Love and God

Question::

How are ‘Love’ and ‘God’ related?
(or)
How come “love” help make one’s spiritual journey, wholesome?
(or)
Does ‘Pure love’ happens on its own or does it need to be kindled?
(or)
How can/does “love” help attain the ‘life of Truth’?
(or)
What is the most practical way to express ‘love’ in daily mundane activities?
(or)
How to learn how to love for the sake of love?
(or)
How come “lust” is a burden and “love” is featherlight/ethereal?
(or)
How come ’lust’ is worldly and “love” is “Divine”? How is “love” different from “lust”?
(or)
How is “Divine love” different from “human love”?
(or)
How can one know that he/she is loving God in daily lives? In what ways of daily life can one express “love for God”?
(or)
Can one realize God through “love”? How so?
(or)
What are the characteristics of “Divine Love”?
(or)
What is the characteristic of “pure love”?
(or)
Why should one love God?

Answer:

(Extracted from Meher Baba’s literature, which is a copyright of Avatar Meher Baba Perpetual Public Charitable Trust(©AMBPPCT), Ahmednagar, Maharashtra, India/Bharat)

There can be no greater folly than that the aspirant quarrel with another over the pros and cons of this way or that, instead of concentrating on his own onward march.
One road may be steep, another full of potholes, a third torn by racing rivers. Similarly, one man may walk best, another may be a good runner, a third a fine swimmer. In each case, the things that should really count are the ‘destination’ and the ‘progress’ that each individual makes. Why should one who runs like a hare come in the way of another who is more likely to succeed at the pace of a snail?

“Spiritual progress” is like climbing through hills, dales, thorny woods and along dangerous precipices to attain the mountain top. On this path, there can be no halting or return. Everyone must get to the top, which is the direct realization of the supreme Godhead. All hesitation, side-tracking or resting in halfway houses or arguing about the best route only postpones the day of final fulfillment.

The aspirant cannot be too alert about the path. The slightest lingering in the false ‘world of shadows’ is inevitably an invitation to ‘suffering’ that could have been avoided if the eye had been steadily fixed on the supreme goal of life.

The best of all forces which can overcome all difficulties on the way is the “love” that knows how to give without need to bargain for a return.

There is nothing that ‘love’ cannot achieve and there is nothing that ‘love’ cannot sacrifice.

There is nothing beyond God and there is nothing without God, and yet God can always be captured by love.

All other essential qualities will come to the aspirant if he follows faithfully the whisperings of the “unerring voice of love” that speaks from his own heart, shedding light on the path. To lose hold of the mantle of this guide is to find only despair.

The HEART WITHOUT LOVE is entombed in unending “darkness” and “suffering,” but the heart that is RESTLESS WITH LOVE is on its way to realization of the unfading light that shines on the unfathomable sweetness of life-divine.

“Pure love” is matchless in majesty; it has no parallel in power, and there is no darkness it cannot dispel. It is the undying flame that has set all life aglow, yet it must be kindled and rekindled in the abysmal darkness of

selfish thoughts,

selfish words and

selfish deeds.

As it is fired anew, it bursts out in magnificent light to serve as a beacon for those who still grope in the darkness of selfishness, be that darkness ‘deep blue’ or ‘all black’.

“Human love,” regardless of its limitations, should never be despised. It is bound eventually to break through all ‘limitations’ to initiate the aspirant into eternal life in the truth. Then the lover may lose his separate, false self and become united with God, who is the one matchless and indivisible ocean of unsurpassable love.

“God” does not listen to the language of the tongue and its japs, mantras, devotional songs and so on. He does not listen to the language of the “mind” and its routine meditations, concentrations, and thoughts about God. He only listens to the language of the heart and its message of love, which needs no ceremony or show, only silent devotion for the beloved. This “love” can be expressed in various ways, all of which ultimately result in union with God.

The practical way for the average man to express love is to

speak lovingly,

think lovingly and

act lovingly

towards all mankind, feeling God to be present in everyone.

“Love” is dynamic in action and contagious in effect. It is only the spiritually alive and enlightened who can feelthe significance of the ancient adage so cheaply bandied about by some preachers and philosophers that “love begets love”.

The ‘way of love’ is not free from ‘sacrifices’. Just as heat and light go hand in hand, so do ‘love’ and ‘sacrifice’. The true spirit of sacrifice springs spontaneously, like humility, and cannot be aware of itself nor reserve itself for ‘particular objects’ and ‘special occasions’.

Love means suffering and pain for oneself, and happiness for others. To the giver, it is suffering without malice or hatred. To the receiver, it is a blessing without obligation.

Just as it can never be too early or too late to learn to love for the sake of love, so there can be nothing too small or too big to be sacrificed or sacrificed for.

The flow of life,

the flow of light and

the flow of love

are as much in the ‘drop’ as in the ‘ocean’. The ‘smallest thing’ is as big as the biggest, and the ‘biggest thing’ is as small as the smallest. It all depends upon the particular yardstick used.

The spirit of ‘true love’ and ‘real sacrifice’ is beyond all ledgers and needs no measure.

A constant longing to love and be loving, and a ‘non-calculating will’ to sacrifice in every walk of life high and low, big and small, between home and office, streets and cities, countries and continents– are the best measures man can take to be really self-ful and joyful.

“LOVE” IS DIFFERENT FROM LUST.

In ‘lust’, there is dependence upon the “physical object” and thus spiritual subordination of the soul to it. Love puts the soul into direct coordinate relation with the reality which lies behind the ‘form’.Therefore, ‘lust’ is experienced as being heavy, but ‘love’ is experienced as being light.

