intelligence) is one instrument (karana). Words are another instrument. Jnana Yoga (knowledge), Bhakti Yoga (devotion) and Karma Yoga (service or work) are the three instruments used in the spiritual effort. The word Yoga gives the spiritual sense. These three without the word Yoga can be the worldly instruments also. To know the details of Mumbai is Jnana. To have intensive desire to visit Mumbai is Bhakti. To take up the actual journey practically is Karma. Rukmini heard the details of Krishna from Narada and this is Jnana Yoga. Rukmini developed intensive desire to marry Krishna and this is Bhakti Yoga. Rukmini married Krishna not to become the queen but to press the divine feet of Krishna and this is Karma Yoga. The fruit of this service is that Rukmini (Lakshmi) was blessed by the Lord to become the diety of the Universal wealth. A poet comes to know the interest of the king in the literature and this is Jnana. The poet becomes intensively interested to meet the king and this is Bhakti. The poet meets the king and praises the king through a poem. The construction and recitation of the poem is Karma. The fruit of this Karma is to get a petty golden chain.

You must differentiate the two different fields of creation and creator by the word Yoga. In the above examples, you can note that Jnana leads to Bhakti and Bhakti leads to Karma. The fruit is directly related to Karma only and is indirectly related to Jnana and Bhakti because without the later two, the former cannot be generated. Knowledge is like water and Bhakti is like fertilizer. Karma is like the tree giving the fruit. Even a tank of water or a bag of fertilizer cannot generate the fruit directly. But without the water and fertilizer, even the seed cannot give the first sprout, not to speak of the sprout becoming tree! Hence, all the three are equally important and are sequential. Shankara, the preacher of Knowledge came first. Ramanuja, the preacher of devotion came next. Lastly Madhva, the preacher of service (work) came. Jnana and Bhakti are theoretical and can be achieved in plenty. But Karma is practical and cannot be done beyond certain limits of your capacity. Therefore, both interest (Bhakti) and capacity (Shakti) decide the progress of your spiritual efforts. You may have lot of Bhakti, but you cannot do anything beyond your capacity like the squirrel dropping sand particles in the sea for the construction of bridge for the sake of the Lord. If your Bhakti is lesser than your Shakti, spiritual knowledge, which is the generator of Bhakti, can be improved. Hence, you must concentrate on all the three aspects (Jnana, Bhakti and Karma). You need not worry about Shakti because it is always sealed beyond certain limits. The Lord showed highest grace on the squirrel for its immense Bhakti associated with the little Shakti that is transformed into proportional Karma. The Karma cannot cross the limits of Shakti but should not be lesser than the limits also.