You were told yesterday (read: The Lover, the Beloved and the Divine Love) about three entities: the lover, the Beloved and love. You were also told that the Beloved is one who possesses Divine love. This “love” is God’s most intimate personal power which can be attained only by the Grace of a rasik Saint. It cannot be attained through personal effort. This is why even the greatest yogis, ascetics and liberated, pure-hearted paramahansas beg for Divine love. The treasure house of this love is Shree Krishna and His associates alone. No one else can lay claim to owning this power called “love.” No personality controlled by Maya, not even the king of heaven, can occupy the seat of the Beloved. Wherever maya exists, it is absolutely apparent that Divine love has not been attained, and one who is devoid of Divine love, cannot occupy the seat of the Beloved. Therefore, no material personality can be the Beloved.
The fact is that we cannot do without establishing a loving relationship with God. The scriptures tell us about three different ways to love Him, or surrender to Him:
तस्यैवाहं ममैवासौ स एवाहमितित्रिधा ।
One way to love Him is to think, “I am his.” Another way to love Him is to think, “He is mine.” Yet another love is, “I am he.” The first two are forms of love one can practice, but the third cannot be practiced. It is a special state, in which the lover feels himself to be the Beloved.
In this state, the servant-master relationship gets hidden. Sufi Saints also speak of this state:
“I am the servant as well as the master. I am the lover as well as the Beloved. I am the worshipper as well as the worshipped.” Sufi philosophy also says:
हमः अजोस्त
“The entire world has emanated from God.” Now, this is a different view point. On the one hand, Sufism says, “I am the servant as well as the master.” On the other, it says, “Everything that exists has emanated from God.” Our Vedas say the same:
“The entire world has come forth from God.”
There is a third Sufi view point, and that is:
हमः ओस्त
“Everything is He.” The Vedas also say the same:
“Everything is God.”
सकलमिदमहं च वासुदेवः ।
“Everything is Vasudev, everything is Krishna.”
Out of these three philosophies, स एवाहमिति त्रिधा is not a philosophy at all; it is a special stage of love that is attained. Constantly thinking about the Beloved, the lover becomes so absorbed in him that he starts feeling himself to be the Beloved. This is a very elevated stage. Ramakrishna Paramhans would hold a flower garland in his hands to put on Mother Kali and saying “Mother, Mother, Mother,” he would place the garland around his own neck. He would consider himself to be the Divine Mother. He was not acting, mind you. The fact was that he was not conscious of what he was doing. He was in a state of complete unity with the Divine Mother.
प्रसादे सा दिशि दिशि च सा पृष्ठतः सा पुरः सा,
पर्यके सा पथि पथि च सा तद्वियोगातुरस्य ।
हंहो चेतः प्रकृतिरपरा नास्ति मे काऽपि सा सा,
This is a unique stage of love in which the servant starts feeling himself to be the master, and the mast
er starts thinking himself to be the servant. You must have heard or read in the Ramayan:
er starts thinking himself to be the servant. You must have heard or read in the Ramayan:
Shree Ram is sitting under a tree, and Hanuman and other Divine personalities are sitting on the branches of the same tree. Pay attention to this. This is not Shree Krishna that we are talking about, who i
s the embodiment of Love. Ram’s descension was that of maryada (decorum and propriety of conduct) where we have Saints like Bharat describing the qualities and rules governing the sentiment of servitude.
s the embodiment of Love. Ram’s descension was that of maryada (decorum and propriety of conduct) where we have Saints like Bharat describing the qualities and rules governing the sentiment of servitude.
