DIFFERENT HELPMATES IN DISGUISE

 
Baba clapped His hands and we came running. Then, in the course of His talk with us, He spelled out on the board the different ways in which each loved Him. He turned to me and said, "And you love Me for Love itself." It was not clear what Baba meant, but His words to this day remain deeply woven in my consciousness.

Experience teaches us to accept what Baba says not necessarily as a personal fact, but often as a "pointer" towards which He desires us to aim. On one occasion, to me Baba said, "Love the One in the many and not the many in the One; I am the only Friend who will never let you down."

How difficult this is we all know, but I think it is more nearly possible if we can love for the sake of "Love itself." Such flashes in "the daily round, the common task" are rare indeed, but if they have been experienced once, can they not be experienced again until the "flash" becomes spontaneous and permanent? On this subject Baba dictated directly from the board the following:

"Love is the fountain of life-giving water. No one and no thing can live without love. Its expression varies according to the capacity of the receiver and the giver and, in it highest form, love is Divinity.

"To love is to live. You cannot really live without love. The omnipotent laws of nature have this power in its divine potency pervading the universe. The right to strike at the chord of love only belongs to the brave and sturdy at heart.

"Hectic search for exhilarating experiences should not be mistaken for love. They are the forerunners of grim, relentless penalties and intense suffering.

"Love from its lowest to its highest expression has its ups and downs. Love suffers the pangs of separation, the stings of jealousy; and all the little pricks that a lover has to endure are the different helpmates in disguise. They stir you up and bring forward to life the most important parts of your nature. Then they no longer maintain their individual life, but merge in one common longing for the Beloved.

"One in love tastes the glories of life to the full. The blissful heights of joyousness and the buoyant feelings of heavenly delights are the steady steps towards divine Oneness.

"Love surrenders to the Will of the Beloved. Gives all to the Beloved. Sacrifices all for the Beloved. Lives for the Beloved. Dies for the Beloved. This supreme state of love is the God-state, for what is God but love? Infinite, unbounded, eternal Love! Love annihilates the lower self and expresses the higher Self.

"So, dear Soul, long for your Divine Beloved till you become One with your Beloved."