All Risk, No Gain

Only when faced with the critical decision of 'All risk, No gain' does the degree of love and dedication become apparant.

I surprise even myself by how much I love you.

For you I may lose my reputation, and the affection of my family and those I have considered my friends. The place I have considered my home may thus become estranged to me. But none of it really matters. All I care about is that I should not see a frown on your beautiful, moon-like face.

I stand to lose everything to provide what you require. I am willing to make this sacrifice without a moment's consideration; there is no question - if this is the necessity, I consider it my duty and I will execute it with my deepest affection and without a tinge of remorse. Whatever I should stand to lose, it is actually worthless, because you are my all in all.

But if in trying to serve you I also stand to lose your affection? Then still I must make my attempt to serve your benefit, though I may die of a broken heart in the process.

Mother and child; Romeo and Juliet; Guru and disciple; God and devotee... untainted love.

In Indian tradition we give honour by placing our head at the feet of a respected person, whereas placing our own feet over the head of a person is considered an offense to them. The Vedic scriptures utilise this custom to present some fine examples of the highest degrees of self-forgetfulness in the name of love, the highest spiritual ideal.

In the Srimad Bhagavatam we find the Supreme Lord Krsna as a cowherd boy, feigning a headache. He is claiming that only the footdust of his devotees can cure him. Nobody wants to offer their footdust for Krsna's head, fearing eternal hell as a result of this great offensive action. But the Braja-Gopis, the milk damsels, do not care for that, "We do not know if we are devotees, but take it!" Their only consideration is that their beloved Krishna's headache is gone and that he is feeling happy again.

Again in the Chaitanya Charitamrta we find that when the golden Avatar Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu fell asleep in the doorway, his personal servant Govinda stepped over his Lord to massage his feet and thus render service, but not again to leave the room in order to appease his own hunger and satisfy his tongue and belly.

We are as safe as we are sincere... because love is above mercy, and mercy is above justice. And true Love knows no separate, localised interest.

Freedom!

"I am free to express myself!"

"I am free to wear what I want!"

"I am free to do as I like!"

But where is freedom to be found here?

Could this, perhaps, actually translate as slavery to the need for self-identification, desire and sense-gratification?

Could there be more freedom in the absence of this need?

How about...

"It doesn't matter whether I get an opportunity to express myself or not, because I feel complete and fulfilled anyway."

"What I wear no longer affects how I feel about myself. And I am not concerned about others' perception of me."

"I am equally satisfied while fulfilling your wishes rather than mine, and while working or playing."

"It is not a matter that I am not free to do that, but rather I am free from the desire, or the need, to do it."

This is not suggesting annihilation of personality, rather equanimity in all situations presented before a person.

This is true freedom: freedom to be fully active without the sense of necessity or attachment.

In reflecting upon this point, I dug into the timeless wisdom of the Srimad Bhagavad Gita, ancient Vedic text, and decided to share some of it here:

2:15
yam hi na vyathayanty ete, purusam purusarsabha
sama-duhkha-sukham dhiram, so ’mrtatvaya kalpate

O noblest of men, the wise man who is equipoised in pleasure and pain, and undisturbed by sense-experiences, is alone qualified for immortality.

2:64
raga-dvesa-vimuktais tu, visayan indriyais charan
atma-vasyair vidheyatma, prasadam adhigachchhati

The integrated person who can control his mind at will, and who, free from attraction and repulsion, accepts his worldly necessities through his controlled senses, attains tranquillity.

3:19

tasmad asaktah satatam, karyam karma samachara
asakto hy acharan karma, param apnoti purusah

So perform your prescribed duties without attachment. By selflessly executing one’s duties a person attains liberation. (True liberation is the state of pure devotion, attained in the maturity of selfless action.)

6:8
jnana-vijnana-trptatma,kuta-stho vijitendriyah
yukta ity ucyate yogi,sama-lostrasma-kancanah

One who is always satisfied within by both knowledge and realisation, who is always fixed in his spiritual nature, who is sense-controlled and who has the vision of equality for a clod of earth, a rock, or gold—it is said that such a person has attained yoga.