LOVE LONGS FOR THIS SUPREME PRIVILEGE

 
"Love suffereth long and is kind" says the writer addressing the Corinthians. No phrase expresses more beautifully and more perfectly our beloved Master, Meher Baba. He once said: "Do you know how I suffer from you all not understanding Me and My love?"

How many of us say to the Master, "Give me God-realization. Give me union, and I will give you all I have. I want nothing else, and then I will serve you to the very end." What a crucifixion! What a sword thrust into the very heart of the Beloved to condition thus God's Love. Better that we bury our heads in the dust at the Master's feet.

Let us rather be as the great Saint Rama Goa of South India who used to cry: "Oh God! Let me remain Thy lover forever. I do not want union, for then I cannot love You." But says Baba: "The result of this love is union. Love must naturally long for union, but it must be ever ready to give up the longing for union if it be the wish of the Beloved, and not think of self at all."

The nearest approach to complete Oneness and affinity with the Master is when He allows us to experience something of His infinite suffering — an experience known only to the lover and His Beloved. Love longs for this supreme privilege, a longing deeper than that for service, but it is not to be had for the asking!