“The servant should place his head where the master’s lotus feet have treaded.” And devotees like Hanuman are embodiments of the sentiment of servitude. They are not madhurya bhao Saints who can act as they please and take liberties with God. But, these dasya bhao Saints are acting in this improper way by sitting at higher level than their master. But Ram does not feel insulted, nor does He chastise them. “What kind of misbehavior is this, sitting above Me? If you don’t want to sit below, at least sit at the same level.” Seeing that it was not possible to sit at a lower level than Shree Ram, the devotees should have at least sat at the same level as Him. Because it is the period of exile and because there is no throne available in the jungl
e, Ram is sitting under a tree. It is not wrong for devotees in this circumstance to be seated at the same level as their Lord. But how is it that they are sitting directly above His head? You all know that this is what happened. Is this an accident perhaps? No, no. The fact is that Hanuman and others have lost the awareness that they are servants.
e, Ram is sitting under a tree. It is not wrong for devotees in this circumstance to be seated at the same level as their Lord. But how is it that they are sitting directly above His head? You all know that this is what happened. Is this an accident perhaps? No, no. The fact is that Hanuman and others have lost the awareness that they are servants.
स एवाहमितित्रिधा ।
They are all feeling that they are Ram, and Ram is feeling that He is the servant. Otherwise, do you think that Shree Ram, who dealt with Shoorpanakha’s misbehavior so harshly that He had her nose and ears cut off, would permit such a breach of etiquette here? Hanuman and others were also not in a normal state of consciousness, else they would not have sat above Shree Ram. They were all absorbed in Divine love. Had even one been normal he could have pointed out to the others what was going on. Even one sensible man
in a group can drill some sense into the rest. But, here they were all in a state of samadhi induced by extreme love.
in a group can drill some sense into the rest. But, here they were all in a state of samadhi induced by extreme love.
This is an elevated state of love of God, but we have to begin by developing the two sentiments within us: “I am His,” and “He is mine.” Consider both carefully. Which of the two sentiments do you prefer? Do you prefer to think, “I am His,” or “He is mine?” We sing from the Prem Ras Madira:
“O Shree Radha Rani! Cast a glance in my direction.” We also sing:
“You are eternally mine, and I am eternally Yours.” Both sentiments are covered. Some prefer to think, “I am His.” Some prefer to think, “He is mine.” So, I expressed both sentiments in one song. However, “He is mine” is a superior sentiment. “He is mine”, that’s all. I don’t care whether or not He considers me His. There is no doubt about my being His, because I am a part of Him, I have an eternal and natural bond with Him and cannot be anyone else’s because:
The Vedas say, “All individual souls are parts of God.”
The Vedas declare, “All relationships of the soul are with God alone. No one else can have any true relationship with the soul.” This proves that we belong to God. There is no denying that “I am His.” However, knowing this has not helped us. Countless lives have passed. I was His. I am His. I will always be His. This has been declared boldly by Shree Krishna personally and has been clearly stated in the Vedas but to no avail. So, how will we get results? By instilling the sentiment “He is mine.” We have to accept Him as ours. The fortunate souls, Tulsi, Sur, Meera, Kabir, Nanak, Tukaram, who accepted Him as theirs, reached the goal, crossed maya, and attained the ultimate Bliss of Divine love. They who have not realized this fact are rotating in the 8.4 million species of life. So, we must endeavour to develop the sentiment that “He is ours.”
This sentiment is expressed by some people as: ममैवासौ The meaning is, “He is only mine.” In my opinion, this expression is inaccurate. Rather than ममैवासौ, “He is only mine,” we should think, असौ एव मम “Only He is mine.” In other words, “I have no one else but Him.” The day this sentiment “He alone is mine” becomes grounded in us, our work will come to an end. We will have nothing more to do – no karm, no gyan, no bhakti, or anything else. The last action required of the soul is to accept that “He alone is mine,” after which everything will be attained and we will be free forever.
A child loves rasgullas. He never thinks, “O Rasgulla! I always cry in front of mommy and daddy for you. Do you love me also?” No, the child loves the rasgulla and doesn’t care whether or not the rasgulla loves him back. If we love someone, why do we want to know whether that person loves us or not? This is not love. It is business, where we are constantly weighing profit and loss. “I gave you ten dollars, but you gave me only five dollars’ worth of goods. This is not proper.” You get upset. For ten rupees, you expect ten rupees’ worth of goods. If you get eleven rupees’ worth, you are happy. But at the very least you expect ten rupees’ worth. This is called good business sense. The problem is that we apply the same business sense when it comes to loving. We try to show all the time that we love the other person more than he loves us. All the while, internally we want the other to love us more than we love him.
