There is a Sufi story. A king was in love with a very beautiful woman, but the woman was already in love with a servant of the king. And the servant was far more authentic an individual than the king. The king was a hypocrite – as usual. But it was very offensive to the king that he should be rejected and that the servant, his own servant, should be the winner.
He asked his advisers, “What can be done? – because I cannot take this defeat by my own servant easily.”
The advisers suggested an idea and he followed it. The woman and the servant were caught.
Naked, they were forced to embrace each other and they were tied in that position to a pillar in the palace. A few in the king’s court could not believe it: “What are you doing? You wanted this woman and you yourself are giving her to your servant.” But the king had understood the psychological idea of the advisers. To embrace your beloved in private, in your aloneness, is one thing, and to be in her embrace tied to a pole in an open place where hundreds of people are moving is another thing.
Soon it became disgusting. It was hot and they started perspiring. Twenty-four hours they were together, and the experience became so horrible that when after twenty-four hours they were let go, they both escaped from the palace and from each other. They never met each other again; everything was finished. The whole romance of meeting the beloved, of being embraced by her, had turned into a nightmare. Tied together to a pillar for twenty-four hours… it became an ugly experience.
The king rewarded the adviser and said, “You really understand human mind.”
Be Loving
We need to go beyond Human Mind to Love. Till the time we love through our mind we will not be able to transcend our love to unconditional love.
Man is not one-dimensional; otherwise, his whole world would be sheer boredom.
And man’s search is basically to be one with existence – separation hurts.
In our other loving relationships, in small measures we are searching for the same unity. In love with a woman, in love with a man, in love with a friend, in love with some creative activity – dance, music, poetry – we are trying to have a certain synchronicity with existence.
Our situation is that of a small child in the forest who has lost his mother and is searching in the forest, not knowing where to go. This situation allows many exploiters… this helplessness is used by those who are in power, by those who have money. The helplessness is used to convert you into a slave, into dependence.
Hence, all the religions have developed particular programs. They begin with God – and with God, your relationship cannot be anything else but that which exists between a puppet and a puppeteer, between the slave and the owner. With God, you cannot expect more than that, because he is the creator; he has made you – he can at any moment destroy you too. Neither did he ask you whether you wanted to enter into life, nor will he ask you whether you are in favor of destroying the world.
All the gods of all the religions are dictatorial. They are fascist.
The moment you start feeling your inner light, your whole perspective starts changing. You will feel compassionate towards human beings even if they are doing stupid things. And you will feel immensely joyous, celebrating, even though you don’t have anything to celebrate. Nothing is needed to celebrate – only excuses… birthday is just an excuse! But if you want to celebrate, you will find a thousand and one excuses.
It is your life, and whatever becomes of it is your creation.
Remember, there are hidden signatures on it. You cannot disassociate yourself from what you create, from the way you live, the way you respond.
Once you are overflowing with love and blissfulness, you cannot, even in your dreams, act in a way which is humiliating to another. Because the other is not really the other, it is just part of us.
We are one consciousness filling the whole universe.
Learning from the story Human Mind: Be Loving
Experience Learning
One of the most profound sutras of Gautama the Buddha: ‘Love yourself…’
Just the opposite has been taught to you by all the traditions of the world, all the civilizations, all the cultures, all the churches. They say: “Love others, don’t love yourself.” And there is a certain cunning strategy behind their teaching.
Love is the nourishment for the soul. Just as food is to the body, so love is to the soul. Without food the body is weak, without love the soul is weak. And no state, no church, no vested interest, has ever wanted people to have strong souls, because a person with spiritual energy is bound to be rebellious.
Love makes you rebellious, revolutionary. Love gives you wings to soar high. Love gives you insight into things, so that nobody can deceive you, exploit you, oppress you. And the priests and the politicians survive only on your blood – they survive only on exploitation. All the priests and all the politicians are parasites.
To make you spiritually weak they have found a sure method, one hundred percent guaranteed, and that is to teach you not to love yourself. If a man cannot love himself he cannot love anybody else either. The teaching is very tricky. They say “Love others,” because they know if you cannot love yourself you cannot love at all. But they go on saying, “Love others, love humanity, love God, love nature, love your wife, your husband, your children, your parents, but don’t love yourself” – because to love oneself is selfish according to them.
They condemn self-love as they condemn nothing else – and they have made their teaching look very logical. They say: “If you love yourself you will become an egoist, if you love yourself you will become narcissistic.” It is not true. A man who loves himself finds that there is no ego in him. It is by loving others without loving yourself, trying to love others, that the ego arises.
The missionaries, the social reformers, the social servants, have the greatest egos in the world – naturally, because they think themselves to be superior human beings. They are not ordinary: ordinary people love themselves; they love others, they love great ideals, they love God. And all their love is false, because all their love is without any roots. A man who loves himself takes the first step towards real love.
