Day 15
The Rishi Garga said Katha, meaning storytalking about the glory of it. Listening and talking about it. When you are in love with someone, you want to know everything about them.
What do they do? Where do they sit? Where did they go? What do they think? What is their opinion? What do they say? You want to know everything about them.
And an interest in listening to that story and telling the story of the beloved is another characteristic of such a deep devotion, such a deep love. No other subject interests you.
When you are in love, you only talk about the beloved and the beloved’s stories. This is another sign, another characteristic of such Divine love. In nothing else is there any interest.
Another Rishi by the name Shandilya says a characteristic of love is rejoicing in the Self without any conflict. This is a sign of divine love. The moment you are happy, immediately a conflict arises in you, “Oh I shouldn't be happy.” Society has stuffed so much guilt in you.
And you cannot be at peace having guilt in your heart. But when you are in love, such deep love with this existence, with all the people on this planet, there is no way you can have any guilt.
Guilt is always associated with selfishness, with self-pleasure. Guilt cannot be with sacrifice and love is sacrifice. Wrong understanding imposes guilt in you. Atmarati means reposing in the Self, being in the Self, rejoicing in the Self without any conflict.
To cross the conflict you need wisdom, you need grace. Shandilya’s way to look at Divine love is reposing, rejoicing in the Self without any conflict. And love brings you that.
Divine love, Supreme love makes you rejoice in the Self without any conflict. Having enunciated what other Rishis say, now Narada comes to his own way of looking at Divine love.
But my opinion is offering all my actions, all my attitudes, all my tendencies because it is the actions, tendencies and intentions which stop you from rejoicing in the self. And all that hinders me to rejoice in the self, I offer them all to the divine.
And when I forget the divine, becoming extremely uncomfortable is the real characteristic of divine love. Narada says forgetfulness of the divine causes intense pain , intense longing, intense restlessness, this is the characteristic of divine love.
It is like that. Like it happened to the Gopis of Brindavan. The Gopis had nothing of their own. Every move they made was for the Divine, their mind , their heart, their soul was all immersed in Lord Krishna. It is like that, like the Gopis of Brindavan.
How they were utterly in dismay, when, even for a moment, they forgot their beloved. And how everything that they did was only with one thought, “How would my Lord appreciate this? What would he want? How would he like this?”
This was in their mind all the time. Whether they sang, they cooked, they churned the butter or they danced and dressed, they did everything for one reasonhow would my lord appreciate this? It is for the love.
There are ample number of stories about Gopis and their love and devotion towards Krishna. Narada says that is a sign of divine love.
