4th January 2004
Hi,
I'm almost done reading I am that. It has made a huge impact on my life.
The reason I post is that I need help answering the question: "What is
grace?". Looking in the dictionary, in a book and around the web, I find
definitions like: "a manifestation of favor, especially by a
superior", "the gift of God inhering in the soul, by which men are
enabled to perform righteous acts", "God's free, undeserved and
unmerited mercy towards us." and "Grace is unmerited favor. It is
God's free action for the benefit of His people. It is different than Justice
and Mercy. Justice is getting what we deserve. Mercy is not getting what we
deserve. Grace is getting what we do not deserve. In grace we get eternal
life, something that, quite obviously, we do not deserve." to name a few.
Most definitions, especially those who do not contradict themselves, make
sense and I can see and agree to their meaning up to a point. What perplexes
me that none of them satisfactorally encompasses the way Nisargadatta uses it:
"by the grace of my Guru". His use of the word seems to suggest a
radiance, a presence of something, rather than actual action on part of being
that gives said grace.
Have you
ever brought a lit candle close to an unlit one?
In such a situation,...sometimes .........the flame of the lit candle,
appears to leap across and enflames the wick of the unlit candle.
Without in any way diminishing itself.
It also seems that this kind of grace is not picky about who receives
it.
The
issue of picking who is to receive arises, if some one was giving.