Now, if we accept the sentiment “He alone is mine,” then we will not be in this constant dilemma, wondering “Am I His or not? Does He love me or not? Does He consider me His own or not?” We will not get caught up in thinking any of this. God proclaims in the scriptures:
ये यथा मां प्रपद्यन्ते तांस्तथैव भजाम्यहम् ।
“I reciprocate the love of the individual soul to the exact degree and with the exact sentiment.” This is an indisputable, unchanging Divine law. Keeping this Divine law in mind, you should never worry that perhaps He does not love you. He has to love you; He has no choice. You do not need to think that someone may have poisoned His ears against you which may have made Him stop loving you or not loving you as much as before. Why the doubt? He is not some worldly person, that he will listen to some third party and stop loving us, or reduce His love. Why is there any doubt on your part about His love for you? He is All-seeing, All-knowing, the witness to everything, the well-wisher of all, the Supreme Almighty Lord. There is no question of doubt in this regard. There is no power that can shake or disturb the degree and amount of His love. There is no need to speculate, “Does He love me?” Or, “How much does He love me?” How much He loves you, depends on how much you love Him. “How much love do you want from Him?” “A lot.” “Then love Him a lot.” How is it that you love Him a little bit and expect Him to love you a lot? Even if your love is just a business transaction, you still cannot expect a hundred rupee shirt for only ten rupees. The paper money in your hand is a ten rupee note, and the shirt made of cloth is worth a hundred rupees. You should stay within your means. If you want a hundred rupee shirt, you must spend a hundred rupees.
साक्षी चेता केवलो निर्गुणश्च ।
So there is no question of His not knowing the extent of our love for Him.
Thus, we should develop the feeling within that “He alone is mine.” It understood that we are His. If you want to say both, that is all right, but be careful in the use of the word “alone.” “He alone is mine” is correct, but “He is mine alone” is wrong. He has infinite souls, and you are one of them. If ten million souls love Him equally and simultaneously, He will love them also equally and simultaneously. He is capable of doing this. Even worldly parents are capable of this. A mother may have four children. She loves them all equally. None of the children complain. None of them ask, “Mommy, we are four brothers. Which one do you love?” Even if the mother were asked, she would say that she loves all four equally. She explains to her child, “Son, I have five fingers. If I press any of the five, I will feel the pain. I love all five fingers equally. When I wash my hands, I wash all five fingers, don’t I? No one loves just one finger.” When even a worldly mother can love 5-6 children simultaneously, it should not be difficult to believe that the Omnipotent Lord can love countless souls. He is the Lord of yogmaya. For Him, nothing is impossible. Assuming countless forms for the sake of countless souls is not a problem for Him. For this reason you should not think that He is yours alone. Saints always think, “He can ignore me if He wants, but He should love others.”
Moreover, we should think, “Why should He love me?” If it were not for His law that He loves the soul in the same way as the soul loves Him, we could never even hope for Him to love us. You see, our body is very dirty. It has nine openings and only perspiration and filth are excreted from all these openings. Why should God, who is Divine, look at or love our impure body made of five material elements? Our eyes are made of five elements, and yet we shy away from looking at a pile of garbage. We are happy looking at beautiful roses and lotus flowers growing in a garden. But if we were to see a few baskets of manure lying next to the flowers, we would make a face. Our eyes are made of the five material elements. Flowers are made of the same five elements, and so is manure. In fact, manure helps flowers grow. Yet we do not wish to see manure. Then isn’t it astounding that the Divine All-knowing Lord should look at our material bodies and our dirty minds and love us nevertheless! You yourself are not ready to love someone ordinary, below your station.
