“The creative process is a process of surrender, not control.”
– Julia Cameron
Kabir – The couplet
राम रसायन प्रेम रास, पीवत अधिक रसाल ।
कबीर पीवण दुर्लभ है, मांगे सीस कलाल ॥
पिया चाहे प्रेम आस, रखा छाहे मन ।
दो खड्ग एक मयान में, देखा सुना न कान॥
transliterated:
Ram rasain prem ras, peevat adhik rasaal|
Kabir peevat durlabh hai, maange sees kalaal||
Piya chaahe prem aas, rakha chaahe man|
Do khadg ek mayan mein, dekha suna na kaan||
Translation:
God’s nectar is the nectar of love, the sweeter it gets as one drinks it |
But, says Kabir, it is difficult to drink, for its price is one’s head ||
One wants to drink this nectar, but also retain one’s pride |
But never has it been heard or seen that two swords stay in one sheath ||
My understanding:
We all claim that we want and crave love, when the reality is that we are chasing infatuation.
How do we recognize infatuation as different from love? Infatuation will attach specific returns as payment demands for the spent energy, related to the physical self. IF we get upset that the object of our affection has yet to recognize our effort and respond in a specific fashion, it is infatuation. If it were love, any reaction or none at all would be perfectly acceptable. For love works to satisfy the other, not the self.
To care for the other truly, we have to fully give without expectation or demand for anything in return. The ability to love is its own reward – it needs no other to satisfy.
Pride gets into the middle of this space. As the giver of emotion, we somehow manage to presume the role of giver/provider instead of being the one donning the mantle of responsibility. The provider needs to receive to complete the transaction – but love is NOT a transaction. To give love is the reward we get – when we are able to truly love, there is no need for something else to complete the action. Once we accept that, pride dissolves, and leaves us illuminated in the light of the soul.