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<p class="paracenter"><b>XII
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<p class="paracenter"><b>THE DIVINE GRACE AND LOVE </b>
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<p class="para"> The Mother says that there can be 
Love without Grace as there can also be Grace without Love, although the two are 
essentially one and the same.
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<p class="para"> Grace means gift, it is a gesture 
of the giving of boon from the Divine. The Divine gives out of His Plenitude 
what we want, what we need, what we should have, naturally as per His choice. 
The most obvious, the most external, superficial and concrete form of gift is 
what meets our physical material need. And protection is the most appreciated 
and the most readily available treasure. Protection in its larger sense, 
includes all kinds and modes of welfare from the most physical to the utmost 
spiritual. When the aspirant prays: 'Lead us not to temptations, give us purity 
and peace and truth,' God's answer is His Grace.
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<p class="para"> But instead of giving any boon, 
any treasure physical or material or even spiritual, however precious, instead 
of giving anything the Divine may give Himself to one who approaches Him; then 
it becomes something more than the Grace, it is Love, the Divine's Love—His own 
Self. It is His own substance, His own delight of being that He gives, not 
anything external or extraneous. One remembers the story of Arjuna and 
Duryodhana. Duryodhana approached Krishna and thought the utmost, the best that 
he could secure from Krishna was Krishna's battalions,<br>
</p><p class="pageno">Page-47</p>
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<p class="para">for that seemed to him the 
most precious gift of all, for that is the thing he would need most in the 
coming battle. Arjuna asked for nothing else but Krishna Himself.
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<p class="para"> Grace is of Maheshwari, that is 
to say, it is the special attribute, a particular emanation of her own self, it 
is a form of herself in an attitude that belongs particularly to her. Love is of 
Mahalaxmi, it is her own special form and gesture. Or, varying the image we may 
say Grace is Shiva, the benign white radiance on the supreme heights enveloping 
the creation in its calm immutable compassion; while Krishna is Love, the 
immortal delight dwelling in the heart of mortality.
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</p><p class="pageno">Page-48</p>
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