The grace of the Guru works in different ways. In scriptures the working of grace is compared to the ways in which fish, tortoises and birds cause their eggs to hatch. The ancients believed that the mere look of the fish was sufficient to bring life to its eggs. The tortoise they believed, stayed at some distance from its eggs and by the power of its presence and by its intense concentration on them, caused its eggs to hatch. The third category, the birds, needs to have physical contact with their eggs. Sitting on them, they incubate them by the warmth of their body. In this analogy it is the fish which is the most powerful. By their mere look, their eggs hatch.
This is how Sri Bhagavan's grace worked. He did not need to initiate or transmit grace by touching devotees, nor did he even seem to need to concentrate on them. A single look was often enough to transform whomever his gaze fell upon. That silent look transmitted his highest teachings.
