Question 6

QUESTIONER: IN AN EARLIER QUESTION ON DRAUPADI IT WAS SAID THAT KRISHNA HAD GREAT LOVE FOR HER. PLEASE SAY SOMETHING ABOUT KRISHNA'S LOVE FOR DRAUPADI.

Draupadi fully deserves Krishna's love. Krishna's love is available to all, but Draupadi deserves it in a special way. The truth is that you come to have what you deserve. If you go to the ocean for water, it will give you only as much as your container can hold. The ocean is vast, but how much water you have depends on the size of your container. And the ocean does not refuse, everyone can take according to his capacity.

Draupadi's capacity to receive love is tremendous, and she received abundant love from Krishna. And the love between them was so profound, so platonic that it could exist without any longing for physical intimacy. That is why Krishna's love and help has always been at the disposal of this extraordinary woman. Krishna does much more for her than he does for anyone else. I told you earlier that when she was being disrobed by the Kauravas, Krishna came rushing to her rescue.

There is a kind of love that is articulate, vocal, and there is another kind of love that is in articulate, silent. And remember, the love that is vocal is never deep, it is superficial, shallow. Words don't have much depth; silence is most profound. So is silent love. And Draupadi's love is silent and pro found. It is discernible on many occasions, but it is never open and aggressive. It is true that silent love makes a much deeper impression on the lovers than does any other kind of love.

Although Krishna's love is always available to Draupadi in the hours of her distress, it does not show itself often in physical intimacy. In fact, when love fails to achieve intimacy at the subtler levels, it craves physical intimacy. Love can be so silent and subtle that physical distances in time and space don't matter for it; it remains even in aloneness. Love can be so deeply silent that it need never express itself in words. And a man like Krishna can very well know this silent love, others cannot.

It is lack of love that gives rise to extravagance of words about love. What we don't have we compensate with words, because words can be easily understood. Now any number of books are being written on love. Psychologists are producing great volumes on love in which they stress that even if one does not feel love in his heart, he should not shrink from declaring it to the loved ones. When a husband returns home from the office in the evening, he should hug his wife and kiss her, even if it amounts to play-acting. He should not shy away from saying some words of love which we call sweet nothings. And when he leaves for his office the next morning, he must say he will miss her the whole day, although in his heart of hearts he is happy to be leaving.

And the psychologists are right; they are right because we live on words and we know nothing of real love. Love has disappeared from our lives; we live on words of love.

We have turned love into a ritual. Really we have turned everything into a ritual. Someone does you a good turn and you say, "Hearty thanks" to him without meaning it. And the other person is pleased to receive it even though you don't feel any thankful ness to him inside your heart. And he will be miserable if you don't say your thanks even though you feel in your heart really thankful for his favor.

Since we don't understand silence, we have to make do with words. Words are so important to us because we live on words.

But remember, when we really love someone, when we are overwhelmed with love for someone, words become futile. You may or may not have noticed it, but it is a fact that in moments of overwhelming love we suddenly find there is nothing to be said in words. Lovers prepare themselves mentally, rehearse for long, every word of a dialogue that they would like to have when they meet each other, but on actual meeting they find to their amazement that they have forgotten every word they had so meticulously rehearsed -- the whole dialogue has suddenly evaporated and they are left utterly speechless, silent.