Bhagavan Sri Rama sent the following message of Love to Sri Sita:
O dear, the truth about the Love betueen You and Me is known only to My mind and that mind constantly stays with You. Know You that herein lies the essence of Love.
In Love there is no room for self-interest. Where there is any desire for return, there the purity of Love is stained by lust, or desire for self-gratification. In Love there is giving and giving alone; the thought of taking or receiving never occurs to the mind of the lover. Love, again, always tends to grow. A lover can never believe that his is a fully developed love; he always sees his own limitations, and keeps the needle of his heart directed exclusively toward the beloved. Love that hinges round some virtue, or expects something in return, diminishes, or disappears as soon as it notices a decline in the virtues of the beloved, or apprehends loss of expectation. Love of this type is not love in the proper sense of the term. It is love of self or desire for self-gratification that masquerades as love in that case.
Kabir says:
Now that which swells up and the very next moment ebbs low is not Love: That alone which is firmly rooted in the heart and knows no ebbing should be given the name of Love.
Again, it is said:
An attraction between lovers, which knows no extinction even in the presence of factors favorable to such extinction, is called Love.
For instance, suppose the object of our love loses his wealth, his beauty fades, his virtues give place to vices, he ceases to reciprocate our love or show regard to us, snubs us at every step, offers insult to us and shows respect to others in our very presence, or manifests thousands of evil tendencies. Under such circumstances our love, for our beloved, is sure to disappear. This is our experience of love as it is known in the world. True love is that which does not diminish even in such conditions, but goes on increasing every day.
Says Rasakhan:
That Love is the fountain of all sweetness which is not dependent on youth, virtue, beauty or wealth, nor tainted by self-interest or thoughts of personal gain, and which is pare and free from desire (of self-gratification).
Very subtle, very soft, very slender, very remote, Love is the hardest of all, constant, unvaried in sweetness, brimful.
All-sweetness, spontaneous, disinterested, unwavering, sublime, unvaried in sweetness, constantly growing, such is pure love, O Kasakhan.
A poet says:
Love constantly grows like the waxing moon, Only there is no full-moon here, hence it never reaches the point where it may be said to be full.
This type of Love can grow only in the heart of the devotee in relation to God. Devarshi Narada, while describing the nature of this Love, says:
The nature of Love cannot be described in words, like the experiences of a dumb person. This Love manifests itself in some rarely fortunate and qualified medium (namely, a devotee who has developed supreme indifference to worldly enjoyments).
This Love is beyond the range of the three Gunas, is untainted by desire, constantly growing, ceaseless in flow, and very subtle; it can be understood only by experience. A devotee who attains this sees only this Love, hears only this, and thinks of this and this alone.
(Bhakti-Sutra 51-55)
There remains no distinction between the lover and the beloved in this state. For, as the poet says:
Love is the essence of God and God is the embodiment of Love. Though one in essence, they appear as two, like the sun and the sunshine.
Below are the utterances of some Hindi poets regarding the condition of the Gopis, who attained this highest stage of Love.
In whichever direction I look, I find the landscape full of Shyama [Krishna] (dark blue). The bowers and groves are dark, the water of the Jamuna is dark, the sky and clouds are dark. All the colors are merged in the dark color, people say this is something novel.
Am I mad, or are the dark pupils of the peoples' eyes changed? The heart of the Moon and the scion of the Sun are dark, the musk is dark, as well as Cupid, the conqueror of the world. The neck of the blue-necked Shiva is also dark, as if the dark color has been broadcast all over the earth. The letters of the Vedas appear dark; the point of the tapering light is also dark. Not to speak of men and gods; the Formless Brahma itself has assumed a dark Form.
The ears went ahead of all and lost themselves in the stories of His glory. Then the eyes departed and lost themselves in the nectarean beauty. So did the mind lose itself in the smile in the dance, in the furtive glance, in the mirth, in the symmetry of Form and in the sweetness of disposition, even as water mixes with milk.
Enchanted by that Supreme Enchanter, my mind has identified itself with the Enchanter Himself and no distinction, says Harichand, is now visible between the two. Krishna has entered into my very life-breath, and the breath is surcharged with Krishna. It cannot be perceived now whether it is life that pulsates within, or Krishna that is throbbing in the heart.
Wherever I turn my eyes, I find Shyama [Krishna] and Shyama alone visible everywhere. In the streets, on the bathing ghats, in the alleys, in the orchards, in the trees, in the creepers, in the gardens, in the groves, in the doorways, on the walls, on the thresholds, on the windows, in the gardens, in the diamonds, in the necklaces, in the body, in the woodlands, in the bowers, in the Gopis, in the cows, in the herds of cattle in Gokula, in the lightning, and in the clouds. It is Krishna, again, who has occupied my mind and eyes.
This love of Shyama is something which cannot be expressed through words. The sky, water, earth, animate and inanimate creation, all that is perceived is nothing but Shyama. Brahma has vanished: Maya, too, has disappeared: no Jiva (embodied soul), no time: Even one's own self has been forgotten. If anything remains, it is the darling of Nanda.
There is no one left to confide the secret of his heart. As a matter of fact, no such secret is left, to whom and in what manner shall it be confided? While gazing on Hari, the heart got stolen. Now it is Hari and Hari alone who is seen on all sides.
Narayana says, in whose heart Shyama resides. In branch, leaf, flower and fruit I see Him and nothing else. Doors and walls have been transformed into mirrors. In whichever direction I look I find Thee and Thee alone. Pebbles, stones, and broken pieces of earthenware all have turned into so many looking-glasses.
The following is an anecdote connected with the Gopis, who saw Krishna permeating the whole universe. One of these Gopis asked another in the course of their talks about Krishna, in which they remained engaged all the twenty-four hours—"Sister, here is a puzzle for me. The blessed Nanda has got a fair complexion, Queen Yashoda is fair, even Balarama is fair-complexioned; while all members of the family are fair, is it not strange that Shyamasundara [Krishna] alone should have been dark-complexioned?" Hearing this the other Gopi, who beheld Krishna everywhere, replied—"Sister, what a shame? Don't you know even this?"
He stays day and night within our eyes painted black by collirium.4 0 friend, it is due to this that the body of our dearest is dark in color.
What a sentiment of deep spiritual significance. In the painted eyes of these Gopis resided Sri Krishna alone and nothing else; their eyes beheld nothing else in this wide world. There are some people who hold that the Gopis never believed in the all-pervading nature of the Lord. This is quite true, inasmuch as these Gopis saw their beloved Sri Krishna alone, and nothing else. When in their eyes nothing besides Sri Krishna existed, then what would He pervade?
Bowing again and again to the sacred feet of these Gopis, who are merged and lost in this Divine Love of Sri Krishna, we proceed to the next stage of our discussion))
jai shri krishn))
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