Love of Saints and of ordinary People

Saints always teach only love, because love and God are one. God is Love, and God’s reflection is Love. The only difference between the Saints and other people is in the quality of their love. Saints are Love incarnate and bestow the gift of love on others. They love the evil people as well as the good ones, and their love is of the highest type. Love is the true religion and real guide.

Some people say that we should love God’s creation, so that we may be able to love God. On the surface, this principle appears feasible, but if we go deeper, we shall be able to see that this principle is not entirely correct, for, pure love is free from all attachment to the world of matter and illusion, and is found only in the regions beyond the reach of mind and Maya (matter and illusion).

In the lower regions, love is entangled in physical matter and attachments. Consequently, it is covered with worldly dross because of our selfish motives. The love of those who are engrossed in the pleasures of the world is full of the poison of physical attachment. This way of living cannot create pure love in us, because such poisonous love causes us great harm; and it is impossible for us to free ourselves from it by our own efforts alone. This lower type of love will further entangle us in worldly attachments and will definitely not create Divine Love.

The Saints, however, possess the pure spark of love for God alone. If we love them, then love for God will be kindled within us. God is Omnipresent. So, when we love Him we love His whole creation, and we thus radiate currents of love for all.

God is Shabd. God is Love. Therefore, Shabd is also Love. Saints are Shabd incarnate. They bestow the gift of Shabd on others. Those who practise Shabd and listen to the Divine Music become oceans of Love. They love everybody and by the currents of this Divine Love radiate a virtuous influence in this world.

The highest form of all practices is to create love within. If the spark of love is removed from rituals and ceremonies, they are nothing but empty formalities and are unable to attach us to the love of God. We may succeed to a certain extent in creating love within ourselves for human beings, but such a love will naturally not be lasting. Real and lasting love can be achieved, however, if we sit at the Lotus Feet of a highly evolved soul (a Saint or Master).

The dormant love within our souls can be awakened by the practice of Shabd, which keeps us above the dross of Maya. Generally, lecturers or teachers who are devoid of any practical spiritual consciousness and who have had no opportunity to seek and love a Master, advocate in their speeches that there is no harm in love for each other – male and female; but in actual practice many cases have occurred where people who listened to such advice have fallen into the pitfall created by the snares of Maya. We should love only Ram Naam, that is the Name of God, or His Saints. All other types of love only succeed in binding us to this world.

The teachings of the Saints do not imprison a disciple in rituals and ceremonies. Their teachings guide us to awaken the dormant love within ourselves, the love that is inherent in the soul. This love can be awakened by devotion to the Master, and by the inner contact of Shabd.

Nowadays religions are considered to be embodiments of noble ideals with virtuous and philosophical thoughts added to them. Prayer is also added, and all these things aid us in creating in our minds an appetite for God’s Love. But this is not food for the soul, which is hungry and which can be fed only by Shabd or Naam: By means of Shabd the real love is kindled within us, and that is the food which alone can satisfy the soul. Once this love has been awakened within us, it will do everything for us, and we will find this food of love in the entire world. Without awakening the True Love within ourselves, we cannot tread the Path of True Spirituality.

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