Devotion knows no Suffering
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November 8, 2010
Bhakti is the key to eternal wisdom. Or I can say, wisdom is the eternal key to bhakti, because the goal is bhakti, not wisdom. Wisdom is for bhakti. Today, I will give you some of the sacred sentiments expressed by great devotees like Kabir, and define the experience of bhakti.
Very beautifully, bhakti is described by Kabir:
The bhakti path winds in a delicate way.
On this path, there is no asking and no not asking.
The ego simply disappears the moment you touch him.
The joy of looking for him is so immense that you just dive in and coast around like a fish in water.
If anyone needs a head, the lover leaps up to offer his.
How can we differentiate between suffering and vyakulata, yearning?
Please understand, in yearning, vyakulata, you will never have hatred towards the Master or God. In suffering, you have demands, and when the demands are not met, you will have a deep hatred, a deep pain. You can't forgive him.
Not only that, even if he meets your demands, you will feel, Oh, I am bound by him. I have to be independent of him. You will have hatred for him.
I have seen some people..! If I don't meet their needs, they have hatred for me. If I say, Okay, I will do what you want, even then, they say, No, I don't want you to do that. I want to be independent of you. Again they have hatred.
Understand the difference between suffering and vyakulata. Vyakulata will always melt you. With suffering, you will try to melt the other person, try to change the other person. In vyakulata, there will never be any hatred, but in suffering, you will start hating the other person. You will start abusing, blaming the other person. So the understanding of non-suffering or vyakulata is very important. With suffering, you ask, and even if he fulfills, you are not fulfilled. And I have seen arrogant people - even when I give, they don’t want to receive! Suffering is always based on arrogance, and vyakulata is based on humbleness. Vyakulata means you don’t ask, but it also does not mean that you don’t accept when it is showered on you. It is such a deep humbleness and passiveness, such a deep patience. With vyakulata, you don’t feel that he is human, equal to you. But with suffering, you start feeling that he is equal to you. That is why I always tell people, ‘If you are suffering, you don’t have love for me. You try to bring me to your level. In your arrogance, you try to think you are equivalent to me, and you bring me down to your level. With vyakulata, you always know He is the Ultimate, and you only just try to disappear into me; you only try to dissolve into the Master or God.’
First, you need to develop yourself in non-suffering. If you are suffering, be very clear, you are suffocating me. I just want to escape from you, or I want you to escape from me. So create a non-suffering base. That is the foundation. Then, no asking and no not asking; that is the building. In this building, God lives. In this building, the Divine lives. In this building, the Master resides.
Have the foundation of non-suffering, and the pillars of no asking and no not asking. The sacred sacrifice is the kalasha of that temple. I can say, this building is your Ananda Gandha chakra. This is the temple where God or Guru resides.
