Mohabbat to Ik Jaaveda Zindagi Hai..

The day had begun well. Flight had left Mumbai on schedule. Captain had already made his customary announcement from flight deck. The air hostesses, an efficient bunch - and pretty too, had completed the serving of breakfast. If this was not enough, my customary cup of morning coffee had further added to mellowing of the mood, when I peeped out of the aircraft window. Cruising at an altitude of 30000 ft watching the Sun rays reflecting on the clouds below was a sight to behold, and the jukebox on my laptop chose that moment to play Jaaveda Zindagi, a beautiful song talking about love that is an eternal life itself.

Shama ko Pighalne ka Armaan kyun hai..

Patange ko Jalne ka Armaan kyun hai

Isi shauq ka imtehaan zindagi hai

With me way above the clouds, my mind wondered about the idea of “love” itself. (I suspect, those pretty faces around may have contributed a bit to such musings!) 

 

All religions talk about love and so does all cultures. Yet there is an essential difference. The love which religions talk about is existential, while the cultures – despite deriving themselves out of religions, propagate the love which was limited in its approach. Whatever be the reason for this, as rightly pointed out by Osho, this led to the categorization of the love and in the bargain converted a deep divine emotion into a single layered feeling. 

Love, rather than being a verb, generally has been treated as a noun, and hence an object. Love became what could be desired, what could be attained and possessed. And here we, the human beings lost out on the love which could be eternal.

It would remain so till we decide to peel the layer, go beyond the possessions and explore its other dimensions. This is the dimensions that the sufis spoke about. But much before the Sufis, our own mythology spoke about Radha & Krishna for whom love was not an object; rather it was an act of immersing oneself for the beloved, without seeking fulfillment or reciprocation.

 

Such was the love which Gibran described so succinctly:

Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself.
But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;
To rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy;
To return home at eventide with gratitude;
And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.

As I continued watching the resplendent play of sunlit sky on the clouds, I thought of the true eternal love – that of the Sun & the Earth. The love about which Hafiz wrote:

Even after all this time,
the sun never says to the earth,
"You owe me."
Look what happens with a love like that.
It lights the whole sky.

So here is to the love that is an act of bringing humans close, an act born not out of demand; but rather of remaining aflame so as to provide light to the beloved.

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