Rejoice Without Conflict
Chapter 3 - Rejoice Without Conflict
Day 13
Love can only blossom in freedom. When freedom is restricted, love suffocates. You need to be free. Often love stifles. When you are in love or when you love somebody, you feel stifled because you are obliged.
When there are so many obligations that you need to fulfil, then these obligations become like a load on your head and you get the added responsibility not to hurt the people you love and who love you.
In a subtle sense, this takes the freedom away and slowly demands start arising in you. The moment demand arises in you, know that love is on its death-bed. Love is in an oxygen chamber and it doesn’t live very long. Demand destroys love.
Freedom is essential. So whether in the world, in religious or in spiritual matters, follow love rather than the rules. This was the sutra that we heard. A lover is beyond all rules. There is no rule on how to express your love.
All expressions are a spontaneous outburst of love and love finds its own expressions, you cannot streamline it. Your eyes cannot hide the love, your gestures cannot hide the love, your steps cannot hide the love. Love flows in all your expressions, in your behaviour, in your walk, in your talk, in your gestures, in your whole life.
One thing you can never fully hide is love. You can hide anger to a great extent, you can eat anger inside you, you can put a big smile on your face. People may not notice your anger, your vengeance-but you cannot hide love. It comes flooding from your eyes, your smile and your gestures.
There are no rules on how to express love, because when you are in love, you cannot do a mistake. A lover is beyond all rules, beyond all scriptures, beyond all theories and philosophies. Yes, certainly a devotee is beyond all rules, because for a devotee the divine is the only goal, the only concern.
A devotee has nothing of his or her own. Yet you need to follow the scriptures in order to preserve and protect the scriptures and in order to honour the tradition. The tradition needs to be maintained and devotees have always followed. Although it doesn’t mean anything to them, it doesn’t matter to them, yet one honours the tradition, the injunctions, one honours certain rules.
Otherwise there is a possibility of falling out of it. If you don't follow certain codes of conduct, there is a possibility that you will fall out of that love. There is the possibility to fall off the knowledge, off the path of love. So just follow and stick to these rules. This is very, very beautiful.
No doubt you need freedom to blossom in love, but in turn love brings freedom in all situations, all circumstances. Nothing will be stifling, nothing will be bonding to you, nothing will restrict you, your freedom, in the true sense of love. Are you getting what I am saying?
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