Some time ago, I was writing a preface to the latest edition of one of Sadhu Vaswani's books. I felt I should share the opening words of this new book with you.
...God will not ask whether you have learnt Sanskrit or Latin, Greek or Hebrew. God will ask you, Have you studied the word of four letters—L O V E—Love? God will ask whether you have grown in the spirit of meditation, beauty, and love. God will ask you, have you learnt the lesson of love? Have you realised its power (shakti)? Have you grown in love?...
On the material plane we ask people, "How much have you studied?" "What academic degrees have you acquired?" "How much wealth have you amassed?" or, "What is your salary?" These are all questions relating to worldly, material considerations. In the heavenly world, all these things are of no significance. The only question asked there is, "How much do you love God?”
Many rich people stay content under the delusion that they can bribe their way to salvation and purchase God’s favours with their money. They contribute lavishly to yagnas and poojas; they sponsor the building of temples, and they are confident that God has been won over to their side by their lavish spending. NO. God cannot be bought with money. God can be won only by a loving heart. God can be sought by deep yearning in the heart, by calling out to Him time and again, I have need of Thee. O Lord! I cannot live without Thee!
Therefore, the man who calls out in true longing and love will surely have a vision of God, for God needs our love and the yearning of the soul for Him.
So, in order to collect this treasure of love, let us serve the poor with love and devotion in our hearts. Let us begin the day with God; shed tears of love and longing as we do our daily work. Let us give unconditional love to one and all. And we will be richly blessed!
Dada J P Vaswani was a humanitarian, philosopher, educator, acclaimed writer, powerful orator, messiah of ahimsa, and non-sectarian spiritual leader.
