Translation of Lecture by Shree Maharajji

There are three entities: the lover, the Beloved and Love. That which unites the lover and the Beloved, is called Love. In other words, Love is the intimate union of the lover and the Beloved. The lover is the one who loves the entity “Beloved”. And the “Beloved” is he, towards whom love is directed. He is the one who possesses Divine Love.

This “Love” is God’s most intimate personal power, which can be attained only by the Grace of a Rasik Saint. It cannot be attained through personal effort. This is why even the greatest yogis, paramahansas beg for Divine Love. The treasure house of this Love is Shree Krishna and His associates alone. No one else can lay claim to owning this power called “Love”. No personality controlled by Maya, not even the king of heaven, can occupy the seat of the Beloved. Therefore, no material personality can be the Beloved.

We have to begin by developing the two sentiments within us: “I am His,” and “He is mine.” Let us consider both of these carefully. Which of the two sentiments do you prefer? Do you prefer to think, “I am His,” or “He is mine?” Some prefer to think, “I am His.” Some prefer to think, “He is mine.” However, “He is mine” is a superior sentiment. “He is mine”, that is all. “I do not care whether or not He considers me His. There is no doubt about my being His, because I am a part of Him, I have an eternal and natural bond with Him and cannot be anyone else’s.”

chinmātraṁ śhriharaṁshaṁ
The Vedas say, “All individual souls are parts of God.”
dhātā mātā pitāmaḥ

The Vedas declare, “All relationships of the soul are with God alone. No one else can have any true relationship with the soul.” This proves that we belong to God. There is no denying that “I am His.” However, knowing this has not helped us. Countless lives have passed. “The soul was His. The soul is His. The soul will always be His.” This has been declared boldly by Shree Krishna personally and has been clearly stated in the Vedas but to no avail. So, how will we get results? By instilling the sentiment “He is mine”. We have to accept Him as ours.

The fortunate souls, Tulsi, Sur, Meera, Kabir, Nanak, Tukaram, who accepted Him as theirs, reached the goal, crossed the ocean of Maya, and attained the ultimate Bliss of Divine Love. They who have not realized this fact are rotating in the 8.4 million species of life. So, we must endeavor to develop the sentiment that “He is ours.”

Some people think, “He is only mine.” Shree Maharajji says that this expression is inaccurate. Rather than, “He is only mine,” we should think, “Only He is mine.” In other words, “I have no one else but Him.” The day this sentiment “He alone is mine” becomes grounded in us, our work will come to an end. We will have nothing more to do – no karm, no gyan, no bhakti, or anything else. The last action required by the soul is to accept that “He alone is mine,” after which everything will be attained and we will be free forever.

In the world, you love many people. What do you think twenty-four hours a day? Whether it is the mother, father, son, husband or wife, you always wonder whether or not the other person loves you. Why are you troubled by this thought? Keep on loving, without wondering about whether or not the other person loves you. You will say, “Am I a fool that I should keep on loving him even if I receive no love from him? I will not love him any more. I sent him four letters; he did not send me even one. I vow never to write him a letter again.” Or, “I sent him four letters, and he sent me eight. He loves me a lot.” What a wonderful way you have of measuring love!

You are innocent, and this is why people fool and cheat you. Now, if you want perfect reciprocation for your affection, you cannot love, because if the love of the other party reduces, so will yours. If he becomes neutral, so will you. And if he opposes you then you oppose him too. Where did your love disappear? This is not called love. It is the opposite of love.

A child loves rasgulla (a popular Indian sweet). He never thinks, “O Rasgulla! I always cry in front of mummy and daddy for you. Do you love me also?” The child loves the rasgulla and does not care whether or not the rasgulla loves him back. If we love someone, why do we want to know whether that person loves us or not? This is not love. It is a business, where we are constantly weighing profit and loss. “I gave you ten dollars, but you gave me only five dollars worth of goods.” This is not proper. You get upset. For ten rupees, you expect ten rupees worth of goods. If you get eleven rupees worth, you are happy. But at the very least you expect ten rupees worth. This is called good business sense. The problem is that we apply the same business sense when it comes to loving. We try to show all the time that we love the other person more than he loves us. All the while, internally we want the other to love us more than we love him.

Now, if we accept the sentiment “He alone is mine,” then we will not be in this constant dilemma, wondering “Am I His or not? Does He love me or not? Does He consider me His own or not?” We will not get caught up in thinking any of this. God proclaims in the scriptures:

ye yathā māṁ prapadyante tāṁstathaiva bhajāmyaham (Geeta)

“I reciprocate the love of the individual soul to the exact degree and with the exact sentiment.” This is an indisputable, unchanging Divine law. Keeping this Divine law in mind, you should never worry that perhaps He does not love you. He has to love you; He has no choice. You do not need to think that someone may have poisoned His ears against you which may have made Him stop loving you or not loving you as much as before. Why the doubt? He is not some worldly person, that He will listen to some third person and stop loving us, or reduce His love. Why is there any doubt on your part about His love for you?

He is All-seeing, All-knowing, the witness to everything, the well-wisher of all, the Supreme Almighty Lord. There is no question of doubt in this regard. There is no power that can shake or disturb the degree and amount of His love. There is no need to speculate, “Does He love me?” Or, “How much does He love me?” How much He loves you, depends on how much you love Him. “How much love do you want from Him?” “A lot.” “Then love Him a lot.” How is it that you love Him a little bit and expect Him to love you a lot? Even if your love is just a business transaction, you still cannot expect a hundred rupee shirt for only ten rupees. The paper money in your hand is a ten rupee note, and the shirt made of cloth is worth a hundred rupees. You should stay within your means. If you want a hundred rupee shirt, you must spend a hundred rupees.

So, God loves us to the extent that we love Him and surrender ourselves to Him. When you understand this law, you no longer worry about whether He considers you His or not. Questions such as, “Does He love me and how much does he love me,” come to an end.

We speculate in the world about the status of someone’s love for us because people are not all-knowing and can get confused if someone poisons their ears against us. Moreover, in the world, love is measured by external behavior. But, Shree Krishna is eternally seated within our heart noting all our ideas and cannot make such mistakes.

sākṣhī chetā kevalo nirguṇśhcha

So, there is no question of his not knowing the extent of our love for Him.