Meher Baba's Life & Travels
DISCOURSES & TALKS BY MEHER BABA
WHAT IS GRACE ?
9th September, 1929
Savak requested, "Shower your grace on me, Baba, so that I will have no other thoughts but of you alone."
Baba replied :
"What is grace? To make you like me. That is grace. Grace does not lead a person to renunciation; it means that as soon as a person receives the Master's grace, he becomes like his Master."
Quoting Kabir, Savak then said, "God's grace consists in giving one a human form; and the Master's grace consists in making one renounce the whole world."
Baba replied, "The whole universe is to be renounced. Making one like his Master, that is grace."
"Baba, make me yours," Savak said.
"When the guru's grace descends, then he himself makes one do everything and the result will be his. But you have to understand this and do as he says. There should be no thought at all while carrying out his orders; the mind should not turn to anything else. Are you ready for that?"
Savak kept quiet, and Baba asked him, "Are you prepared to do so? Come on ... This is a very cheap bargain — quite easy. Are you ready to accept the bargain?"
Savak seemed to be weighing the proposition in his mind and kept quiet. Baba asked, "What are you thinking? There is nothing else except God everywhere. So what is the use of thinking? This won't do. That is why I say, think not once but a hundred times before stepping onto this Path.
"If I asked you to sit on the verandah for one year, you would start wondering why. That would make you sink deeper and deeper into thought, and your mind would harass you. Perchance you might have agreed to do it, but then you would have repented, come to trouble, and had millions of thoughts.
"Therefore, I tell you candidly, never try to be friends with us [Masters]; and if you want that friendship, then seek it with your life in the palm of your hand. Otherwise, instead of gain, you will come to ruin. Instead, it is better if you take darshan and offer homage from a distance and depart."
