Love Knows No Law

In Call of the Great Master Maharaj Sawan Singh explains that in love, no sacrifice is too great.

“Love means total self-effacement,” said the Great Master. “Kabir says, ‘The lane of love is so narrow that it cannot contain two. If I am, He is not;’ He further says, ‘If you wish to enter the lane of love, cut off your head and put it on your hand; then enter this lane.’”

“Maharaj Ji, this is not clear,” said Sardar Kesra Singh.

“It means that no sacrifice is too great for a lover,” the Great Master explained.

“What sacrifice, Sir?” a satsangi asked.

“A lover has to sacrifice everything – his body, mind and posses-sions – at the altar of love,” said the Master.

“But how, Sir?” asked the satsangi.

“Assume that you are sitting in meditation,” said the Great Master. “If you were to stop meditating as soon as your limbs began to ache as a result of the withdrawal of the soul current from the body, you would not be acting like a true lover. A true lover would suffer every kind of pain in order to have a glimpse of the Lord. Assume that you love riches. The door of heaven would not then open up for you. Love of the Lord should supersede all other loves in your heart. True love consumes all impurities and cleanses the chamber of the heart for the entry of the Lord. Selfless love and devotion is the ladder that takes you straight to the palace where the beloved Lord resides. Love knows no law, nor is there any bargaining or account keeping in connection with it. You probably know the story of the milkmaid who was selling one pint of milk for an anna [a small coin]. Buyers came, paid their annas and went away with the pints of milk. But when the young man with whom she was in love came, she forgot all about counting and went on putting pint after pint into his bowl. Her mother scolded her for giving away milk like that.

“‘Mother!’ she cried, ‘You expect me to keep an account with the one I love? Don’t you know that love forgets all accounts!’”

“The heavenly keeper of accounts also forgets all our accounts if we offer our true love to him,” the Great Master said in conclusion.

Continuing, the Great Master said, “A story is told about the youth of the great saint Tulsidas. When he was newly married, he loved his wife so much that he could not bear separation from her for a single day – but an occasion arose when she had to go to her parents’ home. He managed to pass the day, but as soon as the evening set in he felt so lonely and love-sick that he left for his wife’s village on foot.

“When he reached the bank of the river, night had fallen and the river was in high flood. No boatman was willing to risk his life at such a dangerous time, even for the offer of four times the regular fare, so he entered the river to swim across it. After some time he saw a dead body floating downstream and on this he managed to complete the crossing.

“When he reached his father-in-law’s house at the dead of night, he found all the doors and windows shut tight. He went round the house to see if there was any way to get in, but found none. As he sat there trying to think of some way to climb to the roof of the house, he heard a rustling sound as though someone was letting down a rope from above. On looking, he found a big rope hanging down, and with its help he reached his wife’s room and thanked her for helping him with the rope.

“‘What rope?’ she asked in surprise.

“‘Didn’t you let down that big rope for me to climb up?’ he asked.

“‘No, I did not let down any rope,’ replied his wife. He then took her to the wall, where they found that it was a big snake that he, in his blind infatuation, had taken for a rope. He then told her that he had crossed the river in high flood on a dead body, at which she exclaimed, ‘My beloved husband, if you had only one-tenth of this love for God, he would have opened the gates of heaven for you! What do you see in me – vessel of dirt that I am? Turn your love to the Lord, and save both me and yourself.’

“These simple words of an uneducated girl acted as an eye-opener to the saint and changed his life. He fell at the feet of his wife.

“‘Great woman,’ he cried, ‘you have shown me the light! May the Lord bless you.”