Sudhir (Dada) Mukherjee - By His Grace (Stories about Neem Karoli Baba) (149p).pdf

Title: By His Grace - A Devotee's Story
Author: Sudhir "Dada" Mukerjee
isbn: 978-0962887871

By His Grace, is a true story based on the belief that advanced souls, actual Divine Beings, come into our lives, unbeknownst to us at first, to help us advance spiritually. "We are not following the guru; the guru actually is following us. I say this because I have found it in my own life, my own personal experience, and I have seen it in the case of others, too. Babaji came to me himself, unsought, unknown."

So begins the story of Dada Mukerjee, economics professor at respected Allahabad University and responsible family man, as he describes his struggle to come to terms with his faith when a wandering sadhu, a barefoot holy man dressed in a plaid blanket, walks into his life. Read Dada's honest and sensitive sharing of both, his transformation from a skeptical professor to a close devotee, and the Divine Being who inspired such devotion, Neem Karoli Baba.

How do you describe Neem Karoli Baba? It is said his very name was associated with miracles and mystery. He was often seen in more than one place at one time. He existed only to serve others. He helped alleviate the suffering of so very many people... and reportedly still does, though he left his body in 1973. He had the power to open people's hearts. He was kindness itself. Dada wrote, "His great power, the miracles and such, no doubt were there, but the very soft, delicate, sweet and innocent impressions left by him provided a perennial source of joy- the human aspect."

The pages of the book, filled with rare photographs printed on smooth paper, satiny and cool to the touch, are as easy to keep turning, as are the stories easy to keep reading. Lovingly edited, with a glossary of Hindu terms, you find yourself effortlessly drawn into life with Dada, his fellow devotees, and Neem Karoli Baba himself.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book. We know there are many valid paths to God, and By His Grace is a first class story about the path of love and devotion to the Divine, devotion to Guru, and conversion of the human heart. Here I got questions answered about how to tell whether a being is actually worthy of your devotion, and whether someone actually is your guru, both crucial to your spiritual path. This is an interactive book, too, because it will make you question your faith, and then help you build it, too. "When Maharajji had drawn anyone to him, he cared for and protected that person. He would provide whatever was needed."

Two more books I highly recommend about Neem Karoli Baba, are Miracle of Love, compiled by Ram Dass, and The Near and The Dear, also by Dada Mukerjee. Miracle of Love, I read almost twenty years ago and the deep faith I found within those stories has sustained and comforted me ever since.
I hope you will read one of these books, and that you will find within them much spiritual fulfillment, comfort and guidance. Peace.