Laila

Laila and the Khalifa

The Khalifa said to Laila. "Art thou really she
for whom Majnun has lost his head and went distracted?
Thou art not fairer than many other fair ones."

She replied, "Be silent; thou art not Majnun!"
If thou had Majnun's eyes,
The two worlds would be within thy view.Thou art in thy senses, but Majnun is beside himself.
In Love, to be wide awake is treason.
The more a man is awake, the more he sleeps (to love)."

The Mathnawi - Rumi

This is so true.
To be lost in the throes of love without a care for what lies ahead, whether your next step meets Earth or mere space..

I believe it is our natural impulse to love this way, freely, with wild abandon, not with fear but with faith. Alas however, we stumble onto nothing at times and we fall...and fall and get into the habit of falling and lose our faith somewhere down the line. So many of us have lost someone we wanted, needed in our lives and no matter how many prayers we sent up there, the die was cast in all its finality. Hence we stop believing that there is indeed someone for us with just the right something to compliment and fulfill our lives, and we grow cold, defensive, cycnical.. we attract others with a similar disposition into our lives and the drama re-plays itself further hardening our hearts..sometimes we attract good, loving people but cannot reach into the fiery depths we know we hold inside us, is it fear or lack of faith which holds us back perhaps..

But as one who has loved and fallen and loved and fallen again I believe that if I am capable of accessing and sharing something so deep within my own being, something so profound within the seat of my own heart, surely a reservoir of love exists inside me which allows me to draw from its waters yet again..perhaps the only obstacle holding me back is my own fear...could this ring true for you too or perhaps someone you know, dear reader?

Ancient fables like that of Laila and Majnu tell us of undying love, love which broke through all kind of barriers, tearing through the fabric of entire worlds..why even the Gods of yore have had to concede defeat.

Those people were no different from you or me, it may be that they had a little more faith in a higher power which would allow their dreams to come true..or it may be that they were a less cynical people living in a simpler world than we do now..

Maybe they were asleep to the world and awake to the source of love inside themselves as Rumi puts it and hence able to share it with a Divine compliment who could reciprocate in kind.

Like attracts like..

My Spiritual Teacher once told me that a painting composed of bright imaginatve vivid colours attracts instantly, dazzling all in its brilliance but a painting with subtler colours, painted with greater imagination, created with greater emotion attracts viewing again and again and again...that's how Love should be..for God..for another..for oneself...for the mystery never ceases and the discoveries are endless.

A dear friend of mine once shared a very profound fact of nature-

Love builds bridges across lifetimes.

It matters not the kind or the manner in which the love is conveyed or shared, it just IS and that is what heals all wounds,,a soothing balm for every trouble lodged within your soul..

With such depth of power hidden within the cave of our hearts, need we fear stumbling again? Stumbling onto the ground in a heap may hurt for a little while but as before we can get up, dust ourselves off reach into the cave again, replenishing ourselves with love for ourselves, for the world, with faith in ourselves, in the world and walk on with that proverbial song in our hearts and a wish on our lips...that's love too.

May we always love
May we always realise we are loved
May we always remain in the state of love