Grace of God

[Gummuluru Murthy]

On Thu, 8 Jan 1998, Miguel Angel Carrasco wrote:

> In this line of debate, two elements have come up: Personal God and God's
> Grace.
>
> [...]

> About God^Òs Grace. That^Òs something I^Òve never understood. That sounds to
> me terribly dualistic. I don^Ò t mean that it is so, don't feel offended.
> Nothing I say should be so
> [...]

> This morning I was walking on the street. I thought: I see many people
> around, most of them I don^Òt know. Some appear and then disappear to let
> others appear instead. There is only one there who I know all
> the time, Miguel Angel. My God, what I would give to lose sight of him for
> ever! Why am I to put up with this bore, to carry this heavy load so long?
> If I am not him, why this constant nightmare, this stupid person appearing
> in my consciousness again and again? How  to get rid of him for good? Where
> to hide and become invisible to him? Knowing that he is nothing, just a
> ghost, and I the only Reality doesn^Òt help, he keeps calling uninvited.
> Anyone knows the way to dodge him for ever short of killing him?
>
> Ready to pay a handsome reward.
>

The solution is simple. Please recognize that what is following you is
just a corpse, an inert thing. That body of you will follow you until
it completes its (and the subtle body's) karma. Then, it would fall off
of its own accord. You should not be effected by what follows you. You
are sat-chit-ananda, completely uneffected and oblivious of what is
following you or what is being seen by that subtle and gross body
combination. Recognize That and enjoy the bliss.

As for the grace of God, and the implicit duality, I agree that there
is duality in that concept. However, I think it is a required and
sequential step as that concept is required for the annihilation of
the ego of the human. Once the ego has been destroyed, and the
surrender to the Saguna Brahman is complete and without reservation,
the non-duality and identity with nirguna Brahman arises as the last
step in the jeeva's "journey" in overcoming the mAya.


Regards
Gummuluru Murthy
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... aham bhAvodayAbhAvo bodhasya paramAvadhih ...
                        Shri Shankara in Viveka ChuDAmaNi (verse 424)

The end of the rise of the sense of "I" of the ego is the culmination
of knowledge.
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