What is True Love? A Spiritual Journey to Freedom
The Disciple’s Dilemma
Once, an ardent disciple wanted to get rid of everything and dedicate himself wholly to the spiritual path. But he confided a worry to his guru.
“My family loves me too deeply to let me go,” he said, with doubt heavy in his voice.
The wise and old guru listened to the young man’s words and smiled.
“Love?” the guru questioned.
“What you describe is not true love; it’s attachment. If you want true love, it is not bondage. “Let me show you something that helps you see clearly.”
The Lesson of Simulated Death
The guru taught his disciples this powerful yogic technique that could mimic death. To an observer, the disciple would seem dead, utterly aware of events around him.
Curious, the disciple was willing to have the experience.
The next day, the disciple “died” to his family.
His body was still, and his family was convulsing in grief. His wife wept inconsolably, his children cried for their father, and relatives mourned their loss.
The house was a house of sorrow.
The Guru’s Challenge
The guru arrived in the morning. Assessing the family’s extreme distress, he spoke to them with steady authority.
“Do not be sad,” he said. “I can resurrect him. I have the power to do so. But you can only do that if one of you is willing to die in his stead.”
Though dead on the outside, the disciple heard eagerly.
He was convinced his family, who claimed to love him deeply, would do anything to get him back.
The Harsh Reality
The guru’s words were in the air, but the room was quiet. One by one, the relatives started making excuses.
“I have little kids to raise,” his brother said softly.
“I do have important responsibilities in the business,” his father said, refusing to make eye contact.
His children, still tearful, even said they were too young to sacrifice their lives.
But it was the words of his wife that dealt the deepest blow. She looked up, her face muddy with tears, saying, “People don’t have to die instead.” We will manage without him.”
The Disciple’s Awakening
The disciple’s body lay there inert, but his mind was racing.
The great truth of his guru’s words was starting to sink in.
The love he thought bound him to his family was not love but attachment and self-interest. Sudden death frightened them, so whatever love they had proclaimed disappeared.
Having simulated his disciple’s death, the guru was pleased that the lesson had been learned, and he resurrected the disciple. So, the disciple got up feeling a little lighter and enlightened.
He realised that every human being’s will to live is too intense and that you cannot expect people to die for you.
The Path to Freedom
With the fetters he once thought was love stripped from him, the disciple was now prepared to leave the world behind. He was never attached spiritually and understood that love is letting go, not holding.