In ‘lust’, there is narrowing down of life, while in ‘love’– there is an expansion in BEING.

To have loved one soul is like adding its life to your own. Your life is multiplied and you live virtually in two centers. If you love the whole world, you live vicariously in the whole world.

But in ‘lust’, there is an ebbing of life and generation of a sense of HOPELESS DEPENDENCE upon a ‘form’ which is regarded as ANOTHER.

Thus in ‘lust’, there is accentuation of separateness and suffering, but in ‘love’ there is a feeling of unity and joy.

Lust is dissipation, love is recreation.
Lust is a craving of the senses, love is the expression of spirit.
Lust seeks fulfillment, but love experiences fulfillment.
In lust, there is excitement; in love there is tranquility.

“Divine love” is qualitatively different from “human love”.

Human love is for the many in the One, and divine love is for the One in the many.

Human love leads to innumerable complications, but divine love leads to freedom.

In divine love, the personal and impersonal aspects are equally balanced, but in human love the two aspects are in alternating ascendancy.

Human love in its personal and impersonal aspects is limited, but divine love with its fusion of the personal and impersonal aspects is infinite in BEING and EXPRESSION.

If, instead of seeing faults in others, we look within ourselves, we are loving God.
If, instead of robbing others to help ourselves, we rob ourselves to help others, we are loving God.
If we suffer in the sufferings of others, and feel happy in the happiness of others, we are loving God.
If, instead of worrying over our own misfortunes, we think of ourselves as more fortunate than many, many others, we are loving God.
If we endure our lot with ‘patience’ and ‘contentment’, accepting it as His will, we are loving God.
If we understand that the greatest act of devotion towards God is not to harm any of His beings, we are loving God.

To love God as He ought to be loved, we must live for God and die for God, knowing that the goal of all life is to “love God,” and find Him as our own self.

Therefore, let us become the soldiers of God.

Let us struggle for the truth.
Let us live not for ourselves, but for others.
Let us speak truly, think truly and act truly.
Let us be honest as God is infinite honesty.
Let us return love for hatred and win others over to God.

Let the world know that, above everything the most dear to our hearts is God– the supreme reality.

Besides keeping God before ourselves in our daily lives and loving Him by loving our fellow men, we can love God by surrendering

to the Sadguru or Perfect Master who is God’s personal manifestation, or
to the God-man who is God descended directly into form.

To surrender to any of these is to surrender to “God” Himself.

This is my song::

For the rich, I am the richest;
For the poor, I am the poorest;
For the literate, I am the most literate;
For the illiterate, I am the most illiterate.

Thus I am one of you, one with you
And one in you, and we are all one.

To have my “real darshan” is to find me.
The way to find me is to find your abode in me.
And the only one and sure way to find your abode in me is to love me.

To love me as I love you, you must receive “my grace”.
Only my grace can bestow the gift of ‘divine love’.
To receive ‘my grace’, you must obey me whole-heartedly
With a firm foundation of unshakeable faith in me.

And you can only obey me spontaneously as I want
When you completely surrender yourselves to me
So that “my wish” becomes your law
And “my love” sustains your being.

Age after age, many aspire for such a surrender
But only very few
Really attempt to surrender to me
Completely as I want.

He who succeeds ultimately
Not only finds me
But becomes me
And realizes the aim of life.

The final way to realize God is “to love Him” and “to lose oneself in Him” through intense longing for union with Him. To love God whole-heartedly is to lose oneself eventually in the Beloved, and enter the eternal life of God. Like a tree, such “love” has branches– branches of

whole-hearted devotion,
perfect selfless service,
self-denial,
self-sacrifice,
self-renunciation,
self-annihilation and
truth.

In this love are embodied all the yogas known to saint and seeker. The highest aspect of this love which surpasses “love” itself is that of COMPLETE SURRENDER to the will of the Beloved. This means “complete obedience” to His wishes, regardless of the cost.

The Perfect Masters are always immersed in the joy of this union with God and can never be snared in the mazes of the illusory universe. Therefore they do not ordinarily pay any attention to the ‘universe’ other than to divert the attention of humanity from the ‘shadow’ to the ‘substance’.

“Divine love” makes the individual true to himself and to others. It makes him live honestly, comprehending that God is infinite honesty. ‘Divine love’ is the solution to all difficulties and problems.

It frees man from all bindings.
It makes him speak truly, think truly, and act truly.
It makes him feel one with the whole universe.

DIVINE LOVE PURIFIES THE HEART AND GLORIFIES ONE’S BEING.

When one truly loves God, that “love” is based on the desire to give up one’s whole being to the Beloved.

When one loves a Perfect Master, one longs to serve him, to surrender to his will, to obey him whole-heartedly.

Thus pure, real love LONGS TO ‘GIVE’ and does not ask for anything in return.

When the individual truly loves ‘humanity’, he longs to give all for its happiness.
When he truly loves his ‘country’, he longs to sacrifice life itself, without seeking reward and without the least thought of having loved and served.
When he truly loves his ‘friends’, he longs to help them without making them feel under the least obligation.
When he truly loves his ‘enemies’, he longs to make them his friends.
True love for parents or family makes him long to give them every comfort at the cost of his own.

TRUST GOD COMPLETELY, AND HE WILL SOLVE ALL DIFFICULTIES. Faithfully leave everything to Him and He will see to everything. Love God sincerely and He will reveal Himself. And as you love, your heart must love so that even your ‘mind’ is not aware of it. As you love God wholeheartedly and honestly, sacrificing everything at the altar of this supreme love, you will realize the Beloved within you.

– Meher Baba

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