जाने ते छीजिहं कछु पापी ।
“One who realizes himself to be a sinner, no longer remains a sinner.” One who accepts himself to be ignorant, will become inquisitive for knowledge and will acquire knowledge of the self. But those who do not accept themselves to be ignorant will never take out time to hear spiritual knowledge. I have met many billionaires. They say to me, “Maharaj Ji, please Grace me.” I ask, “What kind of Grace do you want?” “Divine Grace.” “Then give me some of your time.” “Maharaj Ji, I just don’t have any time. I have so many mills and factories in so many states. I can’t spare time even for death.” This means you are not desirous of God. You are expecting happiness from the world. You are certain that you can get happiness here. Fine! Then go towards the world. Why have you come to me? Come to me only when you are firmly convinced that there is no happiness in the material world. It is only when you fully realize that even the king of heaven cannot attain peace or happiness, even in his dreams, that you should come to me. You somehow believe that Saints can wave a magic wand and give you Divine experiences. Think about it. If God or His Saints had such a magic wand, then why would the world exist? They would have waved their wand and all living beings in countless universes would have attained unlimited Divine Bliss. God and Saints are satya sankalp. This means that whatever they desire, happens, and yet the material world continues to exit. How can you hope that they will liberate you without any effort or desire from your side? You have to make the effort yourself. What you have to do is to accept that He alone is yours. Whether you manage this in a month, a year, one lifetime or in ten lives, is up to you.
You will have to take your love to great heights. You have to increase your attachment to the point where you feel that “He alone is mine.”
“Every moment should seem like eternity in separation from Shyamsundar.” You have to reach this ultimate point in the feeling of separation, to start hoping for the attainment of God.
आहे सर्दो रंगे जर्दो चश्मेतर ।
इन्तजारी बेकरारी बेसवर ।
कम गुपुतनो कम खुर्दनो ख्वाबे हराम
आशिकाराँ नौनिशां ।
These are the nine symptoms of love. The lover takes deep sighs. His complexion becomes pale as he burns in the fire of separation. His eyes continuously shed tears. He becomes restless and impatient as he waits for the beloved. He speaks very little. I remind you people every year not to engage in talking during the one month that you are here, but you do not stop. You think that I do not find out that you are talking. But this is your mistake. Yesterday I did not eat because of your talking. I atone for your mistake every year in one way or another, but it leaves no impact on you. You are not content till you speak, in spite of knowing that I could ask you to leave Mangarh. You are even ready to leave, but not to stop speaking. Just think of the loss you are incurring. You are willing to deprive yourself of such great spiritual benefit for the sake of talking. It is evident that you have no love within. Otherwise, worldly conversations would pierce your ears like arrows and they would sound most bitter. You would say to the person talking to you, “Please be quiet. I am here to listen only to the name of God. I don’t wish to speak or hear anything else.”
Then you will say, “There is so much Bliss in this feeling of separation from Radha Krishna.” There is so much Bliss in the tears, the sighs, the pain of separation. Someone who sees you crying will think you are miserable. If he is told that you are crying for God, he will say, “It does not matter who he is crying for; he must be miserable.” “No, no! These tears for God are so precious that even the greatest paramhansas desire them.” But no one can understand this unless he himself tastes the nectar of separation. When you taste it, you will say:
“Between separation and union, separation is superior, because in it, I see my Beloved everywhere.”
बाटन में घाटन में बीथिन में बागन में
वृक्षन में बेलिन में वाटिका में वन में ।
दरन मंे दिवारिन में देहरी दरीचन में
हीरन में हारन में भूषन में तन में ।
गोकुल में गोधन में गोपिन में गायन में
यही ब्रजमंडल की रेणु में तन में ।
जहाँ जहाँ दखौं तहाँ श्याम ही दिखाई देत
मेरो श्याम छाय रह्यो नैनन में मन में ।
The Saint Soordas says that in a state of separation, the Beloved is seen everywhere.
“Wherever I look I see only Shyamsundar.” When you arrive at this stage and taste the nectar, you will remember every word I said and you will think to yourself, “Everything Maharaj Ji said was one hundred percent true.”
All glories to the Lord of Vrindavan!
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