The Meaning of Love (Page 1 of 2)

Love has no limit, but the mind is in the way. This obstacle cannot be removed without my grace. It is impossible, because mind has to annihilate itself. For example, if one were asked to jump over oneself, the most one could do would be to take a somersault! Yet it is impossible to jump over oneself; one may jump over others, but not over oneself! Thus one may want to realize ‘Baba’ as he really is, but the obstacle remains.

Books and discourses will not bring about one’s spiritual regeneration. Mind cannot be annihilated by mind, for one cannot jump over oneself. Only by loving me as I ought to be loved can the mind be destroyed. Anyone may have love for me, but not the love I want.

Meher Baba Meherazad, 1948 Photo by Charmian Duce.

My lovers may be likened to one who is fond of lions and admires them so much that he keeps a lion in his own home. But being afraid of the lion, he puts him in a cage. The lion is always encaged; even while he feeds the lion, he feeds the pet animal from a distance and from outside the cage. Baba is treated like the lion by the lovers. There is love; there is admiration; there is an intense desire to see Baba comfortable and happy; and Baba is also frequently fed by love of the lovers. But all this is done, keeping Baba segregated from one’s own self. What is wanted of the lovers is that they should open the ‘cage’ and, through intense love, throw themselves inside the cage to become food for the lion of love. The lover should permit himself to be totally consumed through his own love for the Beloved.

In spite of all explanations and reading of books, words remain mere words. They do not take one any further than intellectual satisfaction. Only love for God works the miracle, because love is beyond mind and reason. Where then is the necessity to read? I authoritatively say: I am the Ancient One. I have been saying this to all the world. If you love me with all your heart, you shall be made free eternally.

The affairs of the universe continue to go on without being burdensome to me in the least. But the discourses and explanations on the subject of the affairs of the universe are a headache to me. The affairs of the universe continue without my paying special attention to them. They continue to work as naturally as one’s breathing, to which one does not have to pay special attention. But when there is exertion, or when one is pressed to give a discourse on breathing, one becomes conscious of the act of breathing.

In the same way, when it comes to giving explanations, I feel like one who climbs a hill and becomes breathless. Giving you discourses and explanations is burdensome to me; and as discussions, discourses and explanations are also included in the affairs of the universe, the whole affair becomes more of a burden to me than ever. Playing marbles, gilli-danda, cricket and flying kites are also included in the affairs of the universe; but these unburden the burden. It is like coming down a hill: It is more of a relaxation than exertion. Jokes and humour are also the things which give me relaxation.

But whether I am burdened or relaxed makes no difference; for as I really am, I am beyond all this.

I will tell you tomorrow something about my work and the workers. The selected workers should be those who do real work. I want to lay stress on workers and work. Work should be done as work; otherwise it would be no work at all. I cannot tolerate egoism and hypocrisy. He who works for me does not oblige me, for he works for his own self.

The ultimate experience can be had only after the heart is completely purified. God forgives everything except hypocrisy.
I am the Light of the Universe. One day, as soon as you get a glimpse of my reality, you will come to know me; and you will get the glimpse. Very rarely one can see me as I really am; you see everything except me. You see the curtain that surrounds my reality. Fortunate are they who see even the curtain.
Earlier, I had been at the house in Gramercy Park in New York where Elizabeth Patterson and Norina Matchabelli and other earlier devotees lived and gathered. They talked about Baba all the time, and I remember that after that first week I was left absolutely bubbling with enthusiasm. But when we went to Arabia I met a young man there and we became romantic. We were well chaperoned in those days. At that point I couldn’t quite see why I had to go running off to India to see some swami or yogi, or whatever this man might be, and I was very skeptical of my mother’s going. It was at the time of the Partition [between India and Pakistan], and I was very concerned about her safety. My father was even more concerned, but he couldn’t go, and it became apparent that I was the one who had to go along to take care of Mother.

So the arrangements were made and we left, finally arriving in Bombay on January 5, 1948, to be greeted at the airport by Meherjee Karkaria. He took us to our hotel and from there he planned to drive us up to see Meher Baba in Meherazad. Baba had very carefully scheduled every single minute of this trip and we were quite worried about traffic, India being what it is. In addition, Meherjee was desperately ill, but he insisted that if he could get to Baba he would be fine.

We left on the morning of January 7 and drove first to Poona where we rested for an hour per Baba’s instructions. We went into the railroad station, and I was shown into a big room that I think was a ladies’ waiting room. There were long wooden benches, and I remember sleeping on that bench for about an hour. We later pulled up to a little town and then drove out in the country with mostly farmland, with lovely waving crops in the winter sunshine, and finally we came to a big gate where Meherjee stopped the car. From there we took our bags and walked across to the compound and were shown to a lovely little room in one of the houses where we were to stay during our visit. Baba had wanted us to arrive at three o’clock. It was now exactly three.