About suffering, love and God-realisation
By Avatar Meher Baba
A simple life of freedom and happiness is one of the most difficult things to achieve. Man has complicated his life by the growth of artificial and imaginary desires, and returning to simplicity amounts to renunciation of desires. But 99% of human suffering is not necessary. Through obstinate ignorance, people inflict suffering upon themselves and their fellow beings; and then, strangely, they ask, “Why should we suffer?” Through their greed, vanity and cruelty, people bring untold suffering upon themselves and others. When someone is selfish, he can, in the false pursuit of separate and exclusive happiness, become utterly callous and cruel to others; but all this comes back to him by poisoning the very spring of his life. Loveless life is most unlovely; only a life of love is worth living.
True happiness begins when one learns the art of right adjustment to other persons, and this involves self-forgetfulness and love. Hence arises the spiritual importance of transforming the life of a limited self into a life of love.
Pure love is not something that can be forced on someone, nor can it be snatched away from another by force. It has to manifest from within, with unfettered spontaneity. What can be achieved through bold decisions is the removal of those factors that prevent the manifestation of pure love. The task that otherwise would be very difficult becomes easy through the exercise of a bold and unyielding decision to shed the limited self and get rid of it once and for all. Such a decision can be born in the mind of the aspirant only when he feels an intense longing for pure love. When such longing is indeed developed, he may be said to have been prepared for the intervention of a Perfect Master – who, through proper direction and necessary help, ushers him into the state of divine love. Only the Master can awaken pure love through the divine love that he imparts; there is no other way.
Those who want to be consumed in love should go to the eternal flame of love. Love is the most significant thing in life. It cannot be awakened except by coming into contact with the Incarnation of Love. Love begets love; it cannot be awakened by any mechanical means.
When true love is awakened in the aspirant, it leads him to the realisation of God and opens up the unlimited field of lasting happiness. The happiness of God-realisation is the goal of all creation. It is not possible for a person to have the slightest idea of that inexpressible happiness without actually having the experience of Godhood.
Real happiness that comes through realising God is worth all the physical and mental suffering in the universe. Then all suffering is as if it has never been. Those who are not God-realised can control their minds through yoga to such an extent that nothing makes them feel pain or suffering. But though advanced yogis can brave and annul any suffering, they do not experience the happiness of realising God.
When one becomes God, everything else is zero. The happiness of God-realisation is self-sustained, eternally fresh and unfading, boundless and indescribable. It is for this happiness that the world has sprung into existence.
Today is the 125th birth anniversary of Avatar Meher Baba