Saint Kabir has said,
“Pustak padh padh jag mua, pandit bhaya na koi,
Dhhai akshar prem ka, padhhe so pandit hoi.”
Meaning: People worldwide have died reading and reading various books, but not one has become a scholar. Read scripture after scripture, but since one could not attain the two and a half letters (of the word Prem), one wandered. But the one who understands just the two and a half letters of Prem (love), has become a scholar. When one becomes the embodiment of love, there the entire scripture ends.
Definition of Love
Since childhood, Param Pujya Dada Bhagwan also wondered what is the real meaning of love. Finally, He found it.
Dadashri: What is the definition of love?
Questioner: I do not know, Dada. Please explain it to me.
Dadashri: I too was looking for the definition of love when I was young! I wondered about the nature of love. People keep talking about love all the time. What could it be? So then, I read all kinds of books and scriptures but did not find the definition of love anywhere. I was astonished that no scripture has defined love. It was not until I read a book by Kabir that I was satisfied. He is the one who defined love. His definition helped me. It says:
‘That which increases one moment and decreases the next is not love:
That which resides in the heart and remains the same is real love.’
I found this to be a beautiful definition. ‘Bravo! Kabir Sahib, I must say!’ This is the truest love of all. That, which never increases or decreases, is love.
One that does not increase, does not decrease, that is true love. That which rises and subsides is not love but is attachment! Where there is no expectation, selfishness, fault or blame or deceit, no judgment; flows steadily continuously, does not get overwhelmed when praised, does not detest when criticized, such unwavering and selfless love alone is pure love!
An enlightened embodiment of love only can give a precise, real definition of true love. In this definition, we get the thermometer of true love. If we measure love with this thermometer, then the love that is talked about in all relationships in the world is not true love. Param Pujya Dada Bhagwan says the right thing, that love is a word of the supernatural language, but by using this word in the day-to-day world, it has lost its credibility. There cannot be love in worldly life. People do not understand love.
Then, how do we understand love? Love should be tested and where the results of this test are adverse, there, it gets confirmed that this is not love. It means if we understand where love does not exist, then, we will understand what is true love.
Where There Is Selfishness, There Is No Love There!
Param Pujya Dada Bhagwan says, “Where there is selfishness, there love cannot remain, and where there is love, there selfishness cannot remain.” Where there is “yours-mine”, there is certainly selfishness there. This is a popular definition of love, which we term as selfless love.
For example, two people do love marriage, and a few years later, when divorce happens, they go to court to claim property. Two people come together and start a business in a partnership. Initially, a loving relationship is seen between the two. But as years pass by, with regards to profits, slowly, slowly, ‘mine-yours’ begins. In the greed of earning more, one partner deceives another. So that ‘my’ family gets a better advantage, one may even eliminate the partner from the business. This then gives rise to so much hatred in the partnership, that not a drop of love remains. If there was love between the two, then where did that go?
Two brothers are living together in one house with love. But after they get married, both fight for their parents’ wealth and separate. Oh, for the sake of wealth, they will even throw out their parents from the house. Until the cow gives milk, they keep it in the house, then after that, they put it in the slaughterhouse. That means, until the self-interest is maintained, one considers others to be their own, and when the self-interest is not served, then they become alien. Then, how can this be called love?
Where one cannot give what is theirs to others, on the contrary, one tends to grab even that which is others’, there, love just cannot exist. Where one is always concerned about one’s benefits, love cannot exist there. Where there is such selfish intellect, there is a discrimination between mine and yours, where there is selfishness, there is no love there.
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Ambalal M. Patel was a civil contractor by profession. In June 1958, spontaneous Self-Realization occurred within Ambalal M. Patel. From this point on, Ambalal became a Gnani Purush, and the Lord that manifested within him became known as Dada Bhagwan. A Gnani Purush is One who has realized the Self and is able to help others do the same. Param Pujya Dada Bhagwan used to go from town to town and country-to-country to give satsang (spiritual discourse) and impart the knowledge of the Self, as well as knowledge of harmonious worldly interactions to everyone who came to meet him. This spiritual science, known as Akram Vignan, is the step-less path to Self-realization.