Is true love devoid of logic?

[sridatta]

[Shri Ganesh asked: Pādanamaskāram Swamiji, Is true love devoid of logic? You have said the basis of love towards both the world and God is selfishness. You have also mentioned that the Gopikas aspired for Lord Krishna's love. But when I was talking to Nikhil sir about this he said that initially you start getting fascinated to a person due to selfishness, but over a period time they forget those selfish aspirations. He also mentioned that love by its definition is devoid of logic. To make me understand he gave a worldly example. Imagine a girl starts liking a guy because he is handsome. Later she finds out that he has a lovely personality and has a good job. She starts liking him more and then she marries him one day. She has kids and finds out that he is an amazing father too. Now she is totally attached to him. One day the husband meets with an accident and his face gets disfigured and he is paralysed. Yet, she serves him and takes care of him and makes some money so that she could pay for his treatment. When the girl is told to leave him and find another man, she says that I can't since I love him.

Initially I accepted this argument that whatever she says is devoid of logic but when I think more about it she had a strong logical reason. She knew that there was no normal human who could love her more than her husband. She was aspiring for that love from him alone. She hoped that he could get normal someday. Similarly, the Gopikas loved Him since they knew no one in this world can love them more than God. Even when God showed them bad qualities, they loved Him because they knew no one was worthy other than God. They always hoped for His romantic touch because they knew not one single human is capable of loving them other than God. Even if Lord Krishna kept on showing bad qualities, they hoped He would love them one day or the other.

Having thought like this way, I find it hard to believe that love is devoid of any logic and selfishness. Is my understanding correct? Forgive me if I have asked something wrong. At Your divine feet, Ganesh V]

Swami Replied:- Torchlight (logic) is necessary in the path till you reach the house shining with lights (God). After reaching your house, there is no need of the torchlight. Till you reach God, logic is very essential for you and after reaching God, who is beyond logic, logic is not needed. In the path, you must be like the baby monkey catching the stomach of its mother monkey. After reaching the goal, you become the baby cat caught by the mother cat with its mouth. What Nikhil sir said is correct because love taken as God (God is the embodiment of love) is beyond logic. In the path, the logic taken is the worldly logic beyond which God exists. The worldly logic (a mild torch light) is not necessary when you reached God, who is a mighty powerhouse shining with bright lights.

In your example, you quoted two human beings, who belong to this relative reality. Such example cannot be a suitable example for God Krishna selected by Gopikas as their real husband and their old husbands, who were realised by them as mere women like them as per the Veda, which says that all souls are females and wives of God, the only male or Purusha (Striyaḥ satīḥ puṃsaḥ…- Veda). Certainly, the husbands of Gopikas will scold Gopikas arguing that God Krishna was an ordinary human being like them only and the miracles performed by Him were just black magic. The jealousy of Duryodhana was so high that he interpreted the miracles of Krishna as mere lies and fictions. He told that lifting Govardhana hill is nothing but lifting a small stone and actually the villagers were saved by the hill since they took shelter in its caves! He also told that killing Kaaliiya serpent is nothing but killing an old diseased serpent which is ready to die. Like this he told that all the miracles performed by Krishna were mere lies! Let us leave the miracles because even demons will perform the miracles.

But, what about the most unimaginable Spiritual knowledge presented by Him through the Bhagavad Giita! What about His unimaginable love towards His devotees, who were given the higher than highest Goloka residing below which God received the feet dust of the devotees to fall on His head continuously! Unless one conquers the ego-based jealousy, God will never be achieved and even if achieved His grace can never be obtained. Ego gives rigidity of self and jealousy gives misinterpretations of God. Shishupaala was an example for this kind of disease of ego-based jealousy. He wanted to marry Rukmini, but, Rukmini liked God Krishna. Shishupaala scolded Krishna as a fellow without character! Rukmini knows that Krishna as God has unimaginable character because He tested the Sages born as Gopikas and never repeated it again anywhere in His life. Moreover, Shishupaala is the demon with worst character marrying the wife of King Babhru by force! “All defects belong to souls and all merits belong to God”. If this single truth is followed by any soul, such soul will get salvation by the grace of God and will enjoy the eternal divine bliss.

The negative qualities are exhibited by God in order to test the climax love of the devotee to see whether the devotee blindly supports Him or not and the passed Gopikas blindly supported Krishna regarding His defects like stealing butter and secret dance. Every action of God has multi-dimensional applications.