A Mighty River of Love ...

        ... Flowing from the Open Heart

Each step on the spiritual path is a step toward the realization of the wonder and glory of the Divine Self, which flows into this world as love.

The master Jesus was asked: Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Gospel of Matthew 22:36-40

In this world, the essence of Divine Love is manifest as loving-kindness and selfless service to one another, as the great Persian teacher Sa'di wrote:

Higher spiritual life is
       nothing but service of humanity,
It is not the rosary,
           or prayer carpet, or woolen robes.

Sa'di Shirazi

Similarly, the mystic Mabel Collins wrote:

Learn to look intelligently into the hearts of men from an absolutely impersonal point of view, otherwise your sight is colored. Therefore impartiality must be understood.

Intelligence is impartial; no man is your enemy, no man is your friend. All alike are your teachers. Your enemy becomes a mystery that must be solved even though it takes ages; for man must be understood. Your friend becomes a part of yourself, an extension of yourself, a riddle hard to read. Only one thing is more difficult to know - your own heart. Not until the bonds of personality be loosed can that profound mystery of self begin to be seen. Not till you stand aside from it, will it in any way reveal itself to your understanding. Then, and not until then, can you use all its powers, and devote them to a worthy service.

Light on the Path, Mabel Collins

Such are the steps on the path. At the point when one renounces all claims to the fruits of action and acknowledges God, the Supreme Self, as the true Doer, then one opens the door of the heart to the flow of a new sort of power, the power of love. And as the power of love begins to freely flow through the heart, like a mighty river it quenches the thirst of our fellow travelers and gives them the strength to do likewise.

The individual soul is a shoot that springs from the all-pervading Spirit, its goal being its origin; and every attachment it has on its way is, no doubt, a detaining on the journey. The soul is never fully satisfied so long as it has not reached its destination. The love of the external world is a rehearsal before the performance, which is the love of God, the Inner Being.

Sangatha II, by Hazrat Inayat Khan

Oh Divine Self, You are the Glory of glory, the Strength of strength, the Love behind all loves.... Oh how wonderful is Thy plan!

The one who has let go of all excessive preoccupation with "I", "me" and "mine", seeing only "Thou" everywhere,  has opened a new window to Life. Then, through the opening of such non-attachment, a mighty river will begin to flow.

The love that we cannot live without is the love where the "I am" self is gone, where one's True Nature is manifest. That is true love.

Joshu Sasaki Roshi

Whenever the river of Self is offered an open heart to flow through, a mighty flood of love, harmony and beauty flows into the world.

If you are seeking closeness to the Beloved,
   love everyone.
whether in their presence or absence,
      see only their good.
if you want to be as clear and refreshing as
       the breath of the morning breeze,
like the sun have nothing but warmth and light
          for everyone.

Shaikh Abu-Said Abil-Khair

That is the task at hand... to open the heart, and allow the vast, mighty river of Love to flow unimpeded into a thirsty world.

The ever-selfish ego will try to preserve it's self-importance and will bring up all sorts of questions to keep us self-absorbed, such as "Why would God do this?" or "Why would God do that?". However, toiling with such unanswerable questions is not the path to happiness or success. Rather, we must simply say "I don't know, but Thou knowest all things", and begin to rise above our self-absorption, discovering that truly we are instruments of the Divine, each sent on a journey to bring love, harmony and beauty into the world in our own unique manner.

The point is not to deny our ego, but to extricate ourselves from our exclusive preoccupation with it.

Our journey is about being more deeply involved in life, and yet less attached to it.

One-Liners, Ram Dass

As with all journeys, there are steps which one must take in order to discover the purpose of their life. A marvelous step on the spiritual path is the discovery of the freedom of knowing that "I am That", and all that truly exists is "That".

Give up trying to visualize God or understand His workings; just take His love and bring it into your life.

Sheikh Jelaluddin Loras

O Lord, make me an instrument of Thy Peace!

The Peace Prayer, attributed to St Francis

Armed with such new clarity of vision, no longer limited by thoughts of "I", "me" or "mine", one begins to allow the water of loving-kindness to flow freely into the thirsty world. And, as that flow begins, as one allows the opening of the heart to become boundless, a mighty river of love, harmony and beauty flows forth without limits, without bounds, eternal, all-encompassing.

It is for this that we have come!

Wishing you love, harmony and beauty,
    wahiduddin

posted January 02, 2005