Indian, Gorakh, Death is Divine Chapter 10: Music, the easiest method of meditation, Question 3

The third question:

Question 3

WHY IS LOVE GIVEN THE TEST OF FIRE?

It can only be given to love. Only gold can be thrown into the fire, because the rubbish will burn, gold will remain, will become pure shining gold. The fire test can be given to love because love will not burn in fire. What burns is not love. What remains after the firing is love. And it remains in a purified form. Whatever rubbish was in it... And there is much rubbish in your love. Usually it is love in name only, rubbish is more. Hate too is mixed in your love. Hence your love can instantly turn into hate. It was just love, now it becomes hate. The wife you were ready to give your life for, you can take the life of in a moment.

Consider this: a moment earlier you were completely ready to die and you were saying to your wife, "I cannot live without you. If you die then I will die. You are my soul." And you got up and looked through your old papers and letters. You found an old letter, written by someone to your wife. And you get a glimpse that it is an affair of love. You forget all about your love, pick up a gun and kill your wife. You killed the one you were going to die for. How long does it take for love to become hate? A small letter, a few words, a few lines on paper -- this much is sufficient, and love is gone?

How quickly your love turns into jealousy. If your wife is laughing and talking with someone, it is enough, a fire is lit. Your love is love in name only. In the name of love you are trying to prove your possession of the other. The husband wants the wife to be completely in his control. For centuries he has attempted, he has explained that the husband is god. The husband himself explains that the husband is god. Do you see the idiocy?

Mulla Nasruddin went to the market one day and said, "There is no woman in the world more beautiful than my wife."

People were surprised. People said, "Who told you this?"

He said, "My wife herself said it."

What value does it have? The husband himself explains it. And because women are physically more delicate, husbands have imposed it on them. It has been imposed by the strength of the club.

Indian women sign letters -- 'your slave.' They write it only in letters, but during the other twenty-four hours they get even. And in reality the situation is something else, because women cannot physically fight hand to hand with men they find subtle ways to fight. Very subtle ways. They have to find them.

Have you seen? Men invented many devices. They invented swords. They invented guns. They invented bombs. They invented spears. Why? Scientists say because man does not have the bodily strength that animals have. If a lion attacks you directly then all valor will be gone. Forget about a lion, if an alsatian dog comes after you, you will forget everything, you will go limp, you will be reminded of your mother's milk.

Man is helpless in comparison to animals. He has neither the claws to rip and tear, nor the teeth to chew raw flesh or crunch bones. So because of his helplessness man invented weapons. They are substitutes. Animals have claws, we have invented long spears. We have invented long knives, invented swords. But still we are afraid, even carrying a sword if you stand before a lion you will tremble. If in this trembling the sword falls...?

Mulla Nasruddin had gone hunting. He was sitting in a tree on a raised platform. And when the lion came he lost consciousness. He was in a tree but lost consciousness, went totally unconscious. With difficulty his friends brought him down from the platform, splashed water, gave him liquor. Then somehow he became conscious. They asked, "Nasruddin, why did you get so frightened? You had a gun with you."

He said, "What will a gun do? Fright arrived first. The gun fell from my hand. When the gun fell I went unconscious."

So man invented arrows, from a distance... Then he invented rifles, to shoot bullets from a distance, then the situation of going near no longer existed. And people call this recreational hunting, hunting for sport. Sitting on a platform in a tree and from there shooting bullets at a harmless, unarmed animal. They don't feel ashamed? And they call this sport, hunting for sport. But if sometime a lion pounces it is not said that the lion went hunting for sport.

Man was weak so he invented weapons. Exactly the same situation has existed between woman and man. Man is powerful. He is a little taller. There are more muscles in his body, he is strong, his bones are thicker, he can oppress women. So women had to invent subtle weapons, devices that man cannot fight. Like when you come home and your woman is pulling out her hair and crying, now what to do? To beat a crying woman is not right. Her crying is a weapon, a subtle device: now what can you do? You will have to bow down. Now you will have to buy ice cream. Or some people come bringing ice cream already and bouquets of flowers. They come already prepared.

An emperor made a proclamation -- first he had asked his courtiers, "Is there any courtier among you that can fulfill this: -- but answer honestly -- I want those men who are afraid of their wives to stand on one side and those that are not afraid of their wives to stand on the other side."

All the courtiers stood together with only one exception. And that man the emperor had never even expected. He was a completely dried up, wasted man, the least likely of all. He stood to one side. The emperor asked, "I am very surprised... But it is nothing, at least there is one man in my court who is not afraid of his wife."

The man said, "Excuse me, you understand wrongly. In fact when I was leaving the house my wife said, 'Look, don't follow the crowd.' Everyone is standing over there. If I stand over there and my wife finds out, there will be trouble, therefore I am standing over here."

So the emperor said to one of his men, "Now I must find out what the situation is in the whole kingdom. When this is the situation in the court, what will be the situation in the whole kingdom?"

So he sent one man, saying, "You go and ask at every house in the capitol, who is afraid of their wife and tell them they will be punished severely if they lie. Better they tell the truth. And when you truly believe that some man is not afraid of his wife then take that beautiful horse. A white horse from Kabul" -- very valuable, expensive, a horse from the king's court -- "take it and give it to him as a gift. It is a gift from me."

The man went. Whosoever he asked said, "Brother, we don't want to fall into lies versus truth. Who wants that trouble? The truth is that I am afraid. But don't tell anyone brother. If the king is asking then I say the plain truth, I am afraid."

That minister got tired seeking and searching if one or two men could not be found who could take the horse. But it also occurred to him that I myself cannot take this horse, so what other man will I find? And he realized that the emperor himself could not take this horse, because everyone knew that he was afraid. That the queen was the real ruler, the king is only her hand puppet. If the queen agrees, the king will agree. Will he not find a single man? Has humanity fallen this low? Is there not a single man, who is a man?

