Falling in Love

Love. We have no control over it. When we fall in love, we truly fall. We plunge deeply, head over heels, with such intensity and velocity that we push aside all obstacles in our way. Albert Einstein himself said that “gravitation cannot be held responsible for people falling in love!” It is another force – a force more powerful than us that tugs at our soul from deep within. We hardly have any choice in the matter. And just like that, at the snap of divine fingers, we find ourselves right in the middle of the vortex of love.

Falling in love is actually quite simple, and often takes very little effort on our part – it just happens. And in that state of intoxication, we often make romantic promises and lifelong commitments to our lovers “to love and to cherish, in sickness and in health until death do us part.” In such a state, many of us have promised our beloved Master that we will meditate for two and a half hours every day.

The velocity of that initial fall into love fuels us at first, and every chance we get, we want to sit silently in remembrance of our beloved. For many of us though, this honeymoon period soon comes to an end. What happens when we wake up one morning and no longer have the desire to meditate? How are we to cope when the love that once fuelled us starts to feel like a distant emotion – like a vague memory or blurred glimpse of a beautiful dream that we once lived?

When falling in love was effortless, why is staying in love such a challenge? The truth is, falling in love was a divine gift of sorts to bless our union; whereas staying in love requires hard work on our part. A seed of love was planted deep within us, and how magnificently intense it felt to have the divine gardener stroke our soul; but now it is our responsibility to water that seed in order to keep our love alive and help it to grow.

Everybody can grow that feeling, that love, that intensity by meditation.
_{Maharaj Charan Singh, Die to Live}

Nonetheless, when love’s intensity has weakened, and the gardener is nowhere in sight, we can easily begin to grow desperate. We start to plead, cry and beg for grace, for mercy and for love! We want to jump right back into the vortex of love! But Maharaj Jagat Singh explains that our cries are useless unless they are supported by effort:

Our prayers and pleadings are quite useless, unless these are supported by all the effort on our part to push the door open. Remember that a Master cannot be deceived or cheated. Unless the yearning to meet him is intense and true, he remains silent and unattentive.
_{The Science of the Soul}

Perhaps our petition for love should be made in a language that he understands – our meditation. Our cry for love is better heard when made in the silence and stillness of our hearts – rather than by calling out to the Master for grace every time we stop putting in our efforts. Mirdad explains:

Be not in a haste to importune the smith each time you lose or misplace the key. The smith has done his work, and he has done it well; and he must not be asked to do the same work over and again. Do your work, and let the smith alone; for he, once done with you, has other business to attend. Remove the stench and rubbish from your memory, and you shall surely find the key.
_{The Book of Mirdad}

The truth is that everything we will ever need to tread this path was given to us at the time of initiation. We received the gift of love, as well as the key to keep that love intense and alive. Meditation is the only key, meditation is the only answer, and meditation is the sole door back into that intoxicating state of love. We must keep the vows we made to our lover, and rest assured, our lover will keep the promise he made to us. And before we know it, just like that, we will find ourselves falling helplessly in love all over again.

When your love for that power exceeds your love for yourself
  and the “I-ness” has been replaced by “Thou-ness”,
the form of the Guru will make its appearance visible within.
_{Maharaj Sawan Singh, Spiritual Gems}