Sri Ramana Maharshi
7-1-1946 Night
Mr. G.L. Sarma seems to have prepared a manuscript on Gita Saram. B asked Mr. Balaram Reddi to read it out. As it was said in that, "Only when there is complete devotion, the Lord will respond and take complete charge of the devotee," Mr. P. Bannerji asked B, "Is it a condition precedent for the Lord showing grace that one must be completely devoted? Would not the Lord naturally in his grace be kind towards all his children whether they are devoted or not?"
B: How can one help being devoted? Everyone loves himself. That is experience. If the Self were not his dearest object, would one love it? The Self or Lord is not somewhere else but is inside each of us and in loving oneself, one loves only the Self.
The visitor could not understand how this was an answer to his question. I explained, "B has told us more than once, 'The Lord's grace is always flowing. There is no time at which it is not flowing, and no person towards whom it is not flowing. But only those can receive it who have developed the capacity. Devotion is a condition precedent, not for the flowing of grace from the Lord, but for your being able to receive and assimilate the grace which is there always flowing.'"
In this connection Dr. Syed quoted the verse in Bhagavad Gita which says that the Lord is the friend of all, the sinner and the saint alike, but that he is specially in the heart of those who cherish him and that such people are dear to Him.
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