Finally he came to a hut and saw a man, who seemed absolutely like a Muhammed Ali. His muscles were huge, he had huge paws. His height was seven feet. And his wife was really skinny. He thought, this is the man. He said, "Brother you must have taken possession, are you not afraid of your wife?"

He showed his muscles. He said, "Look at these!"

He said, "Your muscles are such that I am afraid just looking."

He opened his fist and spoke, he closed his fist and spoke. He said, "If this tightens on someone's neck... finished!"

Then he said, "Okay brother. The king has said that if you meet such a man offer him a horse as a gift. The king has two horses one black and one white. Both are the finest of horses, equally precious horses. Do you want the white horse or the black?"

Then he said, "Mother of Lallu, white or black?"

Then the mother of Lallu said, "Black."

So the minister said, "Now you are not going to get it."

The mother of Lallu decided. Those muscles etc, those fists etc all just remained lying there.

Women have discovered a few subtle ways to fight with man. If the man gets angry he beats up the woman. If the woman gets angry she beats herself, beats her own head on the wall. Her device is very Gandhian, non-violent. She gives the child a beating, she beats up Lallu. The father of Lallu starts to think, "Now what is the use? The child is getting unnecessarily beaten, it was better if earlier I had remained silent."

Your love is continuous strife. The woman is trying to gain control over the man, the man is trying to gain control over the woman. In this way your small garden of love never gets rooted. Love has to pass through fire. And when love is purified it becomes trust.

This is why when you go to a master he tests your love in many ways. And as I was saying, in these tests many people will flee. They are not ready to face so many tests. Only a few people will have the courage to pass through that much fire. And those who cannot pass through fire, cannot be cleansed, cannot be made pure. They cannot become worthy of god.

You are not heartless, you are not merciless!

Your laughter, and my weeping,

I know not why fate weighs them today.

There stars twinkle in the sky,

Here dew drops rain on the earth;

There the clouds wander in amorous sport;

Here the love bird pines for a drop;

Restless to receive your touch,

The wind gusts and blows in the arbor!

Your laughter, and my weeping,

I know not why fate weighs them today.

Tear the dark covering a little,

Show a glimpse of your captivating self sometime;

The soaked petals of flowers,

Dry them with your own hands, decorate them;

These beads of pearl are for you,

The eyes of the world always weep them!

Your laughter, and my weeping,

I know not why fate weighs them today.

I know not when my suppressed sigh

Will reach the hollows of your ears;

I know not what day, Life of mine!

My path will take me to your city,

You are not heartless, you are not merciless!

From the horizon a ray is speaking!

Your laughter, and my weeping,

I know not why fate weighs them today.

Keep trusting, let trust go on increasing, then some ray will be speaking from the sky. Don't worry, keep moving, This is the necessary process of becoming cleansed, of becoming purified.

You are not heartless, you are not merciless!

God is not unkind, and not merciless. But the test of fire must be given to love, because only through a test of fire does love become trust.

Love is like a flower and trust is like the fragrance of a flower. Even that little bit of earth that was in the flower has gone. Now the fragrance is pure. As scents rise upwards, towards the sky, as the smoke from incense rises towards the sky, the fragrance of the flower rises towards the sky. If the flower falls it will fall towards the ground, the fragrance goes upwards. If the incense stick falls it will fall to the ground but the fragrant smoke of the incense goes towards the sky.

Love falls towards the ground, trust rises towards the sky. This is why we say, so-and-so has fallen in love -- in all languages of the world: falling in love. In love we fall towards the ground. The flow of love is descending, moving downwards. Love is just like flowing water, water goes from one hollow to another, lower and lower, lower and lower... Trust is like water that has been vaporized, it starts rising up, clouds start gathering in the sky. As soon as vapor becomes water it descends to the earth. And as soon as water becomes vapor, it rises into the sky.

Love passing through fire becomes vapor. As water passes through fire it becomes steaming vapor, the fire test of love is exactly the same.

From love's inception till love's culmination

You too must have heard what all I endured.

One goes through much.

From love's inception till love's culmination

From the beginning of love, till the fulfillment of love one goes through much.

From love's inception till love's culmination

You too must have heard what all I endured.

Read the stories of the bhaktas -- the devotees, read the narratives of the bhaktas then you will understand -- what anguish, how many tears, how much weeping, how much longing, how much fire... But only walking across those coals one reaches to the temple of god. That condition will have to be fulfilled.

And remember, god is not unkind and not merciless. The truth is, it is his kindness that he gives you tests. And the harder the test he gives, the happier you will be -- giving thanks, because he is putting great faith in you.

A master will give the most tests to the disciple that he has the most faith that something can happen in him. He doesn't give tests to one he doesn't have faith in. Fortunate are they who are given the test of love.

You are not unkind, you are not merciless!

From on the horizon a ray is speaking!

Your laughter, and my weeping,

I know not why fate weighs them today?

Fate will have to be weighed. The tears of love will be weighed, the laughter of love will also be weighed. Love will be assessed.

And there are thousands and thousands of difficulties on the path of love, thousands of rocks. But if you climb them, you will arrive on a Himalayan peak, on the peak of life -- where the peaks are conversing with the moon and stars, where the peaks are having a dialogue with the clouds. On these very peaks the Upanishads were born. On these peaks these words of Gorakh were born. Buddhas call was born, the Vedas were born, the Koran was sung -- on these very peaks. These are peaks of love. They are love's purest form. Their name is trust.

Don't be worried, don't be frightened, keep moving ahead.