Nature of Grace

[Swaminarayan T]

 Rolando Santos <sivadancer at YAHOO.COM> wrote:
Dear Rolando;

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My question is about grace and is based on the following that I have learned
so far:

1) Brahman remains an unaffected witness

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Response:

Most certainly, Brahman remains an unaffected witness.But, only when it is thought to be a witness! For, Brahman is indeed always "UNAFFECTED." and in its natural form is not even a "Witness" of any sort whatsoever.

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2) Only Brahman chooses who to grace with jnana

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Response:

not at all so!. In what way is Brahman concerned about this?

It is the Guru in a human form who will grace the desciple with "Brahma Gyaana".

Let us therefore , with right earnest, find and  approach the right Guru who can dispell our ignorance and  grace us with this Brahmagyaana.

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3) any practices or karma cannot result in jnana

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Response:

The right practice of karma as ordained by the Guru will most certainly lead to Jnana.

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4) Brahman seems to only grace those who are doing some practice (maybe
there are a few "innocents" who are "struck by lightning" but the majority
or those graced are those who are doing some sort of meditation or
contemplation practice.)

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Response:

Here, practice is nothing but trying to understand the truth about oneself.

The desciple goes to a competent Guru and prays,"Please , great master, help me to remember " Brahman" that is, " Myself".

It is with the grace of the Guru that the desciple realises his own truth which indeed is nothing but  his being himself "Brahman"

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Therefore it seems that Brahman does not remain unaffected; Brahman is
affected by practice, choosing to grace those who do so practice. And
therefore it seems practices are needed to secure the grace of Brahman.

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Response:

So, you can see that Brahman is really unaffeacted by practice, but nevertheless, is EFFECTED by practice!

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Please help me to clarfiy..

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May the great Acharya bless you.

Hari Om ! .

Swaminarayan



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