Love, Anahata, Agape, Ishq

By S.A. Specter, Author of Love, Anhata, Agape, Ishq, The Destination of Human Journey

The greatest technique is no technique. A lover does not believe in methods, yoga asanas; dhikr or other mantras. Lovers believe that humans are not eligible to attain God. A lover is only in a receptive mode, where the Beloved comes to them. This is the case with love, you can never enforce it. Ghalib professes,

“There is no force over love, it is that triumphant fire, Ghalib;

           It cannot be kindled nor forcefully extinguished once aflame.”

Lovers are dissolved in their Beloved; their egos completely disappeared. They do not credit themselves for this miracle because the apparition of self exists no more, how to acclaim self? Lovers are in a thankful state towards the Beloved. The greatest stillness of the mind is when a person is in love. The mind is no more the master of you. The mind is a tool, a very important one, but nevertheless a tool, a subordinate.

Kabir says;

“Living in bondage, I have set myself free…”

To be free from all the fighting within is the greatest freedom one can experience. Free like a bird. In the presence of the Master, by putting in complete trust, the Master is to be consumed. The more a lover is receptive, the more space is created for the Beloved to pour himself into the lover and that is when for the first time a lover gets freedom from oneself. Freedom is not a concept of the external world. Even if you are free from all the shackles of the world, the biggest shackle is the ego itself. You can be in prison but are free from within. The mind goes on playing tricks by creating imagery and this is where it gets dangerous. The mind will create situations where you falsely deduce that you are free. The illusion of liberty of actions creates a fake feeling of freedom. Freedom is the biggest bounty gifted by God to mankind. The mind creates this illusion of freedom so that it feels good but objectively one has never experienced freedom unless one is free from one’s own self.

Jesus said, “God is love.” This is possibly the purest definition of love that can be put into words. Love is the only potent force where everything happens on its own accord. Liberation becomes an automatic phenomenon. No teaching is needed on the path of love. Rules of love become characteristics of a lover rather than followable commandments. Turning into receptive mode is the only focus. Sitting in front of the Beloved becomes enough for liberating oneself. No liberation is achieved until God has descended on your heart.

Certain branches of Sufism do not even emphasize on chakras & energy points. When a person is in such a state of reception, magic happens; God descends on one’s heart.

An anecdote is preached amongst the Sufis; Milk is known to be divine and water cheap. The milk asks the water to mix itself with milk so its value becomes equal to the milk. When the mixture is boiled, the water evaporates and only milk remains. The first experience involves the Beloved communicating in the Lover’s realm where the lover at times will be elevated but will come back to their normal state. The second state, which can only be achieved when water completely evaporates. Now, there is only the Beloved, that state is permanent as how can one revert to something which never existed. The bliss of becoming a part of the “ONE”.

Logic and mind if used will create a different experience for the viewer but a lover looks at the world without any ego. A lover will feel the warmth and beauty of the Beloved in the flower whereas a logician will describe the species, counting the number of petals, the sigma, the pollen. The flower remains the same but the experience of a lover is different altogether which is why people in love are labeled mad. They are called mad because madness is a state which cannot be understood by the mind. Those who have known love and have gone beyond the mind are aware of the limited scope of the mind and are not bothered by being called names. Lovers despise argumentation and logic as they have risen beyond. 

Words are too feeble to communicate love. Words are incapacitated to communicate the joy of becoming a parent? It can only be experienced, that is why many truly scintillating human beings who become love refrain from using words. The path of the Sufis involves complete immersion in the wine of love. The whole path is to let go of the illusion of control and surrender to the Beloved. Surrender, the literal meaning of Islam. Love is not something to be attained or achieved. As a matter of fact, love is something that despises control. The more stubbornness you show, the more you cling on to your ego. Love comes on Master’s conditions.

Kabir says;

 “He who has found both love and renunciation, never descends to death.”

Kabir is not referring to the infatuation where dopamine is released or a tingling sensation is experienced. That love is not aware of renunciation. That love wants to attain, possess and is very jealous. This toxicity of trying to possess kills the relationship between the lover and the Beloved. The love Kabir glorifies is beyond being possessive, it is beyond jealousy. It grants complete freedom to the Beloved as well as the lover. The state of renunciation is beyond any other needs. A lover lives in the world but nothing bonds him anymore as he has known love. Nothing is enticing to a lover anymore.

Meditation

The awareness of the present moment is the most powerful tool every spiritual school promotes. The mind has a way of wandering in the future by daydreaming or it becomes a gravedigger. The calmness of the mind or razor-sharp focus is what is desired for success in the world and can be achieved by being in the present. Forcing the mind to do so will create havoc as how can one control the mind by staying in the mind. One has to go beyond.

Eckhart Tolle writes in his book

“The moment you realize you are not present, you are present.”

This is why all the Masters emphasize the need for staying in the present moment. The moment that exists NOW. Any vehicle that is applying brakes and the accelerator at the same time is either going to result in an accident or it is going to heat up. The same phenomenon is applicable in this world, when doing anything, completely be a part of that activity. It can be getting involved in what you are doing so deeply that the action remains and not YOU. When you drink from a cup become the drinking, when you swim, become the act of swimming. Becoming the action will make you realize the beauty of being in the present. The memory will make you a gravedigger and will lead to self-torture and develop different stories to make you satisfied but satisfaction is not the nature of the mind. 

Once this is practiced over a period of time, one will be in the present moment completely. Now, the mind is not aware of totality, the mind is afraid to plunge into anything totally if you are totally here, the mind will drop. Only the present moment will be there. Be aware that the mind will play all kinds of tricks, the moment you are about to be totally here, it will pop up something urgent because the mind is afraid. Immersion in any situation completely will dissolve the ego. It is a common technique in Zen meditation that you immerse in the activity so much that not even you are present.

This stillness is certain times invoked by a shock. The shock makes the present moment the most important. Various thrill-seekers tend to enjoy extreme sports because it allows them to be in the present fully. In those moments one can achieve a certain distance from the mind by not being in the future or the past.

The stillness of the mind is the prerequisite of attaining. The stillness is only inculcated when the mind is for the first time in tune with its true nature which is the servitude in your kingdom. Nature behaves in the most mysterious of ways, it will bestow you with your bounties when you are receptive. The phenomenon of the Master is so huge in magnitude that one tends to shake out of the ego. One is receptive to what the Grace of the Master is to offer. That is for the first time your mind will be completely silent. It is such an overwhelming state especially for people where the entire lives the mind has been a chatterbox. The Grace has always been there; the bounties of God have always been there but it was waiting for you to be silent so that it can be experienced.

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The writer of the post S.A. Specter is the author of the book Love Anahata Agape Ishq: Destination of human journey. His book is available for free for a limited time and can be bought here. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082ZRXJVY