Love is the Reason
The mystics tell us love is the reason for our existence. It is what fashioned and sustains this world, and the entire universe. Without it, life would cease in an instant. Not only is it our origin and sustenance, we are an expression of it. Call it God, call it Shabd, or the Word, love is the most powerful force that exists, the only true and everlasting power that prevails.
How is it that this creative force is not recognized as the essence of life, the force that dominates everything, that is vital to our very existence? How is it that the very power that animates us is largely unrecognized?
The answer lies in the mind – its function, and the way we have made use of it. Although the function of the mind is to render service to the soul, we have allowed it to run unchecked for countless lifetimes. Baba Ji has said that we have pampered the mind, and spoiled it, as a parent spoils a child by giving it everything it wants. The result of this indulgence is that the mind has taken control of our consciousness, while enslaving our soul.
We are all victims of a mind that is out of control. Anyone who has tried to control it knows what a powerful force it is. It is so swift and cunning that thoughts will slip into our consciousness before we are aware of them.
Over countless lifetimes, caught in the wheel of transmigration, we have completely lost control of our mental instrument, and our soul is silenced under its domination. The mind now operates automatically, obstructing our soul-consciousness.
The majority of time, the mind secretes thoughts based on past events and fantasies about the future. By continually reviewing the past and projecting into the future, the mind has created an autonomous self, separate from the Divine Being who controls our destiny and sustains our life. This false concept, the ego, claims, I am self-directed, unique, and self-sufficient. That self is fictional, conjured entirely by our mental apparatus. It has no reality, and it is fully dependent on the mind that created it.
In Living Meditation we read:
Ego is sustained and fed by constant thinking. . . Ego is kept alive by thinking constantly about the past or future. Without a past, it is hard to maintain an identity.
Living Meditation, 2004 ed, p.30
The word ‘personality’ derives from the Greek word “prosøpeion”, which means mask. This mask was used in ancient Greek theatre to portray a role or personality…. It is our ‘false’, our temporary identity, an impostor that pretends to be the real ‘me’.
Living Meditation, 2004 ed, p.31
We have come to identify with this self, the ego, which our mind continually upholds. By controlling the mind, we let go of the past and leave the future in the hands of the Lord. What remains, when the mind is silent, when the egoic self is abandoned, is our essence – our soul.
Saghir Isfahani, a Sufi mystic writes:
The soul is love and affection – So know the soul.
But the Truth is ecstasy, forgetting yourself.
When “I” and “you” are present,
You’re thinking from the ego’s place.
If you hear those two words, then remember the Truth.
Love’s Alchemy, Poems from the Sufi Tradition, 2006 ed., p.38
The mystic tells us that when we hear the words “I” or “you”, it is one’s ego talking. That is the time to remember that forgetting our self brings great joy to our soul.
Matthieu Ricard, a Buddhist monk, speaks of the mind that exists behind thoughts:
When the mind is full of memories and preoccupied by the future, it misses the freshness of the present moment. In this way, we fail to recognize the luminous simplicity of mind that is always present behind the veils of thought.
OFFERINGS, Buddhist Wisdom for Every Day, ’03 ed., p.1 June
In Living Meditation the author states:
All we have is this moment. If we keep our attention in the present moment, our problems shrink for lack of sustenance and we naturally, automatically, lead a happier life. Meditation is an exercise in being here, now. When we live in the present, we become fully alive and our consciousness reaches out far beyond the limitations of our ego. Ego exists through this very avoidance of being in the present – in its own realm of mental make-believe. . .
The present moment is the most valuable thing there is. Nothing happens tomorrow, nothing happens yesterday, everything always happens now. In fact, the ‘now’ is the only time there is.
Living Meditation, pp. 63, 64
When we live in the present, we take things as they come, without judgement, worry, or desire for change. Only in the now can we be aware of God’s presence. That awareness brightens the moment, filling it with inner peace, and gratitude for his love and his many gifts.
In the book Abandonment to Divine Providence Jean-Pierre de Caussade, a French Jesuit priest, explains that the will of God is expressed in the present moment, and contains everything we need to lead us toward spiritual advancement. In letters he wrote as a spiritual advisor, we read:
God speaks to every individual through what happens to them moment by moment….
Abandonment to Divine Providence, 1975 ed., p.20
Every moment we live through is like an ambassador who declares the will of God…. We can find all that is necessary in the present moment.
Abandonment to Divine Providence, 1975 ed., p.50-51
We must put all speculation aside and, with childlike willingness, accept all that God presents to us. What God arranges for us to experience at each moment is the best and holiest thing that could happen to us.
Abandonment to Divine Providence, 1975 ed., p.27
Meditation trains us to live in the present. Doing simran slows our mental activity. When our attention focuses at the eye center, the past and future evaporate in the stillness. There, immersed in the Celestial Current, we contact the love that flows through us and supports us. Listening to the Shabd is following the path of his love. Another mystic, Khaqani Shirwani, writes:
It is love that speaks to you,
calling you beyond the limits
of this created realm.
That which frees you
from your tiny self
also is love.
Love’s Alchemy, p.xviii
Freedom is what we can look forward to as practicing disciples. Freedom from the narrow, restricted person we have imagined ourselves to be. Freedom from desires, from fears, from pain, from attachments, and from the incessant thoughts coursing uninvited through our mind. The method taught by the saints promises freedom from the endless cycle of births and deaths, and release of the soul – that pure and shining self that has been silenced for so long.
As one mystic put it:
The soul never really begs to speak –
Except the words of love.
Love’s Alchemy, p.48
It is through meditation that we can control the mind and discover our true identity, our soul, which is a particle of the Lord, who is pure love.