The third point to which I want to draw your attention is titled “Love of Women and God.”
A man loves a woman living in a distant place. His love makes him think of her all the time. He can’t eat; he can’t sleep. He longs for her continuously. When his longing becomes too great, he either goes to her or compels her to come to him. This is called ishq-e-mijazi or physical love. There are two kinds of love, physical love and love for God. Spiritual love is the gift of God to man. Even a man who has this physical love 100 percent is rare. That kind of love is well-nigh impossible. Majnun had 100 percent love for Laila.
Majnun loved Laila; that was ishq-e-mijazi. He loved Laila 100 percent the way a man should love a woman. He went mad for love of her — he could not sleep, he could not eat; he lost everything but his love for Laila. Even this sort of love of a man for a woman is rare. Then what about divine love?
There is a difference between these two kinds of love. You cannot have love for God until it is a gift from God. Then it is effortless. Once you receive this gift, you go on loving. It is all a burning within. The lover thinks only: “When will I see the Beloved, my Christ, my Baba; when will I become one with him?” He lives only for this. This is ishq-e-hakiki or spiritual love, the real love.
Majnun had ishq-e-mijazi, physical love for Laila. When he could not find Laila, he asked everyone where she was. He even went to Mecca and embraced the pillars of the Kaaba, pleading: “Where is Laila?” He almost went mad for her love. Then he met a Perfect Master who told him: “God is real, the world is illusion. There is no Laila at all; how can you find her? Only God exists and is real.”
Majnun said: “Whether my Laila is real or illusory, I want her!” Then the Perfect Master had a whim — he touched Majnun on the head. Majnun became God-realized and experienced himself also as Laila! There was no one but himself!
In love one has to suffer a lot. If I tell you, Anita, to discard your dress and go naked around the city and beg, would you be able to? You won’t do it willingly.
-www.lordmeher.org, p4841
Nov, 1962;Â East-West Gathering, Guruprasad