The Religion of Love

The religion of a lover is nothing but love, under the influence of which a unique type of concentration and a feeling of loneliness enter his mind. His thoughts pass beyond the limit of union and duality. If one imbibes even a small particle of love, he will consider the whole world worth no more than a straw. The heart of one who has tasted even a few drops from the cup of love, finds no taste at all in the worldly pleasures. He desires neither heaven nor salvation.

Paltu Sahib says:

Saints do not want salvation. They have no desire for the four treasures of the world, because their desire is neither for the treasures of the world nor for salvation. They spurn supernatural powers, and they run away from the seat of heaven. They do not go on pilgrimage; they do not fast; they have no desires in their mind. Even good actions have no attraction for them. They do not want heaven, nor are they interested in coming into and going from this world. They consider even the seven heavens no better than a piece of straw. The devotees of God have such a desire, O Paltu! that they do not want salvation nor do they desire the four treasures of the world.

God lives in His own latent state of Love, and a lover frees himself from the bondage of body and life and becomes a form of God. When the fire of love is kindled within a lover, it destroys everything except the Beloved.

Love is such a strong current that a glimpse of the light of the Beloved attracts the lover. When it plants the deep-rooted bliss of intoxication in a lover, the heart and the life are then automatically sacrificed for the Beloved. Knowledge, intellect, fame and reasoning or discussions are all swept away in the fast-running currents of love. In fact, whenever someone tastes even a few drops from the cup of love, his intellect and his worries all vanish.

A lover sacrifices everything for his Beloved. His belief, religion an life are all given to his Beloved, and he forgets everything in his love. He cries out and exclaims with very great joy:

I am now a slave of my love, and free form the worries of both the worlds.

A lover is dyed in the hue of God’s love. His talk is the talk of the Lord, and he is emancipated from all the sensual pleasures.

Jammi Sahib says:

Now that you have become a slave of love, you should abandon your ideas of the fame and the superiority of your family, because these have no merit on this path.

A lover who is intoxicated in the love of his Beloved lives only in thoughts about Him. He has no connection with the good or the evil of this world.

Hafiz Sahib says:

For a lover, the feet of the Beloved (Master) are the feet of God. He considers the gardens of heaven, the beautiful trees there, and the palaces with beautiful women in heaven as being no better than a particle of the dust of His lane.

The power of love becomes very strongly attractive within a lover. His sole desire is to meet the Beloved. It is said that even if the home of the Beloved were in the centre of the ocean, or if the path to it were beset by hundreds of snakes and even ferocious tigers and lions might be roaring in his way, and the angels of death were also trying to obstruct the way, even then a lover would not be deterred from walking on the path of his Beloved. Nothing can deter him from going to his Beloved, because his world exists only for the Beloved.

Hafiz Sahib says.

Nothing can enter my mind except the thought of my Beloved. Give both the worlds to my enemies, because for me my Beloved is all that I want.

There is no room in the heart of a lover for anything except the Beloved, and he always wishes to be in constant contact with Him.

Kabir says:

My Beloved is in my eyes like a thin coating of collyrium. How can there be any place for sleep in my eyes when He is there all the twenty-four hours and there is no other work except to remember Him. The true and faithful wife is she who does not keep her husband away from her eyes even for a single moment and does not look at any other person. She closes her eyes and is plunged deep into his remembrance. And in the remembrance of love, she blossoms like a rose and speaks only of the sweetness of love.

Such devotees of the Lord always speak of Him with love and devotion. And when they speak, their throat is choked with love, their hair stand on end with the strong current of their love, and pearls of tear-drops flow from their eyes. If the Beloved is by their side, then they beg for longer nights in order to be with the Beloved for a longer period. Such a lover feels that the state of intense concentration will come to an end if the night were to end sooner. Therefore he prays for the nights to be long and that they should never end, so that he may not be separated from his Beloved. He desires to sleep less so that he may not be away from his Beloved. The family into which such lovers are born is worthy of all praise. As soon as the mind of a lover concentrates, he imbibes the qualities of God and becomes a master of many extraordinary powers.

The mind of a lover is strong and deep like that of an ocean. It does not contain tempests of other thoughts. His aim is one-pointed and there is only one thought in his mind – that of the Beloved. When we love, then love becomes the sustainer of our soul, and our complete attention is concentrated in the Beloved. Then all superficial ties are cut, and the soul is freed from the shackles of this world and flies to the regions above. That highest region is its true abode. 

Swami Ji says:

Your abode is there, my dear. But, alas, you are tied down by the strings of this world.

In its true abode the soul enjoys at all times the bliss of union. Love transforms it from the material and physical attachments to the finer, spiritual regions, and the drop of the soul is merged in the ocean of the Lord. In such a state a lover is not an ordinary person. He is the master of supernatural powers. Love, in reality, is such an alchemy that it turns even common persons into spiritual emperors. 

Kabir Sahib says:

The lovers have such great power that they can even take a leap to the highest region by simply exerting their own internal force.

The lovers attention is then constantly fixed in the Beloved, and his mind suffers a state of restlessness on separation.

The unique quality of love is this: If a seed of love is sown into its field, it is followed by pain, burning, separation. These are the crops that grow. The lover sometimes complains, Oh, why did I ever love? Sometimes he berates his eyes and reprimands them for ever having cast a glance on the Beloved, despite the fact that he had stealthily cast a glance at his Beloved. He will not speak about this subject to anyone, who is not able to understand the condition of his heart, for to talk of the pain of one’s heart to a person who has never felt such pain is to invite more pain. He, however, keeps the Beloved within his eyes, wherever his eyes go. He regards his Beloved as of more importance than even his own life.

Khusro Sahib says:

I have become an infidel on account of love I do not need this superficial religion of mine. Every cell of my body has been filled with the rays of love. I do not need even the sacred thread. We lovers have no anxiety regarding the dissolution of the world, because our aim is to continue to see the glory of our Beloved.

Tulsi Sahib says:

A lover, even when he is awake, is asleep to the world. Whether sleeping or in a state of wakefulness, his soul’s attention is fixed on the Beloved, and that link never breaks. His love is like that of the moon-bird for the full moon. It continues to gaze at it as long as it shines. It will strain its neck backwards till it almost touches the ground, but will not change its position from the time the moon appears in the east till it sinks in the west.

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