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The Power Of Love
I tell you the story of Sahadeva who went to Lord Krishna
before the Mahabharata Yuddha (war) was to begin, and he said,
"Lord Krishna, you are the culprit behind this whole nonsense.
You are going to destroy the Kauravas and Pandavas and I am going to
stop it. If you don't stop it, I am going to stop it." Krishna
of course became for a moment, nonplussed. He told Sahadeva arrogantly
"You … stop me? Do you know who I am? Do you know my plans
are already laid?" Sahadeva said, "Yes, Lord. But I can nevertheless
stop." Krishna asked "Sahadeva, how would you do it?"
Sahadeva said, "Lord, I meditate upon you, put you in my heart
and bind you up. You cannot move your little finger even!" Krishna
came to his senses. You see that was the power of the lover, you know,
of the true sadhak. Krishna pleaded "Sahadeva, please, you will
spoil my entire plan, Nature's plan will be spoiled. Don't do this for
my sake." Sahadeva said, "What will you do for my sake?"
Krishna replied, "Anything you ask"; and he asked "Pandavas
and Draupadi should come out of this war unharmed." Krishna agreed.
Sahadeva went home. See, this is the power of love! Enthrone Him in
your heart, enshrine Him there, pray to Him silently.
So the starting point is that yoga begins with love, with nothing
else. And where there is love, fear cannot exist, doubt cannot exist.
Now when we approach yoga merely from the point of knowledge, acquisition
of knowledge, acquisition of physical strength, of siddhis, then
of course we are faced with limitations, very practical limitations,
sometimes insuperable limitations. But when we approach the yoga with
only love in our hearts, not that we want to become perfect in physical
form, not that we want to become perfect in our jobs and earn more money,
or that we should be erudite and that everybody should applaud us as
wise people, but this love says I want to become what He is, then yoga
is the matter of just a moment. It is nothing more than that. Because
where love exists, all barriers are broken, all barriers are transcended,
and the Guru's grace flows because love knows no barriers of any kind.
God Almighty Himself cannot deny to us what our love demands. This is
the teaching of my Master.
Through love you compel Him to give you what He has. Not because He
has to give it, but because through love you become part of Him - His
son. Like you give to your son, whether he is deserving or not. You
may curse him, you may beat him, you may throw him out of the house
for a few days, but you are also weeping inside all the time. Prarabdham,
prarabdham [my past misdeeds], what shall I do?" But when that
fellow knocks on the door, the mother is at the back door waiting to
feed him. See, and eventually she prevails on the husband, saying, "Don't
be so hardhearted, don't be so cruel. Is he not your own son?"
If he is your own son, you give; if it is a neighbour's son, well you
may give him some advice. I mean, this is a fact of life. So when we
love in an absolute fashion, it is the only compulsion that you can
possibly exert on your Master or Divinity or God, or whatever it is.
The compulsion of love is absolute. There is no denial at any stage
from any side. He cannot deny you, you cannot deny Him. Now this is
also implicit in one of the slokas in the Gita, where He says,
"I cannot give Him up, He cannot give me up anymore.
Love conquers all, love pervades everywhere, love of the Master is what
we recognise Him for. It is of no use saying that, "Babuji loved
all. Love Him who loves all." You know, I am always critical of
empty mouthings of love which are not backed by solid action. Love must
be visible in our activity. Love must be visible in our intercourse
with each other, in our mutual coexistence. Love that leads to dissension,
to strife cannot possibly be love; it is something else parading as
love. So it is my most humble submission that the time has now come
- it had always been there but we have been missing train after train
after train after train, but there are always trains. We should not
miss at least this one. Nothing is possible without love. Let me say
that sadhana without love is a stupidity.
Human love has tremendous potential, but it fails because
of being misdirected. Love is the greatest force. It must be humbly
offered up to Him who alone is its true object - God or Master whichever
you may like to call Him. You must love Him in such a way that your
love knocks on the door of His heart, telling Him that the lover is
waiting outside. Then He begins to love you, and when this happens,
all your problems of life are solved! Love Him who loves all."
This is the greatest revelation of my Divine Master.
People often complain that the demands of the spiritual way are too
much. It is not the demand of the spiritual way, it is the demand of
love. If you wish to tread the path of love, are you prepared to be
extinguished? This is the simple question. If not, stay in your mundane
world, with the other four letter word that you call love. Be happy.
Nobody says no to it. It is your choice. But one who loves must be brave
enough to face self extinguishment - not in the form of death - but
in the form of mergence with the Master. He is there now, there is no
more me, there is only the Master. I am in him, you see, like the river
has gone into the sea. It doesn't exist any more though the water has
not gone anywhere. It is still there merrily going around, somewhere
in the ocean but it has lost its identity, it has lost its separateness,
without ceasing to be 'it'. Here, there is no extinction, in the sense
of total oblivion or erasure of the Self. There is only extinguishing
of the self, extinguishing the knowledge of the self, the identity of
the self, the consciousness of the 'I'-ness in me.
Similarly, your love must expand and expand until you find, as Babuji
said, this little tiny human heart must become a universal heart. When
all the beings of this universe are within that heart, now whom will
you hate, whom will you love? There is neither now. So all this question
of loving and hating is only in the duality of existence. Ultimately
everything fades. Then only He exists in each one of us thinking that
"I exist". Eventually that too goes.
So, dear friends, brothers and sisters, the secret of spiritual growth
up to the highest is this: Permanent, growing contact with the Master
in secret, in a sacred atmosphere of the most sacred love. Nothing profane
about it, and if that exists you are going to be one with Him, because
that is what He wants you see. No beloved wants his lover to be separate.
They both long for union. Isn't it? Can you have a pair of lovers where
one longs for union and the other does not? It is something ridiculous
you see. Both are longing and both are having this pining for this oneness
to be together, to merge into one.
When love is associated with humility and devotion, it is adoration.
What is the difference between love and adoration? Love is selfish.
Adoration is totally selfless. There is humility in it. In effect, adoration
becomes surrender. Adoration means we are perpetually in that in which
we want to be. It is already a condition of laya.
This is my understanding of spiritual love, what little I have learned
at the feet of my Master and what I have experienced in my own sadhana.
Whether it is true, it is for each one of you to prove in your lives.
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